Diana Kakashvili

Research profile

- Caucasian languages, with a focus on Nakh (Tsova-Tush/Batsbi)
- word formation, morphosyntax, and lexical borrowing,
- corpus-based methods with fieldwork on endangered languages.
- language documentation, variation, and the interaction between morphology and syntax in underdescribed languages.

Academic positions

Arnold Chikobava Institute of Linguistics, Tbilisi
2014–present
Research Fellow (Nakh Languages)

University of Göttingen, Department of General Linguistics
Junior Researcher and adjunct Lecturer
05/2023–07/2024; 04/2025–12/2025

Qualification

PhD in Philology (Caucasian Linguistics)
Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University
Degree awarded 2025

M.A. in Caucasiology
Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University
2011

B.A. in Caucasiology
Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University
2009

Research Stays & Training

Research stay (DAAD), University of Göttingen, 2021
Research stay (DAAD), European University Viadrina, 2019
Research stay (Rustaveli–DAAD), Goethe University Frankfurt, 2018

Projects

Mozilla Common Voice (Tsova-Tush dataset), 2024–2025
Tsova-Tush Spoken Corpus, 2022–2023
Co-Director, Caucasian Languages Summer School, 2024–2025
Co-Director, Zemo Alvani Field Research Station, 2026
Formation of Compound Nouns in Caucasian Languages, 2019–2022
Caucasian–Georgian Dictionaries II, 2019–2022

Teaching

Georgian Language, University of Göttingen, 2021–2022
Tsova-Tush (Batsbi), Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, 2020–2022

Fieldwork

Fieldwork on Tsova-Tush (Batsbi) in Zemo Alvani, Georgia, including data collection, speaker collaboration, and corpus development.

Academic Service

Co-Director, Caucasian Languages Summer School (CNRS / Ilia State University), 2024–2025
Co-Director, Zemo Alvani Field Research Station, 2026

Publications

Kakashvili, D. (2025). Fossilized gender markers and word formation in Tsova-Tush. Spekali, 19. (forthcoming).
Kakashvili, D., & Skopeteas, S. (forthcoming). Within-language variation in V-final projections: Objects and goals in Tush (Tsova-Tush, Batsbi). In Ü. Atlamaz, Ö. Demirok & B. Öztürk (Eds.), Theoretical Issues in the Languages of the Caucasus. Linguistik Aktuell. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Kakashvili, D. (2023). Verb borrowing from Georgian in Tsova-Tush. Annual of Ibero-Caucasian Linguistics, 4.
Kakashvili, D. (2021). Exocentric compounds in Georgian and Nakh languages. Iberian-Caucasian Linguistics, 46, 86–92.
Kakashvili, D. (2021). Georgian–Nakh lexical parallels. Etymological Studies, 18.
Kakashvili, D. (2018). Names denoting origin in the Tsova-Tush language. Iberian-Caucasian Linguistics, 46, 43–47.
Kakashvili, D. (2017). On word-formation in the Tsova-Tush language. Iberian-Caucasian Linguistics, 45, 70–73.