The Caucasus is a special historical and ethnographic region with a very complex ethnic composition. Along with peoples numbering millions of people, many ethnic groups live here, whose number does not exceed several thousand people. Most of them belong to the North Caucasian family of languages. An analysis of linguistic and archaeological data suggests that the ancestors of the peoples of the North Caucasian language family are the autochthonous population of the Caucasus. The construction of the Abkhaz-Adyghe branch to the ancient Hattian language and the connection of the Nakh-Dagestan languages ​​with the Hurri-Urartian languages ​​are topics that attract many linguists. However, these connections are currently hypothetical, and today one can also speak of the origin of modern North Caucasian ethnic groups from the population of Urartu and the state of the Hutts only as a hypothesis.

Since ancient times, and especially in the Middle Ages, the population of the North Caucasus was in constant contact with different kind nomadic tribes. In the 1st millennium BC and at the beginning of our era, the steppe Ciscaucasia served as a nomad camp for Iranian-speaking Cimmerians, Scythians, Sarmatians, then Alans. In the IV century. the Huns came to the Caucasus, followed by the Turkic tribal union acacia. In the 5th century they were replaced by new Turkic Sabirs. In the VI century. the Turkic Avars came from beyond the Volga. At the beginning of the 7th century in Ciscaucasia, a powerful confederation of various Turkic tribes called Great Bulgaria arises. Then there were the Khazar Khaganate, the Pechenegs, the Alanian kingdom, Golden Horde. All these nomads influenced the language and culture of the North Caucasian peoples. Part of the nomads (Turkic-speaking, Iranian-speaking) settled in the foothills and mountains of the Caucasus, becoming neighbors of the autochthonous population.

Languages ​​and writing

The linguist S.A. Starostin. He was guided by the presence in these language groups ah significant lexical similarities. This hypothesis has enough opponents among linguists, but in ethnographic terms it is quite legitimate to consider the North Caucasian peoples as a unity due to similar living conditions and common features material and spiritual culture.

The languages ​​of the Abkhaz-Adyghe group include Abkhaz, Abaza, Adyghe, Kabardino-Circassian and Ubykh (currently considered extinct). Abkhazians live in Abkhazia, Adzharia, Turkey and Syria. The last two countries are known as Circassians. There are Abkhazians in Russia too.

In terms of language and origin, the Abaza living in the Karachay-Cherkess Republic, some areas are close to them. Stavropol Territory and in Turkey. Adyghes, Kabardians and Circassians call themselves the same - Adyghe, Adyghe. Adyghes live in Adygea, some areas Krasnodar Territory, in Turkey, Syria, Jordan and the Balkans. Kabardins and Circassians live in Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachay-Cherkessia, as well as (like the Adyghes) in Syria and Jordan. Among the Adyghe peoples, there are also Shapsugs living in the Tuapse district, Lazorevsky district of Sochi, Krasnodar Territory, as well as in Turkey, Syria, and Jordan. Outside Russia, all Circassians are known as Circassians.

The Vainakh and Dagestan languages ​​belong to the Nakh-Dagestan branch. Vainakh - the languages ​​of the Chechens, Ingush and Batsbi. Batsbi do not live in Russia, they are all concentrated in the only village of Zemo-Alvani (Akhmeta region, Georgia). Chechens live in Chechnya, as well as in Dagestan (Akkins). Settled in many regions of Russia, they also live in Kazakhstan. The Ingush live in the most mono-ethnic subject of the Federation - the Republic of Ingushetia.

The Dagestan group consists of Avar-Ando-Tsez, Lezgin, Lak-Dargin, as well as Archa and udin languages. The speakers of the Avaro-Ando-Tsez languages ​​occupy the western regions of Dagestan, the Laks and Dargins live to the east of them, the peoples speaking the Lezgi languages ​​in the south of Dagestan, in Northern Azerbaijan and in certain regions of Georgia. Modern writing of all languages ​​of the North Caucasian family is based on the Cyrillic alphabet.

Main occupations and material culture

The traditional economic sectors of the North Caucasian peoples are agriculture (millet, oats, corn, barley were grown), animal husbandry (transhumance, sheep breeding is especially popular), viticulture and winemaking. Crafts are well developed. Pottery, the production of metal utensils, chasing, the manufacture of carpets, cloaks, forging cold weapons and their decoration have long been widespread. Far beyond the borders of Dagestan, for example, the village of Kubachi is known for its craftsmen: the words “Kubachi dagger”, “Kubachi saber” do not just indicate the place of manufacture of weapons, but are a world-renowned brand - a guarantee of quality and high artistic level products.

The type of traditional dwelling in the North Caucasus strongly depended on the type of terrain. In the mountains, these were, as a rule, one- and two-story stone houses with thick walls, flat roofs, sometimes with battle towers. The building was dense, tiered. The roof of a house built lower down the slope often served as a courtyard for a house built higher up. Relatives, as a rule, settled nearby, forming entire family quarters. On the plain, a traditional North Caucasian building is made of turluch or adobe, with a gable or four-slope roof.

Food

The basis of the daily diet of the peoples of the Caucasus long time were unleavened cakes and sour lavash made from wheat, barley, rye or oat flour. The Circassians often used thick millet porridge instead of bread. In the mountains, where distant pastoralism was developed, dairy products, especially cheese, were consumed. On the plain, the bread and milk diet was supplemented with vegetables. Meat was rarely eaten. To date, there has been a significant increase in consumption meat dishes, vegetables, fruits.

Society

Traces of "military democracy" have long been preserved in the social structure of the North Caucasian peoples. self-managed rural communities"free societies" were independent of the feudal lords, not only in the economic, but also in politically. The custom of atalism was widespread, when a child was given to be raised in a strange family until the age of majority. No less widely among all the North Caucasian peoples were widespread (and partly preserved to this day) various customs of avoidance: the wife - the husband in certain situations and his older relatives, the husband - the wife's older relatives, etc. Immense power have customs associated with hospitality. Almost every house has special guest rooms (kunatsky). The large patriarchal family collapsed to late XIX in. Now the North Caucasus is dominated by a small family, in which, however, patriarchal relations are still strong.

Religion and spiritual culture

In ancient times, the peoples of the North Caucasus were pagans - they worshiped fire, the spirits of places, natural phenomena. From the 6th to the 18th century Orthodoxy and Islam actively rushed to the region. Today, the majority of believing representatives of the peoples of the North Caucasus are Sunni Muslims. There are also many Christians. The former beliefs, however, did not completely disappear, having merged into the local versions of the two world religions in the form of local rites and holy places, old pagan, but received a Muslim or Christian interpretation.

Ridge of the great Caucasus mountains extends from the Black Sea to the Caspian. North of them is West Side Eurasian steppe; to the south - a hilly area called the Northern Mesopotamia. Both the steppe and the Northern Mesopotamia have been centers of economic and political power since the Neolithic. All this time they were the channels through which people and languages ​​moved between Asia and Europe. . The Caucasus itself was the main channel through which neolithic revolution, Agriculture, cattle breeding and subsequent technological innovations spread from Mesopotamia to Eastern Europe. The Caucasus is a "biological refuge" zone, where you can meet species that are not found anywhere else, and where there is a unique flora and fauna. Since ancient times, the Caucasus has also been known for its linguistic diversity. It can be called a "linguistic refuge zone" in the sense that there are as many as three separate language families here that are native to the Caucasus, with no related languages ​​anywhere else.

Language research

Indigenous language families of the Caucasus:

• Kartvelian or South Caucasian family, whose age is about 4500 years. This family includes Georgian and its three related languages. The languages ​​of this family are widespread near central and eastern Georgia, at the foot of the mountains or in the southern valleys. The history of Georgian writing dates back to the creation of a specially designed alphabet in the 4th century after Christianity was introduced to Georgia. This alphabet is still in use today. Most Georgians and other Kartvelians are Christians, but some, especially those living further south, identify themselves as Muslims.
• The northwestern Caucasian or Abkhazian-Adyghe (or Abkhazian-Circassian) family, of indeterminate age (obviously older than the Romance or Slavic families of languages ​​and younger than the Indo-European, which is about 6,000 years old), includes three or four related languages. Structural type this family is not typical for the Eurasian languages. This family spread near the Black Sea coast. Northwestern speakers Caucasian languages are predominantly Muslim. In Turkey and some areas in the Middle East, there are diasporas of speakers of these languages, consisting of the ancestors of emigrants who left the Caucasus after its conquest by Russia in the 19th century. AT varying degrees they keep these languages.
• The Northeast Caucasian or Nakh-Dagestan family is extremely diverse and dates back about 6,000 years. On the related languages this family talk in the central and eastern region Caucasus. Perhaps the separation took place at the foot of the mountains of the southeastern region of the Caucasus, near the Caspian Sea and in Azerbaijan. Islam penetrated into Azerbaijan very early, and from there it spread to North Caucasus, reaching Chechnya and Ingushetia in the 17-18 centuries. Although the majority of North Caucasian speakers are Muslims, the Udi people (who now live in three villages in Azerbaijan and Georgia and are descendants of another big people who gave rise to the Georgian people) are Monophysite Christians. Significant Chechen-Ingush diasporas live in Turkey and Jordan, descendants of emigrants and deportees after the conquest of the Caucasus by Russia in the 19th century. persons. Here they managed to preserve their language.

There are also non-indigenous languages ​​in the Caucasus:

• Ossetian language belongs to the northeastern branch of the Iranian group Indo-European family languages. The Ossetian language is a descendant of the Alanian group of the Sarmatian language, which was the language Scythian state located on the territory of present-day Ukraine, Southern Russia, Moldova, Southern Urals. The Sarmatian language was widespread in the central part of the Caucasus and probably appeared here in the first millennium BC.
• Karachay-Balkar language, two closely related dialects of the northwestern group Turkic languages. It is currently spoken in the western central highlands northern slope. Most likely, these languages ​​penetrated into the Caucasus after the spread of the Kipchak-Turkic language in the western steppes in early middle ages.
• Kumyk- another Turkic northeastern plain, which also appeared in this region in the early Middle Ages. The Kumyk people may have descended from the Khazars, whose empire stretched from the Volga to the foothills of the Dagestan mountains, but the Kumyk language itself goes back to the Kipchak Turkic language that appeared in the North Caucasian steppes in the Middle Ages.
• Azerbaijan language(Azeri) belongs to the southwestern group Turkic languages, which in the ninth century spread from Central Asia to Iranian-speaking Azerbaijan. Azerbaijani language acquired cultural significance from the time of Persian Empire, Islam appeared here early. Writing in the Azerbaijani language appeared in the 14th century on the basis of .
• tatsky is the language of the southwestern group Iranian languages, spoken in Azerbaijan and along the coast of the Caspian Sea. It is a descendant of the language of the Iranian-speaking population, which once dominated the territory of Azerbaijan before the arrival of the Turkic tribes here. The language is now spoken by enclaves of Jews, Muslims and Christians.
• Talysh language refers to the northwestern group of Iranian languages ​​spoken today in Azerbaijan. This language is a descendant of the languages ​​that were present in this region before the appearance here Turkic tribes.
• is a separate branch of the Indo-European family of languages. The Armenian language spread to the territories former kingdom Urartu in the seventh century BC Armenia adopted Christianity in 300 after the birth of Christ, and some time later the Armenian alphabet was created as a means for spreading Christianity. The earliest surviving documents in classical Armenian belong to the ninth and tenth centuries. It should be noted that the alphabet has been preserved in its original form.
• Ancient Urartian language and its descendant Hurrian used the Assyrian script (cuneiform). The region of distribution of the Urartian language is the territory of medieval Armenia.

Structuraltypeslanguages

Indigenous Caucasian languages ​​are known for their complex system consonant sounds (including glottalized and pharyngeal consonants), complex morphology and ergativity (identical case or other subject markings are not transitive verbs and direct additions of transitional; special marking of subjects of transitive verbs). Over the three millennia of its existence in the Caucasus, the Ossetian language has borrowed from its neighboring languages ​​many words, a number of glottalized consonants, and the centralization properties of Western Caucasian vowels. But nevertheless, it lacks traces of pharyngeal consonants, pharyngealization, or ergativity.

All three indigenous Caucasian languages ​​have ergative constructions, but use very different morphologies: the Georgian language indicates its syntactic links using a combination of cases and verbal agreement, mostly prefixed; Chechen language- with the help of cases; and Abkhazian is completely only with a complicated verbal prefix. Abkhaz language also changes its postpositions and dependent nouns, while Georgian and Chechen use Genitive to indicate possession.

Language contacts, bilingualism and verticality

It just so happened that traditionally in the Caucasus there was no common language(lingua franca). On the contrary, bilingualism and multilingualism were observed between neighboring communities. On the present stage until the Russian conquest of the Caucasus in the mid-19th century, the pattern was vertical: in the upland villages, many people knew the language(s) of the villages below them, but not vice versa. This was due to the fact that markets and winter pastures were located in the valleys, while the highlands promised less economic advantages.

The male population of the upland villages was nomadic, and possibly most they spent their time in the valleys. It is natural to assume that under such conditions, the languages ​​of the valleys tended to spread in the highland areas, thereby reducing the area of ​​distribution of the highland languages ​​or completely replacing them. At present and throughout known history and prehistory of languages large quantity carriers spread both in the lowlands and in the highlands, continuing to spread in the highlands, expanding vertically; these economically prestigious and/or culturally significant languages spread vertically upwards. The languages ​​with fewer speakers, including a few languages ​​spoken in only one village, are mainly present in the highlands. Such a picture was observed in a small glacial period(late Middle Ages to the middle of the 19th century), period global cooling, in which the highland farms and pastures were unreliable, while the valleys were more favorable.

But there is evidence that the upland communities were formerly larger and more attractive, and their languages ​​spread in the valleys, and that upland communities formed and maintained colonies in valleys. The Chechen-Ingush isogloss and the continuous spread of language families such as Chechen-Ingush, Avar and Lak point to this phenomenon. Basically, the geography, the extent of the distribution of the speech of the communities are compared, and this is explained by verticality, the economy and climate change.

When searching for information on the Internet, you can stumble upon interesting user requests:

A bit of laughter and a couple of jokes on this topic were replaced by a desire to really understand the issue. We tell.

It is not that simple. More than 60 languages ​​are spoken on the territory of the modern Caucasus. Some of them include several dialects. Some languages ​​are related, others are not at all similar to each other. But all the languages ​​of the peoples of Ka Vkaza belong to larger language families. Three such families have no analogues outside the region and are called autochthonous. These include Kartvelian , West Caucasian and East Caucasian families.*

The Kartvelian family includes Georgian, Megrelian, Svan and Laz languages. These languages ​​are spoken in five countries, and the number of speakers exceeds 4 million.**

The West Caucasian (Abkhaz-Adyghe) family includes the Abaza, Abkhaz, Adyghe and Kabardino-Circassian languages. The Ubykh language also belonged to this family, but for the last twenty years it has been considered dead - according to some sources, the last Ubykh died in Turkey in 1992. Today, the number of speakers of the Abkhaz-Adyghe languages ​​in Russia and Abkhazia is about 800 thousand people.***

As for the East Caucasian (Nakh-Dagestan) family, it is the largest - this includes the Chechen, Ingush, Batsbi, Avar, Lezgin, Tsakhur, Andi, Botlikh, Godoberinsky, Karata, Akhvakh, Chamalin, Bagvalal, Tindian, Tsez, Sagadin, Ginukh , Kapuchinsky, Gunzibsky, Laksky, Bezhta, Khvarshinsky, Dargin, Tsudaharsky, Sirkhinsky, Kaytagsky, Kubachi, Chiragsky, Rutulsky, Agulsky, Archinsky, Tabasaransky, Kryzsky, Budukhsky, Udinsky, Kistsky and some more languages.**** Nakh-Dagestan languages ​​are divided into four branches, and the whole group includes 6 million speakers.***

But that's not all. In addition to the three autochthonous language groups, there are also languages ​​in the Caucasus whose "relatives" live outside the region. For example, Karachay-Balkarian, Kumyk, Nogai, Azerbaijani languages included in Turkic group languages, and Ossetian into Iranian. In addition, in some regions of the Caucasus they speak Talysh, Tat, Kurdish, Pontic, Ukrainian and, of course, Russian is spoken everywhere.

Shed some light on the question of what languages ​​are spoken in the Caucasus, and here are the ten most difficult Caucasian words from readers:

1. Lim (Avar) - water. It seems short, but try to pronounce

2. Chalkychylarybyznykyyladanmydyl (Karachay-Balkarian). We counted 30 letters. The word contains the question: "Are they from our mowers?"

3. Khkhakhakhyari (Lak) - a national dish. Haven't tried it, but they say it's delicious.

4. ZykykIuetsIyryzgedzherezykIyzhyfamygüekyym (Kabardino-Circassian). The person from whom you hear this means that he was no longer able to wriggle out.

5. Khakhakhayenynkhjomad (Ossetian) - defense capability

6. Kalaylamak (Kumyk) - tinker (i.e. solder)

7. Chekakuhili (Georgian) - thunder. It does not look very complicated, but the hieroglyphs Georgian language contain many sounds unknown to us.

Classification

Within the Caucasian languages, three groups are generally recognized:

• kartvelian (southern)
• Abkhaz-Adyghe (northwestern)
• Nakh-Dagestan (northeast).

Until recently, the view was widespread (especially in Soviet linguistics) about the relationship of all three groups and the existence of the so-called. Ibero-Caucasian family. However, the proximity of all three groups is explained more by typological proximity and the possible existence of a Caucasian language union, and not by genetic relationship. Another, more common view is about the relationship of the Abkhaz-Adyghe and Nakh-Dagestan languages ​​with the formation of the North Caucasian family - in recent times was supported by the withdrawal of the North Caucasian etymological dictionary. However, many foreign Caucasian scholars are skeptical about this work, and the point of view about the existence of three independent Caucasian families remains no less popular.

External links

Repeated attempts have been made to bring all or some of the Caucasian languages ​​closer to other language families, for example, with Semitic, Indo-European, Basque, Burushaski, Sumerian, etc. There are popular assumptions about the relationship of the Abkhaz-Adyghe languages ​​\u200b\u200bwith the ancient Hattian language of Asia Minor (Hatto-Iberian hypothesis ) and the Nakh-Dagestan languages ​​with the Hurri-Urartian languages ​​(the Alarodian hypothesis). In modern macro-comparative studies, the North Caucasian family is included in the Sino-Caucasian macrofamily, and the Kartvelian family is included in the Nostratic macrofamily.

Bibliography

1. Alarodies (ethnogenetic studies). Rep. ed. Aglarov M. A. Makhachkala, DSC RAS ​​IIAE, 1995.
2. Klimov G. A. Introduction to Caucasian linguistics. M., 1986.
3. Klimov G. A. Caucasian languages. M., 1965.
4. World languages: Caucasian languages. M., 1999
5. Languages ​​of the peoples of the USSR. T. IV. Ibero-Caucasian languages. M., 1967.

1. Nikolaev S.L., Starostin S.A. A North Caucasian etymological dictionary. Moscow, 1994
2. Nostratic, Dene-Caucasian, Austric and Amerind: materials from the first international interdisciplinary symposium on language and prehistory, Ann Arbor, 8-12 November, 1988. Ed. by Vitaly V. Shevoroshkin. Bochum: Brockmeyer, 1992
3. Starostin S.A. An International Etymological Database Project. 2002.
4. The indigenous languages ​​of the Caucasus. Vol. 1. The Kartvelian languages. Ed. by Alice C. Harris. Delmar, NY: Caravan Books, 1991
5. The indigenous languages ​​of the Caucasus. Vol. 3. North East Caucasian languages. Part 1. Ed. by Michael Job. Ann Arbor, MI: Caravan Books, 2004
6. The indigenous languages ​​of the Caucasus. Vol. 4. North East Caucasian languages. Part 2. Presenting the three Nakh languages ​​and six minor Lezgian languages. Ed. by Rieks Smeets. Delmar, NY: Caravan Books, 1994

see also

Links

• Atlas of the Caucasian Languages ​​with Language Guide (by Yuri B. Koryakov)

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010 .

See what the "Caucasian language family" is in other dictionaries:

Language systematics is an auxiliary discipline that helps to organize the objects studied by linguistics - languages, dialects and groups of languages. The result of this ordering is also called the taxonomy of languages. At the heart of taxonomy ... ... Wikipedia

Language systematics is an auxiliary discipline that helps to organize the objects studied by linguistics - languages, dialects and groups of languages. The result of this ordering is also called the taxonomy of languages. The taxonomy of languages ​​is based on ... ... Wikipedia

Language systematics is an auxiliary discipline that helps to organize the objects studied by linguistics - languages, dialects and groups of languages. The result of this ordering is also called the taxonomy of languages. The taxonomy of languages ​​is based on ... ... Wikipedia

Language systematics is an auxiliary discipline that helps to organize the objects studied by linguistics - languages, dialects and groups of languages. The result of this ordering is also called the taxonomy of languages. The taxonomy of languages ​​is based on ... ... Wikipedia

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GENEALOGICAL CLASSIFICATION OF LANGUAGES

CAUCASUS LANGUAGES

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general and comparative linguistics

Assoc. L.V. Tabachenko.

Rep. editor - prof. IN AND. Degtyarev.

The Caucasus has been called the "mountain of languages ​​and peoples" since ancient times. Here, in a relatively small area, about fifty peoples live with their own special languages. All Caucasian languages ​​are represented in the Caucasus, however, not all languages ​​of the Caucasian peoples are Caucasian. Four languages ​​- Azerbaijani, Kumyk, Karachay-Balkarian and Nogai - are Turkic; five belong to the Indo-European family: isolated Armenian and Iranian Ossetian, Kurdish, Tat and Talysh. Aisors live in Transcaucasia, whose language is part of the Afro-Asian (Semitic-Hamitic) family of languages.

Caucasian (Iberian-Caucasian) are called only indigenous (autochthonous) languages ​​- about forty non-Indo-European, non-Turkic and non-Semitic languages ​​​​of the Caucasus. They are common in Russia (Northern Caucasus), the countries of Transcaucasia, Turkey, as well as in Syria, Iran, Jordan and some other countries of Bl. East, where they appeared as a result of late migration processes. The total number of speakers is about 6 million (according to other sources, about 7 million) people, of which about 50% are Georgians and more than 10% are Chechens. " Specific gravity The number of Caucasian languages ​​is very diverse: several million speak Georgian, Ginukh, Archa and Khinalug - one village each, and only half of the inhabitants of one village use the Batsbi language in the north-east of Georgia.

Allocate three groups Caucasian languages :

Kartvelskaya.

Abkhazian-Adyghe.

Nakh-Dagestan.

According to another classification, instead of an integral Nakh-Dagestan group, two are distinguished - Nakh and Dagestan. The Abkhaz-Adyghe and Nakh-Dagestan languages ​​are usually called North Caucasian(or mountainous Iberian-Caucasian), and Kartvelian, localized in Transcaucasia, - South Caucasian.

The relationship of languages ​​in the language family as a whole is still controversial. Put forward more than a century ago, in the 19th century, by P.K. Uslar, the thesis about the relationship of the Caucasian languages ​​is not accepted today by most scientists. In their opinion, the Kartvelian and North Caucasian languages ​​practically do not show similarities, therefore, the proposed by V.M. Illich-Svitych, the theory that the Kartvelian languages ​​(together with Indo-European, Uralic, Altaic and Dravidian) belong to the so-called Nostratic macrofamily. The North Caucasian languages, in turn, according to the hypothesis of S. A. Starostin, may be included in the so-called. Sino-Caucasian macrofamily, which includes the Yenisei, Sino-Tibetan, and also, possibly, Basque and the Na-Dene North American language family.

Twelve Caucasian languages ​​are written: Georgian, Abkhaz, Abaza, Adyghe, Kabardian, Chechen, Ingush, Avar, Lak, Dargin, Lezgin, Tabasaran.

Comparative historical studies of the Caucasian languages ​​are hampered by the fact that, as a rule, the Caucasian languages ​​do not have any ancient written tradition. The exceptions are the Georgian language, documented since the 5th century AD, as well as Udi, represented by a small number of monuments. Since the late Middle Ages, for some other Caucasian languages ​​​​(for example, Avar, Lak, Dargin), writing on the Arabic graphic basis was used. After 1917 active language construction began in the Caucasus. Alphabets (based on the Latin and Cyrillic alphabets) were developed and improved, the norms of literary languages ​​were streamlined, grammars and dictionaries were created.

Structural differences between individual groups of Caucasian languages ​​are very significant. A striking feature of the Abkhaz-Adyghe languages ​​is the exceptional richness of the consonant system with the extreme poverty of the vowel system (80 consonants with 2 vowels in the Ubykh language, which is a world record), branched verbal conjugation in the absence or underdevelopment nominal declension. On the contrary, a characteristic feature of the Nakh-Dagestan languages ​​is the richest case paradigm in the world, sometimes numbering more than 40 cases (there are 48 in Tabasaran). The specific features of the Kartvelian languages ​​are the absence of lateral consonants and the development of a complex sentence.

Among the common features of the Caucasian languages ​​are the limited vocal system with an unusual branching of the consonant (the exception is part of the Nakh-Dagestan languages, where up to 24 vowels are found) and the presence of consonants in the system along with voiced and deaf aspirated deaf stop-laryngeal phonemes; predominantly agglutinative morphological type; gravity verbal predicate towards the end of the sentence, the tendency to put a direct object before the predicate, and definitions before the defined; a significant number of onomatopoeic vocabulary, etc.