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| Archi | |
|---|---|
| аршаттен чӏатaršatten čʼat | |
| Native to | Russia |
| Region | Archib,Dagestan |
| Ethnicity | Archi people |
Native speakers | 1,712 (2020 census)[1] |
| Cyrillic script (developed in 2006 based on theAvar alphabet) Arabic script (19th century)[3] | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | aqc |
| Glottolog | arch1244 |
| ELP | Archi |
 Map of where Archi is spoken (red area) | |
 Archi is classified as Definitely Endangered by theUNESCOAtlas of the World's Languages in Danger (2010) | |
| This article containsIPA phonetic symbols. Without properrendering support, you may seequestion marks, boxes, or other symbols instead ofUnicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, seeHelp:IPA. | |
Archi/ɑːˈtʃiː/[4] is aNortheast Caucasian language spoken by theArchis in the village ofArchib, southernDagestan,Russia, and the six surrounding smaller villages.
It is unusual for its manyphonemes and for its contrast between severalvoiceless velar lateral fricatives,/𝼄,𝼄ʷ,𝼄ː,𝼄ʷː/,voiceless andejective velar lateral affricates,/k͡𝼄,k͡𝼄ʷ,k͡𝼄ʼ,k͡𝼄ʷʼ/, and avoiced velar lateral fricative,/ʟ̝/. It is anergative–absolutive language with four noun classes[5] and has amorphological system with irregularities on all levels.[6] Mathematically, there are 1,502,839 possibleforms that can be derived from a single verb root.[7]
The classification of the Archi language has not been definitively established.Peter von Uslar felt it should be considered a variant ofAvar,[citation needed] butRoderich von Erckert saw it as closer toLak.[citation needed] The language has also been considered as a separate entity that could be placed somewhere between Avar and Lak.[by whom?][citation needed] The Italian linguistAlfredo Trombetti placed Archi within an Avar–Ando–Dido group,[citation needed] but today the most widely recognized opinion follows that of the Soviet scholarBokarev, who regards Archi as one of the Lezgian–Samur group of the Dagestan languages.[citation needed] Schulze places it in theLezgian branch with all other Lezgian languages belonging to theSamur group.[2]
Archi has, like itsNortheast Caucasian relatives, a very complicated phonological system, with Archi being an extreme example. It has 26 vowelphonemes and, depending on analysis, between 74 and 82 consonant phonemes.
Archi has a symmetric six-vowel system (/ieəaou/).[5]
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | iiː | uuː | |
| Mid | eeː | ə | ooː |
| Open | aaː |
All vowels except for/ə/ can occur in five varieties: short, pharyngealized, high tone, long (with high tone), and pharyngealized with high tone (e.g./a/,/aˤ/,/á/,/áː/, and/áˤ/). Of all these, only/ə/ and/íˤ/ do not occur word-initially.[8] Examples of non-initial/íˤ/ are/díˤt͡ʃa/ ('to be fat')[9] and/iˤntíˤmmaj/ ('brain').[10]
Of all living languages, Archi has the world's largest phonemic non-click consonant inventory, with only the recently extinctUbykh of theNorthwest Caucasian languages having a few more. The table below shows all consonants that can be found in the Archi Language Tutorial[5] and the Archi Dictionary.[8]
Some of these sounds are very rare. For example,/ʁˤʷ/ has only one dictionary entry word-internally (in/íʁˤʷdut/, 'heavy')[12] and two entries word-initially. Likewise,/ʟ̝/ has only two dictionary entries:/náʟ̝dut/ ('blue; unripe')[13] and/k͡𝼄ʼéʟ̝dut/ ('crooked, curved').[14]
Thefortis consonants are not simply two instances of the same consonant, though they do appear largely complementary, with the double instances/mm/,/ll/, and/nn/ being the most common and/zz/ less so. That said,/pp/ can still be found in/𝼄íppu/ ('three').[15] This is also noted byKodzasov (1977),[16] who describes the fortis consonants as follows:
"Strong phonemes are characterized by the intensiveness (tension) of the articulation. The intensity of the pronunciation leads to a natural lengthening of the duration of the sound, and that is why strong [consonants] differ from weak ones by greater length. [However,] the adjoining of two single weak sounds does not produce a strong one […] Thus, the gemination of a sound does not by itself create its tension."
Thevoiceless velar lateral fricative/𝼄/, thevoiced velar lateral fricative/ʟ̝/, and thecorresponding voiceless andejective affricates/k͡𝼄/,/k͡𝼄ʼ/ are extremely unusual speech sounds among the languages of the world, becausevelar fricatives are usuallycentral rather than lateral. The velar laterals are further forward than velars in most languages and could better be called prevelar, like the Tutorial does.[5]
Until recently Archi did not have a written form, except in studies by specialists who used theLatin script. In 2006, the Surrey Morphology Group developed aCyrillic alphabet for Archi based on theAvar alphabet, which is used in the Archi–Russian–English Dictionary alongside anIPA transcription.[7]
| А а /a/ | Аӏ аӏ /aˤ/ | А́ а́ /á/ | А́а а́а /áː/ | А́ӏ а́ӏ /áˤ/ | Ы ы /ə/ | Б б /b/ |
| В в /w/ | Г г /g/ | Гв гв /gʷ/ | Гъ гъ /ʁ/ | Гъв гъв /ʁʷ/ | Гъӏ гъӏ /ʁˤ/ | Гъӏв гъӏв /ʁˤʷ/ |
| Гь гь /h/ | Гӏ гӏ /ʡ/ | Д д /d/ | Дв дв /dʷ/ | Е е /e/ | Еӏ еӏ /eˤ/ | Е́ е́ /é/ |
| Е́е е́е /éː/ | Е́ӏ е́ӏ /éˤ/ | Ж ж /ʒ/ | Жв жв /ʒʷ/ | З з /z/ | Зв зв /zʷ/ | И и /i/ |
| Иӏ иӏ /iˤ/ | И́ и́ /í/ | И́и и́и /íː/ | И́ӏ и́ӏ /íˤ/ | Й й /j/ | К к /k/ | Кв кв /kʷ/ |
| Кк кк /kː/ | Ккв ккв /kʷː/ | Ккъ ккъ /qʼː/ | Ккъӏ ккъӏ /qˤʼː/ | Къ къ /qʼ/ | Къв къв /qʷʼ/ | Къӏ къӏ /qˤʼ/ |
| Къӏв къӏв /qˤʷʼ/ | Кь кь /k͡𝼄ʼ/,/ʟ̝/ | Кьв кьв /k͡𝼄ʷʼ/ | Кӏ кӏ /kʼ/ | Кӏв кӏв /kʷʼ/ | Л л /l/ | Ллъ ллъ /𝼄ː/ |
| Ллъв ллъв /𝼄ʷː/ | Лъ лъ /𝼄/ | Лъв лъв /𝼄ʷ/ | Лӏ лӏ /k͡𝼄/ | Лӏв лӏв /k͡𝼄ʷ/ | М м /m/ | Н н /n/ |
| О о /o/ | Оӏ оӏ /oˤ/ | О́ о́ /ó/ | О́о о́о /óː/ | О́ӏ о́ӏ /óˤ/ | П п /p/ | Пп пп /pː/ |
| Пӏ пӏ /pʼ/ | Р р /r/ | С с /s/ | Св св /sʷ/ | Сс сс /sː/ | Ссв ссв /sʷː/ | Т т /t/ |
| Тв тв /tʷ/ | Тт тт /tː/ | Тӏ тӏ /tʼ/ | У у /u/ | Уӏ уӏ /uˤ/ | У́ у́ /ú/ | У́у у́у /úː/ |
| У́ӏ у́ӏ /úˤ/ | Х х /χ/ | Хв хв /χʷ/ | Хх хх /χː/ | Ххв ххв /χʷː/ | Ххьӏ ххьӏ /χˤː/ | Ххьӏв ххьӏв /χˤʷː/ |
| Хъ хъ /q/ | Хъв хъв /qʷ/ | Хъӏ хъӏ /qˤ/ | Хъӏв хъӏв /qˤʷ/ | Хьӏ хьӏ /χˤ/ | Хьӏв хьӏв /χˤʷ/ | Ц ц /t͡s/ |
| Цв цв /t͡sʷ/ | Цц цц /t͡sː/ | Ццӏ ццӏ /t͡sʼː/ | Цӏ цӏ /t͡sʼ/ | Цӏв цӏв /t͡sʷʼ/ | Ч ч /t͡ʃ/ | Чв чв /t͡ʃʷ/ |
| Ччӏ ччӏ /t͡ʃʼː/ | Чӏ чӏ /t͡ʃʼ/ | Чӏв чӏв /t͡ʃʷʼ/ | Ш ш /ʃ/ | Шв шв /ʃʷ/ | Щ щ /ʃː/ | Щв щв /ʃʷː/ |
| Ъ ъ /ʔ/ |
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Archi nouns inflect fornumber (singular or plural) and for one of 10 regularcases and 5locative cases that can all take one of 6 directional suffixes.[5] There are fournoun classes, which are only evident fromverbal agreement.[5]
| Case | Marker | Sg. 'ram' | Pl. 'rams' |
|---|---|---|---|
| Absolutive | -∅ | baˤkʼ | baˤkʼ-ur |
| Ergative | -∅ | beˤkʼ-iri | baˤkʼ-ur-čaj |
| Genitive | -n | beˤkʼ-iri-n | baˤkʼ-ur-če-n |
| Dative | -s, -sː | beˤkʼ-iri-s | baˤkʼ-ur-če-s |
| Comitative | -𝼄ːu | beˤkʼ-iri-𝼄ːu | baˤkʼ-ur-če-𝼄ːu |
| Similative | -qˤdi | beˤkʼ-iri-qˤdi | baˤkʼ-ur-če-qˤdi |
| Causal | -šːi | beˤkʼ-iri-šːi | baˤkʼ-ur-če-šːi |
| Comparative | -χur | beˤkʼ-iri-χur | baˤkʼ-ur-če-χur |
| Partitive | -qˤiš | beˤkʼ-iri-qˤiš | baˤkʼ-ur-če-qˤiš |
| Substitutive | -k͡𝼄ʼəna | beˤkʼ-iri-k͡𝼄ʼəna | baˤkʼ-ur-če-k͡𝼄ʼəna |
Depending on the specifics of the analysis, the ergative and the absolutive cases are not always marked by a specific suffix. Rather, they are marked by the use of the basic (for the absolutive) and oblique (for the ergative) stems in the absence of other markers. There is also a locative-case series in which 6 directional-case suffixes are combined with 5 spatial cases to produce a total of 30 case-localization combinations. However, they do not constitute 30 distinct case forms because they are easily derivable from a pair of morphemes.
| Spatial case | Marker | Directional case | Marker |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inessive ("in") | -aj / -a | Essive ("As") | -∅ |
| Intrative ("between") | - qˤ(a-) | Elative ("Out of") | -š |
| Superessive ("above") | -tːi- / -t | Lative ("To"/"Into") | -k |
| Subessive ("below") | -k͡𝼄ʼ(a-) | Allative ("Onto") | -ši |
| Pertingent ("against") | -ra- | Terminative (Specifies a limit) | -kena |
| Translative (Indicates change) | -χutː | ||
The fournoun classes of Archi are only evident from verbal inflection. This table summarizes the noun classes and their associated verbal morphology:
| Class | Description | Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prefix | Infix | Prefix | ||
| I | Male human | w- | ⟨w⟩ | b- |
| II | Female human | d- | ⟨r⟩ | |
| III | All insects, some animates, some inanimates | b- | ⟨b⟩ | ∅- |
| IV | Abstracts, some animates, some inanimates | ∅ | ∅ | |
The following phrases werephonetically transcribed from Archi:[18]
| Archi transcription | English |
|---|---|
| x́it barḳur | The ladle breaks. |
| x́it ax̄u | The spoon (literally: littleladle) became dirty. |
| k̂ut̄ali berx̄ur | The bag stays. |
| k̂ut̄ali eku | The little bag fell. |
| č̣ut abḳu | The jug broke. |
| č̣ut aḳu | The little jug broke. |
| ḳunḳum barx̄ur | The kettle becomes dirty. |
| ḳunḳum oq̄́u | The little kettle sank (literally: drowned). |
| motol orq̄́ur | The young goat drowns. |
| uri arč̣ur | The young horse hides itself. |
| biš ač̣u | The young cow hid itself. |
| ḳêrt erkur | The young donkey falls. |
| dogi ebku | The donkey fell. |
| q̇on abč̣u | The goat hid itself. |
| nôiš ebx̄u | The horse stayed. |
The inclusions of "little" and "young" in the phrases translate adiminutive, which in Archi language commonly refers either to a smaller or younger version of the subject. The non-diminutive nouns in the above examples belong to noun class III, while their diminutives belong to noun class IV. This difference in noun class is reflected on the verb in all of these examples, by the contrast between class III agreement inb from class IV in ∅ (with nob). The-b- in the past tense appears in front of the-x̄u /-č̣u /-ku inflection, while in the present tense theb- is the first letter of the verb. For the nouns referring to inanimate objects, the class shift is the only sign of the diminutive: the noun itself does not change in form. E.g.x́it means both "ladle" (III) and "spoon" (IV),k̂ut̄ali both "bag" (III) and "little bag" (IV). Nouns pertaining to younger animals have different words, e.g.dogi "donkey" (III) butḳêrt "young donkey" (IV),nôiš "horse" (III) buturi "young horse" (IV).
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