| Avar | ||
|---|---|---|
| Авар мацӀ Awar macʼ |
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| Spoken in | Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Georgia and Turkey | |
| Region | Republic of Dagestan | |
| Total speakers | ~600,000 | |
| Language family | Northeast Caucasian
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| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639-1 | av | |
| ISO 639-2 | ava | |
| ISO 639-3 | ava | |
| Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. | ||
The modern Avar language (self-designation магӀарул мацӀ [maʕarul mat͡sʼ] "language of the mountains" or Авар мацӀ [awar mat͡sʼ] "Avar language") belongs to the Avar-Andic group of the Northeast Caucasian language family.
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Geographic distribution
It is spoken mainly in the eastern and southern parts of the Russian Caucasus republic of Dagestan, and the Balaken, Zakatala north-west region of Azerbaijan. Some Avars live in other regions of Russia. There are also small communities of speakers living in the Russian republics of Chechnya and Kalmykia; in Georgia, Kazakhstan, Jordan, and the Marmara Sea region of Turkey. It has more than 1,400,000 speakers worldwide.
Official status
It is one of six literary languages of Dagestan, where it is spoken not only by the Avar, but also serves as the language of communication between different groups.
Dialects
There are two main dialect groups: the northern, which includes Khunzakh, Kazbek, Gunib, Gumbet and others; and the southern, which includes Andalal, Gidatl', Antsukh, Charoda, Tlyarata, Cumada, Cunta and others.
Phonology
Writing system
The Avar language has been written since the 15th century, in the old Georgian alphabet. From the 17th century onwards it was written in a modified Arabic script known as Ajam, which is still known today. As part of Soviet language planning policies the Ajam was replaced by a Latin alphabet in 1928, which was in turn replaced by the current Cyrillic alphabet in 1938. It is essentially the Russian alphabet plus one additional letter named palochka (Ӏ). As that letter is undisplayable on most computers, it is routinely replaced with capital Latin letter I.
Orthography
The Avar language is usually written in the Cyrillic alphabet. The letters of the alphabet are (with their pronunciation given below in IPA transcription):
| А а | Б б | В в | Г г | Гъ гъ | Гь гь | ГI гI | Д д |
| /a/ | /b/ | /w/ | /ɡ/ | /ʁ/ | /h/ | /ʕ/ | /d/ |
| Е е | Ё ё | Ж ж | З з | И и | Й й | К к | Къ къ |
| /e/, /je/ | /jo/ | /ʒ/ | /z/ | /i/ | /j/ | /k’/ | /qː’/ |
| Кь кь | КI кI | КIкI кIкI | Кк кк | Л л | М м | Н н | О о |
| /t͡ɬː’/ | /k’/ | /t͡ɬː/ | /ɬ/ | /l/ | /m/ | /n/ | /o/ |
| П п | Р р | С с | Т т | ТI тI | У у | Ф ф | Х х |
| /p/ | /r/ | /s/ | /t/ | /t’/ | /u/ | /f/ | /χ/ |
| Хх хх | Хъ хъ | Хь хь | ХI хI | Ц ц | Цц цц | ЦI цI | ЦIцI цIцI |
| /qː/ | /x/ | /ħ/ | /t͡s/ | /t͡s’/ | |||
| Ч ч | ЧI чI | ЧIчI чIчI | Ш ш | Щ щ | Ъ ъ | Ы ы | Ь ь |
| /t͡ʃ/ | /t͡ʃ’/ | /ʃ/ | /ʃː/ | /ʔ/ | /ɨ/ | ||
| Э э | Ю ю | Я я | |||||
| /e/ | /ju/ | /ja/ |
/t͡ɬː/ and /ɬ/ are also written ЛI лI, Лъ лъ respectivly.
History
The literary language is based on the болмацӀ (bolmacʼ) — bo = "army" or "country", and macʼ = "language" — the common language used between speakers of different dialects and languages. The bolmacʼ in turn was mainly derived from the dialect of Khunzakh, 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.
The most famous figure of modern Avar literature is Rasul Gamzatov (died November 3, 2003), the People's Poet of Dagestan. Translations of his works into Russian have gained him a wide audience all over the former Soviet Union.
Samples
| Hello! | ВорчӀами! | Worčʼami! |
| How are you doing? | Щиб хӀal бугеб? | Ššib ħal bugeb? |
| How are you? | Иш кин бугеб? | Iš kin bugeb? |
| What is your name? | Дуда цӀар щиб? | Duda cʼar ššib? |
| How old are you? | Дур чан сон бугеб? | Dur čan son bugeb? |
| Where are you going? | Mун киве ина вугев? | Mun kiwe ina wugew? |
| Sorry! | ТӀаса лъугьа! | Tʼasa łuha! |
| Where is the little boy going? | Киве гьитӀинав вас унев вугев? | Kiwe hitʼinaw was unew wugew? |
| The boy broke a bottle. | Васас шиша бекана. | Wasas šiša bekana. |
| They are building the road. | Гьез нух бале(гьабулеб) буго. | Hez nux bale(habuleb) bugo. |
See also
External links
- Avar language at Ethnologue
- Entry for Avar at Rosetta Project
- Avar alphabet, language and pronunciation
- Avar course (in French)
- RFE/RL North Caucasus Radio (also includes Chechen and Adyghe)
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