I think you'll find that SQL is one of the most widely understood languages. Current programmer education deemphasizes it, but in basically any analytics space, SQL is the lingua franca.
"Understood" is a strong word. There are lots of people with a basic understanding of SQL but who can't write complex queries to do things like represent tree structures and cyclic relationships. I don't think your average analyst can do that.
And even if all the analysts in the world could do such a thing, that doesn't matter if they're not building the applications.
And even if all the analysts in the world could do such a thing, that doesn't matter if they're not building the applications.