The North Caucasian languages, sometimes called simply Caucasic, are a pair of language families spoken in the Caucasus, chiefly in the north: the Northwest Caucasian family, also called Pontic, Abkhaz–Adyghe, Circassian, or West Caucasian; and the Northeast Caucasian family, also called Caspian, (Nakho)–Dagestanian, or East Caucasian.