Ibero-Caucasian languages

Ibero-Caucasian languages

Infobox Language family
name=Ibero-Caucasian
altname=
region=Caucasus
familycolor=Caucasian
family=
child1=Northwest Caucasian
child2=Northeast Caucasian
child3=South Caucasian
The term Ibero-Caucasian (or Iberian-Caucasian) was proposed by Georgian linguist Arnold Chikobava for the union of the three language families that are specific to the Caucasus area, namely

* South Caucasian (Kartvelian)
* Northwest Caucasian, also called Abkhaz/Adygh or Circassian;
* Northeast Caucasian, now called Nakh-Dagestanian.

The Northeast family is assumed to include the Nakh languages (Batsbi, Chechen, and Ingush), which were formerly classified as a separate North-central Caucasian family.

The Ibero-Caucasian group would also include three extinct languages: Hattic, which has been connected by some linguists to the Northwest (Circassian) family, and Hurrian and Urartian, which have been connected to the Northeast (Nakh-Dagestanian) family. See the articles on the two families for more discussion.

Family status

The affinities between the three families above are still disputed. A connection between the Northeast and Northwest phyla is seen as likely by many linguists; see the article on the North Caucasian languages for details.

On the other hand, there are no known affinities between South Caucasian and the northern languages, which are two unrelated phyla even in Greenberg's deep classification of the world's languages. "Ibero-Caucasian" therefore remains at best a convenient geographical designation, not a linguistic phylum.

Family name

The "Iberian" in the family name refers to Caucasian Iberia — a kingdom centered in Eastern Georgia which lasted from the 4th century BC to the 5th century AD, and is not related to the Iberian Peninsula.

ee also

* Chikobava Institute of Linguistics
* Languages of the Caucasus

Main research centers

* [http://www.acnet.ge/ike.htm Chikobava Institute of Linguistics] of the Georgian Academy of Sciences (Tbilisi).
* [http://lingua1.phil.uni-jena.de/ssm/ Department of Caucasiology] at the University of Jena (Germany).
* [http://www.tsu.edu.ge/eng/faculties_e/10e.htm Faculty of Philology] at the Tbilisi State University (Tbilisi).

Main publications

* "The Yearbook of the Iberian-Caucasian Linguistics" (Tbilisi).
* "Revue de Kartvelologie et Caucasologie" (Paris).


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать курсовую

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Caucasian languages — Group of languages spoken in the Caucasus region that are not members of any language families spoken elsewhere in the world. Caucasian languages, spoken by some nine million people, are divided into three subgroups: the South Caucasian, or… …   Universalium

  • South Caucasian languages — Infobox Language family name=South Caucasian altname= Kartvelian region=South Caucasus, Anatolia familycolor=Caucasian family=One of the world s primary language families child1=Georgian child2=Zan *Mingrelian *Laz child3=Svan iso2=cauThe South… …   Wikipedia

  • Languages of the Caucasus — The 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. Linguistic comparison allows these …   Wikipedia

  • Languages of the Balkans — This is a list of languages spoken in the Balkans. With the exception of several Turkic languages, Hungarian, and Circassian, all of them belong to the Indo European family. A subset of these languages are notable for forming a well studied… …   Wikipedia

  • Caucasian Albania — This region should not be confused with modern day Albania in south eastern Europe.Caucasian Albania (in hy. Աղվանք = Aghvank V. Minorsky. Caucasica IV. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Vol. 15, No. 3 …   Wikipedia

  • The Languages of the Peoples of the USSR — ( ru. Языки народов СССР) is a scholar work in five volumes published in Moscow in 1967 by Nauka to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution, describing the languages of the Soviet Union in individual chapters.#Indo European… …   Wikipedia

  • Lenguas íbero-caucásicas — Distribución geográfica: Cáucaso Países:  Georgia …   Wikipedia Español

  • Arnold Chikobava — Arnold Stepanovich Chikobava ( ka. არნოლდ ჩიქობავა) (March 14, 1898 November 5, 1985) was a Georgian linguist and philologist best known as for his contributions to the Caucasian studies as well as one of the most active critics of Nicholas Marr… …   Wikipedia

  • List of Georgia (country)-related articles — Articles (arranged alphabetically) related to Georgia include: NOTOC 0 9 .ge A Abasha Abashidze, Aslan Abdushelishvili, Malkhaz Abkhaz alphabet Abkhaz language Abkhazi, Kote Abkhazia Abkhazian Regional Academy of Sciences Abkhazians Abo Tbileli… …   Wikipedia

  • Chinese Library Classification — The Chinese Library Classification (中国图书馆分类法 CLC), also known as Classification for Chinese Libraries (CCL), is effectively the national library classification scheme in China. It is used in almost all primary and secondary schools, universities …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”