Archi language

Archi
Archi
Region	Archib, Dagestan, Russia
Native speakers	1,200
Language family	Northeast Caucasian Lezgic Archi; ;
Language codes
ISO 639-3	aqc
ELP	Archi
	This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

Map of where Archi is spoken (pink area)

Archi is a Northeast Caucasian language spoken by the 1,200 Archis in the village of Archib, southern Dagestan, Russia and the six surrounding smaller villages. It is used at home and the speakers have positive attitude toward it.^[1]

It is unusual for its many phonemes and for its contrast between several voiceless velar lateral fricatives and voiceless and ejective velar lateral affricates and a voiced velar lateral fricative. It is an ergative–absolutive language with four noun classes^[3] and has a remarkable morphological system with huge paradigms and irregularities on all levels.^[4] Mathematically, there are 1,502,839 possible forms that can be derived from a single verb root.^[5]

Classification

The classification of the Archi language has not been definitively established. Peter von Uslar felt it should be considered a variant of Avar^{[citation needed]}, but Roderich von Erckert saw it is closer to Lak^{[citation needed]}. The language has also been considered as a separate entity that could be placed somewhere between Avar and Lak^{[by whom?]}^{[citation needed]}. The Italian linguist Alfredo Trombetti placed Archi within the Avar-Ando-Dido group^{[citation needed]}, but today the most widely recognized opinion follows that of the Soviet scholar Bokarev, who regards Archi as one of the Lezgian-Samur group of the Dagestan languages.^{[citation needed]} Schulze places it in the Lezgian branch with all other Lezgian languages belonging to the Samur group.^[2]

Phonology

Archi has, like its Northeast Caucasian relatives, a very complicated phonological system, with Archi being an extreme example. It has 26 vowel phonemes and, depending on analysis, between 73 and 81 consonant phonemes.

Vowels

Archi has a symmetric six-vowel system (/i e ə a o u/).^[3] All except /ə/ can occur in five varieties: short, pharyngealized, high tone, long (with high tone), and pharyngealized with high tone (e.g. /a/, /aˤ/, /á/, /áː/, and /áˤ/). Of all these, only /ə/ and /íˤ/ do not occur word-initially.^[6] Examples of non-initial /íˤ/ are /díˤt͡ʃa/ ('to be fat')^[7] and /iˤntíˤmmaj/ ('brain').^[8]

Consonants

Amongst languages without click consonants, Archi has one of the largest consonant inventories, with the recently extinct Ubykh of the Northwest Caucasian languages having a few more. The table below shows all consonants that can be found in the Archi Language Tutorial and the Archi Dictionary.

Consonant phonemes of Archi^[3]^[6]
		Labial		Dental				(Post)- alveolar				Palatal	(Pre-)velar				Uvular								Epi- glottal	Glottal
		lenis	fortis	lenis		fortis		lenis		fortis			lenis		fortis		lenis				fortis
		lenis	fortis	pl.	lab.	pl.	lab.	pl.	lab.	pl.	lab.		pl.	lab.	pl.	lab.	pl.	lab.	phar.	phar.+lab.	pl.	lab.	phar.	phar.+lab
Nasal		m		n
Plosive	voiced	b		d	dʷ								ɡ	gʷ
	voiceless	p	pː	t	tʷ	tː							k	kʷ	kː	kːʷ	q	qʷ	qˤ	qˤʷ					ʡ
	ejective	pʼ		tʼ									kʼ	kʷʼ			qʼ	qʷʼ	qˤʼ	qˤʷʼ	qːʼ		qːˤʼ
Affricate	voiceless			t͡s	t͡sʷ	t͡sː		t͡ʃ	t͡ʃʷ				k͡ʟ̝̊	k͡ʟ̝̊ʷ
Affricate	ejective			t͡sʼ	t͡sʷʼ	t͡sːʼ		t͡ʃʼ	t͡ʃʷʼ	t͡ʃːʼ			k͡ʟ̝̊ʼ	k͡ʟ̝̊ʷʼ
Fricative	voiceless			s	sʷ	sː	sːʷ	ʃ	ʃʷ	ʃː	ʃːʷ		ʟ̝̊	ʟ̝̊ʷ	ʟ̝̊ː	ʟ̝̊ːʷ	χ	χʷ	χˤ	χˤʷ	χː	χːʷ	χːˤ	χːˤʷ	ʜ	h
Fricative	voiced			z	zʷ			ʒ	ʒʷ				ʟ̝				ʁ	ʁʷ	ʁˤ	ʁˤʷ
Trill				r
Approximant		w		l								j

Of the consonants listed above, the ones in orange have no word-initial dictionary entries (even though /pː/, /tː/, and /kː/ are relatively common), the one in green does not appear in the Tutorial but does have a word-internal dictionary entry (in /mot͡sːór/, 'alpine pasture used in summer'),^[9] and the ones in blue appear in the Tutorial but have no dictionary entries.

Some of these sounds are very rare. For example, /ʁˤʷ/ has only one dictionary entry word-internally (in /íʁˤʷdut/, 'heavy')^[10] and two entries word-initially. Likewise, /ʟ̝/ has only two dictionary entries: /náʟ̝dut/ ('blue; unripe')^[11] and /k͡ʟ̝̊ʼéʟ̝dut/ ('crooked, curved').^[12]

The fortis consonants are not simply two instances of the same consonant, though they do appear largely complementary, with the double instances /mm/, /ll/, and /nn/ being the most common and /zz/ less so. That said, /pp/ can still be found in /ʟ̝̊íppu/ ('three').^[13] This is also noted by Kodzasov (1977),^[14] who describes the fortis consonants as follows:

"Strong phonemes are characterized by the intensiveness (tension) of the articulation. The intensity of the pronunciation leads to a natural lengthening of the duration of the sound, and that is why strong [consonants] differ from weak ones by greater length. [However,] the adjoining of two single weak sounds does not produce a strong one […] Thus, the gemination of a sound does not by itself create its tension."

The voiceless velar lateral fricative /ʟ̝̊/, the voiced velar lateral fricative /ʟ̝/, and the corresponding voiceless and ejective affricates /k͡ʟ̝̊/, /k͡ʟ̝̊ʼ/ are extremely unusual speech sounds among the languages of the world, as velar fricatives are usually central rather than lateral. The velar laterals are further forward than velars in most languages and could better be called prevelar, like the Tutorial does.^[3]

Orthography

Until recently Archi didn't have a written form, except in studies by specialists who used the Latin script. In 2006, the Surrey Morphological Group developed a Cyrillic alphabet for Archi based on the Avar alphabet, which is used in the Archi–Russian–English Dictionary alongside an IPA transcription.

Practical orthography of Archi by SMG
Base letter	Derived letters and their pronunciation in IPA
Base letter		IPA		IPA		IPA		IPA		IPA		IPA		IPA		IPA
а	А а	/a/	АӀ аӀ	/aˤ/	Á а́	/á/	А́а а́а	/áː/	А́Ӏ а́Ӏ	/áˤ/
б	Б б	/b/
в	В в	/enwiki/w/	various others, see below
г	Г г	/g/	Гв гв	/gʷ/	Гь гь	/h/	Гъ гъ	/ʁ/	Гъв гъв	/ʁʷ/	ГъӀ гъӀ	/ʁˤ/	ГъӀв гъӀв	/ʁˤʷ/	ГӀ гӀ	/ʢ/
д	Д д	/d/	Дв дв	/dʷ/
е	Е е	/e/	ЕӀ еӀ	/eˤ/	Е́ е́	/é/	Е́е е́е	/éː/	Е́Ӏ е́Ӏ	/éˤ/
ж	Ж ж	/ʒ/	Жв жв	/ʒʷ/
з	З з	/z/	Зв зв	/zʷ/
и	И и	/i/	ИӀ иӀ	/iˤ/	И́ и́	/í/	И́и и́и	/íː/	и́Ӏ	/íˤ/
й	Й й	/j/
к	К к	/k/	кк	/kː/	Кв кв	/kʷ/	ккв	/kːʷ/	КӀ кӀ	/kʼ/	КӀв кӀв	/kʷʼ/	Къ къ	/qʼ/	Къв къв	/qʷʼ/
к			ккъ	/qːʼ/	КъӀ къӀ	/qˤʼ/	КкъӀ ккъӀ	/qːˤʼ/	КъӀв къӀв	/qˤʷʼ/	Кь кь	/k͡ʟ̝̊ʼ/, /ʟ̝/	Кьв кьв	/k͡ʟ̝̊ʷʼ/
л	Л л	/l/	Лъ лъ	/ʟ̝̊/	Ллъ ллъ	/ʟ̝̊ː/	Лъв лъв	/ʟ̝̊ʷ/	Ллъв ллъв	/ʟ̝̊ːʷ/	ЛӀ лӀ	/k͡ʟ̝̊/	ЛӀв лӀв	/k͡ʟ̝̊ʷ/
м	М м	/m/
н	Н н	/n/
о	О о	/o/	ОӀ оӀ	/oˤ/	О́ о́	/ó/	О́о о́о	/óː/	О́Ӏ о́Ӏ	/óˤ/
п	П п	/p/	пп	/pː/	ПӀ пӀ	/pʼ/
р	Р р	/r/
с	С с	/s/	Сс сс	/sː/	Св св	/sʷ/	Ссв ссв	/sːʷ/
т	Т т	/t/	тт	/tː/	ТӀ тӀ	/tʼ/	Тв тв	/tʷ/
у	У у	/u/	УӀ уӀ	/uˤ/	У́ у́	/ú/	У́у у́у	/úː/	У́Ӏ у́Ӏ	/úˤ/
х	Х х	/χ/	Хх хх	/χː/	Хв хв	/χʷ/	Ххв ххв	/χːʷ/	ХӀ хӀ	/ʜ/	ХьӀ хьӀ	/χˤ/	ХхьӀ ххьӀ	/χːˤ/	ХьӀв хьӀв	/χˤʷ/
х			ХхьӀв ххьӀв	/χːˤʷ/	Хъ хъ	/q/	Хъв хъв	/qʷ/	ХъӀ хъӀ	/qˤ/	ХъӀв хъӀв	/qˤʷ/
ц	Ц ц	/t͡s/	Цв цв	/t͡sʷ/	ЦӀ цӀ	/t͡sʼ/	ЦӀв цӀв	/t͡sʷʼ/	Цц цц	/t͡sː/	ЦцӀ ццӀ	/t͡sːʼ/
ч	Ч ч	/t͡ʃ/	Чв чв	/t͡ʃʷ/	ЧӀ чӀ	/t͡ʃʼ/	ЧӀв чӀв	/t͡ʃʷʼ/	ЧчӀ ччӀ	/t͡ʃːʼ/
ш	Ш ш	/ʃ/	Щ щ	/ʃː/	Шв шв	/ʃʷ/	Щв щв	/ʃːʷ/
ы	ы	/ə/

Grammar

Nouns

Archi nouns inflect for number (singular or plural) and for one of 10 regular cases and 5 locative cases that can all take one of 6 directional suffixes.^[3] There are four noun classes, which are only evident from verbal agreement.^[3]

Case

Case	Marker	Sg. 'ram'	Pl. 'rams'
Absolutive	-∅	baˁkʼ	baˁkʼ-ur
Ergative	-∅	beˁkʼ-iri	baˁkʼ-ur-čaj
Genitive	-n	beˁkʼ-iri-n	baˁkʼ-ur-če-n
Dative	-s, -sː	beˁkʼ-iri-s	baˁkʼ-ur-če-s
Comitative	-ʟ̝̊ːu	beˁkʼ-iri-ʟ̝̊ːu	baˁkʼ-ur-če-ʟ̝̊ːu
Similative	-qˁdi	beˁkʼ-iri-qˁdi	baˁkʼ-ur-če-qˁdi
Causal	-šːi	beˁkʼ-iri-šːi	baˁkʼ-ur-če-šːi
Comparative	-χur	beˁkʼ-iri-χur	baˁkʼ-ur-če-χur
Partitive	-qˁiš	beˁkʼ-iri-qˁiš	baˁkʼ-ur-če-qˁiš
Substitutive	-k͡ʟ̝̊ʼəna	beˁkʼ-iri-k͡ʟ̝̊ʼəna	baˁkʼ-ur-če-k͡ʟ̝̊ʼəna

Depending on the specifics of the analysis, neither the ergative nor absolutive cases are necessarily marked by a specific suffix. Rather, they are marked by the use of the basic (for the absolutive) and oblique (for the ergative) stems in the absence of other markers. There is also a locative-case series where 6 directional-case suffixes are combined with 5 spatial cases to produce a total of 30 case-localization combinations. However, these do not constitute 30 distinct case forms, as they are easily derivable from a pair of morphemes.

Spatial case	Marker	Directional case	Marker
Inessive ("in")	-aj / -a	Essive ("As")	-∅
Intrative ("between")	- qˁ(a-)	Elative ("Out of")	-š
Superessive ("above")	-tːi- / -t	Lative ("To"/"Into")	-k
Subessive ("below")	-k͡ʟ̝̊ʼ(a-)	Allative ("Onto")	-ši
Pertingent ("against")	-ra-	Terminative (Specifies a limit)	-kena
		Translative (Indicates change)	-χutː

Noun classes

The four noun classes of Archi are only evident from verbal inflection. The table below summarizes these noun classes and their associated verbal morphology.

Class	Description	Singular		Plural
Class	Description	Prefix	Infix	Prefix
I	Male human	w-	-w-	b-
II	Female human	d-	-r-	b-
III	All insects, some animates, some inanimates	b-	-b-	∅-
IV	Abstracts, some animates, some inanimates	∅-	-∅-	∅-

References

^ ^a ^b Ethnologue entry for Archi
^ ^a ^b Schulze's classification schemata of the Caucasian languages
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f The Archi language tutorial, presenting an overview of the grammar of Archi
^ Archi language home page of the Surrey Morphology Group
^ Kibrik, A. E. (2001). "Archi (Caucasian—Daghestanian)", The Handbook of Morphology, Blackwell, pg. 468
^ ^a ^b the Archi dictionary
^ Dictionary entry for /díˤt͡ʃa/, including sound file
^ Dictionary entry for /iˤntíˤmmaj/, including sound file
^ Dictionary entry for /mot͡sːór/, including sound file
^ Dictionary entry for /íʁˤʷdut/, including sound file
^ Dictionary entry for /náʟ̝dut/, including sound file
^ Dictionary entry for /k͡ʟ̝̊ʼéʟ̝dut/, including sound file
^ Dictionary entry for /ʟ̝̊íbtʼu/ and its derived form /ʟ̝̊íppu/, including sound files
^ translated in Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996:97–98)

Bibliography

Kodzasov, Sandro (1977). "Fonetika Archinskogo Jazyka, part 2". In Kibrik, A. E.; Olovjannikova; Kodzasov, S. V. (eds.). Opyt Strukturnogo Opisanija Archinskogo Jazyka. Vol. 1. Moscow: Izdatel’stvo Moskovskogo Universiteta,. {{cite book}}: |editor4-first= missing |editor4-last= (help); Invalid |ref=harv (help); More than one of |editor1-first= and |editor-first= specified (help); More than one of |editor1-last= and |editor-last= specified (help)CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
Ladefoged, Peter; Maddieson, Ian (1996). The Sounds of the World's Languages. Oxford: Blackwell. ISBN 0-631-19815-6.

External links

Appendix:Cyrillic script
Archi-Russian-English dictionary
Archi language tutorial
Archi Vocabulary List (from the World Loanword Database)
A sample of the Archi language, 'the Bear Story':
- as a sound file
- in written form

[Ethnologue-1] Ethnologue entry for Archi

[lrz-muenchen.de-2] Schulze's classification schemata of the Caucasian languages

[tutorial-3] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f The Archi language tutorial, presenting an overview of the grammar of Archi

[4] Archi language home page of the Surrey Morphology Group

[5] Kibrik, A. E. (2001). "Archi (Caucasian—Daghestanian)", The Handbook of Morphology, Blackwell, pg. 468

[dictionary-6] the Archi dictionary

[7] Dictionary entry for /díˤt͡ʃa/, including sound file

[8] Dictionary entry for /iˤntíˤmmaj/, including sound file

[9] Dictionary entry for /mot͡sːór/, including sound file

[10] Dictionary entry for /íʁˤʷdut/, including sound file

[11] Dictionary entry for /náʟ̝dut/, including sound file

[12] Dictionary entry for /k͡ʟ̝̊ʼéʟ̝dut/, including sound file

[13] Dictionary entry for /ʟ̝̊íbtʼu/ and its derived form /ʟ̝̊íppu/, including sound files

[14] translated in Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996:97–98)

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