Before theRussian conquest, most writings inChechnya consisted ofIslamic texts and clan histories, written usually in Arabic but sometimes also in Chechen using Arabic script. The Chechen literary language was created after theOctober Revolution, and theLatin script began to be used instead of Arabic for Chechen writing in the mid-1920s. TheCyrillic script was adopted in 1938. Almost the entire library of Chechen medieval writing in Arabic and Georgian script about the land of Chechnya and its people was destroyed by Soviet authorities in 1944, leaving the modern Chechens and modern historians with a destroyed and no longer existent historical treasury of writings.[7]
The Chechen diaspora inJordan,Turkey, andSyria is fluent but generally not literate in Chechen except for individuals who have made efforts to learn the writing system. The Cyrillic alphabet is not generally known in these countries, and thus for Jordan and Syria, they most use the Arabic alphabet, while in Turkey they use the Latin alphabet.
Chechen is the most-spokenNortheast Caucasian language. Together with the closely relatedIngush, with which there exists a large degree of mutual intelligibility and shared vocabulary, it forms theVainakh branch.
There are a number of Chechen dialects:Aukh, Chebarloish, Malkhish, Nokhchmakhkakhoish, Orstkhoish, Sharoish, Shuotoish, Terloish, Itum-Qalish and Himoish.
Dialects of Chechen can be classified by their geographic position within the Chechen Republic. The dialects of the northern lowlands are often referred to as "Oharoy muott" (literally "lowlander's language") and the dialect of the southern mountain tribes is known as "Laamaroy muott" (lit. "mountainer's language").Oharoy muott forms the basis for much of the standard and literary Chechen language, which can largely be traced to the regional dialects of Urus-Martan and contemporaryGrozny. Laamaroy dialects include Chebarloish, Sharoish, Itum-Qalish, Kisti, and Himoish. Until recently, however, Himoy was undocumented and was considered a branch of Sharoish, as many dialects are also used as the basis of intertribal (teip) communication within a larger Chechen "tukkhum". Laamaroy dialects such as Sharoish, Himoish and Chebarloish are more conservative and retain many features from Proto-Chechen. For instance, many of these dialects lack a number of vowels found in the standard language which were a result oflong-distance assimilation between vowel sounds. Additionally, the Himoy dialect preserves word-final, post-tonic vowels as a schwa [ə].
Literary Chechen is based on Plains Chechen, spoken aroundGrozny andUrus-Martan.[8]
Chechens inJordan have good relations with the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and are able to practice their own culture and language. Chechen language usage is strong among the Chechen community in Jordan. Jordanian Chechens are bilingual in both Chechen and Arabic, but do not speak Arabic among themselves, only speaking Chechen to other Chechens. Some Jordanians are literate in Chechen as well, having managed to read and write to people visiting Jordan from Chechnya.[10]
Some phonological characteristics of Chechen include its wealth of consonants and sounds similar toArabic and theSalishan languages of North America, as well as a large vowel system resembling those ofSwedish andGerman.
Nearly any consonant may befortis because of focus gemination, but only the ones above are found inroots.The consonants of thet cell and/l/ aredenti-alveolar; the others of that column arealveolar./x/ is a backvelar, but not quiteuvular.The lateral/l/ may bevelarized, unless it is followed by a front vowel. The trill/r/ is usually articulated with a single contact, and therefore sometimes described as atap[ɾ].Except in the literaryregister, and even then only for some speakers, the voicedaffricates/dz/,/dʒ/ have merged into thefricatives/z/,/ʒ/. A voiceless labial fricative/f/ is found only in Europeanloanwords./w/ appears both in diphthongs and as a consonant; as a consonant, it has an allophone[v] before front vowels.
Except when following a consonant,/ʢ/ isphonetically[ʔˤ], and can be argued to be aglottal stop before a "pharyngealized" (actually epiglottalized) vowel. However, it does not have the distribution constraints characteristic of the anteriorpharyngealized (epiglottalized) consonants. Although these may be analyzed as ananterior consonant plus/ʢ/ (they surface for example as [dʢ] whenvoiced and[pʰʜ] whenvoiceless),Nichols argues that given the severe constraints againstconsonant clusters in Chechen, it is more useful to analyze them as single consonants.
Unlike most other languages of the Caucasus, Chechen has an extensive inventory ofvowel sounds, putting its range higher than most languages of Europe (most vowels being the product of environmentally conditioned allophonic variation, which varies by both dialect and method of analysis). Many of the vowels are due toumlaut, which is highly productive in the standard dialect. None of the spelling systems used so far have distinguished the vowels with complete accuracy.
All vowels may benasalized. Nasalization is imposed by thegenitive,infinitive, and for some speakers thenominative case ofadjectives. Nasalization is not strong, but it is audible even in final vowels, which are devoiced.
Some of thediphthongs have significantallophony:/ɥø/ =[ɥø],[ɥe],[we];/yø/ =[yø],[ye];/uo/ =[woː],[uə].
Inclosed syllables,long vowels become short in most dialects (notKisti), but are often still distinct from short vowels (shortened[i],[u],[ɔ] and[ɑ̈] vs. short[ɪ],[ʊ],[o], and[ə], for example), although which ones remain distinct depends on the dialect.
/æ/,/æː/ and/e/,/eː/ are incomplementary distribution (/æ/ occurs afterpharyngealized consonants, whereas/e/ does not and/æː/—identical with/æ/ for most speakers—occurs in closed syllables, while/eː/ does not) but speakers strongly feel that they are distinct sounds.
Pharyngealization appears to be a feature of the consonants, though some analyses treat it as a feature of the vowels. However,Nichols argues that this does not capture the situation in Chechen well, whereas it is more clearly a feature of the vowel inIngush: Chechen[tsʜaʔ] "one", Ingush[tsaʔˤ], which she analyzes as/tsˤaʔ/ and/tsaˤʔ/. Vowels have a delayedmurmured onset after pharyngealized voiced consonants and a noisyaspirated onset after pharyngealized voiceless consonants. The high vowels/i/,/y/,/u/ are diphthongized,[əi],[əy],[əu], whereas thediphthongs/je/,/wo/ undergometathesis,[ej],[ow].
Chechen permits syllable-initial clusters/stpxtx/ and non-initially also allows/xrl/ plus any consonant, and any obstruent plus a uvular of the samemanner of articulation. The only cluster of three consonants permitted is/rst/.[12]
It has been suggested that this section besplit out into another article titledChechen alphabets. (Discuss)(May 2024)
Uslar and Kedi's 1862 alphabetUslar's 1888 alphabetUslar's 1911 Chechen alphabetChechen language Arabic script alphabet from 1925 ABC bookBanknote of theNorth Caucasian EmirateChechen-Soviet newspaper Serlo (Light), written in the Chechen Latin script during the era ofKorenizatsiyaChechen Cyrillic on a plate in Grozny, using the digit 1 for palochka.
Numerous inscriptions in theGeorgian script are found in mountainous Chechnya, but they are not necessarily in Chechen. Later, theArabic script was introduced for Chechen, along withIslam. The Chechen Arabic alphabet was first reformed during the reign ofImam Shamil, and then again in 1910, 1920 and 1922.
At the same time, the alphabet devised byPeter von Uslar, consisting of Cyrillic, Latin, and Georgian letters, was used for academic purposes. In 1911 it too was reformed but never gained popularity among the Chechens themselves.
The current official script for Chechen language is the Cyrillic alphabet. This script was created and adopted in 1938, replacing the Latin script prior to it. Up until 1992, only the Cyrillic script was used for Chechen. After the collapse of the Soviet Union and the de facto secession of theChechen Republic of Ichkeria from Russia, a new Latin script was devised and was used parallel to Cyrillic until the dissolution ofthe separatist state.
Modern alphabet:
А а
Аь аь
Б б
В в
Г г
Гӏ гӏ
Д д
Е е
Ё ё
Ж ж
З з
И и
Й й
К к
Кх кх
Къ къ
Кӏ кӏ
Л л
М м
Н н
О о
Оь оь
П п
Пӏ пӏ
Р р
С с
Т т
Тӏ тӏ
У у
Уь уь
Ф ф
Х х
Хь хь
Хӏ хӏ
Ц ц
Цӏ цӏ
Ч ч
Чӏ чӏ
Ш ш
Щ щ
Ъ ъ
Ы ы
Ь ь
Э э
Ю ю
Я я
Ӏ ӏ
Lower-casepalochka,⟨ӏ⟩, is found in handwriting. Usually, palochka uppercase and lowercase formsconsistent in print or upright, but only upper-case⟨Ӏ⟩ is normally used in computers.[13]
In 1992, with the de facto secession ofChechen Republic of Ichkeria from Russia, a new Latin Chechen alphabet was introduced and used in parallel with the Cyrillic alphabet. This was the second time a Latin-based orthography was created for Chechen. But after the defeat of theChechen Republic of Ichkeria government by theRussian Armed Forces, the Cyrillic alphabet was restored.[citation needed][6]
The first time that the Latin alphabet wasintroduced, was in 1925, replacing Arabic alphabet. Further minor modifications in 1934, unified Chechen orthography with Ingush. But the Latin alphabet was abolished in 1938, being replaced with Cyrillic.
The first, most widespread modern orthography for Chechen was the Arabic script, adopted in the 19th century.[14] Chechen was not a traditionally written language, but due to the public's familiarity with the Arabic script - as the script of instruction in the region's Islamic and Quranic schools - the Arabic alphabet was first standardized and adopted for Chechen during the reign ofImam Shamil. Islam has been the dominant religion in Chechnya since the 16th century, and there were 200 religious schools as well as more than 3000 pupils in Chechnya and Ingushetia. Thus the Arabic script was well established among the speakers of Chechen.[15]
However, the Arabic alphabet, without modifications, would not be suitable for Chechen, and modifications would be needed. The Arabic alphabet underwent various iterations, improvements and modifications for the Chechen language. Within Chechen society, these modifications were not without controversy. The Muslim clergy and the more conservative segments of Chechen society initially resisted any changes to the Arabic script, with the belief that this script was sacred due to its association with Islam, and was not to be changed. The clergy and Islamic educational institutions opposed each and every iteration of proposed reforms in the Arabic script.[16] While modifications to the Arabic script to match local languages had been common practice for centuries, for languages such asPersian andOttoman Turkish, the modifications in Chechen were done independently from these two nearby and influential literary traditions and were focused on needs of Chechen language. Initially, the Chechen Arabic alphabet looked like this.
ي ﻻ ه و ن م ل ڮ ك ڨ ق ف غ ع ظ ط ض ص ش س ز ر ذ د خ ح ج ث ت ب ا
In this alphabet, two additional letters were added to the base Arabic script:[16]
The letter ڨ, equivalent to Cyrillic digraph "Къ" and representing the sound/qʼ/;
The letter ڮ equivalent to Cyrillic letter "Кӏ" and representing the sound/kʼ/.
This letter was later revised to ࢰ
In 1910, Sugaip Gaisunov proposed additional reforms that brought Arabic alphabet closer to Chechen's phonetic requirements. Sugaip Gaisunov introduced four additional consonants:[16]
The letter ڥ, equivalent to Cyrillic letter "Пӏ" and representing the sound/pʼ/;
This letter was later revised to ڢ
The letter ر࣮ () , equivalent to Cyrillic letters "Ц" and "Цӏ" and representing the sounds/ts/ and/tsʼ/;
The letter چ, equivalent to Cyrillic letters "Ч" and "Чӏ", representing the sounds/tʃ/ and/t͡ʃʼ/;
The letter گ, equivalent to Cyrillic letter "Г" and representing the sound/g/;
In Sugaip Gaisunov's reforms, the letters ص (ṣād/sād) and ض (zād/ḍād) had their usage limited to Arabic loanwords but were not eliminated due to opposition from Clergy and conservative segments of Chechen society. In another short-lasting modification, Sugaip Gaisunov proposed adding a overline (◌ٙ) (U+0659) over letters that can be read as either a consonant or a vowel, namely the letters و (waw) (equivalent to Cyrillic letter "В" or to letters "О, Оь, У, Уь") and ی (yāʼ) (equivalent to Cyrillic letter "Й" or to letter "И"). The overbar signified a vowel use when needed to avoid confusions. This modification did not persist in Chechen Alphabet. otherwise, the 1910 iteration of the Arabic script continued being used until 1920.[16]
In 1920, two Chechen literaturists, A. Tugaev and T. Eldarkhanov, published a document. In this document they proposed new modifications, which were the addition of two new consonants:[16]
The letter څ, equivalent to Cyrillic letter "Чӏ" and representing the sound/t͡ʃʼ/.
This letter was later revised to ڃ
Thus the letter چ was reduced to only representing the sound/tʃ/, equivalent to Cyrillic letter "Ч";
The letter ڗ, equivalent to Cyrillic letter "Цӏ" and representing the sound/tsʼ/;
Thus the letter ر̤ () was reduced to only representing the sound/ts/, equivalent to Cyrillic letter "Ц";
These modifications by A. Tugaev and T. Eldarkhanov were a great final step in creating a modified Arabic script that represents Chechen consonants. However, the Arabic alphabet still was not suitable in representing Chechen vowel sounds. Arabic script itself is an impureabjad, meaning that most but not all vowels are shown withdiacritics, which are in most cases left unwritten. The process of transforming Arabic script into a full alphabet for use by a non-Arabic language has been a common occurrence, and has been done inUyghur,Kazakh,Kurdish and several more Arabic-derived scripts.
Thus a final revision on Chechen Arabic script occurred, in which vowel sounds were standardized.
Vowel as first sound of word
А а
Аь аь
Е е Э э
И и
О о Оь оь
У у Уь уь
آ
اە
ایـ / ای
اوٓ
او
Vowel as middle and final sound of word
ـا / ا / ـآ / آ
ـا / ا
ـە / ە
ـیـ / یـ / ـی / ی
ـوٓ / وٓ
ـو / و
A a Ə ə
Ä ä
E e
I i
O o Ö ö
U u Ü ü
Table below lists the 41 letters of the final iteration of Chechen Arabic Alphabet, as published by Chechen Authorities at the time, prior to 1925, their IPA values, and their Cyrillic equivalents.
The single letters and digraphs that count as separate letters of the alphabet, along with their correspondences, are as follows. Those in parentheses are optional or only found in Russian words:
In addition, several sequences of letters for long vowels and consonants, while not counted as separate letters in their own right, are presented here to clarify their correspondences:
Chechen is anagglutinative language with anergative–absolutivemorphosyntactic alignment. Chechen nouns belong to one of several genders or classes (6), each with a specific prefix with which the verb or an accompanyingadjective agrees. The verb does not agree with person or number, having only tense forms and participles. Among these are anoptative and anantipassive. Some verbs, however, do not take these prefixes.[18]
Chechen also presents interesting challenges forlexicography, as creating new words in the language relies on fixation of whole phrases rather than adding to the end of existing words or combining existing words. It can be difficult to decide which phrases belong in the dictionary, because the language's grammar does not permit the borrowing of newverbalmorphemes to express new concepts.[19] Instead, the verbdan (to do) is combined withnominal phrases to correspond with new concepts imported from other languages.
Chechen nouns are divided into six lexically arbitrarynoun classes.[20] Morphologically, noun classes may be indexed by changes in the prefix of the accompanying verb and, in many cases, the adjective too. The first two of these classes apply to human beings, although some grammarians count these as two and some as a single class; the other classes however are much more lexically arbitrary. Chechen noun classes are named according to the prefix that indexes them:
Noun class
Noun example
Singular prefix
Plural prefix
Singular agreement
Plural agreement
1. v-class
k'ant'boy'
v-
b-/d-
k'antv-ezav-u'the boy is heavy'
k'entiid-ezad-u'the boys are heavy'
2. y-class
zuda'woman'
y-
zuday-ezay-u'the woman is heavy'
zudarib-ezab-u'the women are heavy'
3. y-class II
ph'āgal'rabbit'
y-
ph'āgaly-ezay-u'the rabbit is heavy'
ph'āgalashy-ezay-u'the rabbits are heavy'
4. d-class
naž'oak'
d-
nažd-ezad-u'the oak is heavy'
niežnashd-ezad-u'the oaks are heavy'
5. b-class
mangal'scythe'
b-
b-/Ø-
mangalb-ezab-u'the scythe is heavy'
mangalashb-ezab-u'the scythes are heavy'
6. b-class II
ˤaž'apple'
d-
ˤažb-ezab-u'the apple is heavy'
ˤežashd-ezad-u'the apples are heavy'
When a noun denotes a human being, it usually falls into v- or y-Classes (1 or 2). Most nouns referring to male entities fall into the v-class, whereas Class 2 contains words related to female entities. Thuslūlaxuo'a neighbour' is normally considered class 1, but it takesv- if referring to a male neighbour andy- if a female. This is similar to the Spanish wordestudiante'student', whereel estudiante refers to a male student, andla estudiante refers to a female student.[21]
In a few words, changing the prefixes before the nouns indicates grammatical gender; thus:vоsha'brother' →yisha'sister'. Some nouns denoting human beings, however, are not in Classes 1 or 2:bēr'child', for example, is in class 3.
Only a few of Chechen's adjectives index noun class agreement, termedclassed adjectives in the literature. Classed adjectives are listed with the d-class prefix in the romanizations below:[22]
Verbs do not inflect for person (except for the special d- prefix for the 1st and 2nd persons plural), only for number and tense, aspect, mood. A minority of verbs exhibit agreement prefixes, and these agree with the noun in the absolutive case (what in English translation would the subject, for intransitive verbs, or the object, with transitive verbs).
Example of verbal agreement in intransitive clause with a composite verb:
Со цхьан сахьтехьвогІур ву (so tsHan saHteHvoghur vu) = I (male) will come in one hour
Со цхьан сахьтехьйогІур ю (so tsHan saHteHyoghur yu) = I (female) will come in one hour
Here, both the verb's future stem-oghur (will come) and the auxiliary-u (present tense of 'be') receive the prefixv- for masculine agreement andy- for feminine agreement.
In transitive clauses in compound continuous tenses formed with the auxiliary verb-u 'to be', both agent and object are in absolutive case. In this special case of abiabsolutive construction, the main verb in participial form agrees with the object, while the auxiliary agrees with the agent.
Cо бепигдешву (so bepigdiesh vu) = I (male) am making bread.
Here, the participled-iesh agree with the object, whereas the auxiliaryv-u agrees with the agent.[22]
Verbal tenses are formed by ablaut or suffixes, or both (there are five conjugations in total, below is one). Derived stems can be formed by suffixation as well (causative, etc.):
Most Chechen vocabulary is derived from the Nakh branch of the Northeast Caucasian language family, although there are significant minorities of words derived fromArabic (Islamic terms, like "Iman", "Ilma", "Do'a") and a smaller amount from Turkic (like "kuzga", "shish", belonging to the universal Caucasian stratum of borrowings) and most recently Russian (modern terms, like computer – "kamputar", television – "telvideni", televisor – "telvizar", metro – "metro" etc.).
^Jaimoukha, Amjad M. (2014).The Chechens: a handbook. Caucasus world Peoples of the Caucasus. London New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group. p. 202.ISBN978-1-138-87445-9.
^abcdeChentieva, M. D. (1958). History of Checheno-Ingush writing (История чечено-ингушской письменности). Checheno-Ingush Publishing House (Чечено-Ингушское кн. изд-во).
