Ubykh

E504753
Northwest Caucasian language extinct language

Ubykh is an extinct Northwest Caucasian language once spoken along the eastern Black Sea coast, renowned for its exceptionally large consonant inventory and minimal vowel system.

Jump to: Surface forms Statements Referenced by

Observed surface forms (1)

Surface form Occurrences
Ubykh language 2

Statements (49)

Predicate Object
instanceOf Northwest Caucasian language ⓘ
extinct language ⓘ
alignment ergative–absolutive ⓘ
causeOfEndangerment displacement from ancestral lands ⓘ
language shift to Turkish ⓘ
consonantInventorySize 80+ consonant phonemes ⓘ
consonantType labialized consonants ⓘ
multiple series of sibilants ⓘ
numerous affricates ⓘ
numerous fricatives ⓘ
pharyngealized consonants ⓘ
uvular consonants ⓘ
country Russia ⓘ
documentationStatus well-documented for an extinct Caucasian language ⓘ
documentationType audio recordings ⓘ
grammars ⓘ
text collections ⓘ
ethnicGroup Ubykh people NERFINISHED ⓘ
extinctionDate 1992 ⓘ
Glottocode ubyk1235 NERFINISHED ⓘ
hasFeature complex verbal morphology ⓘ
extensive use of prefixes ⓘ
lack of phonemic voicing contrast in stops ⓘ
polypersonal agreement ⓘ
rich consonant clusters ⓘ
historicalCommunity Ubykh diaspora in Turkey ⓘ
ISO639-3 uby NERFINISHED ⓘ
languageFamily Northwest Caucasian NERFINISHED ⓘ
lastNativeSpeaker Tevfik Esenç NERFINISHED ⓘ
linguisticSignificance example of extreme consonant–vowel asymmetry ⓘ
important for typological studies of phoneme inventories ⓘ
morphologicalType agglutinative ⓘ
notableResearcher George Hewitt NERFINISHED ⓘ
Georges Dumézil NERFINISHED ⓘ
Hans Vogt NERFINISHED ⓘ
phonologicalFeature minimal vowel system ⓘ
very large consonant inventory ⓘ
region Caucasus ⓘ
Sochi area NERFINISHED ⓘ
eastern Black Sea coast ⓘ
relatedLanguage Abaza NERFINISHED ⓘ
Abkhaz NERFINISHED ⓘ
Circassian ⓘ
status extinct ⓘ
subfamily Abkhaz–Abaza–Ubykh branch ⓘ
vowelInventorySize 2 or 3 vowel phonemes ⓘ
wordOrder SOV-dominant ⓘ
writingSystem Cyrillic alphabet NERFINISHED ⓘ
Latin alphabet ⓘ

Referenced by (5)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Ubykhs → ethnonym → Ubykh ⓘ
Northwest Caucasian languages → hasMember → Ubykh ⓘ
Northwest Caucasian languages → includesExtinctLanguage → Ubykh ⓘ
Ubykhs → language → Ubykh ⓘ
this entity surface form: Ubykh language
Apswa → relatedLanguage → Ubykh ⓘ
this entity surface form: Ubykh language