 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (January 2010) |
| Northwest Caucasian | |
|---|---|
| West Caucasian Abkhazo–Circassian Abkhaz–Adyghean North Pontic Pontic | |
| Geographic distribution | Ciscaucasia in Eastern Europe |
| Linguistic classification | One of the world's primary language families |
| Proto-language | Proto-Northwest Caucasian |
| Subdivisions | |
| Language codes | |
| Glottolog | abkh1242 |
 Circassian
Abazgi
Ubykh (extinct) | |
The Northwest Caucasian languages,[1] also called West Caucasian, Abkhazo-Adyghean, Abkhazo-Circassian,[2] Circassic, or sometimes Pontic languages, is a family of languages spoken in the northwestern Caucasus region,[3] chiefly in three Russian republics (Adygea, Kabardino-Balkaria, Karachay–Cherkessia), the disputed territory of Abkhazia, Georgia, and Turkey, with smaller communities scattered throughout the Middle East.
The group's relationship to any other language family is uncertain and unproven. One language, Ubykh, became extinct in 1992, while all of the other languages are in some form of endangerment, with UNESCO classifying all as either "vulnerable", "endangered", or "severely endangered".[4]
The Northwest Caucasian languages possess highly complex sets of consonant distinctions paired with a lack of vowel distinctions, often providing archetypical cases of vertical vowel systems, also known as "linear" vowel systems.[5][6]
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original on 13 August 2017. Retrieved 20 May 2017.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ Matthews, W. K. (2013). Languages of the USSR. Cambridge University Press. p. 147. ISBN 9781107623552.
- ^ Hoiberg, Dale H. (2010)
- ^ "UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in danger". www.unesco.org. Retrieved 3 June 2018.
- ^ Liljencrafts, Johan and Lindblom, Björn. 1972. "Numerical Simulation of Vowel Quality Systems: The Role of Perceptual Contrast". Language, vol 48, no 4. Page 845: ", a 'linear' vowel system, is described by Trubetzkoy (1958:87). He attributes such systems to Caucasian languages ... Abkhaz and Adyge... and with some hesitation Ubykh... The phonetic realizations of these vowels exhibit rich consonant-determined variation." page 857: "These observations bear to mind the phonological systems of Caucasian languages such as Kabardia whose underlying vowel segments are confined to /a/ and /a/ but whose consonant system is extreme".
- ^ Halle, M. 1970. "Is Kabardian a vowel-less language?". Foundations of Language 6: pages 95–103.