# Dargwa language

Dargwa (дарган мез, dargan mez) is a Northeast Caucasian language spoken by the Dargin people in the Russian republic Dagestan. This article discusses the literary dialect of the dialect continuum constituting the Dargin languages. It is based on the Aqusha and Urakhi dialects of Northern Dargin.

## Classification

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, but also sometimes considered separate languages by certain scholars. Korjakov (2012) concludes that Southwestern Dargwa is closer to Kajtak than it is to North-Central Dargwa.

## Geographic distribution

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 are 142,523 in Dagestan, 1,504 in Kabardino-Balkaria, 708 in Khanty–Mansi.

## Phonology
### Consonants

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 languages such as Mehweb, which it may be the only language in the world to use phonemically. The following chart is of the literary dialect of Dargwa.
| | | Labial | Dental | Dental | Postalveolar | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Pharyngeal/ Epiglottal | Glottal |
| | | Labial | plain | sib. | Postalveolar | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Pharyngeal/ Epiglottal | Glottal |
| Nasal | Nasal | m | n | | | | | | | |
| Plosive/ Affricate | voiceless | p | t | t͡s | t͡ʃ | | k | q | | ʔ |
| Plosive/ Affricate | ejective | pʼ | tʼ | t͡sʼ | t͡ʃʼ | | kʼ | qʼ | | |
| Plosive/ Affricate | voiced | b | d | d͡z | d͡ʒ | | ɡ | ɢ | ʡ | |
| Fricative | voiceless | f | s | | ʃ | ç | x$^1$ | χ | ʜ | |
| Fricative | voiced | v | z | | ʒ | | ɣ | ʁ | ʢ | ɦ |
| Trill | Trill | | | | r | | | | | |
| Approximant | Approximant | w | l | | | j | | | | |
* Mainly heard as an allophone of /ç/.
* The source is rather ambiguous in its using the term "laryngeal" for a presumed column of consonants that includes both a "voiced" and a "glottalized" plosive. A voiced glottal plosive cannot be made, because the glottis needs to be closed, and an ejective consonant requires an additional closure further up the vocal tract. Pending clarification, this row has been transcribed here as an epiglottal column and a glottal stop, both found in many other East Caucasian languages.

### Vowels

| | Front | Central | Back |
| Close | i | | u |
| Mid | e | ə | |
| Open | | a | |
The Dargwa language features five vowel sounds /i, e, ə, a, u/. Vowels /i, u, a/ can be pharyngealized as /iˤ, uˤ, aˤ/. There is also a pharyngealized mid-back vowel [oˤ] as a realization of /uˤ/, occurring in the Mehweb variety.

## Orthography

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 Хюркилинский язык for the Urakhi dialect of Dargwa.
The Latin alphabet of the 1920s is not entirely supported by Unicode, but is approximately:
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 ꟍ 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.)

### Writing system comparison chart

Compiled from:
| 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 | ب | b |
| В в | V v | ԝ | و | و | w |
| Г г | G g | г | گ | ڮ | g |
| Гъ гъ | Ƣ ƣ | ӷ | غ | غ | ʁ |
| Гь гь | H h | һ | ھ | ﻬ | h |
| ГӀ гӀ | Ⱨ ⱨ | ꜧ | ع | ع | ʕ |
| Д д | D d | д | د | 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 | ز | z |
| И и | I i | i | اى | - | i |
| Й й | J j | j | ى | ي | j |
| К к | K k | кᷱ | ک | ک | k |
| Къ къ | Q q | к | ڠ | ق | q: |
| Кь кь | Ꝗ ꝗ | q | ق | ق | qʼ |
| КӀ кӀ | Ⱪ ⱪ | қ | گ | گ | kʼ |
| Л л | L l | л | ل | ل | l |
| М м | M m | м | م | م | m |
| Н н | N n | н | ن | ن | n |
| О о | O o | о | او | - | o |
| П п | P p | п | پ | ف | p |
| ПӀ пӀ | Ҏ ҏ | ԥ | ڢ | ب | pʼ |
| Р р | R r | р | ر | ر | r |
| С с | S s | с | س | س | s |
| Т т | T t | т | ت | ت | t |
| ТӀ тӀ | T̨ t̨ | ҭ | ط | ط | t’ |
| У у | U u | у | او | و | u |
| Ф ф | F f | - | ف | ف | f |
| Х х | X x | х | خ | خ | χ |
| Хъ хъ | Ӿ ӿ | k | څ | ق | q |
| Хь хь | Ҳ ҳ | | ؼ | ؼ | x: |
| ХӀ хӀ | Ħ ħ | | ح | ح | ħ |
| Ц ц | Ꞩ ꞩ | ц | ڝ | ژ | ʦ |
| ЦӀ цӀ | Ⱬ ⱬ | წ | ڗ | ژ | ʦ’ |
| Ч ч | C c | ч | چ | چ | tʃ |
| ЧӀ чӀ | Ç ç | ჭ | ج | چ | ʧ’ |
| Ш ш | Ş ş | ш | ش | ش | ʃ |
| Щ щ | şş | - | - | - | ʃː |
| Ъ ъ | - | - | ء | - | ʔ |
| Ы ы | - | - | - | - | ɨ |
| Ь ь | - | - | - | - | |
| Э э | E e | - | اه | - | e |
| Ю ю | ju | - | - | - | ju |
| Я я | Ә ә, ja | ӕ | أ | - | ja |
| - | Ⱬ̵ ⱬ̵ | ђ | ڞ | - | t͡s |
| - | Ӡ ӡ | - | - | - | |
| - | є | - | ڃ | چ | |
| - | g̵ | гᷱ | ݢ | - | |

## Grammar
### Verb
#### TAM
##### Assertive (finite) forms

Assertive (finite) forms :
| TAM CATEGORY | 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) | reduplication or negative auxiliary | 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) | negative auxiliary | hin ha.ruq-ib |
| Perfect | perfect (a completed action whose results are still presently actual) | PF | - | PERSON /PRESENT (–da/–di/–ca=b) | negative auxiliary | jabu-l hin d=er{-ib–ca=d (The horse has drunk up the whole of the water) |
| Pluperfect | a completed action in the past preceding another past action | PF | -li | PAST (–di) | negative auxiliary | |
| *Evidential Present | 1. inference from non-trivial results of a situation that still exist at the moment of speech 2. subject resultative: | IPF | - | PERSON/PRESENT (–da/–di/–ca=b) | negative auxiliary | jabu hinni b=u{-ib–ca=b (The horse has had a drink of water) |
| *Evidential Past | 1. inference from non-trivial results that existed in the past subject resultative in the past | IPF | -li | PAST (–di) | negative auxiliary | |
| Resultative | resultative (state of the patient) | - | -li | PERSON /PRESENT (–da/–di/–ca=b) | negative auxiliary | jabu mura-l b=uK-un-ni–ca=b 'The horse has eaten its fill of hay.‘ |
| Experiential | experiential | - | -ci | PERSON /PRESENT (–da/–di/–ca=b) | negative auxiliary | ni}a-la }a=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) | negative auxiliary | |
| 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) | reduplication or negative auxiliary | |
| Irrealis | used in the apodosis of the irreal conditional clauses | IPF | - | PAST (–di) | reduplication | |