| Dargwa | |
| Nativename: | Dargwa: дарган мез Dargwa: dargan mez Dargwa: دارگان مەز |
| States: | North Caucasus |
| Region: | Dagestan |
| Ethnicity: | Dargins (2020 census)[1] |
| Date: | 2020 census, all Dargin languages |
| Ref: | [2] |
| Familycolor: | Caucasian |
| Fam1: | Northeast Caucasian |
| Fam2: | Dargin |
| Iso2: | dar |
| Iso3: | dar |
| Iso3comment: | (also Dargin languages) |
| Glotto: | darg1241 |
| Glottorefname: | North-Central Dargwa |
| Glotto2: | sout3261 |
| Glottorefname2: | Southwestern Dargwa |
| Script: | Cyrillic |
Dargwa (Dargwa: дарган мез, dargan mez) is a Northeast Caucasian language spoken by the Dargin people in the Russian republic Dagestan. It is the literary and main dialect of the dialect continuum constituting the Dargin languages.[3] It is based on the Akusha dialect of Dargin.
Dargwa is part of a Northeast Caucasian dialect continuum, the Dargin languages. The other languages in this dialect continuum (such as Kajtak, Kubachi, Itsari, and Chirag) are often considered variants of Dargwa. Korjakov (2012) concludes that Southwestern Dargwa is closer to Kajtak than it is to North-Central Dargwa.[4]
According to the 2002 Census, there are 429,347 speakers of Dargwa proper in Dagestan, 7,188 in neighbouring Kalmykia, 1,620 in Khanty–Mansi AO, 680 in Chechnya, and hundreds more in other parts of Russia. Figures for the Lakh dialect spoken in central Dagestan[5] are 142,523 in Dagestan, 1,504 in Kabardino-Balkaria, 708 in Khanty–Mansi.
Like other languages of the Caucasus, Dargwa is noted for its large consonant inventory, which includes over 40 phonemes (distinct sounds), though the exact number varies by dialect. Voicing, glottalization (as ejectives), fortition (which surfaces as gemination), and frication are some of the distinct features of consonants in Dargwa. Particularly noteworthy is the inclusion of an epiglottal ejective by some dialects such as, which it may be the only language in the world to use phonemically.[6]
| Labial | Dental | Postalveolar | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Pharyngeal/ Epiglottal | Glottal | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plain | sib. | ||||||||||
| Nasal | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | |||||||||
| Plosive/ Affricate | voiced | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/1 | pronounced as /ink/1 | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/1 | pronounced as /ink/1 | |||
| voiceless | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | ||||
| long | pronounced as /ink/2 | pronounced as /ink/2 | pronounced as /ink/2 | pronounced as /ink/2 | pronounced as /ink/2 | pronounced as /ink/2 | |||||
| ejective | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/2 | ||||
| Fricative | voiced | pronounced as /ink/1 | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/1 | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/2 | |||
| voiceless | pronounced as /ink/1 | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/1 | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/2 | pronounced as /ink/2 | ||||
| long | pronounced as /ink/2 | pronounced as /ink/2 | pronounced as /ink/2 | pronounced as /ink/2 | |||||||
| Trill | pronounced as /ink/ | ||||||||||
| Approximant | pronounced as /ink/2 | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | ||||||||
| Front | Central | Back | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | ||
| Mid | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | ||
| Open | pronounced as /ink/ |
The current Dargwa alphabet is based on Cyrillic as follows:
| А а | Б б | В в | Г г | Гъ гъ | Гь гь | Гӏ гӏ | Д д | Е е | Ё ё | Ж ж | З з |
| И и | Й й | К к | Къ къ | Кь кь | 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 | Хъ хъ | 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 |
The first Dargin alphabet was created by Peter von Uslar in the late 19th century, published in the grammar for the of Dargwa.
The Latin alphabet of the 1920s is not supported by Unicode, but is approximately:[7]
a ʙ c ç ꞓ d e ə f g ǥ ƣ h ħ ⱨ i j k ⱪ l m n o p ᶈ q ꝗ r s ꞩ ş t ţ u v w x ҳ ӿ z ƶ ⱬ ƶ̧
(The letters transcribed here ⱨ ⱪ ᶈ ҳ ⱬ might have cedillas instead of hooks; the printing in sources is not clear.)
Compiled from:[8]
| Modern Cyrillic | Latin c. 1930 | Uslar | Arabic (1920—1928) | Arabic (before 1920) | IPA | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| А а | A a | а | ا,آ | آ | a | |
| Б б | B b | б | ب | b | ||
| В в | V v | ԝ | و | w | ||
| Г г | G g | г | گ | ڮ | g | |
| Гъ гъ | Ƣ ƣ | ӷ | غ | ʁ | ||
| Гь гь | H h | һ | ھ | ﻬ | h | |
| ГӀ гӀ | Ⱨ ⱨ | ꜧ | ع | ʕ | ||
| Д д | D d | д | د | d | ||
| Е е | E e, je | e | اە | - | e, je | |
| Ё ё | - | ɵ | ||||
| Ж ж | Ƶ ƶ | ж | ژ | ج | ʒ | |
| З з | Z z | з | ز | z | ||
| И и | I i | i | اى | - | i | |
| Й й | J j | j | ى | ي | j | |
| К к | K k | кᷱ | ک | k | ||
| Къ къ | Q q | к | ڠ | ق | q: | |
| Кь кь | Ꝗ ꝗ | q | ق | qʼ | ||
| КӀ кӀ | Ⱪ ⱪ | қ | گ | kʼ | ||
| Л л | L l | л | ل | l | ||
| М м | M m | м | م | m | ||
| Н н | N n | н | ن | n | ||
| О о | O o | о | او | - | o | |
| П п | P p | п | پ | ف | p | |
| ПӀ пӀ[9] | [10] | ԥ | ڢ | ب | pʼ | |
| Р р | R r | р | ر | r | ||
| С с | S s | с | س | s | ||
| Т т | T t | т | ت | t | ||
| ТӀ тӀ | T̨ t̨ | ҭ | ط | t’ | ||
| У у | U u | у | او | و | u | |
| Ф ф | F f | - | ف | f | ||
| Х х | X x | х | خ | χ | ||
| Хъ хъ | Ӿ ӿ | k | څ | ق | q | |
| Хь хь | Ҳ ҳ | ؼ | x: | |||
| ХӀ хӀ | Ħ ħ | ح | ћ | |||
| Ц ц | Ꞩ ꞩ | ц | ڝ | ژ | ʦ | |
| ЦӀ цӀ | Ⱬ ⱬ | წ | ڗ | ژ | ʦ’ | |
| Ч ч | C c | ч | چ | tʃ | ||
| ЧӀ чӀ | Ç ç | ჭ | ج | چ | ʧ’ | |
| Ш ш | Ş ş | ш | ش | ʃ | ||
| Щ щ | şş | colspan="3" | - | ʃː | ||
| Ъ ъ | colspan="2" | - | ء | - | ʔ | |
| Ы ы | colspan="4" | - | ɨ | |||
| Ь ь | colspan="4" | - | ||||
| Э э | E e | - | اه | - | e | |
| Ю ю | ju | colspan="3" | - | ju | ||
| Я я | Ә ә, ja | ӕ | أ | - | ja | |
| - | Ⱬ̵ ⱬ̵ | ђ | ڞ | - | t͡s | |
| - | Ӡ ӡ | colspan="3" | - | |||
| - | є | - | ڃ | چ | ||
| - | g̵ | гᷱ | ݢ | - | ||
| TAM CATEGORY | ! scope="col" | MEANING ! | ASPECT | MODIFIER | PREDICATIVE MARKER | NEGATION | EXAMPLE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DERIVED FROM THE PROGRESSIVE STEM (BASIC STEM + -a) | |||||||
| Present | 1. all types of present situations including actual and habitual situations, 2. historic present, 3. close future: the speaker‘s intention | IPF | [-ti] | PERSON / PRESENT (–da/–di/–ca=b) | reduplication or negative auxiliary | anwar-ri kaRar luk’-a–ca=b (Anwar is writing a letter) | |
| Past Progressive | a progressive situation in the past | IPF | -ti | PAST (–di) | it uč’-a-Ti–di (He was reading) | ||
| DERIVED FROM THE PRETERITE STEM (BASIC STEM + -ib/-ub/-ur/-un): | |||||||
| Aorist | any completed action in the past | PF | - | PERSON (–da/–di) | negative auxiliary | ||
| Imperfect | unspecified imperfective meaning in the past (both durative and multiplicative situations) | IPF | - | PERSON (–da/–di) | hin ha.ruq-ib | ||
| Perfect | perfect (a completed action whose results are still presently actual) | PF | - | PERSON /PRESENT (–da/–di/–ca=b) | jabu-l hin d=era=b b=uZ-ib-ti–ca=b d=eqel juz-i d=elk'-un-ti ̳There have been in our village those who had written many books'. | ||
| Habitual Past | a habitual action in the past | IPF | -a-d-i, -a-T-i, -iri/-ini or -aj | no separable predicative morphemes | reduplication | harzamina b=urs-iri di-la waba-l 'My mother used to tell (this story).‘ | |
| DERIVED FROM THE OBLIGATIVE STEM (BASIC STEM + -an): | |||||||
| Future | all types of future situations | IPF | - | PERSON/FUTURE(–da/–di/-ni) | negative auxiliary | ||
| Obligative Present | a situation that the speaker believes necessary to be realized | IPF * | - | PERSON /PRESENT (–da/–di/–ca=b) | negative auxiliary | ||
| Obligative Past | an irreal situation that the speaker believes necessary to have been realized in the past | IPF * | - | PAST (–di) | |||
| DERIVED FROM THE HYPOTHETICAL STEM (BASIC STEM + -iZ-): | |||||||
| Hypothetical Present | a possible action in the future | - | - | PERSON(–da/–di) | reduplication or negative auxiliary | ||
| Hypothetical Past | a past situation that did not take place, but is treated by the speaker as having been possible under certain conditions | - | - | PAST (–di) | |||
| Irrealis | used in the apodosis of the irreal conditional clauses | IPF | - | PAST (–di) | reduplication | ||