The term Ibero-Caucasian (or Iberian-Caucasian) was proposed by Georgian linguist Arnold Chikobava for the union of the four language families that are specific to the Caucasus area, namely

• South Caucasian, also called Georgian or Kartvelian;
• Northwest Caucasian, also called Abkhaz/Adygh or Circassian;
• North-central Caucasian or Vaynakh.
• Northeast Caucasian or Dagestan.

The Ibero-Caucasian group would also include the extinct languages Hattic, Hurrian and Urartian, which have been connected by some linguists to the Northwest and Northeast families. See the article languages of the Caucasus for more discussion.

The affinities between the four families above are still disputed, especially between South Caucasian and the three northern families. "Ibero-Caucasian" therefore remains at best a convenient geographical designation, not a linguistic phylum.

The name "Iberian" refers to Caucasian Iberia, a kingdom centered in Eastern Georgia which lasted from the 4th century BC to the 5th century AD, and is not related to the Iberian Peninsula. Because of its historical connections to the country of Georgia, the use of "Iberian" to refer to the four language families is deprecated by some speakers of those languages.

See also

• Chikobava Institute of Linguistics

Main research centers

• Chikobava Institute of Linguistics of the Georgian Academy of Sciences (Tbilisi).
• Department of Caucasiology at the University of Jena (Germany).
• Faculty of Philology at the Tbilisi State University (Tbilisi).

Main publications

• The Yearbook of the Iberian-Caucasian Linguistics (Tbilisi).
• Revue de Kartvelologie et Caucasologie (Paris).