Ask the Chatbot Games & Quizzes History & Society Science & Tech Biographies Animals & Nature Geography & Travel Arts & Culture ProCon Money Videos
North Caucasian languages
References
Britannica AI Icon

North Caucasian languages

Written by
The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

The Information Architects maintain a master list of the topics included in the corpus of  Encyclopædia Britannica, and create and manage the relationships between them.
The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Last updated

Quick Summary

The North Caucasian languages are indigenous to the Caucasus region and are divided into two main groups: the Northwest Caucasian (Abkhazo-Adyghian) and Northeast Caucasian (Nakho-Dagestanian) languages. These languages are distinct from introduced Indo-European and Turkic languages in the area.123

The Nakho-Dagestanian group includes the Nakh languages (Chechen, Ingush, and Bats) and the numerous Dagestanian languages, such as the Lezgian languages.2

Linguistically, these languages often feature complex consonant systems and a grammatical category of noun classes, which can be reflected in verbs and pronouns. Many nouns have numerous cases, indicating location and direction, and the ergative case is common for the subject of transitive verbs.45

Summary created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
5 Britannica Sources
  1. Caucasian languages
  2. Caucasian languages - Vocabulary
  3. Caucasian languages - The Lezgian languages
  4. Caucasian languages - Phonology
  5. Caucasian languages - Grammatical characteristics

Ask Britannica AI about this topic

Britannica doesn't have a full article on this topic, so we've curated a list of our relevant coverage.