The Caucasus: Mountains Full of Languages

This region has a new language around every mountain. Over 50 languages and 7 language families! Learn why the Caucasus is one of the world's language hot zones.

~ CORRECTIONS ~
- pronunciation of Ossetian (thanks to Taymuraz Tsalikov)

~ BRIEFLY ~

The Caucasus was runner-up in my patron poll, and then it won in the rematch. So, it's time we travel to this mountainous region and explore its complicated linguistic situation.

We go through major languages, family by family, briefly meeting Indo-European languages like Armenian and Kurdish, Turkic ones like Azeri, and even a Mongolic tongue named Kalmyk Oirat. Then, we see how linguists draw a line between "languages of the Caucasus" and the indigenous "Caucasian languages".

The Caucasian languages fall in three families: Northeast Caucasian, Northwest Caucasian, and Kartvelian in the south. Explore some of their intriguing features, including massive numbers of consonants and one of the earliest documented examples of something called "ergativity".

Despite some similar features, these languages don't belong to the same family. In fact, they may not even be a true "linguistic area"!

At the end, we're still left with the question: why so many languages? We'll consider how one linguist looks at the relationship between geography and the lives of language families.

~ CREDITS ~

Art, narration, animation and outro music by Josh from NativLang

Doc full of sources for claims and credits for imgs, music and sfx:

[DamienZshadow]

As a Circassian, I thank you for taking the time to not only dissect the different languages but the history and causes for them including the context of each people and their interaction with each other in ancient and recent history. This video was part linguistics, part geopolitics, part anthropology, part history, and most of all a part of my people and ancestry.

[Hoehlenmaensch]

I knew that the Caucasus has a lot of languages. but thats more than i expected.

[nusserstklass]

I am also from Caucasus from northern Azerbaijan. I am a TSAKHUR.
Similar to many North Caucasian languages, Tsakhur language is known for its complex phonology and a large number of vowel phonemes (including 7 simple, 5 pharyngealized and 3 umlauted wovels)
Tsakhur language has 18 grammatical cases and has retained suffixaufnahme. Verbs may have singular and plural form, and 7 grammatical moods.

[zeynepguler]

I have Circassian roots and have never came across such profound representation of our culture on YouTube. Mountains really do matter to us and still are a big part of our identity. I talk a little bit of Ossetian and Kabardian which were passed down to me by my family and it's really nice to see them recognized by a Westerner language nerd. Thank you so much for the amazing content.

[klugkha]

"OTHER" Georgia is in the US, not the other way around

[micoberss]

I am an Avar from Dagestan, and out language is very cool and strange. It has some grammar clauses that I havent seen in other languages. We have so many consonants. Some of then are impossible to pronounce for a foreigner. Our language is ergative. It is difficult to understand the idea of ergativity. It is opposite of accusative case. And also we have 16 grammar cases in avar language. Tabasaran language of Dagestan has 40(!) cases.

[GioGziro]

No mention of Mingrelian, Laz, and Svan languages? There are actually four Kartvelian languages; it's not only Georgian. You even mentioned Adjarian _dialect_, but none of those _languages_...

Anyway, awesome video!

[dadude]

finally someone using the word 'Caucasian' for its true meaning, instead of defining skin color.
btw! please do Eskimo's next! i wanna know what their languages sound like.

[greekvvedge]

Pretty good content here. A cut above other "educational" channels on youtube.

[adiga]

a proud circassian over here :) thanks for this informative video!

[zulfiyyamehdiyeva]

In Azerbaijan there is a village Khinalig which is located on mountains about 2300 metres from sea level and they have own language which is included in UN language list as a language under thread of extinction.

[JanPospisilArt]

If you're into mythology, I recommend "Nart Sagas of the Caucasus" by Colarusso.
It's in a way similar to Greek and Roman myths, and even norse mythology, but with a very interesting twist and flair.

[eyuin]

These languages and Basque are the only living languages that predate the Indo-European migration. It's amazing to see how mountains can protect and preserve these languages so that we can have a better look into what Neolithic European languages may have sounded like.

[muhiptezcan]

Thank you for this comprehensive and beautiful video! As a half-Circassian born in Turkey to an assimilated family with no knowledge of any Circassian languages, I try to pick up anything I come across on the internet. But it's hard to find quality material on the topic. Yours is a true gem.

I love how you start with relatively less related material like Georgia in the US (lol) and build up from there, connecting everything beautifully and giving the emphasis on Caucasian languages in the second half of the video. I felt a bit impatient waiting for Circassian to be honest, but it was worth it. And kudos to the 'homage' to Tevfik Esenç, the last speaker of Ubykh. It's sad that such a unique language became extinct so recently.

Learning Georgian is one of my linguistic dreams and I'm looking for a Georgian language summer course in Tiblisi. If you happen to know something about one, please let me know. Nice video. Congrats! :)

[JaesadaSrisuk]

The Republic of Kalmykia is such a fascinating place! While I knew that Buddhism spread far and wide during the centuries after the Lord Buddha's death (as far west as Greece, Afghanistan and parts of Turkey), I had no idea that there was still a semi-autonomous region in Eastern Europe that is still predominantly Buddhist. Great video!

[batuhan_a_kocak]

I'm so happy as a Cirsassian (Adygean) to see this video. Thank you = Тхьэ уегъэпсэу = tħa wjɛʁɛpsɛw = May God keep you alive

[Kass]

This was an area of the world I knew practically nothing about! Thanks for educating me!

[patrickflynn]

Caucasus region is easily amongst the most interesting and diverse areas in the world.

[taloga]

Excellent video, and you end up learning some fascinating history too. It helps to watch several times to absorb everything. The Caucasus region is certainly a "crazy-quilt" of interesting languages!