Chakobsa is a Northwest Caucasian (NWC) language (possibly in the Circassian subgroup). According to John Colarusso it is also known as shikwoshir or the 'hunting language' and was originally a secret language used only by the princes and nobles, and is still used by their descendants. An informant of Colarusso's has asserted that Chakobsa is based on Circassian, encrypted by reordering words and changing phonemes, rather like Pig Latin but more complex. This assertion is as yet unconfirmed.