Caucasian languages and language contact in terms of religions

• From a historical view point, one of the most striking features in the Caucasian languages is the preservation of archaic linguistic structures, often represented by the active alignment. These languages might have had contact with non-Caucasian languages but the contact-induced changes may not be as obvious as those in other languages in Europe. In this paper, it is argued that the preservation of older linguistic structure is somehow related to religion, or more precisely, religious reformation. The majority of IE languages have changed dramatically after the Renaissance period and Church reformation. The Orthodox and Sunni Muslims are two main religions in the Caucasus region, but they have not gone through a major reformation as in the Catholic and Protestant Churches. This can be a reason for the current status of the Caucasian languages.

Subject headings

HUMANIORA  -- Språk och litteratur (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Languages and Literature (hsv//eng)

Publication and Content Type

kon (subject category)

ref (subject category)