Ingush language
Template:Short description Script error: No such module "Infobox".Template:Template otherTemplate:Main other Ingush (Template:IPAc-en; Script error: No such module "Lang"., Template:Transliteration, pronounced Script error: No such module "IPA".) is a Northeast Caucasian language spoken by about 350,000 people,[1] known as the Ingush, across a region covering the Russian republics of Ingushetia, Chechnya, North Ossetia, as well as the countries Turkey, Kazakhstan, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, et al.[2]
Classification
Ingush and Chechen, together with Bats, constitute the Nakh branch of the Northeast Caucasian language family. There is pervasive passive bilingualism between Ingush and Chechen.Template:Sfnp
Dialects
Ingush is not divided into dialects with the exception of Template:Ill (native name: Галай-Чӏож/Галайн-Чӏаж), which is considered to be transitional between Chechen and Ingush.Template:Sfn
Geographic distribution
Ingush is spoken by about 350,000-400,000 people (2020) in Russia, primarily in the North Caucasian republics of Ingushetia, North Ossetia and Chechnya. Speakers can also be found in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Belgium, Norway, Turkey and Jordan.[1][2]
Official status
Ingush is, alongside Russian, an official language of Ingushetia, a federal subject of Russia.
Phonology
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | и/i Template:IPAblink | varies Template:IPAblink | у/u Template:IPAblink |
| Mid | э/e Template:IPAblink | varies Template:IPAblink | о/o Template:IPAblink |
| Low | аь/ea Template:IPAblink | а/a Template:IPAblink |
The diphthongs are иэ /ie/, уо /uo/, оа Script error: No such module "IPA"., ий /ij/, эи /ei/, ои /oi/, уи /ui/, ов /ow/, ув /uw/.
Consonants
The consonants of Ingush are as follows,Template:Sfnp including the Latin orthography developed by Johanna Nichols:Template:Sfnp
Single consonants can be geminated by various morphophonemic processes.
Writing system
Template:Expand language It is possible that during the period of 8–12th century, when the Temples like Tkhaba-Yerdy emerged in Ingushetia, a writing system based on a Georgian script emerged. This is attested by the fact that a non-Georgian name, 'Enola', was found written on the arc of Tkhaba-Yerdy.Template:Sfn Furthermore, Georgian text was found on archaeological items in Ingushetia that could not be deciphered.Template:Sfn
Ingush became a written language with an Arabic-based writing system at the beginning of the 20th century.
| Lettres arabes | څ | چ | ژ | File:Reh with three dots below.svg | ڥ | ڢ | ڨ | ڭ | ڮ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cyrillic equivalents | ч | чI | цI | ц | пI | п | кх | кI | г |
After the October Revolution it first used a Latin alphabet, which was later replaced by Cyrillic.
| 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 | П п | Пӏ пӏ | Р р |
| С с | Т т | Тӏ тӏ | У у | 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 | Яь яь | Ӏ ӏ |
Grammar
Ingush is a nominative–accusative language in its syntax, though it has ergative morphology.Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp
Case
The most recent and in-depth analysis of the languageTemplate:Sfnp shows eight cases: absolutive, ergative, genitive, dative, allative, instrumental, lative and comparative.
| Cases | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Absolutive | -⌀ | -azh / -ii, -iTemplate:Efn |
| Ergative | -uo / -z, -aaTemplate:Efn | –azh |
| Genitive | -a, -nTemplate:Efn | -ii, -i |
| Dative | -aa, -naTemplate:Efn | -azh-ta |
| Allative | -ga | -azh-ka |
| Instrumental | -ca | -azh-ca |
| Lative | -gh | -egh |
| Comparative | -l | -el |
Tenses
| Stem | Suffix | Tense | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Infinitive Stem (INFS) |
{-a} | Infinitive (INF) | laaca |
| {-a} | Imperative (IMP) | laaca | |
| Present Stem (unmarked) |
--- | Generic Present (PRES) | loac |
| {-az&} | Simultaneous Converb (SCV) | loacaz& | |
| {-ar} | Imperfect (IMPF) | loacar | |
| {-agDa} | Future (FUT) | loacadda | |
| Past Stem (PAST) |
{-ar} | Witnessed Past (WIT) | leacar |
| {-aa}/{-na} | Anterior Converb (ACV) | leacaa | |
| {-aa} + {-D} / {-na} + {-D} | Perfect (PERF) | leacaad | |
| {-aa} + {-Dar} / {-na} + {-Dar} | Pluperfect (PLUP) | leacaadar |
Numerals
Like many Northeast Caucasian languages, Ingush uses a vigesimal system, where numbers lower than twenty are counted as in a base-ten system, but higher decads are base-twenty.
| Orthography | Phonetic | Value | Composition |
|---|---|---|---|
| cwa | [t͡sʕʌ] | 1 | |
| shi | [ʃɪ] | 2 | |
| qo | [qo] | 3 | |
| d.i'1 | [dɪʔ] | 4 | |
| pxi | [pxɪ] | 5 | |
| jaalx | [jalx] | 6 | |
| vorh | [vʷor̥] | 7 | |
| baarh | [bar̥] | 8 | |
| iis | [is] | 9 | |
| itt | [itː] | 10 | |
| cwaitt | [t͡sʕɛtː] | 11 | 1+10 |
| shiitt | [ʃitː] | 12 | 2+10 |
| qoitt | [qoitː] | 13 | 3+10 |
| d.iitt1 | [ditː] | 14 | 4+10 |
| pxiitt | [pxitː] | 15 | 5+10 |
| jalxett | [jʌlxɛtː] | 16 | 6+10 |
| vuriit | [vʷʊritː] | 17 | 7+10 |
| bareitt | [bʌreitː] | 18 | 8+10 |
| tq'iesta | [tqʼiːestə̆] | 19 | |
| tq'o | [tqʼo] | 20 | |
| tq'ea itt | [tqʼɛ̯æjitː] | 30 | 20+10 |
| shouztq'a | [ʃouztqʼə̆] | 40 | 2×20 |
| shouztq'aj itt | [ʃouztqʼetː] | 50 | 2×20+10 |
| bwea | [bʕɛ̯æ] | 100 | |
| shi bwea | [ʃɪ bʕɛ̯æ] | 200 | 2×100 |
| ezar | [ɛzər] | 1000 | loan from Persian |
- Note that "four" and its derivatives begin with noun-class marker. d- is merely the default value.
Pronouns
Word order
In Ingush, "for main clauses, other than episode-initial and other all-new ones, verb-second order is most common. The verb, or the finite part of a compound verb or analytic tense form (i.e. the light verb or the auxiliary), follows the first word or phrase in the clause".Template:Sfnp
References
Bibliography
English sources
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Russian sources
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External links
Template:Sister project Script error: No such module "Portal".
- Appendix:Cyrillic script
- Indigenous Language of the Caucasus (Ingush)
- Ingush Language Project at UC Berkeley
- University of Graz report Template:Webarchive
- Russian-Ghalghaj (Ingush) vocabulary
- Ingush 100-word Swadesh list at the Global Lexicostatistical Database
Template:Languages of Russia Template:Northeast Caucasian languages Template:Languages of the Caucasus Template:Authority control