CAUCASIAN LANGUAGES

Distribution of the Caucasian languages also called Paleo-Caucasian, or Ibero-Caucasian, group of languages indigenous to Transcaucasia and adjacent areas of the Caucasus region, between the Black and Caspian seas. As used in this article, the term excludes the Indo-European (Armenian, Ossetic, Talysh, Kurdish, Tat) and Turkic languages (Azerbaijani, Kumyk, Noghay, Karachay, Balkar) and some other languages of the area, all of which were introduced to the Caucasus in historical times. The Caucasian languages are found in the territory north and south of the Greater Caucasus range; their number varies, according to different classifications, from 30 to 40. The concentration of so many languages in such a small territory is indeed remarkable. There are about 8 million speakers of Caucasian languages; their language communities range in size from only a few hundred people to large national groups of millions. The Caucasian languages fall into three typologically well-defined language families: the Northwest Caucasian, or Abkhazo-Adyghian, languages; the Northeast Caucasian, or Nakho-Dagestanian, languages; and the South Caucasian, or Kartvelian, languages (also called Iberian). From the typological point of view, the Northwest and Northeast Caucasian groups present opposite structural types, with South Caucasian holding an intermediary position. The exact genetic relationships of the Caucasian languages are still unclear on many points, not only in regard to interrelationships of the three major groups but also to some internal groupings. Although the genetic relationships between Northwest and Northeast Caucasian seem probable, the interrelationships of North and South Caucasian are as yet uncertain because of the absence of any regular sound correspondences between them. At the present stage of comparative Caucasian linguistics, North Caucasian and South Caucasian must be viewed as separate language families. The theories relating Caucasian with such languages as Basque and the non-Indo-European and non-Semitic languages of the ancient Middle East also lack sufficient evidence and must be considered as inconclusive. Distribution of the Caucasian languages those languages indigenous to the Caucasus region that have not been affiliated with any of the larger language families (such as Indo-European). The genetic relationship of the Caucasian languages to any languages outside the Caucasus is highly speculative and as yet unproven. Several linguists have proposed an Ibero-Caucasian family comprising all of the Caucasian languages and Basque. Others have sought to link these languages with the as yet unaffiliated languages of the ancient Middle East (e.g., Sumerian and Hurrian-Urartian). Within the Caucasian languages, most scholars accept the following grouping: South Caucasian (Kartvelian), Northwest Caucasian (Abkhazo-Adyghian), and Northeast Caucasian (Nakho-Dagestanian). The Kartvelian (South Caucasian) language family includes Georgian, Mingrelian, Laz, and Svan. Georgian, the national language of Georgia, is the only Caucasian language with an ancient literary tradition. (See Georgian literature.) Monuments were inscribed in an Old Georgian script derived from the Greek alphabet; the modern Georgian writing system, a round-form cursive written from left to right, is an indirect descendant of the old script. Mingrelian, Laz, and Svan are unwritten languages, with Mingrelian and Laz sometimes seen as dialects of a single language. Mingrelian and Laz are spoken along the Black Sea coast; Svan is spoken in the high mountain valleys south of Mount Elbrus. The Kartvelian languages are considered to be closely related and descended from a common language. The sound system in these languages is relatively uniform, and they have a highly developed system of word inflection, that is, of word endings and derivation. The Abkhazo-Adyghian (Northwest Caucasian) group consists of the Abkhaz, Abaza, Adyghian, Kabardian, and Ubykh languages. Abkhaz is spoken in Abkhazia, Georgia, and the others of this group in the northwestern Caucasus region of Russia. The Ubykh language, however, is virtually extinct. The Abkhazo-Adyghian languages are not widely differentiated into dialects. Phonologically, they have a limited number of distinctive vowels but up to 80 distinctive consonant sounds. The Nakho-Dagestanian (Northeast Caucasian) group consists of the Nakh and Dagestanian languages. Two Nakh languagesChechen and Ingushare spoken mainly in Chechnia and Ingushetia republics of Russia. A third, Bats, is spoken in Georgia. The Dagestanian languages can be divided into the following groups: (1) the Avar-Andi-Dido languages of central and western Dagestan, Russia, and part of Azerbaijan, (2) the Lak-Dargin (Lak-Dargwa) languages of central Dagestan, and (3) the Lezgian languages, principally of southern Dagestan. Compared with the other two Caucasian families, the Nakho-Dagestanian is less clearly unified from a genetic standpoint. While some linguists join Nakho-Dagestanian with Abkhazo-Adyghian into a single North Caucasian family, others separate the Nakh languages (Central Caucasian) and the Dagestanian languages (East Caucasian) into two distinct families. The original vocabulary of the North Caucasian languages has been fairly well preserved in the modern languages, though there are many loanwords. The written languages of the area are the state languages. Newspapers, radio, and television use the local languages; and children in primary schools are taught in their mother tongue. The North Caucasian alphabets are based on the Cyrillic alphabet, which was adopted in 193638. Additional reading General works G. Deeters, G.R. Solta, and Vahan Inglisian, Armenisch und kaukasische Sprachen (1963), a survey, includes a presentation of the structure of the Caucasian languages according to the most characteristic features of phonology, morphology, and syntax, with an extensive bibliography. G.A. Klimov, Kavkazskie iazyki (1965), also available in a German translation, Die kaukasischen Sprachen (1969), offers a brief exposition of the history and structures of the Caucasian languages, with a general characterization of each group and an extensive bibliography, and his Vvedenie v kavkazskoe iazykoznanie, ed. by B.A. Serebrennikov (1986), also available in a German translation, Einfhrung in die kaukasische Sprachwissenschaft, ed. and trans. by Jost Gippert (1994), is also of interest. A.H. Kuipers, Caucasian, in Current Trends in Linguistics, vol. 1 (1963), pp. 315344, provides a useful brief survey of Caucasian linguistics, with a selected bibliography. Adolf Dirr, Einfhrung in das Studium der kaukasischen Sprachen (1928, reprinted 1978), contains a survey of the structure of individual Caucasian languages and their interrelationships as well as a linguistic atlas. V.V. Vinogradov (ed.), IAzyki Narodov SSSR, vol. 4, Iberiisko-Kavkazskie IAzyki (1967), is a brief exposition of the structures of all the Caucasian languages, with a selected bibliography. Much of the more recent scholarship is published in Georgian or Russian. Recent works in English include John A.C. Greppin (ed.), The Indigenous Languages of the Caucasus (1991 ); and Howard I. Aronson (ed.), Non-Slavic Languages of the U.S.S.R.: Papers from the Fourth Conference (1994). Thomas V. Gamkrelidze T.E. Gudava South Caucasian languages Two useful practical guides to Georgian are Kita Tschenkli, Einfhrung in die georgische Sprache, 2 vol. (1958, reissued 1980); and Howard I. Aronson, Georgian: A Reading Grammar, corrected ed. (1990). Much useful information about Georgian and the history of Georgian (Kartvelian) studies is contained in Shota Dzidziguri (ot'a Ziziguri), The Georgian Language (1969). Hans Vogt, Grammaire de la langue gorgienne (1971), is a useful grammar. Important special works on the South Caucasian languages include G. Deeters, Das kharthwelische Verbum: Vergleichende Darstellung des Verbalbaus der sdkaukasischen Sprachen (1930), a comprehensive comparative study of the verb structure of the Kartvelian languages; A.S. Cikobava, Drevnejaja struktura imennyx osnov v kartvel'skix jazykax (1942), in Georgian with Russian and English summaries, a comparative analysis of the ancient structure of nominal stems in the Kartvelian languages, with an interpretation of certain prefixes as the ancient class markers; Karl Horst Schmidt, Studien zur Rekonstruktion des Lautstandes der sdkaukasischen Grundsprache (1962), a detailed analysis of sound correspondences with a reconstruction of the Proto-Kartvelian phonemic system; G.A. Klimov, Etimologicheskii slovar' kartvel'skikh iazykov (1964); T.V. Gamkrelidze and G.I. Machavariani, Sonantt'a sistema da ablauti k'art'velur enebi (1965), in Georgian with a Russian summary, also available in a German translation, Sonantensystem und Ablaut in den Kartwelsprachen (1982), a detailed comparative analysis of the Kartvelian phonological and morphophonological system, with a reconstruction of resonants and ablaut alternations in Proto-Kartvelian and their typological evaluation; and Alice C. Harris, Diachronic Syntax: The Kartvelian Case (1985). A.G. anidze, Osnovy gruzinskoj grammatiki, vol. 1 (1953), is a comprehensive exposition (in Georgian) of the structure of modern Georgian. An account of the Georgian sound system is given in G.S. Axvlediani, Osnovy obcej fonetiki (1949), in Georgian. A detailed descriptive analysis of the Svan verb system according to dialects is found in V.T. Topuria, Svanuri ena, vol. 1, Zmna (1931), in Georgian with a Russian summary. Additional works include Dee Ann Holisky, Aspect and Georgian Medial Verbs (1981); and T.V. Gamkrelidze, Alphabetic Writing and the Old Georgian Script (1994; originally published in Georgian, 1989), a typology of alphabetic writing and the question of the origin of the Georgian alphabet as a national Christian script. Thomas V. Gamkrelidze The Editors of the Encyclopdia Britannica North Caucasian languages P.K. Uslar, Etnografiia Kavkaza: IAzykoznanie, 6 vol. in 3 (188796), and a more recent volume, published from the author's manuscript, vol. 7 (1979), contains descriptive grammars of the individual North Caucasian languages. A. Tschikobava, Die ibero-kaukasischen Gebirgssprachen und der heutige Stand ihrer Erforschung in Georgien, Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae, 9:109161 (1959), a brief survey of the North Caucasian languages, includes an extensive bibliography. N. Trubetzkoy, Nordkaukasische Wortgleichungen, Wiener Zeitschrift fr die Kunde des Morgenlandes, vol. 37 (1930), pp. 7992, establishes sets of sound correspondences between the West and East Caucasian languages and deals with the history of their consonantism. Georges Dumzil, tudes comparatives sur les langues caucasiennes du nord-ouest (morphologie) (1932), offers a comparative analysis of the grammatical structure of the Abkhazo-Adyghian languages. A.H. Kuipers, Phoneme and Morpheme in Kabardian (East Adyghe) (1960), analyzes in detail the phonemic structure of morphemes in Kabardian and includes a typological comparison with other linguistic systems. W.S. Allen, Structure and System in the Abaza Verbal Complex, Transactions of the Philological Society (1956), pp. 127176, comprehensively analyzes the verb structure in Abaza.Two essays by Alf Sommerfelt in Norsk Tidsskrift for Sprogvidenskap, tudes comparatives sur le caucasique du Nord-ouest, 7:178210 (1934), and tudes comparatives . . . Nord-est, 9:115143 (1938), compare the sound systems of the Nakh languages. Henricus Joannes Smeets, Studies in West Circassian Phonology and Morphology (1984); John Colarusso, The Northwest Caucasian Languages: A Phonological Survey (1988), and A Grammar of the Kabardian Languages (1992); and Martin Haspelmath, A Grammar of Lezgian (1993). T.E. Gudava, Konsonantizm andiiskikh iaazykov (1964), reconstructs the original consonant system of the Avar-Andi-Dido languages. B.K. Gigineishvili, Sravnitel'naia fonetika dagestanskikh iazykov (1977), presents a comparative phonetic study of Dagestanian languages. Two essays in N.I. Konrad et al. (eds.), IAzyki Azii i Afriki, vol. 3, IAzyki drevnei Perednei Azii (nesemitskie) (1979), are also of interest: E.A. Bokarev, Dagestanskie iazyki, pp. 161172; and M.A. Kumakhov and A.K. Shagirov, Abkhazo-adygskie iazyki, pp. 133160. T.E. Gudava North Caucasian languages The North Caucasian languages are divided into two groups: Abkhazo-Adyghian, or the Northwest Caucasian, languages, and Nakho-Dagestanian, or the Northeast Caucasian, languages. T.E. Gudava Abkhazo-Adyghian languages The Abkhazo-Adyghian group consists of the Abkhaz, Abaza, Adyghian, Kabardian, and Ubykh languages. Adyghians and Kabardians are often considered members of a larger, Circassian group. Abkhaz, with about 90,000 speakers, is spoken in Abkhazia (the southern slopes of the western Greater Caucasus, Georgia). The other languages are spread over the northern slopes of the western Greater Caucasus. Abazians, who numbered some 20,000 in the Soviet census of 1989, live in Karachay-Cherkessia; Adyghians (120,000), in Adygea; Kabardians (380,000) dwell mainly in Kabardino-Balkaria. Both Adyghians and Kabardians call themselves adge. The Ubykh language, now extinct, was formerly found to the north of the area where Abkhaz is spoken, in the vicinity of Tuapse, Russia. In 1864 Ubykhians as well as a substantial part of the Abkhaz- and Adyghe-speaking population migrated to Turkey, where before long they lost their native tongue. The total number of people speaking Abkhazo-Adyghian languages is about 610,000. Many speakers of Abkhazo-Adyghian languages live in the countries of the Middle EastTurkey, Syria, Jordan, and Iraq. All Abkhazo-Adyghian languages, with the exception of Ubykh, are written. From the dialectological point of view, the Abkhazo-Adyghian languages are not widely differentiated, the differences being mainly of phonetic character. In Abkhaz two dialects are distinguished; Adyghian and Kabardian differentiate four dialects each. Abkhaz and Abaza are very close to each other and are considered by some scholars to be dialects of the same language. The same kind of affinity exists between Adyghian and Kabardian. Ubykh occupies an intermediate position between the Abkhaz-Abaza and Adyghe-Kabardian languages.