The Diversity of the Chechen culture: from ... - unesdoc - Unesco

Khurrites, who migrated from the North
Caucasus to Transcaucasia and West Asia
in the 4 th millennium B.C., to none other
than the Chechen language 3 , while this
closeness could be possible only if they
migrated after the final division of the
Nakh and Dagestani languages 4 .
As the Caucasian language community
was disintegrating, the peoples
inhabiting the North Caucasus and the
area southwest of it were territorially
distributed just as later — Dagestani
language speakers in the east of the area,
Nakh in the centre, and Adyg in the west
and southwest.
To all appearances, such proximity
was lasting enough to be reflected in
linguistic correspondences. In this sense,
the Adyg languages are far closer to the
Nakh than Dagestani on the lexical and
structural-typological plane. Taking into
consideration the level of lexical and
morphological differences between the
Nakh and Adyg languages, determined
by their historical development, we can
assume relative lexical closeness of those
languages due to lasting coexistence just
as to common origin.
The mutual closeness of the Nakh
and Hurrian languages is indisputable 5 ,
as borne out not only by the high level
of their lexical similarities but also
by their entire structural-typological
identity. Even the indicators of grammar
classes in the Nakh languages, which are
3 Possibly, there was a reverse migration as testified
by deep-going links researchers have found
between the Maikop culture of the North Caucasus
and West Asian archeological cultures of that time.
4 Certain linguists’ attempts to bring Dagestani and
Nakh languages together in one group are absolutely
groundless.
5 Дьяконов И.М. Предыстория армянского народа.
Ереван, 1968. С. 102.
An amulet from an Alanian tomb in the vicinity of Akhinchu-
Barz in East Chechnya.
TThe Maikop burial mound. A leopard head. S.N. Korenevsky.
The Earliest Lend-Tilling and Stock-Breeding Population of
Ciscaucasia.
Ruins of a dwelling tower in Maista.
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