Day 1: Abkhazia

[politicus]

Abkhaz is one of the Northwest Caucasian languages, which once included Ubykh (now extinct), holder of the most consonants ever noted in a language (81).

What a shame. How could they let such an awesome language die?

The Ubykhs are Muslims and left Caucasus for Turkey in 1864 after the Russian conquest. They stopped being nomads and became farmers in western Turkey (around Manyas).

To avoid discrimination their elders encouraged Ubykhs to assimilate into Turkish culture. The last native speaker died as recently as 1992.

[politicus]

Last Ubykh speaker Tevfik Esenç:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDOePxXxQ04


He even had it engraved on his gravestone:

"This is the grave of Tevfik Esenç. He was the last person able to speak the language they called Ubykh"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tevfik_Esenç

[politicus]

Abkhaz is one of the Northwest Caucasian languages, which once included Ubykh (now extinct), holder of the most consonants ever noted in a language (81).

What a shame. How could they let such an awesome language die?

The Ubykhs are Muslims and left Caucasus for Turkey in 1864 after the Russian conquest. They stopped being nomads and became farmers in western Turkey (around Manyas).

To avoid discrimination their elders encouraged Ubykhs to assimilate into Turkish culture. The last native speaker died as recently as 1992.

They didn't leave, so much as were pushed hard.

Yeah, fled might be a more appropriate term, but the Ubykhs migrated before the Russians got to them in a relatively coordinated and organized exodus.