Khwarshi language
Encyclopedia
Khwarshi, also spelled Khvarshi, is a Northeast Caucasian language
spoken in the Tsumadinsky-
, Kizilyurtovsky-
and Khasavyurtovsky districts
of Dagestan
by the Khwarshi people
. The exact number of speakers is not known, but the linguist Zaira Khalilova, who has carried out fieldwork in the period from 2005 to 2009, gives the figure 8,500. Other sources give much lower figures, such as Ethnologue
with the figure 1,870 and the latest population census of Russia
with the figure 1,872. The low figures are because many Khwarshi have registered themselves as being Avar
speakers, which is also considered their literary language
.
There are six dialect
s of the Khwarshi language based on their geographical distribution. The dialects are: Upper- and Lower Inkhokwari Khwarshi, Kwantlada Khwarshi, Santlada Khwarshi, Khwayni Khwarshi and Khwarshi Proper, originating in their respective villages in the Tsumadinsky district
. Due to emigration
, see the Khwarshi people
and their history, Kwantlada Khwarshi-, Upper- and Lower Inkhokwari Khwarshi-speaking communities also exist in Oktyabrskoe, Santlada Khwarshi-speaking communities exist in Pervomayskoe and Khwarshi Proper-speaking communities exist in Mutsalaul.
of Khwarshi is large, with about 87 distinct phoneme
s. Nevertheless, its phonology
is quite straightforward with only few phonological processes and little morphophonology
, with assimilation
, vowel harmony
, and nasalization
occurring. The syllabic
structure of Khwarshi is also quite simple, with (C)V(C) being the most common structure, of which V(C) is only permitted word-initially.
phoneme
s, including vowel length
and nasalization
.
All the vowels above also have a long counterpart, which are always in stressed syllables. All vowels can occur in closed syllables (i.e. (C)VC), and all except /ɨ/ occur in open syllables (i.e. (C)V). /ɨ/ does not occur in the Khwarshi Proper and Inkhokwari dialects.
s:
It is not clear whether /tʷ/ is present in Khwarshi or not, as Zaira Khalilova does not include it in her chart of consonants, but nevertheless provides a minimal pair indicating there is a distinction between /t/ and /tʷ/: /eta/ "touch" and /etʷa/ "fly". Therefore it is shown in parentheses in the chart above.
All the consonants can be found in native vocabulary
, but some of them are however more rare than others, and some are mostly found in loanword
s, such as /ʕ/ which almost only occur in loanwords of Arabic
origin. Another example is /x/, found only in loanwords of Avar
origin.
The palatalized
consonant and all the pharyngealized consonants are not found in Khwarshi Proper, but can be found in all the other dialects. Consider for instance the Khwarshi Proper word /χililːu/ "drunk", which in the other dialects is /χˤilʲilʲːu/.
is quite a common phonological process
in Khwarshi, caused by grammatical processes
. Gemination only occurs intervocally and not all consonants geminate. Which consonants that geminate is different according to which processes they are a part of, and it depends on the dialect as well.
Below is a list of some of the processes causing gemination:
In loanword
s, geminated consonants are normally non-geminated, when adopted into the Khwarshi language. For example, the Avar
word /kːʼara/ "mosquito" is found as /kʼara/ in Khwarshi. The same goes for words of Tindi
origin such as /kːʼanu/ "small", which is found as /kʼanu/ in Khwarshi. Another interesting aspect of loanwords of Tindi origin in the Khwarshi language is that the consonants are ejectivized
when they enter the Khwarshi language, e.g. Tindi
/t͡sːikʷːa/ "small intestine" > Khwarshi /t͡sʼikʷʼa/.
s inflect for case
, of which there are 51, and number
, singular or plural, and belong to one of five genders
, or rather noun class
es. That a noun belongs to a specific class cannot be seen on the noun itself, but only through agreement
.
The noun classes are visible through agreement in adjective
s, adverb
s, postpositions and demonstrative pronouns
, and also verb
s if the verb begins with a vowel
. There are, however, some exceptions, like with irregular verb
s in other languages. Below are some examples of such agreement in postpositions, demonstrative pronouns, verbs and adjectives, respectively. Notice however, that a verb is present in all of the examples but the first, while the third example has a special focus on verbs.
As the noun class of a noun cannot be seen on the noun itself, it should not be represented in a literal translation
. In the examples above, however, the noun class of certain nouns is shown, albeit in superscript to indicate that it is not represented in the original Khwarshi sentence. The only nouns that have their noun classes indicated here are those with which the other words agree with.
, ergative
, two genitive
, instrumental
, durative, vocative
and causal
. The remaining cases, the locative cases, are a bit more complex, as they each consist of both a part that has something to do with orientation and a part that has something to do with direction. So while the ergative case
has a single suffix
/-(j)i/, the superversative case consists of two suffixes, the superessive
/-t͡ɬʼo/ plus the versative /-ʁul/, becoming /-t͡ɬʼoʁul/.
Below are the case endings of the grammatical cases.
Below are the case endings of the locative cases.
s normally consist of a stem, an agreement
prefix
indicating noun class
and number of the relevant nouns, and a suffix
showing tense
, aspect
, mood
, or the like. Only about one fourth of the Khwarshi verbs show agreement, all of them beginning with a vowel
. There is a small number of verbs beginning with a vowel that do not show agreement. Verbs beginning with a consonant
do not show agreement.
The verbs are very regular in Khwarshi, the only irregular verb
being the auxiliary verb
/goli/ "to be", which takes neither a prefix nor a suffix and has only several non-finite forms
. In the past-
and future tense
, however, the verb /-et͡ʃ-/ "to be situated" is used instead of /goli/, which may take both a prefix and a suffix.
Northeast Caucasian languages
The Northeast Caucasian languages constitute a language family spoken in the Russian republics of Dagestan, Chechnya, Ingushetia, northern Azerbaijan, and in northeastern Georgia, as well as in diaspora populations in Russia, Turkey, and the Middle East...
spoken in the Tsumadinsky-
Tsumadinsky District
Tsumadinsky District is an administrative and a municipal district , one of the forty-one in the Republic of Dagestan, Russia. The area of the district is . Its administrative center is the rural locality of Agvali. District's population: 20,632 ; Population of Agvali accounts for 9.8% of the...
, Kizilyurtovsky-
Kizilyurtovsky District
Kizilyurtovsky District is an administrative and a municipal district , one of the forty-one in the Republic of Dagestan, Russia. The area of the district is . Its administrative center is the town of Kizilyurt . District's population: 70,440 ;...
and Khasavyurtovsky districts
Khasavyurtovsky District
Khasavyurtovsky District is an administrative and a municipal district , one of the forty-one in the Republic of Dagestan, Russia. The area of the district is . Its administrative center is the city of Khasavyurt...
of Dagestan
Dagestan
The Republic of Dagestan is a federal subject of Russia, located in the North Caucasus region. Its capital and the largest city is Makhachkala, located at the center of Dagestan on the Caspian Sea...
by the Khwarshi people
Khwarshi people
The Khwarshi people are a Caucasian people living in Dagestan, in several small settlements. The Khwarshi are originally from the southeastern part of Tsumadinsky District, where seven Khwarshi settlements are located: Upper- and Lower Inkhokwari village , Kwantlada village , Santlada village ,...
. The exact number of speakers is not known, but the linguist Zaira Khalilova, who has carried out fieldwork in the period from 2005 to 2009, gives the figure 8,500. Other sources give much lower figures, such as Ethnologue
Ethnologue
Ethnologue: Languages of the World is a web and print publication of SIL International , a Christian linguistic service organization, which studies lesser-known languages, to provide the speakers with Bibles in their native language and support their efforts in language development.The Ethnologue...
with the figure 1,870 and the latest population census of Russia
Russian Census (2002)
Russian Census of 2002 was the first census of the Russian Federation carried out on October 9 through October 16, 2002. It was carried out by the Russian Federal Service of State Statistics .-Resident population:...
with the figure 1,872. The low figures are because many Khwarshi have registered themselves as being Avar
Avar language
The modern Avar language belongs to the Avar–Andic group of the Northeast Caucasian language family....
speakers, which is also considered their literary language
Literary language
A literary language is a register of a language that is used in literary writing. This may also include liturgical writing. The difference between literary and non-literary forms is more marked in some languages than in others...
.
There are six dialect
Dialect
The term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by linguists. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors,...
s of the Khwarshi language based on their geographical distribution. The dialects are: Upper- and Lower Inkhokwari Khwarshi, Kwantlada Khwarshi, Santlada Khwarshi, Khwayni Khwarshi and Khwarshi Proper, originating in their respective villages in the Tsumadinsky district
Tsumadinsky District
Tsumadinsky District is an administrative and a municipal district , one of the forty-one in the Republic of Dagestan, Russia. The area of the district is . Its administrative center is the rural locality of Agvali. District's population: 20,632 ; Population of Agvali accounts for 9.8% of the...
. Due to emigration
Emigration
Emigration is the act of leaving one's country or region to settle in another. It is the same as immigration but from the perspective of the country of origin. Human movement before the establishment of political boundaries or within one state is termed migration. There are many reasons why people...
, see the Khwarshi people
Khwarshi people
The Khwarshi people are a Caucasian people living in Dagestan, in several small settlements. The Khwarshi are originally from the southeastern part of Tsumadinsky District, where seven Khwarshi settlements are located: Upper- and Lower Inkhokwari village , Kwantlada village , Santlada village ,...
and their history, Kwantlada Khwarshi-, Upper- and Lower Inkhokwari Khwarshi-speaking communities also exist in Oktyabrskoe, Santlada Khwarshi-speaking communities exist in Pervomayskoe and Khwarshi Proper-speaking communities exist in Mutsalaul.
Phonology
The phoneme inventoryPhoneme
In a language or dialect, a phoneme is the smallest segmental unit of sound employed to form meaningful contrasts between utterances....
of Khwarshi is large, with about 87 distinct phoneme
Phoneme
In a language or dialect, a phoneme is the smallest segmental unit of sound employed to form meaningful contrasts between utterances....
s. Nevertheless, its phonology
Phonology
Phonology is, broadly speaking, the subdiscipline of linguistics concerned with the sounds of language. That is, it is the systematic use of sound to encode meaning in any spoken human language, or the field of linguistics studying this use...
is quite straightforward with only few phonological processes and little morphophonology
Morphophonology
Morphophonology is a branch of linguistics which studies, in general, the interaction between morphological and phonetic processes. When a morpheme is attached to a word, it can alter the phonetic environments of other morphemes in that word. Morphophonemics attempts to describe this process...
, with assimilation
Assimilation (linguistics)
Assimilation is a common phonological process by which the sound of the ending of one word blends into the sound of the beginning of the following word. This occurs when the parts of the mouth and vocal cords start to form the beginning sounds of the next word before the last sound has been...
, vowel harmony
Vowel harmony
Vowel harmony is a type of long-distance assimilatory phonological process involving vowels that occurs in some languages. In languages with vowel harmony, there are constraints on which vowels may be found near each other....
, and nasalization
Nasalization
In phonetics, nasalization is the production of a sound while the velum is lowered, so that some air escapes through the nose during the production of the sound by the mouth...
occurring. The syllabic
Syllable
A syllable is a unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds. For example, the word water is composed of two syllables: wa and ter. A syllable is typically made up of a syllable nucleus with optional initial and final margins .Syllables are often considered the phonological "building...
structure of Khwarshi is also quite simple, with (C)V(C) being the most common structure, of which V(C) is only permitted word-initially.
Vowels
Khwarshi has a total number of 21 vowelVowel
In phonetics, a vowel is a sound in spoken language, such as English ah! or oh! , pronounced with an open vocal tract so that there is no build-up of air pressure at any point above the glottis. This contrasts with consonants, such as English sh! , where there is a constriction or closure at some...
phoneme
Phoneme
In a language or dialect, a phoneme is the smallest segmental unit of sound employed to form meaningful contrasts between utterances....
s, including vowel length
Vowel length
In linguistics, vowel length is the perceived duration of a vowel sound. Often the chroneme, or the "longness", acts like a consonant, and may etymologically be one, such as in Australian English. While not distinctive in most dialects of English, vowel length is an important phonemic factor in...
and nasalization
Nasal vowel
A nasal vowel is a vowel that is produced with a lowering of the velum so that air escapes both through nose as well as the mouth. By contrast, oral vowels are ordinary vowels without this nasalisation...
.
| Front Front vowel A front vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a front vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far in front as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Front vowels are sometimes also... |
Central Central vowel A central vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a central vowel is that the tongue is positioned halfway between a front vowel and a back vowel... |
Back Back vowel A back vowel is a type of vowel sound used in spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a back vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far back as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Back vowels are sometimes also called dark... |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Unrounded | Unrounded | Rounded | |
| Close Close vowel A close vowel is a type of vowel sound used in many spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a close vowel is that the tongue is positioned as close as possible to the roof of the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant.This term is prescribed by the... |
i | ɨ | u |
| Close-mid Close-mid vowel A close-mid vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a close-mid vowel is that the tongue is positioned two-thirds of the way from a close vowel to a mid vowel... |
e | o | |
| Open Open vowel An open vowel is defined as a vowel sound in which the tongue is positioned as far as possible from the roof of the mouth. Open vowels are sometimes also called low vowels in reference to the low position of the tongue... |
a |
All the vowels above also have a long counterpart, which are always in stressed syllables. All vowels can occur in closed syllables (i.e. (C)VC), and all except /ɨ/ occur in open syllables (i.e. (C)V). /ɨ/ does not occur in the Khwarshi Proper and Inkhokwari dialects.
| Front Front vowel A front vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a front vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far in front as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Front vowels are sometimes also... |
Back Back vowel A back vowel is a type of vowel sound used in spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a back vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far back as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Back vowels are sometimes also called dark... |
|
|---|---|---|
| Unrounded | Rounded | |
| Close Close vowel A close vowel is a type of vowel sound used in many spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a close vowel is that the tongue is positioned as close as possible to the roof of the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant.This term is prescribed by the... |
ĩ | ũ |
| Close-mid Close-mid vowel A close-mid vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a close-mid vowel is that the tongue is positioned two-thirds of the way from a close vowel to a mid vowel... |
ẽ | õ |
| Open Open vowel An open vowel is defined as a vowel sound in which the tongue is positioned as far as possible from the roof of the mouth. Open vowels are sometimes also called low vowels in reference to the low position of the tongue... |
ã |
- All the nasal vowels above except /ĩ/ have a long counterpart.
- Note also, that there is no nasalized version of /ɨ/.
- The Khwarshi Proper dialect does not have nasalized vowels and replaces these with their non-nasalized counterparts.
Consonants
Khwarshi has 66 consonantConsonant
In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract. Examples are , pronounced with the lips; , pronounced with the front of the tongue; , pronounced with the back of the tongue; , pronounced in the throat; and ,...
s:
| Bilabial Bilabial consonant In phonetics, a bilabial consonant is a consonant articulated with both lips. The bilabial consonants identified by the International Phonetic Alphabet are:... |
Alveolar Alveolar consonant Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the alveoli of the superior teeth... |
Postalveolar Postalveolar consonant Postalveolar consonants are consonants articulated with the tongue near or touching the back of the alveolar ridge, further back in the mouth than the alveolar consonants, which are at the ridge itself, but not as far back as the hard palate... |
Palatal Palatal consonant Palatal consonants are consonants articulated with the body of the tongue raised against the hard palate... |
Velar Velar consonant Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue against the soft palate, the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the velum).... |
Uvular Uvular consonant Uvulars are consonants articulated with the back of the tongue against or near the uvula, that is, further back in the mouth than velar consonants. Uvulars may be plosives, fricatives, nasal stops, trills, or approximants, though the IPA does not provide a separate symbol for the approximant, and... |
Pharyngeal Pharyngeal consonant A pharyngeal consonant is a type of consonant which is articulated with the root of the tongue against the pharynx.-Pharyngeal consonants in the IPA:Pharyngeal consonants in the International Phonetic Alphabet :... |
Glottal Glottal consonant Glottal consonants, also called laryngeal consonants, are consonants articulated with the glottis. Many phoneticians consider them, or at least the so-called fricative, to be transitional states of the glottis without a point of articulation as other consonants have; in fact, some do not consider... |
||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| central | lateral Lateral consonant A lateral is an el-like consonant, in which airstream proceeds along the sides of the tongue, but is blocked by the tongue from going through the middle of the mouth.... |
||||||||||||||||||||
| plain | phar. | plain | lab. Labialisation Labialization is a secondary articulatory feature of sounds in some languages. Labialized sounds involve the lips while the remainder of the oral cavity produces another sound. The term is normally restricted to consonants. When vowels involve the lips, they are called rounded.The most common... |
plain | lab. | pal. Palatalization In linguistics, palatalization , also palatization, may refer to two different processes by which a sound, usually a consonant, comes to be produced with the tongue in a position in the mouth near the palate.... |
plain | lab. | plain | lab. | phar. | plain | lab. | phar. | phar.+lab. | plain | phar. | ||||
| Nasal Nasal consonant A nasal consonant is a type of consonant produced with a lowered velum in the mouth, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. Examples of nasal consonants in English are and , in words such as nose and mouth.- Definition :... |
m | mˤ | n | ||||||||||||||||||
| Plosive | voiced Voice (phonetics) Voice or voicing is a term used in phonetics and phonology to characterize speech sounds, with sounds described as either voiceless or voiced. The term, however, is used to refer to two separate concepts. Voicing can refer to the articulatory process in which the vocal cords vibrate... |
b | bˤ | d | dʷ | g | gʷ | gˤ | |||||||||||||
| voiceless Voiceless In linguistics, voicelessness is the property of sounds being pronounced without the larynx vibrating. Phonologically, this is a type of phonation, which contrasts with other states of the larynx, but some object that the word "phonation" implies voicing, and that voicelessness is the lack of... |
p | pˤ | t | (tʷ) | k | kʷ | kˤ | q | qʷ | qˤ | |||||||||||
| ejective Ejective consonant In phonetics, ejective consonants are voiceless consonants that are pronounced with simultaneous closure of the glottis. In the phonology of a particular language, ejectives may contrast with aspirated or tenuis consonants... |
pʼ | pˤʼ | tʼ | tʷʼ | kʼ | kʷʼ | kˤʼ | qʼ | qʷʼ | qˤʼ | qˤʷʼ | ||||||||||
| Affricate Affricate consonant Affricates are consonants that begin as stops but release as a fricative rather than directly into the following vowel.- Samples :... |
voiceless Voiceless In linguistics, voicelessness is the property of sounds being pronounced without the larynx vibrating. Phonologically, this is a type of phonation, which contrasts with other states of the larynx, but some object that the word "phonation" implies voicing, and that voicelessness is the lack of... |
t͡s | t͡ɬ | t͡ʃ | |||||||||||||||||
| ejective Ejective consonant In phonetics, ejective consonants are voiceless consonants that are pronounced with simultaneous closure of the glottis. In the phonology of a particular language, ejectives may contrast with aspirated or tenuis consonants... |
t͡sʼ | t͡sʷʼ | t͡ɬʼ | t͡ɬʷʼ | t͡ʃʼ | t͡ʃʷʼ | |||||||||||||||
| Fricative Fricative consonant Fricatives are consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. These may be the lower lip against the upper teeth, in the case of ; the back of the tongue against the soft palate, in the case of German , the final consonant of Bach; or... |
voiceless Voiceless In linguistics, voicelessness is the property of sounds being pronounced without the larynx vibrating. Phonologically, this is a type of phonation, which contrasts with other states of the larynx, but some object that the word "phonation" implies voicing, and that voicelessness is the lack of... |
s | sʷ | ɬ | ʃ | ʃʷ | x | χ | χʷ | χˤ | χˤʷ | ħ | h | hˤ | |||||||
| voiced Voice (phonetics) Voice or voicing is a term used in phonetics and phonology to characterize speech sounds, with sounds described as either voiceless or voiced. The term, however, is used to refer to two separate concepts. Voicing can refer to the articulatory process in which the vocal cords vibrate... |
z | zʷ | ʒ | ʒʷ | ʁ | ʁʷ | ʁˤ | ʁˤʷ | ʕ | ||||||||||||
| Trill Trill consonant In phonetics, a trill is a consonantal sound produced by vibrations between the articulator and the place of articulation. Standard Spanish <rr> as in perro is an alveolar trill, while in Parisian French it is almost always uvular.... |
r | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Approximant Approximant consonant Approximants are speech sounds that involve the articulators approaching each other but not narrowly enough or with enough articulatory precision to create turbulent airflow. Therefore, approximants fall between fricatives, which do produce a turbulent airstream, and vowels, which produce no... |
l | lʲ | j | w | |||||||||||||||||
It is not clear whether /tʷ/ is present in Khwarshi or not, as Zaira Khalilova does not include it in her chart of consonants, but nevertheless provides a minimal pair indicating there is a distinction between /t/ and /tʷ/: /eta/ "touch" and /etʷa/ "fly". Therefore it is shown in parentheses in the chart above.
All the consonants can be found in native vocabulary
Vocabulary
A person's vocabulary is the set of words within a language that are familiar to that person. A vocabulary usually develops with age, and serves as a useful and fundamental tool for communication and acquiring knowledge...
, but some of them are however more rare than others, and some are mostly found in loanword
Loanword
A loanword is a word borrowed from a donor language and incorporated into a recipient language. By contrast, a calque or loan translation is a related concept where the meaning or idiom is borrowed rather than the lexical item itself. The word loanword is itself a calque of the German Lehnwort,...
s, such as /ʕ/ which almost only occur in loanwords of Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
origin. Another example is /x/, found only in loanwords of Avar
Avar language
The modern Avar language belongs to the Avar–Andic group of the Northeast Caucasian language family....
origin.
The palatalized
Palatalization
In linguistics, palatalization , also palatization, may refer to two different processes by which a sound, usually a consonant, comes to be produced with the tongue in a position in the mouth near the palate....
consonant and all the pharyngealized consonants are not found in Khwarshi Proper, but can be found in all the other dialects. Consider for instance the Khwarshi Proper word /χililːu/ "drunk", which in the other dialects is /χˤilʲilʲːu/.
Gemination
GeminationGemination
In phonetics, gemination happens when a spoken consonant is pronounced for an audibly longer period of time than a short consonant. Gemination is distinct from stress and may appear independently of it....
is quite a common phonological process
Phonology
Phonology is, broadly speaking, the subdiscipline of linguistics concerned with the sounds of language. That is, it is the systematic use of sound to encode meaning in any spoken human language, or the field of linguistics studying this use...
in Khwarshi, caused by grammatical processes
Grammar
In linguistics, grammar is the set of structural rules that govern the composition of clauses, phrases, and words in any given natural language. The term refers also to the study of such rules, and this field includes morphology, syntax, and phonology, often complemented by phonetics, semantics,...
. Gemination only occurs intervocally and not all consonants geminate. Which consonants that geminate is different according to which processes they are a part of, and it depends on the dialect as well.
Below is a list of some of the processes causing gemination:
- When suffixSuffixIn linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns or adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs...
ing the past participle-ending /-u/ to a verbal stemVerbA verb, from the Latin verbum meaning word, is a word that in syntax conveys an action , or a state of being . In the usual description of English, the basic form, with or without the particle to, is the infinitive...
ending in a consonant, the final consonant is geminated, e.g. /lat͡sʼ-a/ "to eat" > /lat͡sʼ-ːu/ "eaten". - When suffixSuffixIn linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns or adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs...
ing the present tensePresent tenseThe present tense is a grammatical tense that locates a situation or event in present time. This linguistic definition refers to a concept that indicates a feature of the meaning of a verb...
-ending, which generally is /-ʃe/, the final consonant is geminated, e.g. /lat͡sʼ-a/ "to eat" > /lat͡s-ːe/ "eat-". Notice that ejectivizationEjective consonantIn phonetics, ejective consonants are voiceless consonants that are pronounced with simultaneous closure of the glottis. In the phonology of a particular language, ejectives may contrast with aspirated or tenuis consonants...
is lost with the present tense-ending, while it is kept with the past participle-ending. - When suffixSuffixIn linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns or adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs...
ing the verbal nounVerbal nounIn linguistics, the verbal noun turns a verb into a noun and corresponds to the infinitive in English language usage. In English the infinitive form of the verb is formed when preceded by to, e.g...
-ending /-nu/ to a verbal stemVerbA verb, from the Latin verbum meaning word, is a word that in syntax conveys an action , or a state of being . In the usual description of English, the basic form, with or without the particle to, is the infinitive...
, the verbal noun-ending is geminated - not the final consonant, e.g. /tʼa-ja/ "to drop" > /tʼa-nːu/ "something which has been dropped". - When infixInfixAn infix is an affix inserted inside a word stem . It contrasts with adfix, a rare term for an affix attached to the end of a stem, such as a prefix or suffix.-Indonesian:...
ing the potential marker /-l-/ to a verbal stemVerbA verb, from the Latin verbum meaning word, is a word that in syntax conveys an action , or a state of being . In the usual description of English, the basic form, with or without the particle to, is the infinitive...
, the potential marker is geminated, e.g. /tʼa-ja/ "to drop" > /tʼa-lː-a/ "to potentially drop". - When emphasisStress (linguistics)In linguistics, stress is the relative emphasis that may be given to certain syllables in a word, or to certain words in a phrase or sentence. The term is also used for similar patterns of phonetic prominence inside syllables. The word accent is sometimes also used with this sense.The stress placed...
is needed, the consonants of some words may be geminated, e.g. /ʕezeʕan/ "much" > /ʕezːeʕan/ "much indeed". It is highly idiomatic though, and does not apply to all words.
In loanword
Loanword
A loanword is a word borrowed from a donor language and incorporated into a recipient language. By contrast, a calque or loan translation is a related concept where the meaning or idiom is borrowed rather than the lexical item itself. The word loanword is itself a calque of the German Lehnwort,...
s, geminated consonants are normally non-geminated, when adopted into the Khwarshi language. For example, the Avar
Avar language
The modern Avar language belongs to the Avar–Andic group of the Northeast Caucasian language family....
word /kːʼara/ "mosquito" is found as /kʼara/ in Khwarshi. The same goes for words of Tindi
Tindi language
Tindi is an Northeast Caucasian language spoken in the Russian republic of Dagestan. It is only an oral language; Avar or Russian are used in written communication instead. It has approximately 5000 speakers.-External links:*...
origin such as /kːʼanu/ "small", which is found as /kʼanu/ in Khwarshi. Another interesting aspect of loanwords of Tindi origin in the Khwarshi language is that the consonants are ejectivized
Ejective consonant
In phonetics, ejective consonants are voiceless consonants that are pronounced with simultaneous closure of the glottis. In the phonology of a particular language, ejectives may contrast with aspirated or tenuis consonants...
when they enter the Khwarshi language, e.g. Tindi
Tindi language
Tindi is an Northeast Caucasian language spoken in the Russian republic of Dagestan. It is only an oral language; Avar or Russian are used in written communication instead. It has approximately 5000 speakers.-External links:*...
/t͡sːikʷːa/ "small intestine" > Khwarshi /t͡sʼikʷʼa/.
Nouns
Khwarshi nounNoun
In linguistics, a noun is a member of a large, open lexical category whose members can occur as the main word in the subject of a clause, the object of a verb, or the object of a preposition .Lexical categories are defined in terms of how their members combine with other kinds of...
s inflect for case
Grammatical case
In grammar, the case of a noun or pronoun is an inflectional form that indicates its grammatical function in a phrase, clause, or sentence. For example, a pronoun may play the role of subject , of direct object , or of possessor...
, of which there are 51, and number
Grammatical number
In linguistics, grammatical number is a grammatical category of nouns, pronouns, and adjective and verb agreement that expresses count distinctions ....
, singular or plural, and belong to one of five genders
Grammatical gender
Grammatical gender is defined linguistically as a system of classes of nouns which trigger specific types of inflections in associated words, such as adjectives, verbs and others. For a system of noun classes to be a gender system, every noun must belong to one of the classes and there should be...
, or rather noun class
Noun class
In linguistics, the term noun class refers to a system of categorizing nouns. A noun may belong to a given class because of characteristic features of its referent, such as sex, animacy, shape, but counting a given noun among nouns of such or another class is often clearly conventional...
es. That a noun belongs to a specific class cannot be seen on the noun itself, but only through agreement
Agreement (linguistics)
In languages, agreement or concord is a form of cross-reference between different parts of a sentence or phrase. Agreement happens when a word changes form depending on the other words to which it relates....
.
Noun classes
There are five noun classes in the singular, while there is only a distinction between human and non-human in the plural, the male human and female human having merged into human, and the remaining classes into non-human.| Class | Description | Singular | Plural | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prefix Prefix A prefix is an affix which is placed before the root of a word. Particularly in the study of languages,a prefix is also called a preformative, because it alters the form of the words to which it is affixed.Examples of prefixes:... |
Infix Infix An infix is an affix inserted inside a word stem . It contrasts with adfix, a rare term for an affix attached to the end of a stem, such as a prefix or suffix.-Indonesian:... |
Suffix Suffix In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns or adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs... |
Prefix Prefix A prefix is an affix which is placed before the root of a word. Particularly in the study of languages,a prefix is also called a preformative, because it alters the form of the words to which it is affixed.Examples of prefixes:... |
Infix Infix An infix is an affix inserted inside a word stem . It contrasts with adfix, a rare term for an affix attached to the end of a stem, such as a prefix or suffix.-Indonesian:... |
Suffix Suffix In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns or adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs... |
||
| I | Male human | ∅-2 | -w- | -w | b-, m-1 | -b- | -b |
| II | Female human | j- | -j- | -j | |||
| III | Inanimate objects, and animals |
b-, m-1 | -b- | -b | l-, n-1 | -r- | -l |
| IV | Inanimate objects, and animate objects |
l-, n-1 | -r- | -l | |||
| V | Inanimate objects, and names of young |
j- | -j- | -j | |||
- Only before nasalized vowelsNasal vowelA nasal vowel is a vowel that is produced with a lowering of the velum so that air escapes both through nose as well as the mouth. By contrast, oral vowels are ordinary vowels without this nasalisation...
. - ∅- indicates the lack of a prefix.
The noun classes are visible through agreement in adjective
Adjective
In grammar, an adjective is a 'describing' word; the main syntactic role of which is to qualify a noun or noun phrase, giving more information about the object signified....
s, adverb
Adverb
An adverb is a part of speech that modifies verbs or any part of speech other than a noun . Adverbs can modify verbs, adjectives , clauses, sentences, and other adverbs....
s, postpositions and demonstrative pronouns
Demonstrative
In linguistics, demonstratives are deictic words that indicate which entities a speaker refers to and distinguishes those entities from others...
, and also verb
Verb
A verb, from the Latin verbum meaning word, is a word that in syntax conveys an action , or a state of being . In the usual description of English, the basic form, with or without the particle to, is the infinitive...
s if the verb begins with a vowel
Vowel
In phonetics, a vowel is a sound in spoken language, such as English ah! or oh! , pronounced with an open vocal tract so that there is no build-up of air pressure at any point above the glottis. This contrasts with consonants, such as English sh! , where there is a constriction or closure at some...
. There are, however, some exceptions, like with irregular verb
Irregular verb
In contrast to regular verbs, irregular verbs are those verbs that fall outside the standard patterns of conjugation in the languages in which they occur. The idea of an irregular verb is important in second language acquisition, where the verb paradigms of a foreign language are learned...
s in other languages. Below are some examples of such agreement in postpositions, demonstrative pronouns, verbs and adjectives, respectively. Notice however, that a verb is present in all of the examples but the first, while the third example has a special focus on verbs.
| milʲːo | b-ot͡ɬot͡ɬʼo | heⁿʃe | gul-o |
|---|---|---|---|
| -in.middle | book | put- | |
| "Put the book between you!" | |||
| o-w-enu | ʒikʼo | ∅-otʼqʼ-i | ilʲ-ːo | at͡ɬ-a |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| -that | man | -come- | - | village- |
| "That man came to our village" | ||||
| ∅-ot͡ɬot͡ɬʼo-so-ho | j-ot͡ɬot͡ɬʼo-so | j-ez-un |
|---|---|---|
| -in.middle-- | -in.middle- | -take- |
| "The middle (brother) married the (other) middle (sister)." | ||
| b-et͡ʃ-un-t͡ɬo | b-et͡ʃ-un-aj-t͡ɬo | bert͡sina-b | kandaba |
|---|---|---|---|
| -be-- | -be--- | beautiful- | girl. |
| "Once upon a time there were beautiful girls" | |||
As the noun class of a noun cannot be seen on the noun itself, it should not be represented in a literal translation
Literal translation
Literal translation, or direct translation, is the rendering of text from one language to another "word-for-word" rather than conveying the sense of the original...
. In the examples above, however, the noun class of certain nouns is shown, albeit in superscript to indicate that it is not represented in the original Khwarshi sentence. The only nouns that have their noun classes indicated here are those with which the other words agree with.
Cases
There are 8 grammatical cases in Khwarshi, and 43 locative cases. The grammatical cases are: absolutiveAbsolutive case
The absolutive case is the unmarked grammatical case of a core argument of a verb which is used as the citation form of a noun.-In ergative languages:...
, ergative
Ergative case
The ergative case is the grammatical case that identifies the subject of a transitive verb in ergative-absolutive languages.-Characteristics:...
, two genitive
Genitive case
In grammar, genitive is the grammatical case that marks a noun as modifying another noun...
, instrumental
Instrumental case
The instrumental case is a grammatical case used to indicate that a noun is the instrument or means by or with which the subject achieves or accomplishes an action...
, durative, vocative
Vocative case
The vocative case is the case used for a noun identifying the person being addressed and/or occasionally the determiners of that noun. A vocative expression is an expression of direct address, wherein the identity of the party being spoken to is set forth expressly within a sentence...
and causal
Causal case
The causal or causative case is a grammatical case that indicates that the marked noun is the cause or reason for something.-External links:*...
. The remaining cases, the locative cases, are a bit more complex, as they each consist of both a part that has something to do with orientation and a part that has something to do with direction. So while the ergative case
Ergative case
The ergative case is the grammatical case that identifies the subject of a transitive verb in ergative-absolutive languages.-Characteristics:...
has a single suffix
Suffix
In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns or adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs...
/-(j)i/, the superversative case consists of two suffixes, the superessive
Superessive case
The Superessive case is a grammatical declension indicating location on top of, or on the surface of something. Its name comes from Latin supersum, superesse: to be over and above....
/-t͡ɬʼo/ plus the versative /-ʁul/, becoming /-t͡ɬʼoʁul/.
Below are the case endings of the grammatical cases.
| Absolutive Absolutive case The absolutive case is the unmarked grammatical case of a core argument of a verb which is used as the citation form of a noun.-In ergative languages:... |
Ergative Ergative case The ergative case is the grammatical case that identifies the subject of a transitive verb in ergative-absolutive languages.-Characteristics:... |
Genitive 1 Genitive case In grammar, genitive is the grammatical case that marks a noun as modifying another noun... |
Genitive 2 Genitive case In grammar, genitive is the grammatical case that marks a noun as modifying another noun... |
Instrumental Instrumental case The instrumental case is a grammatical case used to indicate that a noun is the instrument or means by or with which the subject achieves or accomplishes an action... |
Durative | Vocative Vocative case The vocative case is the case used for a noun identifying the person being addressed and/or occasionally the determiners of that noun. A vocative expression is an expression of direct address, wherein the identity of the party being spoken to is set forth expressly within a sentence... |
Causal Causal case The causal or causative case is a grammatical case that indicates that the marked noun is the cause or reason for something.-External links:*... |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| -∅ | -(j)i1 | -s | -lo, -la | -z | -d | -ju | -t͡ɬeru |
- The ergative case ending is /-ji/ after vowelVowelIn phonetics, a vowel is a sound in spoken language, such as English ah! or oh! , pronounced with an open vocal tract so that there is no build-up of air pressure at any point above the glottis. This contrasts with consonants, such as English sh! , where there is a constriction or closure at some...
s, and /-i/ after consonantConsonantIn articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract. Examples are , pronounced with the lips; , pronounced with the front of the tongue; , pronounced with the back of the tongue; , pronounced in the throat; and ,...
s.
Below are the case endings of the locative cases.
| Essive Essive case The essive or similaris case carries the meaning of a temporary location or state of being, often equivalent to the English "as a ".In the Finnish language, this case is marked by adding "-na/-nä" to the stem of the noun.... |
Lative Lative case Lative is a case which indicates motion to a location. It corresponds to the English prepositions "to" and "into". The lative case belongs to the group of the general local cases together with the locative and separative case... |
Versative | Ablative Ablative case In linguistics, ablative case is a name given to cases in various languages whose common characteristic is that they mark motion away from something, though the details in each language may differ... |
Translative Translative case The translative case is a grammatical case that indicates a change in state of a noun, with the general sense of "becoming X" or "change to X".... |
Terminative Terminative case In morphology, the terminative case is a case specifying a limit in space and time and also to convey the goal or target of an action.-Usage in Estonian:In the Estonian language, the terminative case is indicated by the '-ni' suffix:... |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Superessive Superessive case The Superessive case is a grammatical declension indicating location on top of, or on the surface of something. Its name comes from Latin supersum, superesse: to be over and above.... |
-t͡ɬʼo | -t͡ɬʼo-l | -t͡ɬʼo-ʁul | -t͡ɬʼo-zi | -t͡ɬʼo-ʁuʒaz | -t͡ɬʼo-qʼa |
| Subessive Subessive case The subessive case is a grammatical case indicating location under or below something. It occurs in Northeast Caucasian languages like Tsez and Bezhta.... |
-t͡ɬ | -t͡ɬ-ul | -t͡ɬ-ʁul | -t͡ɬ-zi | -t͡ɬ-ʁuʒaz | -t͡ɬ-qʼa |
| Inessive Inessive case Inessive case is a locative grammatical case. This case carries the basic meaning of "in": for example, "in the house" is "talo·ssa" in Finnish, "maja·s" in Estonian, "etxea·n" in Basque, "nam·e" in Lithuanian and "ház·ban" in Hungarian.In Finnish the inessive case is typically formed by adding... |
-ma | -ma-l | -ma-ʁul | -ma-zi | -ma-ʁuʒaz | -ma-qʼa |
| Interessive | -ɬ | -ɬ-ul | -ɬ-ʁul | -ɬ-zi | -ɬ-ʁuʒaz | -ɬ-qʼa |
| Adessive Adessive case In Uralic languages, such as Finnish, Estonian and Hungarian, the adessive case is the fourth of the locative cases with the basic meaning of "on". For example, Estonian laud and laual , Hungarian asztal and asztalnál... |
-ho | -ho-l | -ho-ʁul | -ho-zi | -ho-ʁuʒaz | -ho-qʼa |
| Apudessive Apudessive case Apudessive case is used for marking a juxtaposing spatial relation, or location next to something . The case is found in Tsez, Bezhta and other Northeast Caucasian languages.... |
-ʁo | -ʁo-l | -ʁo-ʁul | -ʁo-zi | -ʁo-ʁuʒaz | -ʁo-qʼa |
| Contessive | -qo | -qo-l | -qo-ʁul | -qo-zi | -qo-ʁuʒaz | -qo-qʼa |
Verbs
Khwarshi verbVerb
A verb, from the Latin verbum meaning word, is a word that in syntax conveys an action , or a state of being . In the usual description of English, the basic form, with or without the particle to, is the infinitive...
s normally consist of a stem, an agreement
Agreement (linguistics)
In languages, agreement or concord is a form of cross-reference between different parts of a sentence or phrase. Agreement happens when a word changes form depending on the other words to which it relates....
prefix
Prefix
A prefix is an affix which is placed before the root of a word. Particularly in the study of languages,a prefix is also called a preformative, because it alters the form of the words to which it is affixed.Examples of prefixes:...
indicating noun class
Noun class
In linguistics, the term noun class refers to a system of categorizing nouns. A noun may belong to a given class because of characteristic features of its referent, such as sex, animacy, shape, but counting a given noun among nouns of such or another class is often clearly conventional...
and number of the relevant nouns, and a suffix
Suffix
In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns or adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs...
showing tense
Grammatical tense
A tense is a grammatical category that locates a situation in time, to indicate when the situation takes place.Bernard Comrie, Aspect, 1976:6:...
, aspect
Grammatical aspect
In linguistics, the grammatical aspect of a verb is a grammatical category that defines the temporal flow in a given action, event, or state, from the point of view of the speaker...
, mood
Grammatical mood
In linguistics, grammatical mood is a grammatical feature of verbs, used to signal modality. That is, it is the use of verbal inflections that allow speakers to express their attitude toward what they are saying...
, or the like. Only about one fourth of the Khwarshi verbs show agreement, all of them beginning with a vowel
Vowel
In phonetics, a vowel is a sound in spoken language, such as English ah! or oh! , pronounced with an open vocal tract so that there is no build-up of air pressure at any point above the glottis. This contrasts with consonants, such as English sh! , where there is a constriction or closure at some...
. There is a small number of verbs beginning with a vowel that do not show agreement. Verbs beginning with a consonant
Consonant
In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract. Examples are , pronounced with the lips; , pronounced with the front of the tongue; , pronounced with the back of the tongue; , pronounced in the throat; and ,...
do not show agreement.
The verbs are very regular in Khwarshi, the only irregular verb
Irregular verb
In contrast to regular verbs, irregular verbs are those verbs that fall outside the standard patterns of conjugation in the languages in which they occur. The idea of an irregular verb is important in second language acquisition, where the verb paradigms of a foreign language are learned...
being the auxiliary verb
Auxiliary verb
In linguistics, an auxiliary verb is a verb that gives further semantic or syntactic information about a main or full verb. In English, the extra meaning provided by an auxiliary verb alters the basic meaning of the main verb to make it have one or more of the following functions: passive voice,...
/goli/ "to be", which takes neither a prefix nor a suffix and has only several non-finite forms
Non-finite verb
In linguistics, a non-finite verb is a verb form that is not limited by a subject and, more generally, is not fully inflected by categories that are marked inflectionally in language, such as tense, aspect, mood, number, gender, and person...
. In the past-
Past tense
The past tense is a grammatical tense that places an action or situation in the past of the current moment , or prior to some specified time that may be in the speaker's past, present, or future...
and future tense
Future tense
In grammar, a future tense is a verb form that marks the event described by the verb as not having happened yet, but expected to happen in the future , or to happen subsequent to some other event, whether that is past, present, or future .-Expressions of future tense:The concept of the future,...
, however, the verb /-et͡ʃ-/ "to be situated" is used instead of /goli/, which may take both a prefix and a suffix.
External links
- Khalilova, Zaira (2007). Long-distance Agreement in Khwarshi
- Khalilova, Zaira (2007). Reflexives in Khwarshi