Re: [tied] obscure languages - Kaskian, Hattic, Abkhaz etc.

>Whilst I am a would-be Caucasologist with a passing familiarity
>with Georgian, I have little or no detailed knowledge of the North-
>West (Adygho-Abkhaz) Caucasian language grouping. However,
>V. Ardzinba has concluded that the prefixal structure of
>Hattic/Kaskian (there are a number of important assumptions
>here, most importantly that a large proportion of the vocabulary
>of Hittite is in fact 'Hattic') bear a similarity with Abkhaz and
>'Circassian' (Adyge,Kabardian, Ubykh)

Granted and I don't object with this view, but I'm just curious
what examples of Kaskian exist. As far as I know, Kaskian was
never written.

>The arguments favouring Ardzinba's conclusions are inevitably
>complex - and we are dealing here with language groupings
>that are generally unfamiliar to those living in the West.

Again, I understand this but how is Ardzinba coming up with a
Kaskian glossary??? There are a fair amount of examples of written
Hattic but not of Kaskian.

>In my view these linguistic theories must rely to some degree
>on the 'consequences' of the now well-documented Black Sea
>event.

My version is different. Basically, I suspect Hattic went around the
_western_ shore of the Black Sea and once resided in the Balkans
when the Euxine Event hit. I don't believe that this event caused the
movement of the Hattic to Western Turkey however. Rather, I blame
it on a Tyrrhenian expansion.


- gLeN


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