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Chechen
The Chechen language is a northern Caucasian language and one of the official languages of Chechnya. Partial mutual intelligebility exists with the Ingush language, and there are intermediary dialects.
The number of speakers is estimated to be around 900,000.
Chechen was written in Arabic script until the 1920s, when it was written at all. Prior to the early 20th century, the Arabic language was used for most written communications in Chechnya, with Chechen existing primarily for speech. Arabic declined and Russian subsumed the role of primary written language with the advent of the Soviet Union. Tatar language was used before 20th century for communication with Russians. Most Chechen speakers speak fluent Russian, as well. The Latin alphabet began to be used instead of Arabic for Chechen writing in the mid-1920s. In 1938, Cyrillic was adopted. With the declaration of the Chechen republic in 1992, most Chechen speakers returned to the Latin alphabet.
Chechen language - one of the Caucasian languages (Nakh group). Spoken in the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, Dagestan and the Central Asia. The number of the Chechens in Russia is 899,0 thousand. 98,8 % of them regard Chechen as their mother tongue, 1,1 % Russian.
The Chechen literary language was created after the October revolution, first on the basis of the Arab, later Latin, and from 1938 Cyrillic script. A new Latin-based Chechen alphabet was adopted in 1992.
Dr. Berlin's Foreign Font Archive
Chechen Typefaces (Non-Cyrillic)
The new standard for Chechenian fonts, based on the Latin alphabet was created in 1992 according of the instructions of the President of Chechen Republic Ichkeria Djokhar Dudayev and resolution of Parliament of ChRI. Since 1993 Chechen language newspapers were issued and books were printed using this Latin script. This font includes 15 specific Chechen (Nokhchi) letters, 2 of them are dipthongs (doubled letters). Letters are mapped in alphabetical order starting from ASCII 192.
A number of files have been removed from this listing. These files, from whatever sources they were originally obtained, apparently included typefaces that could be considered to have infringed upon certain trademarked names.
The Chechen language is a northern Caucasian language and one of the official languages of Chechnya. Partial mutual intelligebility exists with the Ingush language, and there are intermediary dialects.
The number of speakers is estimated to be around 900,000.
Chechen was written in Arabic script until the 1920s, when it was written at all. Prior to the early 20th century, the Arabic language was used for most written communications in Chechnya, with Chechen existing primarily for speech. Arabic declined and Russian subsumed the role of primary written language with the advent of the Soviet Union. Tatar language was used before 20th century for communication with Russians. Most Chechen speakers speak fluent Russian, as well. The Latin alphabet began to be used instead of Arabic for Chechen writing in the mid-1920s. In 1938, Cyrillic was adopted. With the declaration of the Chechen republic in 1992, most Chechen speakers returned to the Latin alphabet.
Chechen Cyrillic alphabet (1937 - )
chechen.8m.com/history/avtorh.html
www.scienceblog.com/commu...cb121.html
also called Slavonic languages group of Indo-European languages spoken in most of eastern Europe, much of the Balkans, parts of central Europe, and the northern part of Asia. The Slavic languages are most closely related to the languages of the Baltic group (Lithuanian, Latvian, and the now-extinct Old Prussian), but they share certain linguistic innovations with the other eastern Indo-European language…
Group of languages spoken in the Caucasus region that are not members of any language families spoken elsewhere in the world.
Caucasian languages, spoken by some nine million people, are divided into three subgroups: the South Caucasian, or Kartvelian family; the Northwest Caucasian, or Abkhaz-Adyghe languages; and the Northeast Caucasian, or Nakh-Dagestanian languages. Kartvelian, with more than 4.5 million speakers, comprises four relatively closely related languages, including Georgian. Northwest Caucasian languages include Abkhaz and a chain of dialects called collectively Circassian. The Northeast Caucasian languages are further divided into two groups, Nakh and Dagestanian. The Nakh languages include Chechen and Ingush, spoken by more than a million people mainly in Chechnya and Ingushetia. Dagestanian is an extraordinarily diversified group of 25–30 languages spoken by some 1.7 million people mainly in northern Azerbaijan and the Republic of Dagestan. Several Dagestanian languages, including Avar, Lak, Dargva, and Lezgi, number their speakers in the hundreds of thousands; others are spoken in only a few villages. In spite of their great diversity, most Caucasian languages have in common large consonant inventories; in some languages the number of consonants distinguished approaches 80. Those Caucasian languages with standard written forms employ the Cyrillic alphabet, with the prominent exception of Georgian. An effort is being made to introduce the Latin alphabet for Chechen in Chechnya.
Preface
This guide to conversation is a simple means of sharing the unique Chechen language and culture with speakers of English- It makes no claim to be a linguistic research tool, but is provided as a practical aid for the first steps in communication with an intentionally easy-to-use pronunciation system.
This is the first time Chechen has been presented in such a way, a venture not without its obstacles since the language is still sadly without a truly developed analysis of its structure.
An attempt has been made to provide phrases and scenes from everyday life, as well as items of practical background information, although their relevance clearly will depend on the actual situation in Chechnya.
Thanks to Robert Chenciner for his support in compiling this phrasebook.
A Chechen person is a Nokhcho.
The adjective for Chechen is Nokhchi
Chechens call themselves Vai Nakh (see Introduction) or Nokhchi Q'am (The Chechen People').
The Chechen language is Nokhchi Mott
Chechnya is Nokhchi Mokhk ('The Chechen Land') or
Nokhchi Chōō ('The Chechen Area')
Also heard is Derstan ('The Mountain Country'), referring to the traditional heartland of the Chechens. It also means 'Homeland'.
Introduction
The Chechens are an ancient people who have lived on the northern slopes of the Great Caucasus mountain range for thousands of years. After a long history of resistance against the Russians particularly during the 19th century, together with their sister nation the Ingush they came to be an autonomous republic within the USSR in 1934 - the Chechen-Ingush ASSR. The Muslim Chechens call themselves and the Ingush Vai Nakh - "Our People" and are presently the largest ethnic group in the North Caucasus.
Constant waves of bloody insurrection against the Russians led to the Chechens being labelled as one of the "treasonous" peoples whose wholesale deportation during World War It was ordered by Stalin - ironically, himself a fellow Caucasian from neighboring Georgia, The deportation in 1944 to Central Asia, the dictators great Dumping Ground, was ordered in the depth of winter and the loss of life that resulted was predictably appalling. All reference to the Chechen nation and their republic was erased, literally, from every map and book.
Even after Stalin's death and Khruschev’s reforms there was opposition to the return of the Chechens and the restoration of their land. But from 1956 onwards, they started to return in small groups, despite still being officially excluded - and often provoking serious clashes with the Russian and Cossack settlers who had taken over their land. Families had to bribe their way back to reclaim their property, until the authorities capitulated and legalized the reversed exodus and the trickle of returnees became a flood. The Soviet government finally gave them back their own autonomous republic in 1957, but with changed borders.
The Chechens have been rebuilding their numbers ever since at a phenomenal rate, with one of the highest birth rates in the ex-Soviet Union, and they now total well over a million in population.
The same year, in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union and dissatisfied at their status and treatment in the formation of the new Russian Republic, Chechnya - Nokhchi Mokhk - declared itself to be an independent state and seceded. The Russians reacted warily at first, but 1994 saw the inevitable invasion and military occupation of the republic. Sadly, it was the bloody events that followed which have put Chechnya and the Chechens firmly on the world map of today. But their struggle for true recognition still continues.
Chechens are today to be found in all parts of the ex-Soviet Union, especially in the oil industry in Central Asia and Siberia. As a result of the Tsarist campaigns against them in the 19th century, many Chechens left for the lands of the Muslim Ottoman Empire, and consequently significant pockets of Chechens are to be found throughout Turkey and the countries of the Middle East, particularly Jordan.
The Chechen people have maintained their remarkable sense of nationhood through the strength given them by the links of their clans or teips, as well as a vibrant Islamic - often Sufi - identity. These links have preserved the Chechens in exile, and restored them to their nation with a structure almost untouched in spite of the atrocities committed against them.
A very basic grammar
Chechen belongs to the Nakh family of languages, which forms part of the group of indigenous languages spoken in the Caucasus - unrelated to any other languages in the world.
The other members of the family are Ingush and Tsova-Tush (or Batsbi). While almost all Chechens speak Chechen as their mother tongue, the majority also speak Russian.
The name 'Chechen' isn't really Chechen at all: it was coined from the name of a village the invading Tsarist armies first encountered. The language has been written since 1923, and presently uses the Cyrillic script.
Throughout history various cultures and peoples have contributed to the vocabulary of Chechen, and mainly the Arabs and the Russians have left their imprint on present-day Chechen in this respect. Chechen was originally only a spoken language and it was subsequently put into a formal writing system by the Soviets, but it is little used in this form.
Until the beginning of this century, Arabic was used principally as the language of written communication. For obvious reasons, Russian has now taken over this role.
Word order
While totally unrelated to English - and some of the sounds may at first seem strange - the structure of Chechen is nevertheless quite simple. The verb is usually put at the end of the sentence, e.g.,
So ts'a vōōd.
'I go home.' (literally; 'I home go')
Nouns
Chechen has no words for 'the', 'a or 'an' - instead the meaning is understood from the context, e.g. stag can mean 'the man', 'a man' or just simply 'man'.
Instead of having gender - like in French or Arabic - nouns in Chechen belong to 'classes', which function in a very similar way. Each class originally consisted of nouns which shared similar characteristics: roundness, largeness, length, human, and so on. The class referring to human beings is predictable, the others are not. There are five (or six if you split the first class) such classes. Each triggers a different prefix of agreement in many adjectives and verbs (but not all).
Similar systems exist in languages across the world, such as Chinese, Japanese and Swahili. Here's a basic list showing the forms of the five Chechen noun classes. Remember that these prefixes usually occur in an accompanying verb or adjective- as shown in the examples below - and not in the noun itself:
Class
Singular prefix
Plural prefix
Example
1
for males
b-/d- for males
vasha brother
y- for females
b-/d- for females
yisha sister
2
y-
y-
ph'aagal rabbit
3
d-
d-
latta earth
beer child
4
b-
b-
mangal scythe
b-
nothing
malkh sun
5
b-
d-
mara nose
e.g. (using -u 'is' and -eza 'heavy'):
Stag veza vu.The man is heavy.'
Zuda yeza yu. The woman is heavy.'
Zudari beza bu. The women are heavy.'
Beera beza bu. The child is heavy.'
Keema deza du. The boat is heavy.'
Bolkha beza bu. The work is heavy.'
Note that Class 1 is for humans only ("those with souls"), so there's no harm here in thinking in terms of 'gender', i.e. male and female; but the other classes have lost much of their original classifications and aren't so easy to pigeonhole, so they can be human, animal, vegetable or mineral!
Most nouns form their plural by simply adding -sh or -ash, e.g. linz 'lens' - linzash 'lenses'. There are some with irregular plurals, e.g. cazh 'apple' -ceezhash 'apples', stag 'man', 'person' - nakh 'people'.
Nouns take a variety of endings. The basic forms with their grammatical descriptions are as follows:
Nominative no ending
Genitive -a(n)
Dative -na
Ergative -uo/-ye/-s/-a
Instrumental -tsa
Locative -kh
Comparative -I
Allative -gaa/-ye
Plurals simply add the case endings to the plural marker -(a)sh, apart from the Genitive, which ends in -ii(n) and the Ergative, which ends in -a. The Nominative Plural can also end in -i or -ii.
As noted above for plurals, some nouns may change slightly according to the form they take (in much the same way as English gives us words like goose' and geese'), e.g. caam 'lake', cāmnash 'lakes'.
The Genitive gives us 'of, e.g. Petimatii(n) televizor = 'Petima’s television' (or 'the television of Petima').
Adjectives
True adjectives are like nouns in that they decline, but the endings are limited to -a/-an in the Nominative singular and plural, and -achu in all other cases. They always come before the noun, e.g.
q'eena 'old', q'eena stag 'old man'
zhima 'young', zhima stag 'young man'
About ten basic adjectives agree with the class of the noun they modify, including (Chechens tend to use the female y- prefix as the 'neutral' form):
yay light, yowkha hot
yeza heavy, yūq'a thick
yoqqa elder, yutq'a thin
e.g. veza k'ant 'heavy boy' (this also means 'dear boy')
yeza yakhka 'heavy box'
Adverbs
Most adverbs have one single form which never changes. Some examples:
dika(n) well, dca there
vwo(n) badly, hintsa now
hoquzah' here, qaana tomorrow
Most adjectives can be used as an adverb.
Postpositions
Chechen has postpositions, in other words like 'in', 'at' and 'behind' come after the noun and not before it as in English (although remember that you can say 'who with? as well as 'with who?' - and there's no change in meaning). They generally take the dative or nominative case.
aara out
k'yela under
chu in, into
t'āh'a after
h'alkha in front of
t'eeh'a behind
lātsna about
t'ye on
metta instead of
yuq'a in the middle of
But the sense of English prepositions is more often rendered by the 'preverbs' (see below in Verbs).
PRONOUNS
Personal pronouns take case endings. Basic forms are as follows:
SINGULAR
PLURAL
So I
tkho we exclusive
vai we inclusive
h'o you singular
shu you plural
i; iza he/she/it
ūsh, ūzash they
Note that there are two forms for the single English word 'we'. The exclusive tkho means 'us only (and not them)', while the inclusive vai means 'us all'.
Possessive pronouns are formed by using the genitive of the personal pronoun:
SINGULAR
PLURAL
Sa my
tkha our exclusive
vai our inclusive
h'a you singular
shu your plural
i; iza he/she/it
ūsh, ūzash they
tsūna his/her/its
tseera their
Demonstratives are as follows:
hara this
hworsh these
dcaaranig that
dcaaranash those
VERBS
As in English, verbs change their form according to tense only and the same form is used for all singular and plural persons. About one third of all verbs, however, will make an additional change for the class (and not person) of the subject, e.g.
Stag aara veelira. The man went out.
Beer aara deelira. The child went out.
The simple infinitive ends in -a(n), e.g. daakha(n) 'to live.' By changing endings, there are seven basic tenses, as well as a variety of compound tenses. Since Chechen has only a few hundred true verbs and cannot create any more, nouns are used with the verb dan 'to do' to create phrasal verbs.
Like nouns, some verbs may change spelling slightly according to the form they take (like English 'know' and 'knew'), e.g. mala(n) 'to drink', molu 'drinks'.
The negative is formed by putting tsa 'not' immediately before the verb. Ma 'do not' is used with commands.
Postpositions are used with verbs (and so are called 'preverbs') to add to the meaning.
dca there chu in
s'h'a here aara out
h'ala up tye on
(w)oh'a down bukha under
vowshakh each other
The verb 'to have' is usually expressed using the verb 'to be', e.g. Ts'h'ana voqqachu stega qwo' k'ant
khilla. 'An old man had three sons' - this translates literally as 'There were three boys to an old man'.
PRONUNCIATION GUIDE
'
ha' 'yes'
-
a
akhcha 'money'
short: pat
aara ‘out'
long: father
ā
ārroo 'left'
-
b
bashkhan 'excellent'
box
ch
chai 'tea'
church
ch'
ch'oogha 'strong'
-
d
daakhar 'life'
dog
e
eskar 'army'
short: pet
eetsa 'to buy'
long: like the a in paid
f
futbol 'soccer
fat
g
geena 'far'
get
gh
ghala 'town'
-
h
haa-ha' 'no'
hat
h'
h'aasha 'visitor'
-
i
iza 'he, she, it'
short: sit
niisa 'straight'
long: seat
j
jaz 'jazz'
jet
k
kellā 'new'
kick
k'
k'ai 'white'
-
kh
khi 'water'
loch, as in Scottish English
l
la'amalla 'independence'
let
m
ma 'do not'
mat
n
nana 'mother'
net
o
ofis 'office'
short: cot
ooramat 'crops'
long: coat
ō
ōzda 'polite'
-
p
prezident 'president' pet
p'
P'eerska 'Friday'
-
q
qo' 'three'
—
q'
q'u 'thief
—
r
reeza 'happy'
rat, but 'rolled' as in Scottish English
s
sah't 'hour'
sit
sh
sha 'ice'
shut
t
tūka 'shop'
ten
t'
t'elatar 'invasion'
-
ts
tsul 'more'
hits
ts'
ts'eeno 'house'
-
u
uggar 'most'
short: put
uuram 'street'
long: shoot
ū
ūsh 'they'
-
v
vasha 'brother'
van
w
wu 'he/it is1
win
y
yu 'she/it is'
yes
z
zuda 'woman'
zebra
zh
zhim 'small'
erazure
c
can 'winter'
-
Nothing beats listening to a native speaker, but the following notes should help give you some idea of how to pronounce the following letters.
VOWELS
The general difference in length of vowels is important, e.g. dala 'to give' — daala 'to end'.
The following vowels are 'umlauted', and have similar pronunciation to German or Turkish ā,ō and ū:
ā is tike the ‘a' in 'pat', but with a quality closer to 'pet' than 'part', āā is pronounced twice as long.
ō has a similar sound to the vowels in 'her' or stir', but without any ‘r’ and with pointed and narrowly rounded lips. ōō is pronounced twice as long.
ū has a similar sound to the vowel in 'huge' but much shorter. Another way of producing this is to say 'kiss' but with pointed and narrowly rounded lips, so that the 'i' almost becomes a 'u'. ūū is pronounced twice as long.
All vowels can be nasalized, e.g. 'to drink' can be heard as mala or malan.
Consonants
ts Note that this, as in other Caucasian languages and Russian, represents a single sound.
ch', k', p', q', k', t' and ts' are all glottalised versions of ch, k, p, q, k, t and ts respectively. You may also hear them referred to as ejective consonants. These terms simply mean that each consonant's basic sound is modified in a similar way to produce a less breathy, 'harder' version. As an example, begin making the sound k as you normally would, but momentarily stop the breath going into your mouth by closing the fleshy bits (your glottis) at the very back. Hold your tongue and tips in the position they should be in to pronounce the k and then suddenly pronounce it. Rather than let out a stream of breath with the sound there should be instead an 'explosion' simultaneously accompanying the sound. At first you may find it easier to do this for consonants at the ends of words.
' is what is called the 'glottal stop'. You simply close the glottis at the very back of mouth/top of your throat, and then release the built up air. The result is a light 'uh' sound with a very slight grunt just before it. Although it's not written, it occurs in the conversational speech of nearly all English speakers, being most noticeable in the pronunciation of words like "bottle" as "bo'el" by many Londoners. Since this sound is pronounced predictably before every word beginning with a vowel it's not necessary to mark it in this book. [= Arabic ء]
h' is a more emphatic form of h. Take the exhaling sound you make when you've just burnt your mouth after taking a sip of boiling hot soup, push it right back into the very back of your mouth, making sure your tongue goes back too, and that should give a good approximation! [= Arabic ح]
c if you follow the same pronunciation rules for h', with your tongue and back of mouth all pressed up against the back of your throat, then simply change the hiss of the h to a sound using your vocal cords. If you're then sounding like you're being choked, then you've got it. Hint: Rather than think of c as a consonant, think of it as a 'vowel modifier', and when listening to a native speaker, note how it changes any vowel in its vicinity, 'pharyngealizing' the vowel, sending half the sound up the nose. [= Arabic ع]
q is pronounced like a k, but right back in your mouth at the throat end, in the same area as h' and c. Imagine you have a marble in the back of your throat and that you're bouncing it using only your glottis, and make a k sound at the same time. [= Arabic ق]
gh is pronounced like a sort of growl in the back of your throat - like when you're gargling. The German or Parisian 'r' is the easy European equivalent. [= Arabic غ]
kh is the rasping 'ch' in Sottish 'loch' and German 'ach'. It is also pronounced like the Spanish/Castilian 'jota'. [= Arabic خ]
Notes
1) In many cases z alternates with dz, v with w, gh with kh, and zh with j without change of meaning.
2) Consonants can be 'doubled', e.g. mellish 'slow' is pronounced very distinctly as mel-lish.
3) Many speakers will vary their pronunciation by either adding or subtracting a y or w before many vowels, e.g. 'Chechen’ can be pronounced as Nokhchi or Nwokhchi, 'house' as ts'eeno or ts'yeeno.
4) Chechens are very relaxed over how they end words, e.g. 'to do' is dan, which can also be written and pronounced as da, which itself is more often than not pronounced as plain 'duh'; 'small' is zhim or zhima, and generally pronounced 'zhim-uh'.
5) Very much like in English, the consonants and especially vowels of Chechen vary widely from area to area. The official alphabet, needless to say, doesn't reflect any of these variations. Many words and expressions, too, which are obviously borrowed from Russian will tend to vary between Russian and Chechen pronunciations, depending on the speakers and the circumstances. Don't be surprised if many speakers suddenly switch into Russian mid-sentence. Russian words (and a growing number of English ones, too) are especially used in areas such as politics, science or technology.
6) The sequence ow is pronounced like English 'toe'.
7) An apostrophe is used in s'h and ts'h in order to avoid confusion between the single sound sh and the two sequences of s plus h, and ts plus h.
 As described in the Grammar section, the class system triggers changes at the beginnings of many words. The most common alternation you will find in this book is w- or v- for males referred to, and y- for females referred to, e.g. 'So Avstraliera wu/yu' 'I am from Australia' means that you say 'so Avstraliera wu' if you are male, and 'so Avstraliera yu' if you are female. Frequent alternations are: wu/yu, wui/yui, vella/yella, veeza/yeeza, wats/yats, wālla/yālla, verza/yerza. The distinction for these will not be noted in the text beyond the presence of the slash mark.
9) Abbreviations used are: m for 'male' and f for 'female'.
The Chechen Alphabet
Chechen Dictionary & Phrasebook (Hippocrene Dictionary and Phrasebook)
Good little starter book
Chechen Dictionary & Phrasebook (Hippocrene Dictionary and Phrasebook) Review: There are some academic and scholarly dictionaries and works on Chechen out there, but they are quite pricey compared to this book. For the money this is a fine little book, and will give you a start on the grammar and vocabulary of Chechen. As it is meant to be a dictionary and phrase book the treatment of the grammar is necessarily limited, but it was still informative and did provide some basic information on its structure that I didn't know before. The author also discusses a little of the history of the area, and the history buffs among you probably know that Joseph Stalin was Georgian--which didn't keep him from purging and deporting tens of thousands of Georgians to Siberia.
Chechen belongs to one of the four subfamilies of Caucasian languages, known as the Nakh subfamily, whose center of distribution is the Caucasus mountains of central and northern Georgia and the smaller countries just to the north such as Ingushetia and Chechnya, although the inhabitants of Alania speak a language belonging to the Indo-Iranian family. The Caucasian language group is unrelated to Russian and the other Indo-European languages to the north, the Ural-Altaic languages to the east, and the Semitic and Indo-Iranian languages to the south, forming its own unique family. Despite the diversity of the group, the 40 or so languages that belong to this interesting family show a number of common features, such as ejective consonants, an agglutinative word morphology, verb subject and object prefixes, postpositions, and an ergative-absolutive case system.
I had read previously that the Caucasian languages often had a very large number of cases--perhaps over 30, so I was surprised to find that Chechen only had eight. That makes it more complex than Russian or Latin, which have six cases, but the same as Greek, which has 8, and simpler than Ural-Altaic languages like Finnish or Estonian, which have 14 and 15, respectively. I had read previously that the Caucasian languages often had a very large number of cases--in some cases over 30, so I was surprised to find that Chechen only had eight. That makes it more complex than Russian or Latin, which have six cases, but the same as Greek, which has 8, and simpler than Ural-Altaic languages like Finnish or Estonian, which have 14 and 15, respectively. The eight cases are:
Nominative--subject of intransitive verb, direct object of transitive verb. Citation form, predicate nominal
Genitive--possession; adnominal
Dative--indirect object; object of postposition
Ergative--subject of transitive verb;
Allative--indirect object; other oblique objects
Instrumental--instrument, means, accompaniment
Lative--oblique objects
Comparison--standard of comparison
The Chechen verb, in contrast to most languages, has almost no inflection for person or number, although it has ablaut. "Ablaut" refers to a vowel change inside a word, as in English drive/drove/driven or sit/sat or find/found, which signify verb tense changes. If I remember correctly, changes like drive/drove, or swim/swam, are also known as the Aorist case, which in English, German, and other German languages is basically the past tense of a strong verb. Most verbs are regular, although there are a few irregular ones.
Another interesting aspect of Chechen verbs is what is known as the simulfactive and iterative aspect. A simulfactive ending on a verb denotes a one-time action, as opposed to an interative verb ending, which denotes multiple or repeated action. There are over 80 of these verbs, and there are hundreds more compound verbs which use one of these as an auxiliary to create more verbs.
As you can see, Chechen is a fascinating language, and one which is starting to become of interest to scholars. The author, Nicholas Awde, has done a service by putting together this nice little book. I knew Awde's name from a previous book I liked on teaching yourself Arabic, so I presume it's the same writer. If so, I give Awde credit for bringing out another fine book on a little-known member from this fascinating family of languages.
Chechen
Chechen Dictionary & Phrasebook (Hippocrene Dictionary and Phrasebook) Review: Good and rare book. Thourough for the space it has for grammar , but that space is very limited. Good cultural information too. Basically a good beginning, especially for people needing basic political/humitarian vocabulary. My only complaint is that the chechen words are written in latin script, not cyrillic, which makes for confusion knowing that the Chechens have been using cyrillic script since the 30's. I think it'd be easier to learn the cyrillic script than learn the words and later have to transliterate to cyrillic.
Essential reading!
Chechen Dictionary & Phrasebook (Hippocrene Dictionary and Phrasebook) Review: This is not only a practical tool for the Chechen language but also a fascinating insight into the Chechen people themselves. There's a great easy to use pronunciation system which means you can make yourself understood instantly and a lot of (understandable) stuff on war and reconstruction. There are also background sections dotted about which fill you in on things like transport (not in the best of shape), traditional cuisine and beliefs. I think this deserves five stars not only because it's currently the only book of its kind but also as a great potted introduction to a long-neglected nation. I'd say this was essential reading, particularly at the moment.
Published Price: £70.00
Our Price: £66.50
You Save: £3.50 (5%)
ISBN: 0415315948
Published By: RoutledgeCurzon
Publication Date: September 2003
Format: Cloth / Hardback, 600pages, 24cm height, glossaries
Category: bilingual dictionaries
Category: dictionaries
Category: caucasian languages
Category: other languages
Languages: Chechen & English
Availability: Usually dispatched within 2-3 working days
Please note that we cannot guarantee supply if the title is out of print or being reprinted
Brief Description
A bilingual dictionary of approximately 5000 Chechen words and about 5000 English words. Entries have full grammatical information and glossaries include alternatives and comments to convey the full meanings of words.
Synopsis
The Chechen language has about 1,200,000 speakers, and along with Ingush is one of the largest indigenous languages of the northern Caucasus. The Russian-Chechen wars have created refugee and immigrant populations in Russia and Europe, and these populations are anxious to maintain the younger generations' fluency in Chechen and uphold ethnic and linguistic consciousness among expatriate Chechens worldwide. This bilingual dictionary has approximately 5000 Chechen words and about 5000 English words. The Chechen words are cited in both current Cyrillic orthography and the Latin system. Entries have full grammatical information and glossaries include alternatives and comments so as to convey the full meanings of words as opposed to simply translating them.
Table of Contents
Introduction The Chechen language and people Spelling, transcription, and sound system Abbreviations and conventions Structure of Chechen-English dictionary entries Chechen-English dictionary: Latin spelling Chechen-English dictionary: Cyrillic spelling Structure of English-Chechen dictionary entries English-Chechen dictionary Appendices: 1 Cases of nouns 2 Plurals of nouns 3 Pronouns 4 Verb conjugation 5 Gender prefixes
chechen [a]
1) of or relating to Chechnya or its people or culture
Synonyms:
See Also: chechnya
chechen [n]
1) a native or inhabitant of Chechnya
Synonyms:
See Also: russian
2) a northern Caucasian language spoken by the Chechen people
Synonyms:
See Also: caucasian
ist-socrates.berkeley.edu/~chechen/
ingush.narod.ru/chech/book/
socrates.berkeley.edu/~ch...riting.htm
Brief history of writing in Chechen
Chechen has a short but varied history of writing. When the Chechens converted to Islam beginning in the sixteenth century, the presence of educated mullahs meant widespread, though indirect, access to writing, and many families had their clan histories put into writing, usually in Arabic but also occasionally in Chechen using the Arabic script. Apparently no spelling system in Arabic was ever systematized for Chechen, though little is known about this writing because most of these documents were destroyed by the Soviet authorities in 1944. A Latin spelling system was devised for Chechen in the 1920's (based on the unified Ingush-Chechen spelling system created by Zaurbek Malsagov) and used for publication until it was officially replaced by a Cyrillic transliteration of it in 1938. The Latin system used a number of special symbols and diacritics and failed to distinguish vowel length; the Cyrillic system which replaced it lost some more vowel distinctions. It is economical in its use of Russian letters, but at a cost in accuracy and functionality. It uses the numeral "1" as a letter. It does not write every sound: it usually does not write the glottal stop with a letter, and often writes /j/ as part of a vowel letter, though these are ordinary consonants of Chechen and should always be written with separate and overt symbols. In the mid 1990's there was a move to return to Latin spelling, and a special Latin alphabet was proposed for Chechen. This alphabet was a mechanical transliteration of the Cyrillic spelling into a Latin system based on Turkish and Azeri spelling but with a number of special diacritics.
Only the Cyrillic spelling system is widely known to Chechens, as it was taught and used for publication in Chechnya from 1938 to 1944 and 1956 on. The Chechen diaspora in Jordan, Turkey, and Syria is fluent but generally not literate in Chechen except for individuals who have made efforts to learn the writing system, and of course the Cyrillic alphabet is not generally known in these countries.
The Chechen language has (like most indigenous languages of the Caucasus) a large number of consonants: about 31 (depending on the dialect and the analysis), more than for most languages of Europe. Unlike most other languages of the Caucasus, it also has an extensive inventory of vowels and diphthongs: about 27 (depending on dialect and analysis), similar in number and phonetics to the vowel systems of the Scandinavian languages, German, and Finnish. None of the spelling systems used for Chechen so far has distinguished the vowels at all accurately. The materials on this website use an all-Latin, no-diacritics spelling system worked out by the UC Berkeley Chechen-Ingush project. It spells Chechen approximately phonemically, uses letter combinations that are mostly familiar from other languages that use the Latin alphabet, and because it uses no diacritics or special symbols it can be typed rapidly and accurately and used in email, on the internet, and in all computer applications regardless of platform or age. It can also be autoconverted to Cyrillic with great accuracy.
The basic principles of this Latin system are:
Long vowels are written with double letters: aa, ee, oo, etc.
The consonant letter combinations sh, ch, etc. are as in English.
The "ts" consonant is written c (as in Hungarian, Polish, Czech, etc.).
Pharyngeals and pharyngealization are written with w.
The glottal stop and glottalized (ejective) consonants are written with an apostrophe.
Nichols, Johanna(red) / Vagapov, Arbi(red)
Chechen-English and English-Chechen Dictionary
Omtale fra bokdatabasen:
The Chechen language has about 1,200,000 speakers, and along with Ingush is one of the largest indigenous languages of the northern Caucasus. The Russian-Chechen wars have created refugee and immigrant populations in Russia and Europe, and these populations are anxious to maintain the younger generations' fluency in Chechen and uphold ethnic and linguistic consciousness among expatriate Chechens worldwide. This bilingual dictionary has approximately 5000 Chechen words and about 5000 English words. The Chechen words are cited in both current Cyrillic orthography and the Latin system. Entries have full grammatical information and glossaries include alternatives and comments so as to convey the full meanings of words as opposed to simply translating them. This bilingual dictionary contains c.6000 words of essential vocabulary for Chechen: basic verbs; pronouns, numerals, conjunctions, and postpositions; common vocabulary; and many entries of the rapidly disappearing traditional vocabulary.
Introduction
Chechen is spoken in Russia's Chechen Republic, located in the Caucasus with its capital at Grozny. Together with the closely related Ingush language (the two are for the most part mutually intelligible), it constitutes the Eastern branch of the Caucasian family of languages. There are about 750,000 speakers. As in Kabardian and other Caucasian languages, the alphabet contains the additional letter I.
Chechen is spoken/used in Russia
Language Family
Family: Caucasian
Subgroup: Eastern
Dictionaries listed herein are in various languages, often several languages included in a single dictionary product. They come in several types: Specialty or subject dictionaries, such as math, scientific, oil, etc. Some dictionaries, such as those used by the Bi-Ling dictionary require a shell system to access the additional word lists. Some dictionaries, may be 'Automatic Dictionaries', which will look up words automatically as you move through a document. This type of dictionary can also be found under the 'Translation' subject category. Check the details for each dictionary in the product descriptions to make sure you get the product that fits your needs.
Hippocrene Chechen: Chechen/English/Chechen Dictionary And Phrasebook Add to CartBuy Product InfoInfo
Special Price: $11.95 Regular Price: $11.95
Nicholas Awde and Muhammad Galaev Introduction to basic grammar. Pronunciation guide. Chechen alphabet. Chechen Phrasebook, including all topics a visitor to Chechnya needs to know, including time of day, dates, transportation, money,...
Nicholas Awde and Muhammad Galaev
Hippocrene Chechen: Chechen/English/Chechen Dictionary And Phrasebook
Introduction to basic grammar. Pronunciation guide. Chechen alphabet. Chechen Phrasebook, including all topics a visitor to Chechnya needs to know, including time of day, dates, transportation, money, communication services, and much more. Maps.
160 pages 3 3/4 x 7 paperback W
1,400 entries
dictionary:
ingush.narod.ru/chech/awde/
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