In 1998 the German linguist Helmut Rix proposed the Tyrrhenian linguistic family, which includes the Etruscan language spoken in Etruria, and the Rhaetian language spoken in the Alps, together with the Lemnian language attested by a small number of inscriptions on the Greek island of Lemnos in the Aegean Sea, languages that Rix identifies in close relation. Rix assumes a date for Proto-Tyrsenian in the last quarter of the 2nd millennium BC. Rix's Tyrsenian family has been confirmed by Stefan Schumacher, Norbert Oettinger, Carlo De Simone, Simona Marchesini, and Rex E. Wallace. Common features among Etruscan, Rhaetian, Lemnian have been found in morphology, phonology, and syntax. On the other hand, few lexical correspondences are documented, at least partly due to the scanty number of Rhaetian and Lemnian texts. Carlo De Simone and Simona Marchesini have proposed a very ancient date at which these languages split, before the Bronze Age, much earlier than was suggested by Rix. This would provide an additional explanation for the low number of lexical correspondences. The Tyrsenian family, or Common Tyrrhenic, in this case is often considered to be Paleo-European and to predate the arrival of Indo-European languages in southern Europe.