View source for Nakh languages

{{Short description|Branch of the Northeast Caucasian language family}}
{{Infobox language family
| name          = Nakh
| region        = Central [[Caucasus]]
| familycolor   = Caucasian
| ethnicity     = [[Nakh peoples]]
| fam1          = [[Northeast Caucasian languages|Northeast Caucasian]]
| child1        = [[Vainakh languages|Vainakh]]
| child2        = ''[[Bats language|Bats]]''
| child8        = 
| glotto        = nakh1246
| glottorefname = Nakh
| map           = Northeast Caucasian languages.png
| mapcaption    = {{legend|#E2E27E|Nakh}}
}}

The '''Nakh languages''' are a group of languages within the [[Northeast Caucasian languages|Northeast Caucasian family]], spoken chiefly by the [[Chechens]] and [[Ingush people|Ingush]] in the [[North Caucasus]].

[[Bats language|Bats]] is the endangered language of the [[Bats people]], an ethnic minority in Georgia.
The Chechen, Ingush and Bats peoples are also grouped under the ethno-linguistic umbrella of [[Nakh peoples]].

==Classification==
The Nakh languages were historically classified as an independent '''North-Central Caucasian''' family, but are now recognized as a branch of the [[Northeast Caucasian languages|Northeast Caucasian]] family. 

The separation of Nakh from common Northeast Caucasian has been tentatively dated to the [[Neolithic]] (ca. 4th millennium BC).<ref>Johanna Nichols, "Cechen" and "Ingush" in R. Smeets (ed.), ''The Indigenous Languages of the Caucasus'' (1994).</ref>

{{tree list}}
* '''Nakh language family'''
** [[Vainakh languages]], a [[dialect continuum]] with two literary languages:
*** [[Chechen language|Chechen]] – approximately 2,000,000 speakers (2020).<ref name="EthChe">[http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=che Ethnologue report for Chechen]</ref>
*** [[Ingush language|Ingush]] – approximately 400,000 speakers (2020).<ref name="EthInh">[http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=inh Ethnologue report for Ingush]</ref>
** [[Bats language|Bats]] or Batsbi – approximately 3,420 (2000),<ref name="EthBbl">[http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=bbl Ethnologue report for Bats]</ref> spoken mostly in [[Zemo-Alvani]], [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]]. Not mutually intelligible with Chechen or Ingush.
{{tree list/end}}

==The voicing of ejective consonants==
The Nakh languages are relevant to the [[glottalic theory]] of Indo-European, because the Vainakh branch has undergone the voicing of ejectives that has been postulated but widely derided as improbable in that family. In initial position, Bats ejectives correspond to Vainakh ejectives, but in non-initial position to Vainakh voiced consonants. (The exception is {{IPA|*qʼ}}, which remains an ejective in Vainakh.)

{| class="wikitable"
!Bats!!Chechen!!gloss!!Dagestanian cognate
|-
|{{IPA|nʕapʼ}}||{{IPA|naːb}}||'sleep'||
|-
|{{IPA|ʃwetʼ}}||{{IPA|ʃad}}||'whip'||Gigatil Chamalal: {{IPA|tsatʼán}}
|-
|{{IPA|pʰakʼal}}||{{IPA|pʰaɡal}}||'hare'||Andi: {{IPA|tɬʼankʼala}}
|-
|{{IPA|dokʼ}}||{{IPA|dwoɡ}}||'heart'||Andi: {{IPA|rokʷʼo}}
|-
|{{IPA|matsʼ}}||{{IPA|mezi}}||'louse'||Chadakolob Avar: {{IPA|natsʼ}}
|-
|{{IPA|ʕartsʼiⁿ}}||{{IPA|ʕärʒa-}}||'black'||Gigatil Chamalal: {{IPA|-etʃʼár}}
|-
|{{IPA|jopʼqʼ}}||{{IPA|juqʼ}}||'ashes'||
|}

A similar change has taken place in some of the other Dagestanian languages,<ref>Paul Fallon, 2002. ''The synchronic and diachronic phonology of ejectives'', p 245.</ref> see {{slink|Lezgic languages|The voicing of ejective consonants}}.

A change from ejectives to implosives is also reconstructed in the [[East Cushitic languages]], specifically in [[Macro-Somali languages|Somaloid]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Pystynen |first1=Juho |title=A doubly archaic palatal in Jiiddu |url=https://protouralic.wordpress.com/2025/11/20/a-doubly-archaic-palatal-in-jiiddu/ |website=Freelance reconstruction |access-date=20 December 2025 |language=en |date=20 November 2025}}</ref>

== Proposed connections to extinct languages ==
Many obscure ancient languages or peoples have been postulated by scholars of the Caucasus as Nakh, many in the South Caucasus. None of these have been confirmed; most are classified as Nakh on the basis of placenames.{{Citation needed|date=April 2026}}

===Malkh===
The language of the [[Malkh]]s<ref name="Jaimoukha">Jaimoukha, Amjad. ''The Chechens: A Handbook''. Routledge Curzon: Oxon, 2005.</ref> (whose name, malkh, refers to the sun) in the North Caucasus, who lived in modern day [[Kabardino-Balkaria]], [[Karachay–Cherkessia]], and once briefly conquered [[Ubykhia]] and [[Abkhazia]], is believed to be of Nakh affiliation. They were conquered first by Scythian-speaking Alan tribes and then by Turkic tribes, and seem to have largely abandoned their homeland and found shelter among the [[Chechens]], leading to the formation of a [[teip]] named after them. Those who stayed behind were either wiped out or assimilated.

===Dval===
The language of the [[Dvals]] is thought to be Nakh by many historians,<ref name=Jaimoukha/><ref>Гамрекели В. Н. Двалы и Двалетия в I—XV вв. н. э. Тбилиси, 1961 page 138</ref><ref>Меликишвили Г. А. К изучению древней восточномалоазийской этнонимики. ВДИ, 1962,1 page 62</ref><ref name=Kuznetsov>{{Citation| last=Kuznetsov| first=V.| authorlink=Vladimir Alexandrovitch Kouznetsov| title=Essays on the history of Alans (in Russian)| publisher=IR| place=Vladikavkaz| year=1992|isbn=978-5-7534-0316-2  |url = http://iratta.com/2007/06/05/09_alanyovsy_i_gruzija_pervaja_chast.html}}</ref> though there is a rivaling camp arguing for its status as a close relative of [[Ossetic language|Ossetic]].<ref name=Kuznetsov/> Various backing for the Nakh theory (different scholars use different arguments) includes the presence of Nakh placenames in former Dval territory,<ref name=Kuznetsov/> evidence of Nakh–Svan contact which probably would've required the Nakh nature of the Dvals or people there before them,<ref name=Jaimoukha/> and the presence of a foreign-origin Dval clan among the Chechens,<ref name="Melikishvilli">Melikishvilli</ref> seemingly implying that the Dvals found shelter (like the Malkhs are known to have done) among the Chechens from the conquest of their land by foreign invaders (presumably Ossetes).

===Tsov===
According to Georgian scholars I. A. Javashvili and [[Giorgi Melikishvili]], the [[Urartu|Urartian]] state of [[Sophene|Supani]] was occupied by the ancient Nakh tribe Tsov, whose state is called Tsobena in ancient Georgian historiography.<ref>Джавахишвили И. А. Введение в историю грузинского народа. кн.1, Тбилиси, 1950, page.47-49</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Ахмадов |first=Шарпудин Бачуевич |title=Чечня и Ингушетия в XVIII - начале XIX века |year= 2002|publisher= "Джангар", АПП|location=[[Elista]] |isbn= <!-- 5-94587-072-3 note: this ISBN is invalid - probably a publisher error, or OCR error-->|page= 52}}</ref><ref>Гаджиева В. Г. Сочинение И. Гербера Описание стран и народов между Астраханью и рекою Курой находящихся, М, 1979, page.55.</ref> The Tsov language was the dominant language spoken by its people, and was thought by these Georgian historians (as well as a number of others) to be Nakh. Tsov and its relatives in the area may have contributed to the [[Hurro-Urartian languages|Hurro-Urartian]] substratum in the [[Armenian language]].

== See also ==
* [[Languages of the Caucasus]]
* [[Northeast Caucasian languages]]
* [[North Caucasian languages]]
* [[Alarodian languages]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://starling.rinet.ru/cgi-bin/response.cgi?root=new100&morpho=0&basename=new100\ncc\nah&limit=-1&encoding=utf-eng Proto-Nakh (and Chechen, Ingush, Bats) basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database]
{{Northeast Caucasian languages}}
{{Languages of the Caucasus}}

{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nakh Languages}}
[[Category:Northeast Caucasian languages]]
[[Category:Languages of Russia]]