Why is the language found in Middle Eastern texts from about 1450–1350 BCE debated?

The language found in Middle Eastern texts dating from approximately 1450–1350 BCE is a subject of scholarly debate because it contains borrowed words and proper names that are difficult to classify definitively. These documents, which are primarily Hittite-Hurrian in nature, have been interpreted by various scholars as belonging to one of three categories:1

• A general Indo-Iranian language.
• An Indic subgroup of Indo-Iranian that had not yet fully diverged.
• Old Indo-Aryan proper.1

The debate often centers on specific linguistic evidence. For instance, the presence of the word aika- for "one" has been cited as evidence for Indo-Aryan, as it contrasts with the Iranian term aiva-. However, some argue that the existence of the Sanskrit particle eva ("indeed") suggests that the earliest Indo-Aryan may have possessed both forms, complicating the classification.1

While a consensus has not been reached, a majority of authorities currently hold that the language represents an early variety of Old Indo-Aryan, predating specific phonetic shifts such as the transition of zh to h.1