Nakh languages

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Nakh
Geographic
distribution
Central Caucasus
Linguistic classification Northeast Caucasian
  • Nakh
Subdivisions
Glottolog nakh1246
Northeast Caucasian languages.png
  Nakh

The Nakh languages are a group of languages within the Northeast Caucasian family, spoken chiefly by the Chechens and Ingush in the North Caucasus.

Contents

Bats is the endangered language of the Bats people, an ethnic minority in Georgia. The Chechen, Ingush and Bats peoples are also grouped under the ethno-linguistic umbrella of Nakh peoples.

Classification

The Nakh languages were historically classified as an independent North-Central Caucasian family, but are now recognized as a branch of the Northeast Caucasian family.

The separation of Nakh from common Northeast Caucasian has been tentatively dated to the Neolithic (ca. 4th millennium BC). [1]

The voicing of ejective consonants

The Nakh languages are relevant to the glottalic theory of Indo-European, because the Vainakh branch has undergone the voicing of ejectives that has been postulated but widely derided as improbable in that family. In initial position, Bats ejectives correspond to Vainakh ejectives, but in non-initial position to Vainakh voiced consonants. (The exception is *qʼ, which remains an ejective in Vainakh.)

BatsChechenglossDagestanian cognate
nʕapʼnaːb'sleep'
ʃwetʼʃad'whip'Gigatil Chamalal: tsatʼán
pʰakʼalpʰaɡal'hare'Andi: tɬʼankʼala
dokʼdwoɡ'heart'Andi: rokʷʼo
matsʼmezi'louse'Chadakolob Avar: natsʼ
ʕartsʼiⁿʕärʒa-'black'Gigatil Chamalal: -etʃʼár
jopʼqʼjuqʼ'ashes'

A similar change has taken place in some of the other Dagestanian languages. [5]

Proposed connections to extinct languages

Many obscure ancient languages or peoples have been postulated by scholars of the Caucasus as Nakh, many in the South Caucasus. None of these have been confirmed; most are classified as Nakh on the basis of placenames.

Èrsh

The Èrsh language, language of the Èrs who inhabited Northern Armenia, and then, (possibly) later, mainly Hereti in Southeast Georgia and Northwest Azerbaijan. This is considered to be more or less confirmed as Nakh. [6] They were assimilated eventually, and their language was replaced by Georgian or Azeri.

Malkh

The language of the Malkhs [6] (whose name, malkh, refers to the sun) in the North Caucasus, who lived in modern day Kabardino-Balkaria, Karachay–Cherkessia, and once briefly conquered Ubykhia and Abkhazia. They were conquered first by Scythian-speaking Alan tribes and then by Turkic tribes, and seem to have largely abandoned their homeland and found shelter among the Chechens, leading to the formation of a teip named after them. Those who stayed behind were either wiped out or assimilated.

Dval

The language of the Dvals is thought to be Nakh by many historians, [6] [7] [8] [9] though there is a rivaling camp arguing for its status as a close relative of Ossetic. [9] Various backing for the Nakh theory (different scholars use different arguments) includes the presence of Nakh placenames in former Dval territory, [9] evidence of Nakh–Svan contact which probably would've required the Nakh nature of the Dvals or people there before them, [6] and the presence of a foreign-origin Dval clan among the Chechens, [10] seemingly implying that the Dvals found shelter (like the Malkhs are known to have done) among the Chechens from the conquest of their land by foreign invaders (presumably Ossetes).

Tsov

According to Georgian scholars I. A. Javashvili and Giorgi Melikishvili, the Urartian state of Supani was occupied by the ancient Nakh tribe Tsov, whose state is called Tsobena in ancient Georgian historiography. [11] [12] [13] The Tsov language was the dominant language spoken by its people, and was thought by these Georgian historians (as well as a number of others) to be Nakh. Tsov and its relatives in the area may have contributed to the Hurro-Urartian substratum in the Armenian language.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northeast Caucasian languages</span> Language family

The Northeast Caucasian languages, also called East Caucasian, Nakh-Daghestani or Vainakh-Daghestani, or sometimes Caspian languages, is a family of languages spoken in the Russian republics of Dagestan, Chechnya and Ingushetia and in Northern Azerbaijan as well as in Georgia and diaspora populations in Western Europe and the Middle East. According to Glottolog, there are currently 36 Nakh-Dagestanian languages.

The history of Chechnya may refer to the history of the Chechens, of their land Chechnya, or of the land of Ichkeria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Languages of the Caucasus</span> Diverse languages between the Black and Caspian seas

The Caucasian languages comprise a large and extremely varied array of languages spoken by more than ten million people in and around the Caucasus Mountains, which lie between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chechens</span> Northeast Caucasian ethnic group

The Chechens, historically also known as Kisti and Durdzuks, are a Northeast Caucasian ethnic group of the Nakh peoples native to the North Caucasus. They are the largest ethnic group in the region and refer to themselves as Nokhchiy. The vast majority of Chechens are Muslims and live in Chechnya, an autonomous republic within the Russian Federation.

Bats is the endangered language of the Bats people, a North Caucasian minority group. It is part of the Nakh family of Northeast Caucasian languages. It had 2,500 to 3,000 speakers in 1975.

Ingush, historically known as Durdzuks, Gligvi and Kists, are a Northeast Caucasian ethnic group mainly inhabiting Ingushetia in central Caucasus, but also inhabitanting Prigorodny District and town of Vladikavkaz of modern day North-Ossetia. The Ingush are predominantly Sunni Muslims and speak the Ingush language.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tusheti</span> Historical Region in Kakheti, Georgia

Tusheti is a historic region in northeast Georgia. A mountainous area, it is home to the Tusheti National Park.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bats people</span> Nakh people living in Georgia, descendants of the Ingush.

The Bats people or the Batsbi are Nakh-speaking Tushetians in the country of Georgia. They are also known as the Ts’ova-Tush (წოვათუშები) after the Ts’ova Gorge in the historic Georgian mountain region of Tusheti. The group should not be confused with the neighbouring Kists – also a Nakh-speaking people who live in the nearby Pankisi Gorge.

The Dvals were a ethnographic group of Georgians. Their lands lying on both sides of the central Greater Caucasus mountains, somewhere between the Darial and Mamison gorges. This historic territory mostly covers the north of Kartli, parts of the Racha and Khevi regions in Georgia and south of Ossetia in Russia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kist people</span> Ethnic group

The Kists are a Chechen subethnic group in Georgia. They primarily live in the Pankisi Gorge, in the eastern Georgian region of Kakheti, where there are approximately 5,700 Kist people. The modern Kists are not to be confused with the historical term Kists, an ethnonym of Georgian origin, which was used to refer to the Nakh peoples in the Middle Ages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nakh peoples</span> Ethnolinguistic group

The Nakh peoples are a group of North Caucasian peoples identified by their use of the Nakh languages and other cultural similarities. These are chiefly the ethnic Chechen, Ingush and Bats peoples of the North Caucasus, including closely related minor or historical groups.

The Vainakh languages are a dialect continuum that consists of the Chechen and Ingush languages, spoken mainly in the Russian republics of Chechnya and Ingushetia, as well as in the Chechen diaspora. Together with Bats, they form the Nakh branch of the Northeast Caucasian languages family.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Orstkhoy</span> Historical ethnoterritorial society among the Ingush and Chechen people

The Orstkhoy, historically commonly known under their exonyms: Karabulaks, Balsu, Baloy, are a historical ethnoterritorial society among the Chechen and Ingush peoples. Their homeland is in the upper reaches of the Assa and Fortanga rivers in the historical region of Orstkhoy-Mokhk. In the tradition of the Chechen ethno-hierarchy, it is considered one of the nine historical Chechen tukkhums, in the Ingush tradition as one of the seven historical Ingush shahars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Durdzuks</span> Name in the Georgian Chronicles for Vainakh peoples

The Durdzuks, also known as Dzurdzuks, was a medieval exonym of the 9th-18th centuries used mainly in Georgian, Arabic, but also Armenian sources in reference to the Vainakh peoples.

Chamaecoetae were an ancient tribe mentioned by Greek geographer Strabo in his work Geographica during the first century AD. Some researchers connect them with the Ingush and localize them in mountainous Ingushetia, in Khamkhi, while others question these theories and argue that more arguments are needed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fappi</span> Historical region in Ingushetia

Fappi or Fappi mokhk, exonym: Kistetia, is a historical region in Ingushetia. Fappi is the territory of historical settlement of the Fyappiy society.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ghalghai</span> Self-name of the Ingush people

Ghalghai is the self-name (endonym) of the Ingush people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kists (ethnonym)</span> One of the ethnonyms of the Ingush and Chechens

Kists or Kistins is an old exonym of all Nakh peoples, under which local ingush societies later were designated, and conditionally divided into nearby Kistins (Fyappiy) and distant Kistins (Malkhistin). In Russian sources of the XVIII century the ethnonym «Kists» often referred exclusively to the Ingush people, and extended to all Nakh societies. In the of the 19th century, the term nearby Kistins referred to the inhabitants of the Kistin Gorge in the vicinity of river Armkhi, and distant Kistins referred to the inhabitants of the upper reaches of the Argun. Today the name is mostly used to refer to the Chechens who compactly live in the Pankisi Gorge of Georgia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dzherakh</span> Ingush society

The Dzherakh, also spelled Jerakh, historically also known as Erokhan people, were a historical Ingush ethnoterritorial society, today a tribal organization/clan (teip), that was formed in the Dzheyrakhin gorge, as well as in the area of the lower reaches of the Armkhi River and the upper reaches of the Terek River.

Ethnonyms of the Ingush are names of Ingush people, including self-names (endonyms) and names used by other ethnic groups to refer to the Ingush (exonyms) throughout the existence of Ingush people from Middle Ages to the modern day.

References

  1. Johanna Nichols, "Cechen" and "Ingush" in R. Smeets (ed.), The Indigenous Languages of the Caucasus (1994).
  2. Ethnologue report for Chechen
  3. Ethnologue report for Ingush
  4. Ethnologue report for Bats
  5. Paul Fallon, 2002. The synchronic and diachronic phonology of ejectives, p 245.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Jaimoukha, Amjad. The Chechens: A Handbook. Routledge Curzon: Oxon, 2005.
  7. Гамрекели В. Н. Двалы и Двалетия в I—XV вв. н. э. Тбилиси, 1961 page 138
  8. Меликишвили Г. А. К изучению древней восточномалоазийской этнонимики. ВДИ, 1962,1 page 62
  9. 1 2 3 Kuznetsov, V. (1992), Essays on the history of Alans (in Russian), Vladikavkaz: IR, ISBN   978-5-7534-0316-2
  10. Melikishvilli
  11. Джавахишвили И. А. Введение в историю грузинского народа. кн.1, Тбилиси, 1950, page.47-49
  12. Ахмадов, Шарпудин Бачуевич (2002). Чечня и Ингушетия в XVIII - начале XIX века. Elista: "Джангар", АПП. p. 52.
  13. Гаджиева В. Г. Сочинение И. Гербера Описание стран и народов между Астраханью и рекою Курой находящихся, М, 1979, page.55.