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'North Caucasian languages' is a blanket term for two language phyla spoken chiefly in the north Caucasus and Turkey: the Northwest Caucasian (Pontic, Abkhaz-Adyghe, Circassian) family and the Northeast Caucasian (East Caucasian, Caspian, Nakh-Dagestanian) family; the latter including 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^[1]. However, due to the nature of the languages in question, this proposal is difficult to evaluate, and remains controversial.

Contents

Comparison of the two phyla

Main similarities

Main differences

Criticism

See also

References

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 phonetic complexity, including the widespread usage of secondary articulation. Ubykh (Northwest) has 80 consonants, and Archi (Northeast) is thought to have 76.
A list of possible cognates has been proposed. However, most of them may be loanwords or simply coincidences, since most of the morphemes in both phyla are quite short (often just a single consonant).

Main differences

The Northeast Caucasian languages are characterised by great syntactic complexity in the noun. For example, in Tabasaran, a series of locative cases intersect with a series of suffixes designating motion with regard to the location, producing an array of some 48 locative suffixes (often incorrectly described as noun cases).
By contrast, the Northwest Caucasian noun systems are extremely poor in morphology, usually distinguishing just two or three cases. However, they make up with a very complex verbal structure: the subject, the direct object, the indirect object, benefactive objects and most local functions are expressed in the verb.

Criticism

Not all scholars accept the unity of the North Caucasian languages as proposed by Nikolayev and Starostin, and some who do believe that the two are, or may be, related do not accept the methodology they use. A notable critic of Nikolayev and Starostin's hypothesis is Johanna Nichols^[2].

See also

★ Dene-Caucasian languages

★ South Caucasian languages

★ Languages of the Caucasus

★ Sergei Starostin

References

1. Nikolayev, S., and S. Starostin. 1994 ''North Caucasian Etymological Dictionary''. Moscow: Asterisk Press. Available online.
2. Nichols, J. 1997 Nikolaev and Starostin's ''North Caucasian Etymological Dictionary'' and the Methodology of Long-Range Comparison: an assessment. Paper presented at the 10^th Biennial Non-Slavic Languages (NSL) Conference, Chicago, 8-10 May 1997.