Introduction to the Study of the Languages of the Caucasus

by Brian George Hewitt

Chapter 1 Origins and Progress of the Study The chapter includes a survey of those who have made the most significant contributions to our understanding of the nature of, and relations between, the relevant languages and notes some websites that offer sources of information. Chapter 2 The Language-families and Individual Languages The individual languages along with appropriate sociolinguistic data are here introduced. Chapter 3 Phonological Systems Consonant- and vowel-systems, with discussion of such interesting features as the level of minimalism in the North West Caucasian family and the differing consonantal inventories in the North East that one finds in the works of different commentators, are included here. Chapter 4 Morphology This is the first of the two central substantial chapters. It compares the ways in which the different families achieve their levels of complexity, with polysynthetic verbal systems coupled with minimal noun-morphology in the North West contrasting with complex nominal morphologies accompanied by relatively simply verbal structures in the North Central and North East, with South Caucasian occupying a middle area of reasonably complex verbal and nominal systems together. Chapter 5 Syntax This is the largest of the chapters and introduces material from members of all the families for all the major syntactic constructions. Since syntactic properties are normally not examined in detail in the traditional grammars produced by native linguists, the information contained here should be especially useful.

346 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[André · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice description of all the three Caucasian language families, presented on a thematic base. It's a little bit frustrating though, if you're looking for information about a particular language and have to browse the entire book. Also, some descriptions of languages are missing, like phoneme charts, which are only given for a few languages. I also disagree with some analysis. However, it gives a very good overview over the languages of this area, and especially information about Northwest Caucasian languages is usually quite hard to get.