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| | DoBeS — Project |
 | | Taking the famous survey published by T. Halasi-Kun and others under the title of "Peoples and Languages of the Caucasus" in 1962 as a basis, we may assume that the Caucasus is the residence of at least 70 languages belonging to four linguistic phylums that are spread wide beyond the Caucasus area, viz. |
 | | Indo-European (Armenian, Ossetic, Kurdish, Tati, Talyshi, Russian, Greek), Turkic (Azeri, Qumyq, Noghay, Karachay, Balqar a.o.), Afro-Asiatic (Aysor, Arabic) and Mongolian (Qalmyq), and three families that are believed to be authochthonous, viz. |
 | | As a matter of fact, not more than 10 of these languages have adopted a written standard, in connection with more widespread usage as lingua francas of certain regions. |
| www.mpi.nl /DOBES/projects/svan/project (623 words) |
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