Alarodian languages
| Alarodian | |
|---|---|
| (controversial) | |
| Geographic distribution: | Caucasus, Anatolia |
| Linguistic classification: | Proposed language family |
| Subdivisions: | |
| Glottolog: | None |
The Alarodian languages are a proposed language family that encompasses the Northeast Caucasian (Nakh–Dagestanian) languages and the extinct Hurro-Urartian languages.
History of the concept
The Alarodian family was first proposed by Fritz Hommel (1854–1936). The term comes from the name Herodotus used to refer to the kingdom of Urartu, in modern-day Armenia, northwestern Iran, and eastern Turkey. The connection between the Northeast and North-central families was based on claimed similarities in phonetics and grammar, such as sentence structure and an ergative case system. However, neither of these characteristics is limited to languages of this area, and neither constitutes the extensive evidence required to demonstrate a genetic relationship. The Hurro-Urartian languages were included on the basis of grammatical and lexical similarities. However the genetic relationships between these languages is not clear.
Further research on this group of languages was later published by Karel Oštir (1921, 1922), A. Svanidze (1937), Giorgi Melikishvili (1965), I.M. Diakonoff and S.A. Starostin (1986).
See also
Literature
- K. Ostir. Beiträge zur Alarodischen Sprachwissenschaft (a monograph), I, 1921 (in German)
- K. Ostir. Alarodische Sprachwissenschaft (a monograph), 1922 (in German)
- A. Svanidze. "Materials for history of Alarodian tribes" (a monograph), Tbilisi, 1937 (in Russian)
- G.A. Melikishvili. Questions of the oldest population of Georgia, Caucasus and the Near East (a monograph), Tbilisi, 1965 (in Georgian, Russian summary)
- I. Diakonoff, S. Starostin. "Hurro-Urartian as an Eastern Caucasian Language".- Münchener Studien zur Sprachwissenschaft, Beiheft, N.F., 12, 1986 (in English)
- Alarodian languages.- Encyclopedia "Sakartvelo", vol. I, Tbilisi, 1997, pp. 90 (in Georgian)