Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library

This page includes both Caucasian and Paleo-Asiatic languages.

The Caucasian family of languages is spoken in the area of the Caucasus Mountains, roughly in the countries now known as Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. Earlier linguists distinguished two branches, divided roughly by the mountains: North Caucasian and South Caucasian; but now the family is generally divided into South Caucasian (also called Kartvellian, and considered by some scholars to be a separate family) -- of which the best known language is Georgian --, Western Caucasian, Eastern Caucasian, and Dagestan.

• Abkhazian
  
• Avar
  
• Georgian
  
• Kabardian
  

Those works listed here are about the Caucasian family as a whole, or about too many individual Caucasian languages to be listed under each separately.

409.47		Comrie, Bernard, 1947-
C738L			The languages of the Soviet Union
		RID: 80-49861		ITEM #: rus00070


572.9479	Geiger, Bernhard, 1881-
G312p			Peoples and languages of the Caucasus. -- ‘s-Gravenhage :
		RID: 59-39675			ITEM #: cau00001

Georgian						updated 12-27-2000

	Georgian (Caucasian), also called Gruzin, belongs to the South Caucasian
branch of the Caucasian family of languages.  Georgian is spoken in Georgia (the country!),
Russia, Turkey, Iran, and the United States of America.  There are a number of dialects:
Imeretian, Racha, Lexchxum (also spelled Lechkhum), Gurian-Adzhar, Imerxev (spoken
in Turkey), Kaxetian (also spelled Kakhetian), Ingilo, Tush, Xevsur (also spelled Kheysur),
Moxev (also spelled Mokhev), Pshav, Mtuil, and Ferejdan (the latter spoken in Iran).
Georgian has literary status, and is written with a script of its own called Mkhedruili.
Georgian is also the religious language of the Georgian Orthodox Church.

409.47		Comrie, Bernard, 1947-
C738L			The languages of the Soviet Union
		RID: 80-49861		ITEM #: rus00070

572.9479	Grigolia, Alexander, 1896-
G857c			Custom and justice in the Caucasus. -- Philadelphia :
		RID: 40-2108			ITEM #: geo00001

Kabardian						updated 8-12-2002

	Kabardian (Caucausian) belongs to the Western Caucasian branch of the
Caucasian family of languages.  Kabardian is spoken in Russia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia,
and in the United States of America.  It is written with the Cyrillic alphabet.

499.96	Kuipers, Aert Hendrik
K96p			Phoneme and morpheme in Kabardian (Eastern Adyghe)
		RID: 62-29944		ITEM #: kbr00001

Formerly called Hyperborean or Paleosiberian, Paleo-Asiatic groups together languages spoken in northeastern Asia and not classed elsewhere. Linguists hesitate to call this grouping a family. Included here are Ainu, Chukchi, Itelmen, Ket (formerly called Yenisei-Ostyak), Koryak, Nivkh (formerly called Gilyak), and Yukagir (also called Odul). Some scholars would add the Inuit-Aleut family to this Paleo-Asiatic "family," but others would not. They are kept separate on this site.

• Ainu
  
• Chukchi
  
• Itelmen
  
• Koryak
  
• Nivkh
  
• Yukagir
  

Those works listed here are about the Paleo-Asiatic languages as a whole, or about too many individual Paleo-Asiatic languages to be listed under each separately.

409.47		Comrie, Bernard, 1947-
C738L			The languages of the Soviet Union
		RID: 80-49861		ITEM #: rus00070

Ainu							updated 6-13-2001

	Ainu (Paleo-Asiatic) was long thought not to be related to any other language;
most linguists now classify it with the other languages in the Paleo-Asiatic grouping.  It is
the language of the native people of northern Japan, being spoken on the northernmost
islands as well as on neighboring Sakhalin.  Few speakers now remain.  Instead of a written
literature, the Ainu had a rich tradition of oral epic poetry.

952.4		Kayano, Shigeru
K23a.Es			[Ainu no hi. English]
			Our land was a forest : an Ainu memoir. --
		Boulder, Colo. : Westview Press, 1994.
		RID: 93-45707		ITEM #: ain00003

495.62		Ono, Susumu, 1919-
O58n.Eh			[Nihongo no kigen. English]
			The origin of the Japanese language / by Ohno
		Susumu. - Tokyo : Kokusai Bunka Shinkokai, 1970
		RID: 70-110946		ITEM #: ind00012

494.6		Patrie, James, 1950-
P314g			The genetic relationship of the Ainu
		language. -- [S.l.] : University Press of Hawaii,
		1982.
		RID: 81-19744		ITEM #: ain00001

495.6		Shibatani, Masayoshi
S555L			The languages of Japan. -- Cambridge,
		England : Cambridge University Press, 1990.
		RID: 89-993				ITEM #: ain00002

Itelmen						updated 6-13-2001

	Itelmen (Paleo-Asiatic) belongs to the Paleo-Asiatic grouping of languages.
Formerly called Kamchadal, Itelmen is spoken in Siberia.

SI		Boas, Franz, 1858-1942
2.3:			Handbook of American Indian languages. -- Washington,
40		Govt. print. off., 1911-
pt. 2		RID: 11-8930			ITEM #: kry00002

  Q		Worth, Dean Stoddard
494.6			Kamchadal texts
W932k		RID: wln79-81506		ITEM #: itm00001

Koryak						updated 8-12-2002

	Koryak (Paleo-Asiatic) belongs to the Paleo-Asiatic grouping of languages.
Koryak is spoken in Siberia, and written with the Cyrillic alphabet.

SI		Boas, Franz, 1858-1942
2.3:			Handbook of American Indian languages. --
40		Washington :
pt. 2		RID: 11-8930			ITEM #: kry00002

494.6		Bogoraz, Vladimir Germanovich, 1865-1936
B675k			Koryak texts
		RID: 21-1313			ITEM #: kry00001

623.829		Zimmerly, David W., 1938-
Z723q			QAYAQ : kayaks of Alaska and Siberia. --
		S.l. : University of Alaska Press, 2000
		RID: 00-27096			ITEM #: ale00002

This page was last updated on 3-2-2007.
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