page_title: Northwest Caucasian languages
section_title: Classification
hierarchical_section_title: Northwest Caucasian languages / Classification
caption_attribution_description: English: Circassia in 1750
context_page_description: The Northwest Caucasian languages, also called West Caucasian, Abkhazo-Adyghean, Abkhazo-Circassian, Circassic, or sometimes Pontic languages, are a group of languages spoken in the northwestern Caucasus region, chiefly in three Russian republics, the disputed territory of Abkhazia, and Turkey, with smaller communities scattered throughout the Middle East. This language group's relationship to other language families is uncertain. One language, Ubykh, became extinct in 1992, while all of the other languages are in some form of endangerment, with UNESCO classifying all as either "vulnerable," "endangered," or "severely endangered."
context_section_description: There are five recognized languages in the Northwest Caucasian family: Abkhaz, Abaza, Kabardian or East Circassian, Adyghe or West Circassian, and Ubykh. They are classified as follows:
  Abkhaz–Abaza (Abazgi)
  Abaza (49,800 speakers)
  Abkhaz (190,110 speakers)
  Circassian
  Adyghe (590,000)
  Kabardian (1,685,000)
  Ubykh †
caption: Territory of Northwest Caucasian peoples in 1830.
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