Tevfik Esenç (1904 – 7 October 1992) was a Turkish citizen of Ubykh origin, known for being the last speaker of the Ubykh language. He was fluent in Ubykh, Adyghe and Turkish. After his death in 1992, the Ubykh language went extinct despite the efforts and work of numerous linguists to revive it. Nevertheless, Esenç is single-handedly responsible for the world's current knowledge of Ubykh language and culture being as extensive and detailed as it is.

Biography

Esenç was raised by his Ubykh-speaking grandparents for a time in the village of Hacıosman (Ubykh: Lek'uaşüa /lɜkʷʼɐ́ɕʷɜ/; Adyghe: Hundjahabl) in Turkey, and he served a term as the muhtar (mayor) of that village, before receiving a post in the civil service of Istanbul. There, he was able to do a great deal of work with the French linguist Georges Dumézil and his associate Georges Charachidzé to help record his language, although not all the writings of Charachidzé (1930–2010) have been published. Others who met Esenç and produced work on Ubykh are: the Norwegian Hans Vogt (1911–92); the British George Hewitt, who made recordings with Esenç in Istanbul; the Abkhazian Viacheslav Chirikba, who has written on Ubykh settlements and Ubykh surnames; and the Turkish linguist A. Sumru Özsoy. Having an excellent memory and understanding quickly the goals of Dumézil and the other linguists who came to visit him, he was a primary source of not only the Ubykh language, but also of the mythology, culture history, and customs of the Ubykh people. He spoke Turkish and Ubykh, and also a dialect of Adyghe (West Circassian), allowing some comparative work to be done between these two members of the Northwest Caucasian family. A purist, his idiolect of Ubykh was considered by Dumézil as the closest thing to a standard "literary" Ubykh language that existed. He finished his work for Ubykh with the following speech to his long-time collaborator Georges Charachidzé: "Professor Charachidzé, my great friend... Please forgive me if I made any mistakes. From now on, you are the Ubykh language. I told everything I know to you. Teach it to the world. May God give you all blessings and beauty! This is where Ubykh comes to an end." Esenç died in the night of 7 October 1992, at the age of 88; he was buried in the village cemetery of Hacıosman, his birthplace, alongside his wife Emine. He was survived by three sons and two daughters. In 1994, A. Sumru Özsoy organized an international conference, namely Conference on Northwest Caucasian Linguistics, at Boğaziçi University in memory of Dumézil and Esenç.