# Ingush language

Ingush (/ˈɪŋɡʊʃ/; Гӏалгӏай мотт, Ghalghai mott, pronounced) is a Northeast Caucasian language spoken by about 350,000 people, 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.

## 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.

## Dialects

Ingush is not divided into dialects with the exception of Galanchoz [ru] (native name: Галай-Чӏож/Галайн-Чӏаж), which is considered to be transitional between Chechen and Ingush.

## 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.

### Official status

Ingush is, alongside Russian, an official language of Ingushetia, a federal subject of Russia.

## Phonology
### Vowels

| | Front | Central | Back |
| High | и/i [ɪ] | varies [ɨ] | у/u [ʊ] |
| Mid | э/e [e] | varies [ə] | о/o [o] |
| Low | аь/ea [æ] | | а/a [ɑː] |
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, including the Latin orthography developed by Johanna Nichols:
| | | Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Velar | Uvular | Pharyngeal | Glottal |
| | | Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Palatal | palatalized | plain | Uvular | Pharyngeal | Glottal |
| Nasal | Nasal | m ⟨м, m⟩ | | n ⟨н, n⟩ | | | | | | |
| Plosive | voiceless | p ⟨п, p⟩ | t ⟨т, t⟩ | t͡s ⟨ц, c⟩ | t͡ʃ ⟨ч, ch⟩ | kʲ ⟨к, jk⟩ | k ⟨к, k⟩ | q ⟨кх, q⟩ | ʕ ⟨ӏ, w⟩ | ʔ ⟨ъ, ʼ⟩ |
| Plosive | ejective | pʼ ⟨пӏ, pʼ⟩ | tʼ ⟨тӏ, tʼ⟩ | t͡sʼ ⟨цӏ, cʼ⟩ | t͡ʃʼ ⟨чӏ, ch’⟩ | kʲʼ ⟨кӏ, jkʼ⟩ | kʼ ⟨кӏ, kʼ⟩ | qʼ ⟨къ, qʼ⟩ | | |
| Plosive | voiced | b ⟨б, b⟩ | d ⟨д, d⟩ | | | ɡʲ ⟨г, jg⟩ | ɡ ⟨г, g⟩ | | | |
| Fricative | voiceless | f ⟨ф, f⟩ | | s ⟨с, s⟩ | ʃ ⟨ш, sh⟩ | | x ⟨х, x⟩ | | ħ ⟨хь, hw⟩ | h ⟨хӏ, h⟩ |
| Fricative | voiced | ʋ ⟨в, v⟩ | | z ⟨з, z⟩ | ʒ ⟨ж, zh⟩ | | ɣ ⟨гӏ, gh⟩ | | | |
| Approximant | Approximant | ʋ ⟨в, v⟩ | l ⟨л, l⟩ | | j ⟨й, j⟩ | | | | | |
| Trill | voiceless | | | r̥ ⟨рхӏ, rh⟩ | | | | | | |
| Trill | voiced | | | r ⟨р, r⟩ | | | | | | |
Single consonants can be geminated by various morphophonemic processes.

## Writing system

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. Furthermore, Georgian text was found on archaeological items in Ingushetia that could not be deciphered.
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.
| 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.

### Case

The most recent and in-depth analysis of the language shows eight cases: absolutive, ergative, genitive, dative, allative, instrumental, lative and comparative.
| Cases | Singular | Plural |
| Absolutive | -⌀ | -azh / -ii, -i |
| Ergative | -uo / -z, -aa | –azh |
| Genitive | -a, -n | -ii, -i |
| Dative | -aa, -na | -azh-ta |
| Allative | -ga | -azh-ka |
| Instrumental | -ca | -azh-ca |
| Lative | -gh | -egh |
| Comparative | -l | -el |
* ↑ The choice of -azh vs. -ii is lexically determined for the nominative, but other cases are predictable.
* ↑ -uo is the only productive form. -z appears with personal names, kin terms, and other nouns referring to humans. -aa occurs with some declensions and is increasingly unproductive in colloquial use.
* 1 2 Allomorph after vowels

### Tenses

| Stem | Suffix | Tense | Example |
| Infinitive Stem (INFS) | {-a} | Infinitive (INF) | laaca |
| Infinitive Stem (INFS) | {-a} | Imperative (IMP) | laaca |
| Present Stem (unmarked) | --- | Generic Present (PRES) | loac |
| Present Stem (unmarked) | {-az&} | Simultaneous Converb (SCV) | loacaz& |
| Present Stem (unmarked) | {-ar} | Imperfect (IMPF) | loacar |
| Present Stem (unmarked) | {-agDa} | Future (FUT) | loacadda |
| Past Stem (PAST) | {-ar} | Witnessed Past (WIT) | leacar |
| Past Stem (PAST) | {-aa}/{-na} | Anterior Converb (ACV) | leacaa |
| Past Stem (PAST) | {-aa} + {-D} / {-na} + {-D} | Perfect (PERF) | leacaad |
| Past Stem (PAST) | {-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.iitt$^1$ | [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

| | 1st person | 1st person | 1st person | 2nd person | 2nd person | 3rd person | 3rd person |
| | singular | plural | plural | singular | plural | singular | plural |
| | singular | exclusive | inclusive | singular | plural | singular | plural |
| Nominative | so | txo | vai | hwo | sho/shu | yz | yzh |
| Genitive | sy | txy | vai | hwa | shyn | cyn/cun | caar |
| Dative | suona | txuona | vaina | hwuona | shoana | cynna | caana |
| Ergative | aaz | oaxa | vai | wa | oasha | cuo | caar |
| Allative | suoga | txuoga | vaiga | hwuoga | shuoga | cynga | caarga |
| Ablative | suogara | txuogara | vaigara | hwuogara | shuogara | cyngara | caargara |
| Instrumental | suoca(a) | txuoca(a) | vaica(a) | hwuoca | shuoca(a) | cynca | caarca(a) |
| Lative | sogh | txogh | vaigh | hwogh | shogh | cogh | caaregh |
| Comparative | sol | txol | vail | hwol | shol | cul/cyl | caarel |

### 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".
Muusaa
Musa
vy
V.PROG
hwuona
2S.DAT
telefon
telephone
jettazh
strike.CVsim
Muusaa vy hwuona telefon jettazh
Musa V.PROG 2S.DAT telephone strike.CVsim
It's Musa on the phone for you. (After answering the phone.)