This articleneeds additional citations forverification.(January 2010) |
Avar(магӏарул мацӏ,maǥarul macʼ[maʕarulmat͡sːʼ],"language of the mountains" orавар мацӏ,awar macʼ[ʔaˈwarmat͡sːʼ],"Avar language" ), also known asAvaric,[3][4]is aNortheast Caucasianlanguage of theAvar–Andicsubgroup that is spoken byAvars,primarily inDagestan.In 2010, there were approximately one million speakers in Dagestan and elsewhere inRussia.
| Avar | |
|---|---|
| Avaric, Awar | |
| اوار ماض,авар мацӏ,avar maⱬ,ماعارۇل ماض,магӏарул мацӏ,maⱨarul maⱬ | |
| Pronunciation | [ʔaˈwarmat͡sːʼ] [maʕarulmat͡sʼ] |
| Native to | North Caucasus,Azerbaijan |
| Ethnicity | Avars |
Native speakers | 1,200,000 (2021)[1] |
| Dialects |
|
| Cyrillic(current) Georgian,Arabic,Latin(formerly) | |
| Official status | |
Official language in |  Russia
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-1 | av– Avaric |
| ISO 639-2 | ava– Avaric |
| ISO 639-3 | Either:ava– Avaricoav– Old Avar |
oav– Old Avar | |
| Glottolog | avar1256 |
 Avar | |
 Avar is classified as Vulnerable by theUNESCOAtlas of the World's Languages in Danger[2] | |
Geographic distribution
editIt is spoken mainly in the western and southern parts of the Russian Caucasus republic ofDagestan,and theBalaken,Zaqatalaregions of north-westernAzerbaijan.[1]SomeAvarslive in other regions of Russia. There are also small communities of speakers living in the Russian republics ofChechnyaandKalmykia;inGeorgia,Kazakhstan,Ukraine,Jordan,and theMarmara Searegion ofTurkey.It is spoken by about 1,200,000 people worldwide.UNESCOclassifies Avar as vulnerable to extinction.[5]
Status
editIt is one of six literary languages of Dagestan, where it is spoken not only by the Avar, but also serves as thelanguage of communicationbetween different ethnic and linguistic groups.
Dialects
editGlottologlists 14dialectsof Avar, some of which correspond to the villages where they are spoken. The dialects are listed in Alpha betical order based on their name in Glottolog:
Phonology
edit| Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Pharyngeal | Glottal | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| central | lateral | ||||||||||||||
| lenis | fortis | lenis | fortis | lenis | fortis | lenis | fortis | lenis | fortis | ||||||
| Nasal | m | n | |||||||||||||
| Plosive | voiced | b | d | ɡ | |||||||||||
| voiceless | p | t | k | kː | ʔ | ||||||||||
| ejective | tʼ | kʼ | kːʼ | ||||||||||||
| Affricate | voiceless | t͡s | t͡sː | t͡ʃ | t͡ʃː | t͡ɬː | q͡χː | ||||||||
| ejective | t͡sʼ | t͡sːʼ | t͡ʃʼ | t͡ʃːʼ | (t͡ɬːʼ) | q͡χːʼ | |||||||||
| Fricative | voiceless | s | sː | ʃ | ʃː | ɬ | ɬː | x | xː | χ | χː | ʜ | |||
| voiced | z | ʒ | ʁ | ʕ | ɦ | ||||||||||
| Trill | r | ||||||||||||||
| Approximant | w | l | j | ||||||||||||
There are competing analyses of the distinction transcribed in the table with the length sign ⟨ː⟩. Length is part of the distinction, but so is articulatory strength, so they have been analyzed asfortis and lenis.[citation needed]The fortis affricates are long in the fricative part of the contour, e.g.[tsː](tss), not in the stop part as in geminate affricates in languages such as Japanese and Italian[tːs](tts). Laver (1994) analyzes e.g.[t͡ɬː]as a two-segment affricate–fricative sequence [t͡ɬɬ] (/t𐞛ɬ/=/tɬɬ/).[7]
| Front | Back | |
|---|---|---|
| High | i | u |
| Mid | e | o |
| Low | a | |
Avar has five phonemic vowels: /a e i o u/.
Lexical accent
editIn Avar, accent is contrastive, free and mobile, independent of thenumber of syllablesin the word. Changes in lexical accent placement indicate different semantic meaning and grammatical meanings of a word:
- ра́гӏи'word'~рагӏи́'fodder'
- ру́гънал'wound.nom.pl'~ругъна́л'wound.gen.sg'
Morphosyntax
editThis sectionneeds expansion.You can help byadding to it.(September 2024) |
Avar is anagglutinativelanguage, ofSOVorder.
Adverbsdo not inflect, outside of inflection fornoun classin some adverbs of place: e.g. the/b/in/ʒani-b/"inside" and/t͡se-b-e/"in front". Adverbs of place also distinguishlocative,allative,andablativeforms suffixally, such as/ʒani-b/"inside",/ʒani-b-e/"to the inside", and/ʒani-sa/"from the inside"./-go/is an emphatic suffix taken by underived adjectives.
Writing systems
editIt has been suggested that this section besplitout into another article titledAvar Alpha bets.(Discuss)(June 2024) |
There were some attempts to write the Avar language in theGeorgian Alpha betas early as the 14th century.[8][9]The use ofArabic scriptfor representing Avar in marginal glosses began in the 15th century. The use of Arabic, which is known asajam,is still known today.[9]
Peter von Uslardeveloped a Cyrillic-based Alpha bet, published in 1889, that also used some Georgian-based letters. Many of its letters have not been encoded in Unicode. The Alpha bet takes the following form:[10]а б в г ӷ д е ж һ
і ј к қ
л м н о п ԛ
р с ҫ т ҭ у х х̓ хّ ц
ц̓ ꚑ ч ч̍ чّ
/ч̓ ш ƞ ƞ̓ ɳّ ດ
As part of Soviet language re-education policies in 1928 the Ajam wasreplacedby a Latin Alpha bet, which in 1938 was in turnreplacedby the currentCyrillic script.Essentially, it is the Russian Alpha bet plus one additional letter calledpalochka(stick,Ӏ). As that letter cannot be typed with commonkeyboard layouts,it is often replaced with a capital Latin letter i (I), small Latin letter L (l), or the numerical digit1.
Current orthography
editThe Avar language is usually written in theCyrillic script.The letters of the Alpha bet are (with their pronunciation given below inIPAtranscription):[6][11]
| А а /a/ |
Б б /b/ |
В в /w/ |
Г г /ɡ/ |
Гъ гъ /ʁ/ |
Гь гь /ɦ/ |
ГӀ гӏ /ʕ/ |
Д д /d/ |
| Е е /e/, /je/ |
Ё ё /jo/ |
Ж ж /ʒ/ |
З з /z/ |
И и /i/ |
Й й /j/ |
К к /k/ |
Къ къ /q͡χːʼ/ |
| Кь кь /t͡ɬːʼ/ |
КӀ кӏ /kʼ/ |
КӀкӏ кӏкӏ /kːʼ/ |
Кк кк /kː/ |
Л л /l/ |
ЛӀ лӏ /t͡ɬː/ |
Лъ лъ /ɬ/ |
Лълъ лълъ /ɬː/ |
| М м /m/ |
Н н /n/ |
О о /o/ |
П п /p/ |
Р р /r/ |
С с /s/ |
Сс сс /sː/ |
Т т /t/ |
| ТӀ тӏ /tʼ/ |
У у /u/ |
Ф ф /f/ |
Х х /χ/ |
Хх хх /χː/ |
Хъ хъ /q͡χː/ |
Хь хь /x/ |
Хьхь хьхь /xː/ |
| ХӀ хӏ /ʜ/ |
Ц ц /t͡s/ |
Цц цц /t͡sː/ |
ЦӀ цӏ /t͡sʼ/ |
ЦӀцӏ цӏцӏ /t͡sːʼ/ |
Ч ч /t͡ʃ/ |
Чч чч /t͡ʃː/ |
ЧӀ чӏ /t͡ʃʼ/ |
| ЧӀчӏ чӏчӏ /t͡ʃːʼ/ |
Ш ш /ʃ/ |
Щ щ /ʃː/ |
Ъ ъ /ʔ/ |
Ы ы /ɨ/ |
Ь ь /ʲ/ |
Э э /e/ |
Ю ю /ju/ |
| Я я /ja/ |
Comparison chart
editCompiled according to:[12][13][14][15][16]
|
Arabic writing conventions
editOne feature of Avar Arabic script is that similar to Alpha bets such asUyghurandKurdish,the script does not omit vowels and does not rely ondiacriticsto represent vowels when need be. Instead, modified letters with dot placement and accents have been standardized to represent vowels. Thus, Avar Arabic script is no longer an "impureabjad"unlike its parent systems (Arabic,Persian,andOttoman), it now resembles a proper "Alpha bet".
While this was not the case for most of the several centuries during which Arabic Alpha bet has been used for Avar, this has become the case in the latest and most common conventions. This was indeed not the case at the time of writing of a linguistic article for theJournal of the Royal Asiatic Societyin 1881.[15]
As an example, in Avar Arabic Script, four varieties of the letteryāʼ( "ی" ) have been developed, each with a distinct function.
| Leter | Cyrillic Equivalent | IPA | Functionn |
|---|---|---|---|
| ئ | - / ъ | /ʔ/ | Used at the beginning of words starting with vowels "О о" [o], "У у" [u], "Э э" [e], and "И и" [i]. Has no sound of its own, but acts as "vowel carrier". Similar to writing conventions ofUyghyrandKurdish |
| ئې، ې | Э э / Е е | /e/ | Similar letter exists inPashto,Uzbek,andUyghyrorthographies. |
| ئێ، ێ | И и / Ы ы | /i~ɨ/ | Similar letter exists inKurdishorthography, but for the vowel [e]. |
| ي | Й й | /j/ | Equivalent to English "y" sound. |
Nevertheless, Avar Arabic script does retain two diacritics.
First is "shadda"(ـّـ), used forgemination.While in Cyrillic, two back to back letters, includingdigraphsare written, in Arabic script, shadda is used.
Second diacritic in use in Avar Arabic script isḍammah(ـُـ). In Arabic, Persian, and historically in Ottoman Turkish, this diacritic is used to represent [o] or [u]. But in Avar, this diacritic is used forlabialization[◌ʷ] and not for any sort of vowel. So, it is the case that this diacritic is used in conjunction with a follow-up vowel. For example, the sound "зва" [zʷa] is written as "زُا".
This diacritic can optionally be used in conjunction with shadda. For example, the sound "ссвa" [sːʷa] is written as "سُّا".
If a word starts with a vowel, if it's an [a] sound, it is written withalif"ا". Otherwise, the vowel needs to be preceded by a "vowel carrier", which ishamza-ya'(ئـ). No need for such a carrier in the middle of words. Below table demonstrates vowels in Avar Arabic Script.
| А а | О о | У у | Э э / Е е | И и | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| [a] | [o] | [u] | [e] | [i] | |
| Vowel at the beginning of a word | |||||
| ا | ئۈ | ئۇ | ئېـ | ئێـ | |
| Vowel in the middle or end of a word | |||||
| ـا، ا | ـۈ، ۈ | ـۇ، ۇ | ېـ، ـېـ، ـې | ێـ، ـێـ، ـێ | |
Sample comparison
edit| Arabic Alphabet (2007)[17] | Cyrillic Alphabet (2007) | Latin Alphabet |
|---|---|---|
|
Нолъ макьилъ вихьана, кьалда лъукъ-лъукъун, |
Noļ maꝗiļ viҳana, ꝗalda ļuq-ļuqun, |
Literature
editThe literary language is based on the болмацӏ (bolmacʼ)[citation needed]—bo= "army" or "country", andmacʼ= "language" —the common language used between speakers of different dialects and languages. Thebolmacʼin turn was mainly derived from the dialect ofKhunzakh,the capital and cultural centre of the Avar region, with some influence from the southern dialects. Nowadays the literary language is influencing the dialects, levelling out their differences.[citation needed]
The most famous figure of modern Avar literature isRasul Gamzatov(died November 3, 2003), the People's Poet of Dagestan. Translations of his works intoRussianhave gained him a wide audience all over the formerSoviet Union.[citation needed]
Sample sentences
edit| English | Avar | Transliteration | IPA |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hello! | Ворчӏами! | Worch’ami! | /wort͡ʃ’ami/ |
| How are you doing? | Щиб хӏaл бугеб? | Shchib hal bugeb? | /ʃːib ʜal bugeb/ |
| How are you? | Иш кин бугеб? | Ish kin bugeb? | /iʃ kin bugeb/ |
| What is your name? | Дуда цӏар щиб? | Duda c’ar shchib? | /duda t͡s’ar ʃːib/ |
| How old are you? | Дур чан сон бугеб? | Dur chan son bugeb? | /dur t͡ʃan son bugeb/ |
| Where are you going? | Mун киве ина вугев? | Mun kiwe ina wugew? | /mun kiwe ina wugew/ |
| Sorry! | Тӏаса лъугьа! | T’asa łuḩa! | /t’asa ɬuha/ |
| Where is the little boy going? | Киве гьитӏинав вас унев вугев? | Kiwe ḩit’inaw was unew wugew? | /kiwe hit’inaw was unew wugew/ |
| The boy broke a bottle. | Васас шиша бекана. | Wasas shisha bekana. | /wasas ʃiʃa bekana/ |
| They are building the road. | Гьез нух бале (гьабулеб) буго. | Ḩez nux́ bale (ḩabuleb) bugo. | /hez nuχ bale (habuleb) bugo/ |
Sample text
edit| Avar | Translation | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Cyrillic | Latin | Arabic | |
| Я, зобалазда вугев нижер Эмен, дур цӀар гӀадамаз мукъадасаблъун рикӀкӀаги, дур ПарччахӀлъи тӀаде щваги. Зобалаздаго гӀадин ракьалдаги дур амру билълъанхъаги. Жакъа нижер бетӀербахъиялъе хинкӀ-чед кье нижее. Нижер налъи-хӀакъалда тӀасаги лъугьа, нижерго налъулазда тӀаса нижги лъугьарал ругин. Нижер хӀалбихьизеги биччаге, Квешалдаса цӀуне ниж. | [Ja, zobalazda wugew niƶer Emen, dur ⱬar ⱨadamaz muqadasabļun, riⱪⱪagi, dur Parccaħļi ţade şşvagi. Zobalazdago ⱨadin raꝗaldagi dur amru biļļanӿagi. Ƶaqa niƶer beţerbaӿijaļe xinⱪ-ced ꝗe niƶeje. Niƶer naļi-ħaqalda ţasagi ļuha, niƶergo naļulazda, ţasa niƶgi ļuharal rugin. Niƶer ħalbiҳizegi biccage, Kveşaldasa ⱬune niƶ.]Error: {{Lang}}: Non-latn text/Latn script subtag mismatch (help) | يا، زۈبالازدا وۇڬېو نێجېر ئېمېن، دۇر ضار عاداماز مۇقاداسابڸۇن رێگّاڬێ، دۇر پارچّاحڸێ طادې شُّاڬێ. زۈبالازداڬۈ عادێن راڨالداڬێ دۇر امرۇ بێڸّانڅاڬێ. جاقا نێجېر بېطېرباڅێياڸې جێنگ-چېدڨ ڨې نێجېيې. نێجېر ناڸێ-حاقالدا طاساڬێ ڸۇﻫا، نێجېرڬۈ ناڸۇلازدا طاسا نێجرێ ڸۇﻫارال رۇڬێن. نێجېر حالبێڮێزېڬێ بێچّارێ، کُێشالداسا ضۇنې نێج.
|
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth. Give us this day our daily bread, And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. |
See also
edit
References
edit- ^abAvaratEthnologue(25th ed., 2022)
Old AvaratEthnologue(25th ed., 2022)
- ^"Avar in Russian Federation".UNESCO WAL.Retrieved22 June2024.
- ^"Documentation for ISO 639 identifier: ava".ISO 639-2 Registration Authority - Library of Congress.Retrieved2017-07-05.
Name: Avaric
- ^"Documentation for ISO 639 identifier: ava".ISO 639-3 Registration Authority - SIL International.Retrieved2017-07-05.
Name: Avaric
- ^"UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger".UNESCO.Retrieved19 April2015.
- ^abConsonant Systems of the North-East Caucasian Languages on TITUS DIDACTICA
- ^Laver (1994)Principles of Phoneticsp. 371.
- ^Simon Crisp, "Language Planning and the Orthography of Avar",Folia Slavica7, 1–2 (1984): 91–104.
- ^abSimon Crisp, "The Formation and Development of Literary Avar", pp. 143–62, in Isabelle T. Kreindler, ed.,Sociolinguistic Perspectives on Soviet National Languages: Their Past, Present and Future,Contributions to the Sociology of Language, 40 (Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 1985).
- ^Услар, Баронъ П. К. (1889).Аварскій языкъ(PDF).Тифлисъ.
{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^Omniglot on the Avar Alpha bet, language and pronunciation
- ^Саидов М. Д. (1948). "Возникновение письменности у аварцев" (Языки Дагестана ed.). Махач-Кала.
{{cite journal}}:Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^"Новый алфавит для народностей Дагестана"(II) (Культура и письменность Востока ed.). Б. 1928: 176–177. Archived fromthe originalon 2022-04-02.
{{cite journal}}:Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^Алексеев М. Е. (2001). "Аварский язык. — Языки Российской Федерации и соседних государств. — М.: Наука". М.: 24–34.
{{cite journal}}:Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^abGraham, C. (1881)."The Avâr Language".Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland.13(3) XI: 291–352.doi:10.1017/s0035869x00017858.S2CID164107540.
- ^http://avar.me/
- ^"Avar (Магӏарул мацӏ / Авар мацӏ)".omniglot.Retrieved2023-08-14.
External links
edit
- RFE/RL North Caucasus Radio (also includes Chechen and Adyghe)
- Avar language corpusArchived2017-10-11 at theWayback Machine(in English, Russian, Polish and Belarusian)
- Avar Cyrillic-Latin text and website converter
- Online Avar–Russian dictionary, including Arabic and Latin scripts
- Avar language information in Russian