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Atlas of the Caucasian Languages
with Language Guide
In series: Linguarium - ATLAS of the LANGUAGES of the WORLD (ALW)

WHAT IS CAUCASIA?

The region of Caucasia (or Caucasus), on the border of Europe and Asia, is bisected by the towering Caucasus Mountains (up to 5,642 metres). The area to the north, known as the North Caucasus, is characterized by gently sloping plains ending in low, marshy steppes. The North Caucasus, historically called Ciscaucasia, is part of Russia. The southern and larger part of Caucasia, Transcaucasia, features a more rugged terrain crossed by chains of mountains running parallel to the central range of the Caucasus Mountains. This region includes such countries as Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan - formerly republics within the Soviet Union - and also the north-east part of Turkey.

Caucasian languages

Languages of CAUCASIA

There are many languages spoken in the region including Indo-European (Armenian, Ossetic, Russian, Tat, Kurdish, Greek), Altaic (Turkish, Karachay-Balkar, Kumyk, Azerbaijani, Nogai) and Afro-Asiatic (Neo-Aramaic). But there are also languages not included into the language families listed. Thus the term Caucasian languages as used here includes groups of languages indigenous to the Caucasus region, that have not been affiliated with any of the major language families (such as Indo-European, Altaic and Afro-Asiatic). The Caucasian languages are also referred to as Paleo-Caucasian languages.

INNER GROUPING

Within the Caucasian languages, most scholars accept the following grouping: South Caucasian (Kartvelian), Northwest Caucasian (Abkhaz-Adyghe), and Northeast Caucasian (Nakh-Dagestanic). Previously the point of view was popular (especially in Soviet linguistics) that all Caucasian languages are genetically related and form the so called Ibero-Caucasian family. But, recent comparative studies show that only genetic relationships between Northwest and Northeast Caucasian seem to be proved, and the interrelationship between North and South Caucasian is still 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 should be definitely viewed as separate language families.

AFFILIATION

The genetic relationship between the Caucasian languages and any languages outside the Caucasus is hard to prove. Attempts have been made to relate Caucasian genetically with Semitic, Indo-European, Burushaski, Sumerian, Basque. A more promising relationship appears to be when comparing separate groups of Caucasian languages. Those are Abkhaz-Adyghe-Hattic and Nakh-Dagestanic-Hurrian hypotheses. Finally in modern macro-comparative theories North Caucasian is included in Sino-Caucasian (with Sino-Tibetan and Yenisei) or Dene-Caucasian (also Na-Dene) macrofamilies and Kartvelian is viewed as a part of Nostratic macrofamily within which it is possibly close to Indo-European.

Region of Caucasia

Administrative division of the region

Russian part of Caucasia is divided into 9 primary administrative units: 2 krays (territories, with a dominant Russian population): Krasnodar and Stavropol; and 7 republics (former autonomous republics & autonomous regions, with considerable proportion of non-Russian population): Adygea, Chechnya, Dagestan, Ingushetia, Kabardino-Balkaria, Karachay-Cherkessia, and North Ossetia. Each region is subdivided into rayons (districts, or sectors). Rayon is also a basic administrative division in Azerbaijan and Georgia. Though in the latter there are at least one (autonomous) republic – Adjaria – and two de facto independent republics – Abkhazia and South Ossetia (see below). The primary administrative unit in Turkey is il (province; formerly vilayet), then the ilзe (sub-province; formerly kaza), then the bucak (district; formerly nahiye). Each il has its central (merkez) ilзe (the provincial capital and its surroundings) as well as each ilзe has its central bucak.

DISPUTED areas

The several regions in Caucasia are still of indefinite status. The principal areas are:

Abkhazia (Apsny). Formerly an autonomous republic within Georgian SSR, now de facto independent. When Georgia became independent in 1991 it abolished autonomy of Abkhazia. It led to a civil war after which Abkhazs controlled much of the territory except the Kodori gorge where Svan is spoken. In 1989, the population was 525,000, of which Abkhaz was spoken by 17.8%, Georgian, Megrelian and Svan – 45.7%, and other languages (Russian, Armenian, Greek) – 36.5%. Most Georgians and other non-Abkhaz fled after the war.

South Ossetia (Xussar Iryston). Formerly an autonomous region within Georgian SSR. When Georgia became independent in 1991 it abolished this autonomy too. Fights began and now Ossetes control much of the territory except Ksani (Akhalgori) rayon in south-east. Before the fights, the population was 99,000 of which Ossetic was spoken by 66% and Georgian by 28%. Many Georgians fled to Georgia and Ossetes to North Ossetia.

POPULATION, NATIONAL LANGUAGES AND BILINGUALISM

The following table gives population figures (in thousands) for the main regions where Caucasian languages are spoken, and also capitals and official languages of those regions. Figures in the first column (1989) are based on data of the last Soviet census in 1989. Figures in the next column are taken from the CIA World Factbook 2001.

Table 1. Population (in thousands), capitals and official languages of regions in Caucasia. 

Region	1989	2001	Capital	Official languages
Russia	148,041	145,470	(Moscow)	Russian
Krasnodar territory	4,621		Krasnodar
Stavropol territory	2,410		Stavropol’
Adygea	432		Maykop	+W.Circassian
Chechnya	1,290		Groznyy	+Chechen
Ingushetia			Magas	+Ingush
Dagestan	1,823		Makhachkala	+13 written languages
Kabardino-Balkaria	768		Nal’chik	+Kabardian, Balkar
Karachay-Cherkessia	417		Cherkessk	+Cherkes, Karachay, Abaza, Noghay
North Ossetia	768		Vladikavkaz	+Ossetic
Georgia	5,401	4,989	Tbilisi	Georgian
Abkhazia			Sukhumi	Abkhaz, Russian
Adjaria			Batumi	(Georgian)
South Ossetia			Tskhinvali	Ossetic
Azerbaijan	7,021	7,771	(Baku)	Azerbaijani
Turkey		66,494	(Ankara)	Turkish

 Bilingualism in national languages is not indicated in the Guide since almost all population of a country is bilingual in its national language. Russian is also a common lingua franca in the whole area except Turkey.

WRITING & TRANSCRIPTION

Until 2002, 20 Caucasian languages were currently written and 2 languages were written once in the past. Of those:

• 2 languages are «old-written»: Georgian (since 5 c.) and Agvan (5-8 cc.). Both use(d) original scripts developed especially for these languages.
• 11 languages are so-called «young-written» – they are regularly written since the late 19^th – early 20^th cc. and many of them (at least 7) were sporadically written in Arabic script from the late Middle Ages. During 20^th c. all of them developed its own formal standard (or literary form) which are used in school-teaching and in writing.
• 4 languages are so-called «new-written» – writing for them was introduced only in 1990s. 3 of them (exc. Agul) were written in 1920-30s but later writing was abandoned and only now they have become more or less regularly written.

Table 2. Scripts used by Caucasian languages (year of introduction (or creating) of writing is given).

language	code	Arabic script	Roman script	Cyrillic script	Georgian script
old-written
Georgian	2-d				since 5 c.
Agvan	1BF-i	Agvan script 5-8 cc.
young-written
W.Circassian	1A-aa	1918 (spor. 19 c.)	1927 (att. 1980s)	1937 (spor. 19 c.)
Kabardian	1A-ab	1920	1923 (att. 1980s)	1936
Abaza	1A-cc		1926	1938
Abkhaz	1A-ca		1926	1862, 1954	1938
Chechen	1BA-ac	1918 (spor. 19 c.)	1925 (att. 1990s)	1938
Ingush	1BA-aa	1918 (spor. 19 c.)	1923	1938
Avar	1BB-a	1918 (spor. 15 c.)	1928 (att. 1990s)	1938	spor. 10-14cc.
Dargwa	1BE-a	1918 (spor. 16 c.)	1928	1938
Kaitak	1BE-h	(spor. 14 c.)
Lak	1BD-a	1918 (spor. 15 c.)	1928	1938
Lezgi	1BF-f	1918 (spor. 19 c.)	1928	1938
Tabasaran	1BF-e		1928	1938
transitional
Mingrelian	2-a			(spor. 1860s)	1920-33, (spor. 1990s)
Udi	1BF-j		(att. late 1990s)	1935-36, att. 1990s
Rutul	1BF-c		1928	1938-40, 1992
Tsakhur	1BF-b		1928 (att. 1990s)	1938-40, 1992
new-written
Agul	1BF-d			1992
Andi	1BB-b			att. 1992
Dido	1BC-b			att. 1993
Laz	2-b		1984

Abbreviations: att. - attempts in; spor. – sporadically since.

 In table 3 examples of some alphabets and transcriptions for Caucasian languages are given.

Explanations of headers:

• ACL – transcription used in this edition for transliteration from languages which don’t used Roman script.
• IPA – transcription proposed by International Phonetic Association.
• other – other variants of transcriptions used in works concerning Caucasian languages.
• Kabardian – Latinized Circassian Alphabet proposed by Amjad Jaimoukha from Jordan [Jamoukha 2000].
• Chechen – Latin script which tried to adopt in Chechnya in 1997.
• Laz – alphabets used now for Laz language by some intellectuals with slight variations.
• Lezgi – Latin alphabet used for Lezgi in 1928-38.
• Other columns show Cyrillic alphabets currently used for languages indicated.

 Table 3. Comparative table of Caucasian alphabets and transcriptions. (in pdf format)

Bibliography

1. Dalby, D. Linguasphere Register of the World's Languages and Speech Communities. Vol. 1-2. Hebron, 2000
2. Jamoukha A. Latinized Circassian Alphabet. 2000. http://www.geocities.com/Eureka/Enterprises/2493/latkab.html
3. Nikolaev, S.L., & Starostin S.A. A North Caucasian etymological dictionary. Moscow, 1994
4. Starostin S.A. An International Etymological Database Project. 2002. http://starling.rinet.ru/

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Mastered by: Yuri Koryakov

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Created on January, 16, 2003 ¦ Last updated on Jan, 11, 2008 15:13