Proto-Euphratean was considered by some Assyriologists (for example Samuel Noah Kramer

Samuel Noah Kramer

Samuel Noah Kramer was one of the world's leading Assyriologists and a world renowned expert in Sumerian history and Sumerian language.-Biography:...

), to be the substratum

Substratum

In linguistics, a stratum or strate is a language that influences, or is influenced by another through contact. A substratum is a language which has lower power or prestige than another, while a superstratum is the language that has higher power or prestige. Both substratum and superstratum...

 language of the people that introduced farming into Southern Iraq

Iraq

Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....

 in the Early Ubaid period

Ubaid period

The Ubaid period is a prehistoric period of Mesopotamia. The tell of al-`Ubaid west of nearby Ur in southern Iraq's Dhi Qar Governorate has given its name to the prehistoric Pottery Neolithic to Chalcolithic culture, which represents the earliest settlement on the alluvial plain of southern...

 (5300-4700 BC).

Benno Landsberger

Benno Landsberger

Benno Landsberger was one of the most important German Assyriologists.- Early life and education :...

 and other Assyriologists argued that by examining the structure of Sumerian

Sumerian language

Sumerian is the language of ancient Sumer, which was spoken in southern Mesopotamia since at least the 4th millennium BC. During the 3rd millennium BC, there developed a very intimate cultural symbiosis between the Sumerians and the Akkadians, which included widespread bilingualism...

 names of occupations, as well as toponyms and hydronym

Hydronym

A hydronym is a proper name of a body of water. Hydronymy is the study of hydronyms and of how bodies of water receive their names and how they are transmitted through history...

s, one can suggest that there was once an earlier group of people in the region who spoke an entirely different language-often referred to as Proto-Euphratean. Terms for "farmer", "smith", "carpenter", and "date" (as in the fruit), also do not appear to have a Sumerian

Sumerian language

Sumerian is the language of ancient Sumer, which was spoken in southern Mesopotamia since at least the 4th millennium BC. During the 3rd millennium BC, there developed a very intimate cultural symbiosis between the Sumerians and the Akkadians, which included widespread bilingualism...

 or Semitic

Semitic

In linguistics and ethnology, Semitic was first used to refer to a language family of largely Middle Eastern origin, now called the Semitic languages...

 origin. Rubio challenged the Substratum hypothesis, arguing that there is evidence of borrowing from more than one language. This theory is now predominant in the field (Piotr Michalowski, Gerd Steiner, etc.).

Another example are the "banana languages," which are attested by personal names used in Sumerian texts. These names have a characteristic feature, reduplication of syllables (like in the word banana): Inanna

Inanna

Inanna, also spelled Inana is the Sumerian goddess of sexual love, fertility, and warfare....

, Zababa, Chuwawa, Bunene etc. Such feature of the "banana languages" reminds the extinct Minoan language whose genetic relations are clear as same race. The hypothesis was proposed by Igor Dyakonov and Vladislav Ardzinba

Vladislav Ardzinba

Vladislav Grigori-ipa Ardzinba was the first President of Abkhazia. A historian by education, Ardzinba led Abkhazia to de facto independence in the 1992-1993 War with Georgia, but its de jure independence from Georgia remained internationally unrecognised during Ardzinba's two terms as President...

 who identified these hypothetical languages with the Samarran culture.