The Nakh languages are a group of languages within the Northeast Caucasian family, spoken chiefly by the

Chechens The Chechens ( ; , , Old Chechen: Нахчой, ''Naxçoy''), historically also known as ''Kistin, Kisti'' and ''Durdzuks'', are a Northeast Caucasian languages, Northeast Caucasian ethnic group of the Nakh peoples native to the North Caucasus. ...

and

Ingush Ingush may refer to: * Ingush language, Northeast Caucasian language * Ingush people, an ethnic group of the North Caucasus See also *Ingushetia (disambiguation) Ingushetia is a federal republic and subject of Russia. Ingushetia may also refer ...

in the

North Caucasus The North Caucasus, or Ciscaucasia, is a subregion in Eastern Europe governed by Russia. It constitutes the northern part of the wider Caucasus region, which separates Europe and Asia. The North Caucasus is bordered by the Sea of Azov and the B ...

Bats Bats are flying mammals of the order Chiroptera (). With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most birds, flying with their very long spread-out ...

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 The Nakh peoples are a group of North Caucasian languages, North Caucasian peoples identified by their use of the Nakh languages and other cultural similarities. These are chiefly the ethnic Chechen people, Chechen, Ingush people, Ingush and Ba ...

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 The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

(ca. 4th millennium BC). * Nakh language family **

Vainakh languages The Vainakh (also spelled Veinakh) 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, ...

, a

dialect continuum A dialect continuum or dialect chain is a series of Variety (linguistics), language varieties spoken across some geographical area such that neighboring varieties are Mutual intelligibility, mutually intelligible, but the differences accumulat ...

with two literary languages: *** Chechen – approximately 2,000,000 speakers (2020).Ethnologue report for Chechen
/ref> ***

– approximately 400,000 speakers (2020).Ethnologue report for Ingush
/ref> **

or Batsbi – approximately 3,420 (2000),Ethnologue report for Bats
/ref> spoken mostly in Zemo-Alvani,

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

. Not mutually intelligible with Chechen or Ingush.

The voicing of ejective consonants

The Nakh languages are relevant to the

glottalic theory The glottalic theory is that Proto-Indo-European had ejective or otherwise non- pulmonic stops, , instead of the plain voiced ones, as hypothesized by the usual Proto-Indo-European phonological reconstructions. A forerunner of the theory was ...

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 , which remains an ejective in Vainakh.) A similar change has taken place in some of the other Dagestanian languages.

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 The Kingdom of Hereti ( ka, ჰერეთის სამეფო, tr) was a medieval Albanian monarchy which emerged in Caucasus on the Iberian- Albanian frontier. Nowadays it roughly corresponds to the southeastern corner of Georgia's Kakh ...

in Southeast Georgia and Northwest

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...

. This is considered to be more or less confirmed as Nakh.Jaimoukha, Amjad. ''The Chechens: A Handbook''. Routledge Curzon: Oxon, 2005. They were assimilated eventually, and their language was replaced by Georgian or Azeri.

Malkh

The language of the Malkhs (whose name, malkh, refers to the sun) in the North Caucasus, who lived in modern day

Kabardino-Balkaria Kabardino-Balkaria (), officially the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic, is a republic of Russia located in the North Caucasus. As of the 2021 Census, its population was 904,200. Its capital is Nalchik. The area contains the highest mountain in ...

Karachay–Cherkessia Karachay-Cherkessia (), officially the Karachay-Cherkess Republic, is a republic of Russia located in the North Caucasus. It is administratively part of the North Caucasian Federal District. As of the 2021 census, Karachay-Cherkessia has a popul ...

, and once briefly conquered

Ubykhia Ubykhia (; , ) was a commonwealth of Ubykh tribe of Circassians and a province of Circassia in the 14th–19th centuries. It was situated in what is today Sochi, Krasnodar Krai Krasnodar Krai (, ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subj ...

and

Abkhazia Abkhazia, officially the Republic of Abkhazia, is a List of states with limited recognition, partially recognised state in the South Caucasus, on the eastern coast of the Black Sea, at the intersection of Eastern Europe and West Asia. It cover ...

, is believed to be of Nakh affiliation. 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

, leading to the formation of a

teip A ''teip'' (also ''taip'', ''tayp'', ''teyp''; Chechen language, Chechen and Ingush language, Ingush: тайпа, romanized: ''taypa'' , ''family'', ''kin'', ''clan'', ''tribe''Нохчийн-Оьрсийн словарь (Chechen-Russian Dict ...

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, though there is a rivaling camp arguing for its status as a close relative of

Ossetic Ossetian ( , , ), commonly referred to as Ossetic and rarely as Ossete, is an Eastern Iranian language that is spoken predominantly in Ossetia, a region situated on both sides of the Russian-Georgian border in the Greater Caucasus region. ...

. Various backing for the Nakh theory (different scholars use different arguments) includes the presence of Nakh placenames in former Dval territory, evidence of Nakh–Svan contact which probably would've required the Nakh nature of the Dvals or people there before them, and the presence of a foreign-origin Dval clan among the Chechens,Melikishvilli 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 Giorgi Aleksandres dze Melikishvili ( ka, გიორგი ალექსანდრეს ძე მელიქიშვილი; ; 30 December 1918 – 19 April 2002) was a Georgian historian known for his fundamental works on the histor ...

, the

Urartian Urartian or Vannic is an extinct Hurro-Urartian language which was spoken by the inhabitants of the ancient kingdom of Urartu (''Biaini'' or ''Biainili'' in Urartian), which was centered on the region around Lake Van and had its capital, Tushp ...

state of Supani was occupied by the ancient Nakh tribe Tsov, whose state is called Tsobena in ancient Georgian historiography.Гаджиева В. Г. Сочинение И. Гербера Описание стран и народов между Астраханью и рекою Курой находящихся, М, 1979, page.55. 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 Hurro-Urartian is an extinct language family of the Ancient Near East, comprising only two known languages: Hurrian and Urartian. Origins It is often assumed that the Hurro-Urartian languages, or a pre-split Proto-Hurro-Urartian language, were ...

substratum in the

Armenian language Armenian (endonym: , , ) is an Indo-European languages, Indo-European language and the sole member of the independent branch of the Armenian language family. It is the native language of the Armenians, Armenian people and the official language of ...

References

External links

Proto-Nakh (and Chechen, Ingush, Bats) basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nakh Languages Northeast Caucasian languages Languages of Russia