| Ingush | ||
|---|---|---|
| ГІалгІай Ğalğaj /ʁəlʁɑj/ | ||
| Spoken in | Russia, Kazakhstan | |
| Region | Ingushetia, Chechnya | |
| Total speakers | 400,000+ | |
| Language family | Northeast Caucasian | |
| Official status | ||
| Official language in | Ingushetia (federal subject of Russia) | |
| Regulated by | No official regulation | |
| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639-1 | none | |
| ISO 639-2 | inh | |
| ISO 639-3 | inh | |
| Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. | ||
Ingush is a language spoken by approximately 415,000 people (2005), known as the Ingush, across a region covering Ingushetia, Chechnya, Kazakhstan and Russia. In Ingush, the language is called ГІалгІай Ğalğaj (pronounced [ʁəlʁɑj]).
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Classification
Ingush and Chechen, together with Bats, constitute the Nakh branch of the Northeast Caucasian language family. They are not mutually intelligible, though there is pervasive passive bilingualism between Ingush and Chechen.
Geographic distribution
Ingush is spoken by about 415,000 people (2005), primarily across a region in the Caucasus covering parts of Russia, primarily Ingushetia and Chechnya. Speakers can also be found in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Belgium, Norway, Turkey and Jordan.
Official status
Ingush and Russian are the official languages of Ingushetia, a federal subject of Russia.
Writing system
Ingush became a written language with an Arabic-based writing system at the beginning of the 20th century. After the October revolution it first used a Latin alphabet which was later replaced by Cyrillic letters.
| А а | Аь аь | Б б | В в | Г г | ГI гI | Д д | Е е |
| Ё ё | Ж ж | З з | И и | Й й | К к | Кх кх | Къ къ |
| КI кI | Л л | М м | Н н | О о | П п | ПI пI | Р р |
| С с | Т т | ТI тI | У у | Ф ф | Х х | Хь хь | ХI хI |
| Ц ц | ЦI цI | Ч ч | ЧI чI | Ш ш | Щ щ | Ъ ъ | Ы ы |
| Ь ь | Э э | Ю ю | Я я | Яь яь | I |
Phonology
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | и [i] | у [u] | |
| Mid | э [e] | ? [ə] | о [o] |
| Low | аь [æ] | а [ɑː, ɑ] |
The diphthongs are иэ /ie/, уо /uo/, оа /oɑ/, ий /ij/, эи /ei/, ои /oi/, уи /ui/, ов /ow/, ув /uw/.
Consonants
The consonants of Ingush are as follows:[1]
| Labial | Alveolar | Postalveolar | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Epiglottal | Glottal | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| central | lateral | palatalized | plain | ||||||||
| Nasal | м [m] | н [n] | |||||||||
| Plosive | voiceless | п [p] | т [t] | ? [kʲ] | к [k] | кх [q] | I [ʡ] | ъ [ʔ] | |||
| voiced | б [b] | д [d] | ? [ɡʲ] | г [ɡ] | |||||||
| ejective | пI [pʼ] | тI [tʼ] | ? [kʲʼ] | кI [kʼ] | къ [qʼ] | ||||||
| Affricate | voiceless | ц [ts] | ч [tʃ] | ||||||||
| ejective | цI [tsʼ] | чI [tʃʼ] | |||||||||
| Fricative | voiceless | ф [f] | с [s] | ш [ʃ] | х [χ] | хь [ʜ] | хI [h] | ||||
| voiced | в [v]/[w] | з [z] | ж [ʒ] | гI [ʁ] | |||||||
| Approximant | л [l] | й [j] | |||||||||
| Trill | voiceless | рхI [r̥] | |||||||||
| voiced | р [r] | ||||||||||
- Note that the epiglottals are traditionally called 'pharyngeal', with the epiglottal articulation subsumed under pharyngeal. However, truly pharyngeal plosives are not considered possible.
Grammar
Ingush is a nominative-accusative language in its syntax, though it has ergative morphology.[2]
References
- ^ http://linguistics.berkeley.edu/~ingush/ing_ss_ipa_666px.jpg
- ^ Johanna Nichols, Case in Ingush Syntax
External links
- Indigenous Language of the Caucasus (Ingush)
- Ingush Language Project at UC Berkeley
- University of Graz report
- Ethnologue report for Ingush
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