Ibero-Caucasian languages

The term Caucasian languages, the languages of the Caucasus region are summarized that were spoken there before the immigration of Indo-European, Turkic and Semitic populations. There are about 40 Caucasian languages from three language families with a total of about 9 million speakers.

The doctrine of the Caucasian languages is referred to as Caucasian research, Kaukasologie or Caucasian studies, their professional representatives hot Kaukasologen or Kaukasiologen.

3.1 The South Caucasian or Kartvelian languages
3.2 The North West Caucasian or Abkhaz- adygischen languages
3.3 The Northeast Caucasian or nachisch - Dagestani languages

Hurrian and Urartian 4.1 Northeast Caucasian?
4.2 Nostra tables and ent - Caucasian hypothesis
4.3 Hattish

6.1 Georgian alphabet
6.2 Alwanisches Alphabet
6.3 Abkhaz alphabets
6.4 Further Alphabetisierungen

Alternative names

Alternative names for the Caucasian languages are Ibero - caucasian, paläokaukasisch or altkaukasisch; the former term is explained by the Greek word " Iberian " for the residents of the South Caucasus, but it is misleading and uncommon today because of its apparent Bezuges the Iberian Peninsula.

Language Historical Overview

Autochthonous Caucasian languages

About the immigration of speakers of Caucasian languages in the Caucasus area there are no archeological and historical evidence. So you must have been a very long time ago, so the " indigenous " population groups were able to maintain their linguistic identity against subsequent historically documented immigrants Indo-European, Turkic and Semitic origin.

Extinct languages of the Caucasus

Native Caucasian peoples are mentioned in Near Eastern sources since the 12th century BC. Prove inscription finds that east of the then Greek port cities on the Black Sea in the proto -Georgian kingdoms of Colchis and Iberia - probably next to the early form kartwelischer languages - Aramaic and the Aramaic script was used as a lingua franca. Further south, with the center at the Van Lake and the southern extension to northern Syria was of about 1270-612 BC the kingdom of Urartu. In this the related to the Hurrian Urartian was spoken, most Urartian texts have survived in a variant of the Mesopotamian cuneiform.

The languages of the Caucasus

The Caucasus was in ancient times known for its diversity of languages and peoples (documents in Herodotus, Strabo, Pliny, and others). The estimates range 70-360 languages and dialects. The cause of the variability when space is certainly the strong fracturing of the Caucasus region into many small, inaccessible valleys to more than 5000 m high peaks ( Mount Elbrus ) responsible, in which the most diverse groups could retire and so retained their ancestral languages. In addition, the geographical situation for the cleavage of dialects contributes, from which after some time - favored by difficult communication - self languages developed.

Today's linguistic situation in the Caucasus

The Caucasus belonged until 1991 throughout the Soviet Union and after its decay to the states, Russia, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. Apart from the actual Caucasian languages from three language families are spoken today in the Caucasus region: the Indo-European, Turkic and Semitic.

The Indo-European Ossetic is the Armenian, Iranian languages , Kurdish ( Kurmandji ), Zaza, Tat and Talyschisch, the Slavic languages Russian and Ukrainian, and represented the Greek. The Turkic Languages in the Caucasus region are Azerbaijani, Kumyk, Karachay- Balkar and Nogai. The only Semitic language is the neuostaramäische Aisor, which is spoken by about 13,000 people in Georgia and Armenia.

What remains is the 40 indigenous Caucasian languages together with nearly 9 million speakers, at issue exclusively in this article. These languages fall into more than a hundred dialects, the dialects of some Caucasian languages are hardly mutually intelligible, although only a few miles in a straight line between their land difficult to reach villages. The ancient estimates with 300 languages , which appear at first exaggerated, so could have but located close to the truth.

Classification of the Caucasian languages

It is extremely unlikely according to the current state of research, that the Caucasian languages form a genetic unit ( a language family ). The majority of researchers today assume three independent genetic units, or Caucasian language families are denoted as follows:

Kartwelisch or Südkaukasisch
Abkhazian - Adygisch or Nordwestkaukasisch
Nachisch - Dagestanian or Northeast Caucasian

The South Caucasian languages are to the south, the north-west and north-east Caucasian languages spoken mostly north of the running from northwest to southeast Caucasus main ridge.

Some researchers believe the Northwest and Northeast Caucasian in genetic unit " Nordkaukasisch " together. The former often held hypothesis of a unit of all the Caucasian languages is today hardly trailers. Some scientists hold recently even the unity of the Northeast Caucasian languages for questionable and share them on in a nachische and Dagestani family. It follows the classification of the Caucasian languages according to the current state of research in the three language families Südkaukasisch, Nordwestkaukasisch and Northeast Caucasian.

The South Caucasian or Kartvelian languages

Südkaukasisch ( Kartwelisch ) Swanisch ( 35,000 )
Georgian ( 4 million)
Sanisch Laz ( 35,000 )
Mingrelian ( 500,000 )

The North West Caucasian or Abkhaz- adygischen languages

Nordwestkaukasisch ( Abkhazian - Adygisch ) Abkhazian - Abasinisch Abkhazian ( 105,000 )
Abasinisch ( 45,000 )

Circassian Kabardian (East Circassian ) ( 650,000 )
Adyghe (West Circassian ) ( 300,000 )

Ubychisch †

The Northeast Caucasian or nachisch - Dagestani languages

Northeast Caucasian ( Nachisch - Dagestanian ) Nachisch Vejnachisch Chechen ( 1 million)
Ingush ( 230,000 )

Batsisch (3,000)

Avar - Andi - Didoisch Avar Avar ( 600,000 )

Achwachisch (5,000)
Andi (10,000 )
Bagwalalisch (6,000)
Botlichisch (1,000)
Godoberisch (3,000)
Karatinisch (6,000)
Tindisch (5,000)
Tschamalalisch (6,000)

Bezhta (3,000)
Chwarschinisch (2,000)
Hinuchisch (200)
Hunsibisch (2,000)
Tsesisch ( Didoisch ) (15,000 )

Dargin ( 370,000 )
Lakish ( 110,000 )

Samurisch Aghulisch (20,000 )
Lezgian ( 450,000 )
Rutulisch (20,000 )
Tabassaranisch ( 95,000 )
Tsachurisch (20,000 )

Buduchisch (2,000)
Krysisch (6,000)

Udi ( 9000 )

Artschinisch (1,000)

Chinalugisch (1,500)

External Relations of the Caucasian languages

If one assumes the existence of several genetically independent Caucasian language families, are all hypotheses that relate to a relationship with another family of languages , the Caucasian ' as a whole, be excluded a priori. It could be used to reject 90 % of all hypotheses and speculations on external genetic relationships of the Caucasian languages without further discussion. However, to at least some of the more important suggestions here are listed in a table to illuminate the creativity that has been devoted to this subject in the last hundred and fifty years:

Klimov 's opinion on most of these hypotheses: Characteristic features of the mentioned works are insufficient knowledge of the specialized literature, inaccurate recording of the material used, arbitrary classification of lexemes, incorrect reconstruction of preforms, not infrequently, operating with non-real- Circassian language material, ... ( Ref: Klimov, 1994).

The Basque- Caucasian hypothesis finds elsewhere in the reputable kaukasologischen ( Vogt, Dumezil, Deeters ) and baskologischen literature ( Lacombe, Etxaide, Mitxelena ) clear rejection, the Basque etymological dictionary of Löpelmann dispenses completely with the Basque- Caucasian equations (Ref.: Löpelmann, 1968).

Hurrian and Urartian Northeast Caucasian?

Hurrian and Urartian were spoken in a wide area from Iraq to Syria to Turkey and Armenia. Their mutual relationship is now considered confirmed, both have emerged from a common source. I.M. Djakonov presented in 1978 a paper on the relationship of the Hurrian - Urartian (whose genetic unit he had largely occupied) prior to the Northeast Caucasian languages . Some Hurrian - Northeast Caucasian equations Djakonovs ( phonetically simplified Chechen Chechen =. ):

This hypothesis is not yet even considered not unlikely, but as certain. The approach appears promising but, especially as a result of further work on the Proto - North Caucasian and evaluation of previously unrecognized inscription finds the Urartian and Hurrian, the question should be be clarified. This is especially true since is started at the Mitanni capital Washukanni with hoped- rich inscription finds only now to examine this deeper and not only, as previously superficial.

Nostra tables and ent - Caucasian hypothesis

Illich - Svitych and Dolgopolsky since 1964, the main representative of a so-called macro nostra matic family, which is the language families Indo-European, Uralic, Altaic, Kartwelisch, Dravidian (and formerly also Afro-Asiatic ) combine. A recent illustration is Dolgopolsky 1998. These thesis is relevant insofar as the Kartwelische to be a part of this macro family For the Caucasian languages . Dolgopolsky brings a total of 124 tables nostra equations, of which only contain 32 kartwelisches material, many of which are questionable for himself. Citations are usually not reconstructed ur - Kartvelian forms, but today's single linguistic material. So it is very understandable that most of the Kaukasologen nostra matic hypothesis are skeptical to hostile.

Even closer and clearer in the majority of the rejection of the Sino -Caucasian macro family that founded Starostin 1984. He comes from a genetic relationship of the - of the North Caucasian with the Siberian Jenisseischen and the Sino Tibetan, based on his reconstructions of the respective proto- languages - -conceived as a unit. Later this macro family to some ancient oriental components ( Hurrian - Urartian, Hattish others), the Basque and 1988 expanded by Nikolajev to the North American Na - Dene languages to ent - kaukausischen macro family was.

The future will show whether and to what extent is in the nostra matic and ent -Caucasian hypotheses still potential for external relations of the Caucasian languages .

Hattish

Main article: Hattic language

The Hattic ( called by the Hittites hattili ) is the oldest documented by texts language of Anatolia. Its distribution area comprised from the intrusion of Indo-European Hittites, Palaer and Luwians throughout central and northern Anatolia to the Black Sea coast and parts of Cappadocia; it became extinct around 1500 BC as a spoken language.

The Hattic may be with the Northwest Caucasian languages related ( Forrer 1934). However, the secured lexical knowledge of Hatti are so low that it no far-reaching conclusions can be drawn. It could indeed be loanwords. Here is to be seen before definitive conclusions as to whether some cases, additional inscription finds the Hatti and thus more insights into the morphology and lexicon clarify the question of the relationship with Caucasian languages.

Common typological characteristics

Although a genetic unity of all three language families today denied general, there are typological characteristics that are common to all three families own: The presence and uvular consonants ejektiver as well as the grammatical phenomenon of ergativity. These common features, however, also found in many other language groups and may be due in the Caucasian languages on a long-lasting language contact (see also Areal typology ).

Alphabets for Caucasian languages

Georgian alphabet

With the Christianization of the Caucasus region in the 4th to 5th century for the first time the indigenous languages in Armenia, Georgia and Caucasian Albania were recorded in proprietary fonts. For the Georgian - by far the most significant Caucasian written language - three fonts were developed here in the following order: mrglovani ( rounded) or Asomtavruli (uppercase), nusxa - xucuri ( church lowercase) and mxedruli ( warlike ). The former font is no longer used today and the second mentioned only in the liturgical field. Today Georgian is written in the most recent of the three fonts ( Mchedruli alphabet ). In addition, the Georgian script was used until they are replaced by the Arabic script in the 15th century for the Avar.

Alwanisches alphabet

Because of Scripture finds ( palimpsests ) Christian texts in the St. Catherine's Monastery on Mount Sinai in the 1990s and previously known less inscription residues ( eg from Mingechaur ) of the 3rd to the 9th century in the territory of the former Christian, temporarily Armenia conquered Caucasus Kingdom Caucasian Albania (also Alwan, Aluan or Aghwan called ) is likely the oldest Caucasian written language, however, be the Alwanische. This is most likely an early form of Udischen and belongs to the Northeast Caucasian languages . The alwanische font was created due to ( problematic ) Armenian traditions Mesrop Mashtots ( 362-440 ) and may have been used to about the 11th century. The currently not yet fully completed, complete deciphering of this alphabet font will make sure in the coming years an important contribution to the elucidation of the language development of the Northeast Caucasian and its relations to other language families in the Caucasus and beyond.

Abkhaz alphabets

A specially complicated relationship between language and the font used for playback has the Abkhaz. From 1862 a specially developed for the Abkhazian writing of the Russians Peter of Uslar was used. In 1909 a further 55 characters was used separate comprehensive font, which was then replaced in 1926 by the complicated 75 -character alphabet of Georgia and Scots Nikolai Marr. Two years later, the Latin alphabet was introduced and then 1936-1938 the Georgian script. Since 1954, Abkhazian was written in Cyrillic script. Currently being considered because of the obvious shortcomings to play all Abkhaz sounds the reintroduction of the Latin alphabet.

More Alphabetisierungen

In addition to these languages further ten Caucasian languages have been developed to written languages , all but only in the 19th or 20th century. The Georgian alphabet, as well as Arabic, Hebrew ( for Judeo - Georgian), Latin and Cyrillic alphabets were used for the textualization of these languages.

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