North Caucasian languages
Encyclopedia
North Caucasian languages (sometimes called simply Caucasic as opposed to Kartvelian, and to avoid confusion with the concept of "Caucasian race
") is a blanket term for two language phyla
spoken chiefly in the north Caucasus
and Turkey
: the Northwest Caucasian
family (Pontic, Abkhaz–Adyghe, Circassian, West Caucasian) and the Northeast Caucasian
family (Caspian, Nakh–Dagestanian, East Caucasian); the latter includes the former North-central Caucasian (Nakh) family.
Many linguists, notably Sergei Starostin
and Sergei Nikolayev, believe that the two groups sprang from a common ancestor about five thousand years ago. However, this proposal is difficult to evaluate, and remains controversial.
There are approximately 34 to 38 distinct living or extinct North Caucasian languages.
complexity, including the widespread usage of secondary articulation
. Ubykh
(Northwest) has 84 consonant
s, and Archi
(Northeast) is thought to have 76.
A list of possible cognates has been proposed. However, most of them may be loanword
s or simply coincidences, since most of the morpheme
s in both phyla are quite short (often just a single consonant).
. For example, in Tsez
, a series of locative case
s intersect with a series of suffix
es designating motion with regard to the location, producing an array of 126 locative suffixes (often – depending on the analysis – described as noun cases).
By contrast, the Northwest Caucasian noun systems are relatively poor in morphology, usually distinguishing just two or three cases. However, they make up with a very complex verb
al structure: the subject
, the direct object, the indirect object, benefactive objects and most local functions are expressed in the verb.
Abbreviations: PN = Proto-Nakh, PDL = Proto-Dargi-Lak, PLK = Proto-Lezgic-Khinalugh, PAAT = Proto-Avar–Andic–Tsezic, PNEC = Proto-Northeast Caucasian, PNWC = Proto-Northwest Caucasian, PNC = Proto-North Caucasian
Abbreviations: (N) = Nichols, (S) = Schulze, (C) = Colarusso
Caucasian race
The term Caucasian race has been used to denote the general physical type of some or all of the populations of Europe, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, Western Asia , Central Asia and South Asia...
") is a blanket term for two language phyla
Language family
A language family is a group of languages related through descent from a common ancestor, called the proto-language of that family. The term 'family' comes from the tree model of language origination in historical linguistics, which makes use of a metaphor comparing languages to people in a...
spoken chiefly in the north Caucasus
Caucasus
The Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia , is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea...
and Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
: the Northwest Caucasian
Northwest Caucasian languages
The Northwest Caucasian languages, also called Abkhazo-Adyghean, or sometimes Pontic as opposed to Caspian for the Northeast Caucasian languages, are a group of languages spoken in the Caucasus region, chiefly in Russia , the disputed territory of Abkhazia, and Turkey, with smaller communities...
family (Pontic, Abkhaz–Adyghe, Circassian, West Caucasian) and the Northeast Caucasian
Northeast Caucasian languages
The Northeast Caucasian languages constitute a language family spoken in the Russian republics of Dagestan, Chechnya, Ingushetia, northern Azerbaijan, and in northeastern Georgia, as well as in diaspora populations in Russia, Turkey, and the Middle East...
family (Caspian, Nakh–Dagestanian, East Caucasian); the latter includes the former North-central Caucasian (Nakh) family.
Many linguists, notably Sergei Starostin
Sergei Starostin
Dr. Sergei Anatolyevich Starostin was a Russian historical linguist and scholar, best known for his work with hypothetical proto-languages, including his work on the reconstruction of the Proto-Borean language, the controversial theory of Altaic languages and the formulation of the Dené–Caucasian...
and Sergei Nikolayev, believe that the two groups sprang from a common ancestor about five thousand years ago. However, this proposal is difficult to evaluate, and remains controversial.
There are approximately 34 to 38 distinct living or extinct North Caucasian languages.
Internal classification
Among the linguists who support the North Caucasian hypothesis, the main split between Northeast Caucasian and Northwest Caucasian is considered uncontroversial. Problems arise when it gets to the internal structure of Northeast Caucasian itself. So far no general agreement has been reached in this respect. The following classification is based on Nikolayev & Starostin (1994):- Abkhazo-Adyghean
- Hattic
- Nakh–Daghestanian
- Nakh
- Hurro-Urartian
- Daghestanian
- Avar–Andi–Dido
- Lak–Dargwa
- Lezgic
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Comparison of the two phyla
The main perceived similarities between the two phyla lie in their phonological systems. However, their grammars are quite different.Main similarities
Both phyla are characterised by high levels of phoneticPhonetics
Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that comprises the study of the sounds of human speech, or—in the case of sign languages—the equivalent aspects of sign. It is concerned with the physical properties of speech sounds or signs : their physiological production, acoustic properties, auditory...
complexity, including the widespread usage of secondary articulation
Secondary articulation
Secondary articulation refers to co-articulated consonants where the two articulations are not of the same manner. The approximant-like secondary articulation is weaker than the primary, and colors it rather than obscuring it...
. Ubykh
Ubykh language
Ubykh or Ubyx is an extinct language of the Northwestern Caucasian group, spoken by the Ubykh people...
(Northwest) has 84 consonant
Consonant
In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract. Examples are , pronounced with the lips; , pronounced with the front of the tongue; , pronounced with the back of the tongue; , pronounced in the throat; and ,...
s, and Archi
Archi language
Archi is a Northeast Caucasian language spoken by the 1,200 Archis in the village of Archib, southern Dagestan, Russia and the six surrounding smaller villages...
(Northeast) is thought to have 76.
A list of possible cognates has been proposed. However, most of them may be loanword
Loanword
A loanword is a word borrowed from a donor language and incorporated into a recipient language. By contrast, a calque or loan translation is a related concept where the meaning or idiom is borrowed rather than the lexical item itself. The word loanword is itself a calque of the German Lehnwort,...
s or simply coincidences, since most of the morpheme
Morpheme
In linguistics, a morpheme is the smallest semantically meaningful unit in a language. The field of study dedicated to morphemes is called morphology. A morpheme is not identical to a word, and the principal difference between the two is that a morpheme may or may not stand alone, whereas a word,...
s in both phyla are quite short (often just a single consonant).
Main differences
The Northeast Caucasian languages are characterised by great morphological complexity in the nounNoun
In linguistics, a noun is a member of a large, open lexical category whose members can occur as the main word in the subject of a clause, the object of a verb, or the object of a preposition .Lexical categories are defined in terms of how their members combine with other kinds of...
. For example, in Tsez
Tsez language
Tsez, also known as Dido is a Northeast Caucasian language with about 15,354 speakers spoken by the Tsez, a Muslim people in the mountainous Tsunta district of southern and western Dagestan in Russia. The name is said to derive from the Tsez word for "eagle", which is most likely a folk etymology...
, a series of locative case
Locative case
Locative is a grammatical case which indicates a location. It corresponds vaguely to the English prepositions "in", "on", "at", and "by"...
s intersect with a series of suffix
Suffix
In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns or adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs...
es designating motion with regard to the location, producing an array of 126 locative suffixes (often – depending on the analysis – described as noun cases).
By contrast, the Northwest Caucasian noun systems are relatively poor in morphology, usually distinguishing just two or three cases. However, they make up with a very complex verb
Verb
A verb, from the Latin verbum meaning word, is a word that in syntax conveys an action , or a state of being . In the usual description of English, the basic form, with or without the particle to, is the infinitive...
al structure: the subject
Subject (grammar)
The subject is one of the two main constituents of a clause, according to a tradition that can be tracked back to Aristotle and that is associated with phrase structure grammars; the other constituent is the predicate. According to another tradition, i.e...
, the direct object, the indirect object, benefactive objects and most local functions are expressed in the verb.
Some comparisons
| Personal pronouns | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Person | Northeast Caucasian | PNWC | PNC | ||||
| PN | PDL | PLK | PAAT | PNEC | |||
| 1 | *su- | *du | *zʷə- | dVpal | *zʷə- | *sA | *zoː |
| 2 | *ħu- | *ħʷə | *ʁʷə- | dVlab/mV | *ʁʷə- | *wA | *u̯oː/*ʁwVː |
| 4i | *way | *-χːa | *χːə- | *iλiː | *łiː- (?) | *šʲə/tːa/χːa | *Läː |
| 4e | *tχu- | *žu | *žʲə | *išiː | *z⇨ʲə- | *ži | |
| 5 | *šu- | *-šːa/zu | *žʷə | *bišːdi | *z⇨ʷə- | *sʷV | *źwe |
Abbreviations: PN = Proto-Nakh, PDL = Proto-Dargi-Lak, PLK = Proto-Lezgic-Khinalugh, PAAT = Proto-Avar–Andic–Tsezic, PNEC = Proto-Northeast Caucasian, PNWC = Proto-Northwest Caucasian, PNC = Proto-North Caucasian
| Number | PNEC (S) | PNEC (N) | PNWC (S) | PNWC (C) | PNC |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | *c(h)a | #c(ʕ)V | *za | *cHǝ̆ | |
| 2 | *qʷ’a | *t’qʷ’a | *t’q’o | *q̇Hwǟ | |
| 3 | *ɬeb (?) | *λ:ə | *(y-)x̂ə/a | *ƛHĕ | |
| 4 | *əmq(ʷ)’i | *p’λ’a | *hĕmq̇ɨ | ||
| 5 | *x̂ʷə | #(W)=ƛƛi/ƛƛwi | *sx̂ʷə | *(w-/y-)ćx̂ə | *f_ɦä̆ |
| 6 | *renɬə- | *ɬʷə | *(w-)x̂cə | *ʔrǟnƛ_E | |
| 7 | *u̯ərδ (?) | *bδə | *ʡĕrŁ_ɨ̆ | ||
| 8 | *mbərδ | --- | *(w-/y-)ɣə/a | *bǖnŁ_e (˜-a) | |
| 9 | *wərč’ | *bğʷʲə | *-ɣə́ | *ʔĭlć̣wɨ | |
| 10 | *wəc’ | *bć’ʷə | *(p-/w-)źə́/źá | *ʡĕnc̣Ĕ |
Abbreviations: (N) = Nichols, (S) = Schulze, (C) = Colarusso
Criticism
Not all scholars accept the unity of the North Caucasian languages, and some who do believe that the two are, or may be, related do not accept the methodology used by Nikolayev and Starostin.See also
- Dené–Caucasian languages
- Languages of the CaucasusLanguages of the CaucasusThe languages of the Caucasus are a large and extremely varied array of languages spoken by more than ten million people in and around the Caucasus Mountains, which lie between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea....
- South Caucasian languagesSouth Caucasian languagesThe Kartvelian languages are spoken primarily in Georgia, with a large group of ethnic Georgian speakers in Russia, the United States, the European Union, and northeastern parts of Turkey. There are approximately 5.2 million speakers of this language family worldwide.It is not known to be related...