Hunzib language
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Hunzib Гьонкьос мыц Honƛʼos mɨc |
||
|---|---|---|
| Spoken in: | Russia | |
| Region: | Southern Dagestan | |
| Total speakers: | 2000 | |
| Language family: | North Caucasian Northeast Caucasian Tsezic East Tsezic Hunzib |
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| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639-1: | none | |
| ISO 639-2: | cau | |
| ISO 639-3: | huz | |
| Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. See IPA chart for English for an English-based pronunciation key. | ||
Hunzib is a Northeast Caucasian language spoken by about 2000 people in the south of Dagestan, near the Russian border with Georgia.
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[edit] Classification
Hunzib belongs to the Tsezic group of Northeast Caucasian languages. It is most closely related to Bezhta, with which it forms the Eastern branch of the Tsezic languages. Other Tsezic languages include Tsez, Hinukh, and Khvarshi.
[edit] Geographic distribution
Hunzib is not an official language; nor is Hunzib written. It is spoken in the Tsuntinsky and Kizilyurtovsky districts in Dagestan and in two villages across the Russian border in Georgia.
[edit] Sounds
[edit] Consonants
Hunzib has 35 consonants. Three consonants, /x/, /ħ/, and /ʕ/ are only found in loanwords.
| Bilabial | Alveolar | Lateral | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Pharyngeal | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stop | p b pʼ | t d tʼ | k g kʼ | q qʼ | ʔ | |||
| Fricative | s z | ɬ | ʃ ʒ | x | χ ʁ | ħ ʕ | h | |
| Affricate | ʦ ʦ' | tɬ͡ tɬ͡' | ʧ ʧ' | |||||
| Nasal | m | n | ||||||
| Liquid | r | l | ||||||
| Semivowel | w | j |
[edit] Vowels
Vowels in Hunzib may be short, long, or nazalized.
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | i | ɨ | u |
| Mid | e | ə | o |
| Low | a | ɑ |
[edit] Grammar
[edit] Nouns
Nouns in Hunzib come in five noun classes: male , female, and three classes for inanimate objects. There are a number of cases in Hunzib, including nominative (or absolutive), ergative, genitive and instrumental. A number of other case-like markers indicate direction and include dative, adessive, superessive, contactive, comitative, and allative declensions.
[edit] Verbs
Verbs in Hunzib agree with their subjects in class and number.
[edit] Word Order
Hunzib follows Subject Object Verb word order.
[edit] References
Berg, Helma van den (1995). A Grammar of Hunzib (with Texts and Lexicon). München: Lincom Europa. ISBN 3-89586-006-9.
