North Caucasian languages

The North Caucasian languages, sometimes called simply Caucasic, is a proposed language family consisting of a pair of well established language families spoken in the Caucasus, predominantly in the north, consisting of the Northwest Caucasian family (also called Pontic, Abkhaz–Adyghe, Circassian, or West Caucasian) and the Northeast Caucasian family (also called Nakh–Dagestanian, Caspian or East Caucasian). There are some 34 to 38 distinct North Caucasian languages. The Kartvelian languages, including Georgian, Zan and Svan, were once known as South Caucasian. However, they are no longer considered related to the North Caucasian languages and are classified as an independent language family. Some linguists, notably Sergei Starostin and Sergei Nikolaev, believe that the two groups sprang from a common ancestor about five thousand years BCE. 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). 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): Abkhazo-Adyghean languages (Northwest Caucasian languages) Hattic language Nakh–Daghestanian languages (Northeast Caucasian languages) Nakh language Hurro-Urartian languages Hurrian language Urartian language Daghestanian Avar–Andi–Dido Lezgian language Lak–Dargwa The main perceived similarities between the two phyla lie in their phonological systems. However, their grammars are quite different.