Chirag
хьугъул ĥuġul
Native toNorth Caucasus
RegionAgulsky District, Dagestan
Native speakers
2000 (2021)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3–
Glottologchir1284

Chirag (Chirag: xarʁnilla kub[2]) is a language in the Dargin dialect continuum spoken in Dagestan, Russia. It is often considered a divergent dialect of Dargwa.[3] Ethnologue lists it under the dialects of Dargwa but recognizes that it may be a separate language.[4]

Classification

Based on lexical similarity, Chirag is usually classified as a separate language from other varieties of Dargwa.[5] It has 67% lexical similarity with the North-Central group, 77.6% with the South group, and 69% with Kaitag; within the South group, it has 84% lexical similarity with Qunqi Amuq.[5]

Phonology

Vowels

Chirag has four vowels: /i/, /e/, /u/, and /a/.[6]

Prosody

In Chirag, stressed syllables are specified for tone.[7]

Morphophonology

Chirag has some phonological processes that pertain to specific morphological elements. The plural suffix -e attracts stress and induces vowel deletion on the final syllable of disyllabic nouns (e.g., qisqan 'spider', qisqne 'spiders').[8] Verbal prefixes have optional front/back vowel harmony.[8]

Grammar

Chirag is head-final, has fairly flexible word order and is rich with inflectional morphology.[9] It has ergative–absolutive alignment in its case marking; the subject of a transitive verb is overtly marked with ergative case, and the subject of an intransitive verb and the object of a transitive verb are unmarked:[1][9]

(1)

ʡale

Ali(ABS)

šːa

home.LOC

w-ačʼ-ib.

M.SG-come:PFV-AOR.3

ʡale šːa w-ačʼ-ib.

Ali(ABS) home.LOC M.SG-come:PFV-AOR.3

Ali came home.

(2)

ʡali-le

Ali-ERG

qa̰r-be

apple-PL(ABS)

d-iʡ-un.

N.PL-steal:PFV-AOR.3

ʡali-le qa̰r-be d-iʡ-un.

Ali-ERG apple-PL(ABS) N.PL-steal:PFV-AOR.3

Ali stole apples.

Usage

There are efforts to enable automated translation of text from English to Chirag.[10]

References

  1. 1 2 Ganenkov, Dmitry (2021). "Person agreement with inherent case DPs in Chirag Dargwa". Natural Language & Linguistic Theory. 40 (3): 741–791. doi:10.1007/s11049-021-09520-3.
  2. ↑ Polinsky, Maria, ed. (2020). "Languages and Language Names". The Oxford Handbook of Languages of the Caucasus. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
  3. ↑ Friedman, Victor A. (2009). "Sociolinguistics in the Caucasus". In Ball, Martin J. (ed.). The Routledge Handbook of Sociolinguistics Around the World. Abingdon: Routledge. ISBN 9780415422789.
  4. ↑ Ethnologue report for Dargwa
  5. 1 2 Malyshev, Vladislav; Malysheva, Viktoria; Gutz, Angelina; Novaya, Irina; Panina, Anastasia; Yurkova, Alyona; Clifton, John M.; Tiessen, Calvin (2019). The Sociolinguistic Situation of the Dargwa in Dagestan (PDF). SIL International.
  6. ↑ Berg, Helma van den (2005). "The East Caucasian language family". Lingua. 115 (1–2): 147–190. doi:10.1016/j.lingua.2003.06.004.
  7. ↑ Borise, Lena (2020). "Tone and Intonation in Languages of the Caucasus". In Polinsky, Maria (ed.). The Oxford Handbook of Languages of the Caucasus. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
  8. 1 2 Ganenkov, Dmitry; Maisak, Timur (2020). "Nakh-Dagestanian Languages". In Polinsky, Maria (ed.). The Oxford Handbook of Languages of the Caucasus. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
  9. 1 2 Rudnev, Pavel (2021). "Against Upwards Agree". The Linguistic Review. 38 (1): 65–99. doi:10.1515/tlr-2021-2059. S2CID 232234094.
  10. ↑ "Chirag Engagement Interface". aditu.tech. Retrieved 2023-08-15.
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