| North Caucasian | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Caucasic | |||
| (controversial) | |||
| Geographic distribution | Caucasus | ||
| Linguistic classification | Proposedlanguage family | ||
| Subdivisions | |||
| Language codes | |||
| ISO 639-5 | ccn | ||
| Glottolog | None | ||
 North Caucasian languages
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TheNorth Caucasian languages, sometimes called simplyCaucasic, is a proposed language family consisting of a pair of well establishedlanguage families spoken in theCaucasus, predominantly inthe north, consisting of theNorthwest Caucasian family (also calledWest Caucasian,Abkhazo–Adyghean,Abkhazo–Circassian,Circassian,North Pontic orPontic) and theNortheast Caucasian family (also calledEast Caucasian,Nakh–Dagestani,North Caspian orCaspian). There are some 34 to 38 distinct North Caucasian languages.[citation needed]
TheKartvelian languages, including Georgian, Zan and Svan, were once known asSouth Caucasian. However, they are no longer considered related to the North Caucasian languages and are classified as an independent language family.
Some linguists, notablySergei Starostin andSergei Nikolaev, believe that the two groups sprang from a common ancestor about five thousand years BCE.[1] However, this proposal is difficult to evaluate, and remains controversial.
North Caucasian has also been given in an automated computational analysis (ASJP 4) by Müller et al. (2013).[2] However, since the analysis was automatically generated, Müller et al. (2013) does not conclude whether the grouping is due to mutual lexical borrowing or genetic inheritance.
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):
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The main perceived similarities between the two phyla lie in their phonological systems. However, their grammars are quite different.
Both phyla are characterised by high levels ofphonetic complexity, including the widespread usage ofsecondary articulation.Ubykh (Northwest) has 84consonants, andArchi (Northeast) is thought to have 76.
A list of possiblecognates has been proposed. However, most of them may beloanwords or simply coincidences, since most of themorphemes in both phyla are quite short (often just a single consonant).
The Northeast Caucasian languages are characterised by great morphological complexity in thenoun. For example, inTsez, a series oflocative cases intersect with a series ofsuffixes designating motion with regard to the location, producing an array of 126 locative suffixes (often – depending on the analysis – described asnoun cases).
By contrast, the Northwest Caucasian noun systems are relatively poor in nominal morphology, usually distinguishing just two or three cases. However, they make up for it by possessing a very complexverbal structure: thesubject, thedirect object, theindirect object,benefactive objects and most local functions are expressed in the verb.
| Personal pronouns[4] | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Person | Northeast Caucasian[5] | PNWC[1] | PNC[1] | ||||
| PN | PDL | PLK | PAAT | PNEC | |||
| 1sg | *su- | *du | *zʷə- | dVpal | *zʷə- | *sA | *zoː |
| 2sg | *ħu- | *ħʷə | *ʁʷə- | dVlab/mV | *ʁʷə- | *wA | *u̯oː/*ʁwVː |
| 1pl-i | *way[6] | *-χːa | *χːə- | *iλiː | *łiː- (?) | *šʲə/tːa/χːa[7] | *Läː |
| 1pl-e | *tχu-[8] | *žu | *žʲə | *išiː | *z⇨ʲə- | *ži | |
| 2pl | *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; i =inclusive, e = exclusive
| Number | PNEC (S) | PNEC (N) | PNWC (Ch) | PNWC (Co) | PNC (S) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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: PNEC (S) = Schulze, PNEC (N) = Nichols, PNWC (Ch) = Chirikba, PNWC (Co) = Colarusso, PNC (S) = Starostin & Nikolayev
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.[9]
The proposedNorth Caucasian language family comprises theNortheast andNorthwest Caucasian language families. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Northwest (Pontic) |
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| Northeast (Caspian) |
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Italics indicateextinct languages | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
