Are Caucasian languages related?
Are Caucasian languages related?
The exact genetic relationships of the Caucasian languages are still unclear on many points, not only in regard to interrelationships of the three major groups but also to some internal groupings.
Are Caucasian languages related to Indo-European?
Connections to Indo-European It has been conjectured that the North-West Caucasian languages may be genetically related to the Indo-European family, at a time depth of perhaps 12,000 years before the present. This hypothesised proto-language is called Proto-Pontic, but is not widely accepted.
What is the difference between a sister language and a cousin language?
What is a SISTER LANGUAGE? A language that is on the same branch as another. What is a COUSIN LANGUAGE? A language on another branch, but within the same family.
What language is Caucasian from?
Caucasian Language Families
| Northwest Caucasian language family | ||
|---|---|---|
| Andi | 10,000 | Dagestan |
| Northeast Caucasian language family | ||
| Georgian | 4.1 million | Georgia |
| Mingrelian | 500,000 | Georgia |
What is the North Caucasian family of languages?
Linguists such as Sergei Starostin see the Northeast (Nakh-Dagestanian) and Northwest (Abkhaz–Adyghe) families as related and propose uniting them in a single North Caucasian family, sometimes called Caucasic or simply Caucasian. This theory excludes the South Caucasian languages, thereby proposing two indigenous language families.
How many languages are spoken in the Greater Caucasus?
The Caucasian languages are found in the territory north and south of the Greater Caucasus range; their number varies, according to different classifications, from 30 to 40. The concentration of so many languages in such a small territory is indeed remarkable.
Is there a genetic difference between North Caucasian and South Caucasian?
Although the genetic relationships between Northwest and Northeast Caucasian seem probable, the interrelationships of North and South Caucasian are as yet uncertain because of the absence of any regular sound correspondences between them.
What are the Kartvelian languages?
The Kartvelian languages, including Georgian, Zan and Svan, were once known as South Caucasian. However, they are no longer considered genetically related to the North Caucasian languages and are classified as an independent language family.