Ibero-Caucasian (or Iberian-Caucasian) is a proposed language family suggested by
Georgian linguist
Arnold Chikobava
Arnold Stephanes dze Chikobava ( ka, არნოლდ სტეფანეს ძე ჩიქობავა; March 14 (26), 1898 – November 5, 1985) was a Georgian linguist and philologist best known for his contributions to Caucasian ...
of the three language families that are specific to the
Caucasus
The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region spanning Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, comprising parts of Southern Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The Caucasus Mountains, i ...
mountains region of Eurasia.
* Ibero-Caucasian languages would include:
**
South Caucasian, also called Kartvelian.
**
Northwest Caucasian, also called Abkhazo-Adyghean.
**
Northeast Caucasian, also called Nakh–Dagestanian.
The Ibero-Caucasian phylum would also include three extinct languages:
Hattic, connected by some linguists to the Northwest (Circassian) family, and
Hurrian
The Hurrians (; ; also called Hari, Khurrites, Hourri, Churri, Hurri) were a people who inhabited the Ancient Near East during the Bronze Age. They spoke the Hurro-Urartian language, Hurrian language, and lived throughout northern Syria (region) ...
and
Urartian, connected to the Northeast (Nakh–Dagestanian) family as
Alarodian languages.
Family status
The affinities between the three families are disputed. A connection between the Northeast and Northwest families is seen as likely by some linguists.
On the other hand, there are no known affinities between South Caucasian and the northern languages, which are two unrelated phyla even in
Greenberg
Greenberg is a surname common in North America and Anglosphere, with anglicized spelling of the German Grünberg (''green mountain'') or the Jewish Ashkenazi Yiddish Grinberg, an artificial surname.Beider, Alexander (1993). ''A Dictionary of Jewi ...
's deep classification of the world's languages. "Ibero-Caucasian" therefore remains at best a convenient geographical designation.
See also
*
Languages of the Caucasus
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.
Linguistic comparison allows t ...
References
* Tuite, Kevin (2008).
The Rise and Fall and Revival of the Ibero-Caucasian Hypothesis. ''Historiographia Linguistica'' Vol. 35, No. 1-2. pp. 23–82.
Further reading
Main publications
* ''The Yearbook of the Iberian-Caucasian Linguistics'' (Tbilisi).
* ''Revue de Kartvelologie et Caucasologie'' (
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
).
External links
Main research centers
TSU Institute of caucasiologyof the
Georgian Academy of Sciences (
Tbilisi
Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი, ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), ( ka, ტფილისი, tr ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia ( ...
).
Department of Caucasiologyat the
University of Jena
The University of Jena, officially the Friedrich Schiller University Jena (, abbreviated FSU, shortened form ''Uni Jena''), is a public research university located in Jena, Thuringia, Germany.
The university was established in 1558 and is cou ...
(
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
).
Faculty of Philologyat the
Tbilisi State University
Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University ( ka, ივანე ჯავახიშვილის სახელობის თბილისის სახელმწიფო უნივერსიტეტი, tr; often shorten ...
(Tbilisi).
{{Authority control
Proposed language families
Languages of the Caucasus