ABSTRACT
Chechen, Ingush, Kist (considered by some authorities as a divergent dialect of Chechen) and Tsova-Tushian (Batsbi) make up the Nakh branch of the Nakh-Daghestani, or NE Caucasian language family, which comprises more than 30 languages, most of which are spoken in Daghestan. The language group is indigenous to the Caucasus and is comparable in age to Indo-European. The split of the Nakh branch from the rest of the family took place about 5,000-6,000 years ago.
