Chakobsa (Caucasian language)

Chakobsa is a Northwest Caucasian (NWC) language (possibly in the Circassian subgroup), also called "shikwoshir" or the "hunting language". It was originally a secret language used only by the princes and nobles, and is still used by their descendants. Jacob Reineggs (1796, p.248) was the first to record any Chakobsa: a list of 19 words. Though the overall appearance of these words seems to be NWC, they have no cognates in any language of that family or any other. In the Bzhedug dialect of Adyghe the language is called /šʿˊakʾ°abza/, literally "hunting language" (/šʿˊakʾ°a/ "hunting" + /bza/ "language"); the modern name "Chakobsa" is based on an earlier form of the word, */čʿˊakʾ°abza/. An informant has asserted that Chakobsa is based on Circassian, encrypted by reordering words and changing phonemes, rather like Pig Latin but more complex. Although not yet confirmed, this seems a reasonable hypothesis.^[1]

References

↑ Colarusso, John (1988). "1, note 3". The Northwest Caucasian Languages: A Phonological Survey (Jan 21, 2014 ed.). Routledge. p. 11. ISBN 9781317918172. Retrieved 8 February 2018.

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[1] Colarusso, John (1988). "1, note 3". The Northwest Caucasian Languages: A Phonological Survey (Jan 21, 2014 ed.). Routledge. p. 11. ISBN 9781317918172. Retrieved 8 February 2018.