Basque-Kartvelian Parallels A Contrastive Grammatical Study of the Basque and Kartvelian Languages

Abstract

There is a long-standing interest in European linguistics in possible connections between the languages of the Caucasus and Basque, even though Basque is usually assumed to be a language isolate. Georgian linguists Nikolai Marr and Arnold Chikobava were among the first to point out structural similarities between Basque and Caucasian languages. These observations sparked great interest in the study of the Basque language and culture in Georgia in the 1970s and 1980s. This publication provides a contrastive study of the structure of the Basque language and the Kartvelian (South Caucasian) languages Georgian and Megrelian.