Languages of the Caucasus: Encyclopedia - Languages of the Caucasus

Languages of the Caucasus

The languages of the Caucasus are a large and extremely varied array of languages spoken by more than ten million people in the Caucasus region of Eastern Europe and Western Asia, between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. Linguistic studies allow those languages to be classified into several language families, with little or no discernible affinity to each other.

Some of those language families have no known members outside the Caucasus area. The term Caucasian languages may refer to these families specifically, or more generally to all languages historically spoken in that area.

Languages of the Caucasus - Language families

Languages of the Caucasus - Families restricted to the Caucasus area

Most of the languages spoken in the Caucasus area fall into three widely accepted language families. These families were essentially restricted to the Caucasus area through historic times, hence their common label Caucasian languages.

• South Caucasian, also called the Georgian or Kartvelian family

Includes Georgian, the official language of Georgia, with four million speakers;

• Northwest Caucasian, also called the Abxaz-Adyge, Circassian, or Pontic family

Includes the Kabardian language, with one million speakers;

• Northeast Caucasian, also called the Dagestanian, Nakho-Dagestanian, or Caspian family

Includes the Chechen language, with one million speakers.

Languages of the Caucasus - Families with wider distribution

Other languages historically and presently spoken in the Caucasus area can be placed into familes with a much wider geographical distribution.

• Indo-European
  • Armenian
  • Iranian languages
    • Ossetian
    • Talish
    • Judeo-Tat
• Altaic
  • Turkic languages
    • Azeri
    • Balkar
    • Karachay
    • Kumyk
    • Nogai
  • Mongolian languages
    • Kalmyk

For a more detailed classification of these languages, see the articles on the corresponding families.

Languages of the Caucasus - Proposed higher-level classifications

A topic that has attracted much research since the 19th century is the classification of the four major Caucasian families into larger groups. Unfortunately this field is quite sensitive, given the complex ethnic and political situation of the region, both before and after the extinction of the Soviet Union. As in many other regions of the globe, linguistic arguments are often used to back up or dismiss territorial disputes and separatist movements. Given the general paucity of linguistic and historical evidence for inter-family relationships, those political implications often dominate the debate.

Languages of the Caucasus - North Caucasian languages

Some linguists see the Northwest (Abkhaz-Adyghe) and Northeast (Nahk-Dagestanian) families as related, and have proposed to join them into a single North Caucasian family — which is sometimes called Caucasic or simply Caucasian, even though it is not meant to contain the South Caucasian (Kartvelian) languages. However, this proposal is not yet widely accepted. See the article on North Caucasian languages for details.

Languages of the Caucasus - Ibero-Caucasian languages

There are no known affinities between the South Caucasian and North Caucasian families. Nevertheless, some scholars have proposed the single name Ibero-Caucasian for all the Caucasian language families, North and South. (The Ibero in the name refers to the ancient kingdom of Caucasian Iberia in Eastern Georgia and is not related to the Iberian Peninsula.) See the article on Ibero-Caucasian languages for details.

Languages of the Caucasus - Possible affinities with other languages

Since the birth of comparative linguistics in the 19th century, the riddle of the apparently isolated Caucasian language families has attracted the attention of many scholars who have strenuously tried to relate them to other languages outside the Caucasus region. While most linguists do not accept these proposals, there may be connections between the Northwest and Northeast Caucasian families and some extinct languages formerly spoken in Anatolia and northern Mesopotamia.

Languages of the Caucasus - Hattic

Some linguists have claimed affinities between the Northwest Caucasian (Circassian) family and the extinct Hattic language. See the article on Northwest Caucasian languages for details.

Languages of the Caucasus - Hurrian and Urartian

Other linguists have claimed similarities between the Northeast Caucasian (Nakh-Dagestan) family and the extinct languages Hurrian and Urartian. See the article on Northeast Caucasian languages for details.

Languages of the Caucasus - Basque

Many of the Caucasian languages have case systems (noun inflection rules) of a particular kind, known as ergative, which sets them apart from most European languages. The fact that Basque, an isolated language spoken in the Pyrenees, also has an ergative case system has led many scholars to propose it as a displaced member of some Caucasian family. However, the resemblances between the case systems of Basque and of the Caucasian languages have been found to be rather superficial. In fact, linguists claim that the underlying structure of Georgian is not ergative.

Languages of the Caucasus - Western Iberian language

It has been speculated that the South Caucasian languages may be related to the exinct Iberian language, spoken until the 1st century BC in the Iberian peninsula (which is known as "Western Iberia" in the Caucasus, to distinguish it from the Caucasian Iberia). There seems to be no evidence for this relationship other than the coincidence of the names; however, the few surviving Iberian inscriptions suggest a genetic relationship to Basque, so any links with one language may also apply to the other.

Languages of the Caucasus - Dene-Caucasian family

Recently, some linguists — for instance, Merritt Ruhlen and John Bengtson — have proposed a Dene-Caucasian superfamily including, among others, Caucasian languages, Na-Dené languages, and Basque. In Sarostin's more recent Sino-Caucasian hypothesis, in particular, Hurro-Urartian and Northeast Caucasian are related only at a higher level within the Dene-Caucasian family.

See also

• Language family

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Languages of the Caucasus", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki