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Discussion of the Latin spelling of Chechen used here
This section contains comments (sometimes technical) on the Latin
spelling used here for Chechen consonants, vowels, nassalization, and schwa (silent vowels).
Consonants
ch, sh, zh:As in English.
c:
As in all Slavic languages written in the Latin
alphabet (e.g. Czech, Polish).
j:
As in most languages of Europe (though not English,
French, or Spanish).
w:
There is no standard way to indicate pharyngeal
sounds and pharyngealization in the Latin alphabet.The letter"w" is used for pharyngeals here because it is
not needed otherwise and is graphically similar to the
letter used to spell pharyngealization in the Georgian
alphabet.
"w" is used at the beginnings of words to spell
the independent sound /÷/,
after consonants to indicate pharyngealization, and
together with "h" in the digraph "hw" to spell the sound
/�/.In the current Cyrillic system,
pharyngealization is spelled in two ways:the numeral "1" after voiced consonants and "хь" after voiceless consonants.Examples are below.
On a linguistic analysis, pharyngealization is
a property of the vowel or the first consonant or the
whole syllable. Some Chechens feel that pharyngealized
consonants (or pharyngealized syllables) are actually
sequences of consonant plus pharyngeal consonant.Examples (the hyphen indicates that there are
two separate consonants):
| |
Cyrillic |
Latin transcription |
Native perception |
Gloss |
| |
д1а |
dwaa |
d-waa |
over there |
| |
б1ов |
bwou |
b-wou |
tower |
| |
н1аьна |
nwaena |
n-waena |
worm |
| |
ж1аьла |
zhwaela |
zh-waela |
dog |
| |
цхьацца |
cwacca |
c-hwacca |
one by one |
| |
чхьаьвриг |
chwaeurag |
ch-hwaeurag |
cockroach |
| |
пхьагал |
pwaagal |
p-hwaagal |
rabbit, hare |
| |
схьа |
swa |
s-hwa |
here (prefix) |
The Cyrillic spelling suggests that in the first four words
the initial consonant is followed by the voiced pharyngeal
sound, and in the second four words the initial consonant
is followed by the voiceless pharyngeal fricative.However, phonologically, both sets simply have
pharyngealization, which could logically be written
the same for both sets.Hence both sets are spelled with "w" here (rather
than "w" in the first set and "hw" in the second set).Note also that writing "hw" in words like the
second set would often be ambiguous because "h" changes
the reading of the preceding consonant: if cwacca 'one by one'were written chwacca,
the first "ch" could be read as in cha 'bear', and 'cockroach' would have to be spelledchhwaeurag
to distinguish its first sound from that of 'one by
one'.The frequent prefix swa-
'here, toward speaker' if spelledshwa-
would appear to begin with the sound sh.Several spellings in the "Native perception"
column above are ambiguous in this way (or would be
without the hyphen).
'(apostrophe) The apostrophe
is used to spell the glottal stop in Hawaiian and other
Polynesian languages, and in several native American
languages (e.g. Navajo).Following the usual practice, the glottal stop
is not written at the beginnings of words (except the
enclitic particle 'a; we follow current
practice in writing this particle as a separate word,
but in fact it is pronounced as though it were part
of the preceding word).
q Although almost no European languages have this
sound, the letter "q" descends (via the Greek alphabet)
from Phoenician scripts where it spelled a sound like
Chechen q.It is used in European languages to spell Arabic
words containing q, and is used to spell sounds like Chechen q
in orthographies of various native American languages.
p', t', c', etc. Though the languages of Europe lack glottalized
(ejective) consonants, many native American languages
have them, and in the Latin orthographies of most of
these languages the apostrophe is used for glottalization.
xSounds like /x/ are rarely written with "x" in
European languages; usual spellings are ch,
kh, h, and (Spanish) j or g.In Chechen,
"h" is needed for another sound.A letter combination like "kh" would be extremely
clumsy for Chechen, where the sound /x/ often occurs
next to other consonants, especially /k/, and this produces
sequences like khk
that are hard to read and clumsy to write:
| |
Cyrillic |
Our spelling |
"kh" spelling |
Meaning |
| |
дохк |
doxk |
dokhk |
fog |
| |
аьхке |
aexkie |
aekhkie |
in summer |
| |
нохча |
noxchi |
nokhchi |
Chechen |
| |
мехкакхел |
mexkqial |
nokhchi |
parliament |
| |
нехамехкахо |
neexamaxkxuo |
neekhamakhkkhuo |
foreigner |
(The last two words are compounds, for which the current
Cyrillic spelling writes a schwa between the elements
but we leave it out where it is not required to indicate
length of the preceding vowel.Note especially the sequence "khkkh" in
the "kh" spelling of the last word.This sequence of five similarly shaped tall letters
is impossible to read at a glance.)
ghNot usually used to spell the sounds similar
to [gh] in the European languages that have them (French,
German, and others with a uvular "r"), but used as a
casual or editorial way to indicate such a sound in
another language.Used to spell [gh] in several native American
orthographies.
rhNo European language has such a sound.The letter sequence "rh" is familiar from
standard spellings of words from ancient Greek (though
the Greek sound was not the same as the Chechen one).
Not all speakers of Chechen think
of [rh] as a single sound.For many it is a sequence of the consonants
[r] and [h] or even [r] and [x].
Vowels ii, yy, uu, etc.A doubled letter indicates
a long vowel.This convention is used in Finnish and Estonian,
and to some extent in German and Dutch.
y, yyThe letter "y" has this value
in Finnish, the Scandinavian languages, and German.
oPlain [o] and diphthongized [uo] are different
sounds, but they are almost entirely in complementary distribution:
diphthongized [uo] is found in monosyllables (so
'I', lo 'gives') and in closed syllables, while plain
[o] is found only in open syllables.Since the quality is largely
predictable and the phonetic difference subtle, they can be
written identically.
Typical examples with [uo] in closed syllables:
| |
мотт |
mott |
language |
| |
борз |
borz |
wolf |
| |
к1орни |
k'orni |
chick; baby animal |
| |
бож |
bozh |
buck; male goat |
| |
х1орд |
hord |
sea |
| |
ор |
or |
hole, pit |
| |
к1охцал |
k'oxcal |
thorn |
| |
пондар |
pondar |
musical instrument |
| |
шок |
shok |
whistle |
| |
мох |
mox |
wind |
| |
т1ом |
t'om |
war |
| |
топ |
top |
gun |
| |
отта |
otta |
aide-de-camp |
| |
дош |
dosh |
word |
| |
коч |
koch |
dress, shirt |
| |
корсам |
korsam |
moss |
| |
кхор |
qor |
pear |
| |
дог |
dog |
heart |
| |
доттаг1 |
dottagh |
friend |
| |
мостаг1 |
mostagh |
enemy |
| |
йо1 |
jow |
daughter, girl |
| |
моз |
moz |
honey |
| |
ворда |
vorda |
cart, trailer |
| |
х1оз |
hoz |
hoop, band, ring |
| |
ж1ов |
zhwou |
hammer |
| |
воттана |
vottana |
plane |
| |
бод |
bod |
dough |
Typical
examples with [uo] in vowel-final monosyllables:
| |
со |
so |
I, me |
| |
хьо |
hwo |
you (singular) |
| |
тхо |
txo |
we (exclusive) |
| |
ло |
lo |
give(s) |
| |
до |
do |
do(es), make(s) |
| |
шо |
sho |
year |
| |
сто |
sto |
chisel; screwdriver |
| |
чо |
cho |
hair |
Typical examples with plain [o] in open syllables:
| |
моза |
moza |
fly, housefly |
| |
додам |
dodam |
ladybug |
| |
кхокха |
qoqa |
dove, pigeon |
| |
бокъа |
boq'a |
colt, foal |
| |
вота |
vota |
drum |
| |
дог1а |
dogha |
rain |
| |
локхар |
loqar |
belt, fan belt, conveyor belt |
| |
къора |
q'ora |
hail |
| |
локхалла |
loqalla |
height(and other abstract nouns in -alla) |
| |
ц1ога |
c'oga |
tail |
| |
до1ах |
dowax |
liver |
| |
комар |
komar |
mulberry |
| |
хьокха |
hwoqa |
fencepost |
| |
чопа |
chopa |
foam, suds |
| |
дога |
doga |
Cornelian cherry |
The few examples where diphthongized [uo]occurs in an open syllable are:
| |
б1от1а |
bwot'a |
hulk, giant, strongman |
| |
бохьа |
bohwa |
boss |
| |
х1оа |
ho'a< |
egg |
The one example
with plain [o] in a vowel-final monosyllable is:
| |
кхо |
qo |
3(also nominal form qo') |
Examples
where plain [o] occurs in a closed syllable:
| |
нохчи |
noxchi |
Chechen |
| |
москал |
moskal |
turkey |
| |
х1орс |
hors |
clapping (to accompany dancing) |
| |
к1омсар |
k'omsar |
tusk, canine tooth |
| |
лоппаг |
loppag |
bubble, blister |
| |
поп |
pop |
beech |
Unclear cases, where either[o] or [uo] seems to be possible:
| |
ворх1 |
vorh |
7 |
| |
тоа |
t o'a |
'suffice, be enough' (infinitive) |
uoThis spelling is used for similar sounds in Finnish and Lithuanian.Phonetically, the Chechen diphthong is
close to [u:a].
ia The short diphthongized vowel of jiatt 'cow',
diatt 'beats', etc.For central lowlands speakers this vowel
is merging with the one spelled "ae".We keep them separate because the merger is not
yet complete./ia/ has a high onglide (or palatalization
of the preceding consonant) and a fairly low nucleus
(approximately IPA [æ] in the innovative lowlands dialect,
IPA [E] in other dialects).
aeThe shortened counterpart to /ee/, appearing in closed syllables:aella 'said', vaella
'started, went'.(Other forms of these same verbs have /ee/
when the syllable is open:eelira,
veelira.)It also appears in place of short plain
/e/ adjacent to pharyngeals and laryngeals, e.g. t'aehwa 'afterwards'.
oeShort [oe] and long [oe:] are different sounds, but almost
entirely in complementary distribution and therefore
predictable:short [oe] is found in closed syllables and long [oe] in open
syllables.Typical examples, with short [oe] in closed syllables
and long [oe:] in open syllables, are in the table above.
The few words we have found where short [oe] occurs in open syllables are:
| |
оьху |
oexu |
go(es), flow(s)(present tense) |
| |
тоьа |
toe'a |
suffices, is enough |
| |
доьалг1а |
doe'algha |
fourth |
| |
пхоьалг1а |
pxoe'algha |
fifth |
| |
боьритталг1а |
boerittalgha |
eighteenth(alsoberittalgha) |
The
only word we have found where long [oe] occurs in a
closed syllable is:
(Another numeral compounded with tq'a '20' is exceptional in a having long vowel in a closed
syllable:quuztq'a
'60'.The other such compound, shouztq'a
'20', has a phonetically long variant of a diphthong
that is phonetically short in closed syllables:gour 'horse'.)
oaThe shortened counterpart to /oo/, appearing
in closed syllables:doaqqu 'take(s)', oaxku
'dig(s)', k'oarga
'deep'.Also, for some speakers (and under some
conditions), the shortened counterpart to /uo/.For such speakers, ohwa[uo hwa] 'down' is close to
[oahwa], moz
'honey' is close to [moaz], and k'orni
[kuorni:] 'baby animal' is close to k'oarnii.
ouSpelled ов (ov)
in Cyrillic as though it were a sequence of vowel plus
consonant, but in fact this is a diphthong both phonetically
and phonologically (words such as txou 'roof' take the case endings typical of vowel-final
or diphthong-final words and not those of consonant-final
words).The pronunciation of this diphthong is
virtually the same as the Canadian pronunciation of
the diphthong of house,
south, etc.
Nasalization.Final vowels of nouns in the genitive case (both
singular and plural), final vowels of some or all infinitives,
and final vowels of some or all adjectives are nasalized.In the Cyrillic spelling this is shown with a
final -n in all monosyllabic words and in some polysyllabic
words.The Latin spelling uses a -n
in the genitive singular ending (since pronunciation
of an actual /n/ in the genitive is possible in some
contexts) but a tilde elsewhere:dai~'light (in weight)', tuoxa~
'strike' (since pronunciation of an actual /n/ is apparently
never possible here).
The
tilde is useful in dictionary entries but is not advisable for an orthography.
Schwa (silent vowel) and long vowels.
The current spelling system for Chechen writes
a "silent" vowel, spelled a
in most places (but u
in the present tense of first-conjugation verbs) which
is rarely pronounced itself but which opens a preceding
syllable (provided it is preceded by no more than one
consonant).The consonant preceding it is released,
often aspirated, and sometimes followed by a whispered
vowel.If the vowel of the preceding syllable is long (ii, ie, aa,
etc.), it is phonetically very long before a schwa.(In the following examples, IPA
= International Phonetic Alphabet.The superscript "h" indicates a released consonant.Colon = length.Unreleased final consonants are regularly long.)
| |
мах |
maax |
IPA[max:]price |
| |
маха |
maaxa |
IPA[ma:xh]needle |
| |
лам |
laam |
IPA[lam:]mountain |
| |
зама |
zaama |
IPA[za:mh]time |
The Latin system used here spells this silent schwa with a,
as in the Cyrillic orthography. Many languages that use the Latin alphabet have
silent or minimally pronounced schwas which influence the pronunciation of preceding syllables.Most European languages (e.g. English,
French, German) use "e" to spell this schwa.Other letters are occasionally used; in
Albanian "a" has some schwa functions.
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