Chechen (нохчийн мотт) is the ancestral language of the Chechen people— a language shaped by mountains, migrations, and centuries of oral tradition. It originates in Chechnya, a strikingly beautiful region of the North Caucasus.
Despite its small size—only 17,500 km², with a population a little above 1.5 million in 2021 (estimated 1.57 million in 2024)—Chechnya is one of the most linguistically vibrant areas of the Caucasus. The Chechen language remains central to daily life, identity, and community, both in the homeland and across the global Chechen diaspora.
Chechen language is classed in the linguistic branch of Nakh Languages, with Ingush and Bats languages.
Chechen Speakers
Chechnya
Almost the entire population of Chechnya speaks Chechen as their native language. It is used in everyday communication, culture, and local media, and enjoys official status alongside Russian.
Ingushetia and Dagestan
There are long-established Chechen enclaves in neighboring republics:
- Ingushetia
- Dagestan, especially in the Khasavyurt and Novolak districts
- North Ossetia, in smaller numbers
These communities have maintained the Chechen language despite being surrounded by other North Caucasian ethnic groups.
Georgia
In the valley of Pankisi, we find Kist people. They are direct descendant of Chechens who have migrated in the north of Georgia during the XIX century.
Chechen Diaspora
Chechens form a remarkably widespread diaspora, shaped by both historical migrations and modern conflicts. The language survives to varying degrees depending on community size, integration, and generational transmission.
Historical Diaspora (19th–20th centuries)
These migrations were linked to imperial conflicts, economic pressure, and later Soviet deportations.
Turkey
Turkey hosts one of the largest Chechen diasporas—estimates range from 50,000 to over 100,000 people.
Jordan
The Chechens of Jordan form one of the oldest and most well-preserved Chechen diasporas in the Middle East. Their migration dates back to the late 19th century, when many North Caucasian families fled war, repression, and Russian imperial expansion. Seeking safety, several groups settled in what was then the Ottoman province of Transjordan.
Chechens established three main villages in Jordan, which still exist today:
- Zarqa
- Sweileh
- Azraq
These settlements were built from scratch on largely uninhabited land. Chechens contributed significantly to the early development of Jordan’s infrastructure, agriculture, and local security. Their reputation for discipline and integrity led many to serve in the Arab Legion and later in the Jordanian gendarmerie.
Chechens are a recognized ethnic minority in Jordan. They have historically maintained:
- close relations with the Hashemite royal family,
- a strong presence in national institutions (security forces, parliament, municipal councils),
- a reputation for community discipline and cohesion.
They are often mentioned together with Circassians, another North Caucasian group with a parallel migration history.
While older generations preserved the Chechen language at home, language transmission has become uneven in recent decades:
- Many younger Chechens grow up speaking Arabic as their dominant language.
- Chechen is still used in family settings, but literacy remains rare due to lack of schools or standardized materials.
- Cultural traditions (weddings, music, clan structures) persist strongly, even where the language has weakened.
- Jordanian Chechens often speak Chechen at home but use Arabic for writing, as it was the alphabet used in Chechnya at the time of their migration, as well as the current alphabet in Jordan.
- Many arabic loan words are present in their speach
Chechens from Jordan, 50's
Syria
A smaller but historically significant Chechen community also exists in Syria, where several thousand Chechens settled in the late 19th and early 20th centuries after fleeing conflict and Russian imperial expansion. They established villages—most notably in the Golan Heights—where they maintained Chechen customs, oral traditions, and elements of the language. Over time, however, political upheavals, displacement during the Syrian conflict, and integration into Arabic-speaking society have greatly reduced the number of fluent Chechen speakers. Today, the Syrian Chechen community remains culturally identifiable, but language transmission is uneven, making it one of the more endangered branches of the global Chechen diaspora.
Chechens in Ras al-Ayn, Syria, 1899.
Kazakhstan
Suring the Stalinist deportations of 1944, Chechens and Ingush were forcibly relocated and deported in Kazakhstan. These deportations were carried out under harsh conditions: people were crammed into freight trains without sufficient food, water, or shelter, and many suffered and died during the journey and in the early years of exile. Many families came back in Chechnya at the end of the exile, but there are still about 30 000 Chechens in Kazakhstan.
Ingush family Gazdievs mourns at the body of the deceased daughter. Kazakhstan, 1944
Post-War Diaspora (1990s–2000s)
The Chechen wars caused a massive wave of migration.
Europe
Thousands of Chechens settled across Europe, forming active communities with cultural associations, mosques, and online networks. Major concentrations include:
- Austria
- Belgium (mostly in Flanders)
- France (Strasbourg, Nice)
- Germany (Berlin, North Rhine–Westphalia, Bavaria)
- Poland
- Norway, Finland, Sweden, Denmark
In Europe, children often grow up bilingual or trilingual (Chechen + local language + Russian). However, maintaining literacy in Chechen is difficult due to limited educational resources.
Jordan and Turkey
additional post-war arrivals on top of historical diaspora
Russia
Many Chechens moved to major Russian cities:
- Moscow
- St. Petersburg
- Tyumen
- Yekaterinburg
- Krasnoyarsk
- Rostov-on-Don
The Chechen diaspora is dispatched everywhere arround the world for many different reason. Each community has its own language evolution giving the Chechen language a plurality of influence on the vocabulary and on the writting system usage.
Why is Chechen Language considered vulnerable ?
Although Chechen is spoken by over a million people across Chechnya and the global diaspora, it is officially classified as “vulnerable” in UNESCO’s Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger. In UNESCO’s scale, a language is labeled vulnerable when most children still speak it, but its use is restricted to certain environments—typically at home or in informal settings—rather than across all domains of public life such as education, media, and administration.
Several factors explain this status: in many urban areas, the Russian language dominates education, official communication, administration, and media, limiting Chechen’s role outside the private sphere. Furthermore, even though almost the entire population of Chechnya speaks Chechen natively, literacy in Chechen remains comparatively low, since schooling is conducted mostly in Russian and written resources in Chechen are limited. In the diaspora, intergenerational transmission is uneven: many Chechens do not learn the language as their first or dominant language, and maintaining fluency becomes increasingly difficult. Additionally, the process of standardizing Chechen is challenging, due to limited educational materials and the natural diversity of dialects across regions and communities.
Being classified as vulnerable does not mean the language is disappearing today, but it does indicate that its long-term vitality depends on active support—including early-education programs, strengthened presence in local media, and accessible learning materials for new generations and diaspora communities. This is precisely why at Chechen Courses we work to make the language accessible to Chechens around the world, providing structured learning resources that help rebuild vocabulary, reduce reliance on Russian loanwords, and give learners the tools to confidently use and transmit Chechen to future generations.