Peoples, Languages and Genes in the Caucasus: An Introduction By Asya Pereltsvaig "According to the Roman historian Pliny, when the Romans came to the Caucasus, they needed 134 interpreters to deal with the jumble of languages they found. The 10th century Arab geographer and historian al-Azizi referred to the area as the “mountain of languages”. Today, this relatively small area (about the size of New England) is home not only to over 100 languages, but to four distinct language families that are indigenous and unique to the region: the Northwest Caucasian family, the Northeast Caucasian family, the Nakh family and the South Caucasian (or Kartvelian) family. In addition, several languages from families common elsewhere – Indo-European and Turkic – are spoken by various groups in the Caucasus region as well." Source: geocurrents.info/cultural-geography/peoples-languages-and-genes-in-the-caucasus-an-introduction#ixzz2eysy85QR
Posted on: Sun, 15 Sep 2013 16:52:07 +0000
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