Avar language

**Avar** (магӏарул мацӏ, *maǥarul macʼ* [maʕarul mat͡sʼ], "language of the mountains" or авар мацӏ, *awar macʼ* [awar mat͡sʼ], "Avar language"), also known as **Avaric**, is a Northeast Caucasian language of the Avar–Andic subgroup that is spoken by Avars, primarily in Dagestan. In 2010, there were approximately 1 million speakers in Dagestan and elsewhere in Russia.

## Phonology

There are competing analyses of the distinction transcribed in the table with the length sign ⟨ː⟩. Length is part of the distinction, but so is articulatory strength, so they have been analyzed as fortis and lenis. The fortis affricates are long in the fricative part of the contour, e.g. [tsː] (tss), not in the stop part as in geminate affricates in languages such as Japanese and Italian [tːs] (tts). Laver (1994) analyzes e.g. [t͡ɬː] as a two-segment affricate–fricative sequence [t͡ɬɬ] (/t𐞛ɬ/ = /tɬɬ/).

Avar Vowels

Avar has five phonemic vowels: /a e i o u/.

### Lexical accent

In Avar, accent is contrastive, free and mobile, independent of the number of syllables in the word. Changes in lexical accent placement indicate different semantic meaning and grammatical meanings of a word:

* *ра́гӏи* ‛word’ ~ *рагӏи́* ‛fodder’
* nom.pl. *ру́гънал* ~ gen.sg. *ругъна́л* ‛wound’

## Writing systems

There were some attempts to write the Avar language in the Georgian alphabet as early as the 14th century. The use of Arabic script for representing Avar in marginal glosses began in the 15th century. The use of Arabic, which is known as *ajam*, is still known today.

As part of Soviet language re-education policies in 1928 the Ajam was replaced by a Latin alphabet, which in 1938 was in turn replaced by the current Cyrillic script. Essentially, it is the Russian alphabet plus one additional letter called *palochka* (*stick*, Ӏ). As that letter cannot be typed with common keyboard layouts, it is often replaced with a capital Latin letter i ( *I* ), small Latin letter L ( *l* ), or the numerical digit *1*.

### Current orthography

The Avar language is usually written in the Cyrillic script. The letters of the alphabet are (with their pronunciation given below in IPA transcription):

### Writing Comparison

نۈڸ ماڨێڸ وێڮانا، ڨالدا ڸۇق - ڸۇقۇن،
ڨۇردا كُېر ڃُان ئۇنېو، بێدا وېضّۇن دۇن؛
ڨۇرۇڬێ باطاڸۇن صېوې ئۇناڬۈ،
صۈ ڸارال راعالدا عۈدۈو كّۈلېو دۇن.
ڸار چُاخّۇلېب بۇڬۈ چابخێل گّالاڅان،
ڸێن گانضۇلېب بۇڬۈ ڬانڃازدا طاسان؛
طاراماغادێسېب قُال بالېب بۇڬۈ،
قۈ ڸێگێلان دێصا سۈعاب راڨالدا

Нолъ макьилъ вихьана, кьалда лъукъ-лъукъун,
Кьурда квер чIван унев, бида вецIцIун дун;
Кьуруги батIалъун цеве унаго,
Цо лъарал рагIалда гIодов кколев дун.
Лъар чваххулеб буго чабхил кIкIалахъан,
Лъин кIанцIулеб буго ганчIазда тIасан;
ТIарамагъадисеб къвал балеб буго,
Къо лъикIилан дица согIаб ракьалда.

Noļ maꝗiļ viҳana, ꝗalda ļuq-ļuqun,
Ꝗurda кvеr çvan unеv, bida vеⱬⱬun dun;
Ꝗuruⱨ baţaļun s̶еvе unago,
Co ļaral raⱨalda ⱨodov ккolеv dun.
Łar cvaxxulеb bugo cabxil ⱪⱪalax̶an,
Łin ⱪanⱬulеb bugo gançazda ţaсan;
Ţaramaƣadiсеb qval balеb bugo,
Qo ļiⱪilan dis̶a сoⱨab raꝗalda.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Consonant Systems of the North-East Caucasian Languages on TITUS DIDACTICA
2. ↑ Laver (1994) *Principles of Phonetics* p. 371.
3. ↑ Simon Crisp, "Language Planning and the Orthography of Avar", *Folia Slavica* 7, 1–2 (1984): 91–104.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Simon Crisp, "The Formation and Development of Literary Avar", pp. 143–62, in Isabelle T. Kreindler, ed., *Sociolinguistic Perspectives on Soviet National Languages: Their Past, Present and Future*, Contributions to the Sociology of Language, 40 (Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 1985).
5. ↑ Omniglot on the Avar alphabet, language and pronunciation
6. ↑ Avar (Магӏарул мацӏ / Авар мацӏ).