Godoberi language

Last updated
Godoberi
ГъибдилIи мицциƔibdiƛi micci
Pronunciation[ʁibdit͡ɬimitsːi]
Native to North Caucasus
RegionSouthwestern Dagestan
Ethnicity3,000 Godoberi (2014) [1]
Native speakers
3021 (2020 census) [2]
Northeast Caucasian
Language codes
ISO 639-3 gdo
Glottolog ghod1238
ELP Ghodoberi
Northeast Caucasus languages map en.svg
  Godoberi
Lang Status 60-DE.svg
Godoberi is classified as Definitely Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger (2010)

Godoberi (also rendered Ghodoberi; self-designation Ghibdilhi mittsi) is an Andic language of the Northeast Caucasian language family spoken by the Godoberi in southwestern Dagestan, Russia. It is spoken by approximately 3000 people out of an ethnic population of 3,000. [1] There are two dialects - Godoberi and Zibirhali, which differ mainly in pronunciation. [3]

Contents

History

The history of the Godoberis is unknown. The Godoberi language is the main thing distinguishes the cultural group from other groups in the area. When compared to other Andic languages, Godoberi is most similar to Chamalal and Botlikh. Some words are borrowed from by Avar, Turkish, and Arabic. After being incorporated into the Russian Empire in the 19th century and then ruled by the Soviet Union in the 20th century, there is a strong Russian influence in the Godoberi language. [3]

Geographic distribution

Native speakers of Godoberi live in two villages: Godoberi (Gjudu in Godoberi) and Zibirhali  [ ru ] (Shalu in Godoberi). These villages are located in the mountains on the left bank of the Andi-Koisu River in Southwest Dagestan, a republic of Russia. [3] [4]

Phonology

Diphthongs are found only in Godoberi and in no other Daghestanian languages (example: cʼai'fire'). [5] There are 13 phonemic vowels: /i/, /e/, /a/, /o/, /u/, //, //, //, //, //, /ĩ/, /ã/, /ũ/.

The consonant system is as follows: [6]

Consonant phonemes [6]
Labial Dental Alveolar Palatal Velar Uvular Pharyngeal Glottal
central lateral
lenis fortis lenisfortislenisfortislenisfortislenisfortislenisfortis
Nasal m м n н
Plosive voiced b б d д( ɟ гʹ) ɡ г
voiceless p п t т( тт)( c кʹ)( ккʹ) k к( кк) ʔ ʼ
ejective тӀ( кӀʹ) кӀ къ
Affricate voiceless t͡s ц t͡sː цц t͡ʃ ч t͡ʃː чч t͡ɬː лӀ q͡χ хъ
ejective t͡sʼ цӀ t͡ʃʼ чӀ t͡ɬʼ кь
voiced d͜ʒ дж
Fricative voiceless s с сс ʃ ш ʃː щ ɬ лъ ɬː лълъ( çː хьʹ) хь χ х χː хх ʜː хӀ h гь
voiced z з ʒ ж ʁ гъ ʕ ъ
Trill r р
Approximant w в l л( лл) j й

The accent system is extremely complex, especially for nouns. [5]

prosodic patterns in Godoberi [5]
initial stress
(H!H)
initial stress
(HL)
initial/
prefinal/
final
(HH)
final
(HL-B)
final/
prefinal
(HL!)
final/
prefinal
(LL)
final/
initial
(HH!)
final/
initial
(LL-B)
final/
prefinal/
initial
(HH-B)
Nominativegédu 'cat'íča 'mare'ímu 'father'qučá 'sheepskin'buRá 'bull'haí 'eye'łerú 'feather'set'íl 'finger'ziní 'cow'
GenitivegéduLi 'cat'íčLi 'mare'imúLi 'father'qučiLí 'sheepskin'buRáLi 'bull'háiLi 'eye'łéruLi 'feather'sét'ilaLi 'finger'zináLi 'cow
Dativegédułi 'cat'íčałi 'mare'ímułi 'father'qučiłí 'sheepskin'buRałí 'bull'haiłi 'eye'łérułli 'feather'sét'ilałi 'finger'zínałi 'cow'
Ergativegédudi 'cat'íčadi 'mare'imudí 'fatherqučidí 'sheepskin'buRadí 'bull'haidí 'eyełérudi 'feather'sét'iladi 'fingerzinadí 'cow'

Morphology

Singular words have three genders: masculine, feminine, and neuter. Plural words lack those three genders and instead have two noun classes: human or inanimate object. There are two types of adjectives: primary and participles. A majority of the primary adjectives do not have gender. The four types of participles are past, present, future, and non-future negative. [5] The numerical system does not vary greatly from other languages. Verb morphology is also regular compared to other languages in the Andic language family.

Orthography

Godoberi is not a written language, and it is used only in the home. Schools teach Avar and Russian. Native speakers of Godoberi use Avar or Russian as a written language. These two languages are also used when speaking to people from neighboring communities.

Provisional writing systems

The following transcription is used in a recent dictionary of the language. [7]

Godoberi transcription [7]
А аА̄ а̄Аᵸ аᵸБ бВ вГ гГъ гъГь гьГI гIД дЕ еЕ̄ е̄Еᵸ еᵸ
Ж жДж джЗ зИ иӢ ӣИᵸ иᵸЙ йК кКъ къКь кьКI кIЛ лЛъ лъ
ЛI лIМ мН нО оО̄ о̄Оᵸ оᵸП пР рС сТ тТI тIУ уӮ ӯ
Уᵸ уᵸХ хХъ хъХь хьХI хIЦ цЦI цIЧ чЧI чIШ шЩ щЭ эЪ ъ

Э is used in initial position, е elsewhere. Acute accents are used for stress, but not treated as creating distinct letters.

The letters shown in the phonology section above were used in an older grammatical description. [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bulgarian language</span> South Slavic language

Bulgarian is an Eastern South Slavic language spoken in Southeast Europe, primarily in Bulgaria. It is the language of the Bulgarians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norwegian language</span> North Germanic language spoken in Norway

Norwegian is a North Germanic language from the Indo-European language family spoken mainly in Norway, where it is an official language. Along with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a dialect continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional varieties; some Norwegian and Swedish dialects, in particular, are very close. These Scandinavian languages, together with Faroese and Icelandic as well as some extinct languages, constitute the North Germanic languages. Faroese and Icelandic are not mutually intelligible with Norwegian in their spoken form because continental Scandinavian has diverged from them. While the two Germanic languages with the greatest numbers of speakers, English and German, have close similarities with Norwegian, neither is mutually intelligible with it. Norwegian is a descendant of Old Norse, the common language of the Germanic peoples living in Scandinavia during the Viking Age.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northeast Caucasian languages</span> Language family

The Northeast Caucasian languages, also called East Caucasian, Nakh-Daghestani or Vainakh-Daghestani, or sometimes Caspian languages, is a family of languages spoken in the Russian republics of Dagestan, Chechnya and Ingushetia and in Northern Azerbaijan as well as in Georgia and diaspora populations in Western Europe and the Middle East. According to Glottolog, there are currently 36 Nakh-Dagestanian languages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Avar language</span> Northeast Caucasian language of the Avars of Dagestan, North Caucasus

Avar, 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 one million speakers in Dagestan and elsewhere in Russia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kumyks</span> Turkic ethnic group in the North Caucasus

Kumyks are a Turkic ethnic group living in Dagestan, Chechnya and North Ossetia. They are the largest Turkic people in the North Caucasus.

Russian grammar employs an Indo-European inflexional structure, with considerable adaptation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sirenik language</span> Extinct Eskimo–Aleut language

Sirenik Yupik, Sireniki Yupik, Sirenik, or Sirenikskiy is an extinct Eskimo–Aleut language. It was spoken in and around the village of Sireniki (Сиреники) in Chukotka Peninsula, Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia. The language shift has been a long process, ending in total language death. In January 1997, the last native speaker of the language, a woman named Vyjye, died. Ever since that point, the language has been extinct; nowadays, all Sirenik Eskimos speak Siberian Yupik or Russian. Despite this, censuses as late as 2010 report up to 5 speakers of Sirenik.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chuvash language</span> Oghur Turkic language of Volga region

Chuvash is a Turkic language spoken in European Russia, primarily in the Chuvash Republic and adjacent areas. It is the only surviving member of the Oghur branch of Turkic languages, one of the two principal branches of the Turkic family.

Lithuanian grammar retains many archaic features from Proto-Balto-Slavic that have been lost in other Balto-Slavic languages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bezhta language</span> Tsezic language of southwest Dagestan, Russia

The Bezhta language, also known as Kapucha, belongs to the Tsezic group of the North Caucasian language family. It is spoken by about 6,200 people in southern Dagestan, Russia

This article describes the grammar of the standard Tajik language as spoken and written in Tajikistan. In general, the grammar of the Tajik language fits the analytical type. Little remains of the case system, and grammatical relationships are primarily expressed via clitics, word order and other analytical constructions. Like other modern varieties of Persian, Tajik grammar is almost identical to the classic Persian grammar, although there are differences in some verb tenses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Archi people</span> Ethnic group in Dagestan, Russia

The Archi people are an ethnic group who live in eight villages in southern Dagestan, Russia. Archib is the 'parent village' of these, because three months a year the whole community used to reassemble in Archi to engage in communal work. Their culture is one of the most distinct and best-preserved of all the cultures of Dagestan.

Ukrainian grammar is complex and characterised by a high degree of inflection; moreover, it has a relatively free word order, although the dominant arrangement is subject–verb–object (SVO). Ukrainian grammar describes its phonological, morphological, and syntactic rules. Ukrainian has seven grammatical cases and two numbers for its nominal declension and two aspects, three tenses, three moods, and two voices for its verbal conjugation. Adjectives agree in number, gender, and case with their nouns.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Khwarshi language</span> Northeast Caucasian language spoken in Dagestan

Khwarshi is a Northeast Caucasian language spoken in the Tsumadinsky-, Kizilyurtovsky- and Khasavyurtovsky districts of Dagestan by the Khwarshi people. The exact number of speakers is not known, but the linguist Zaira Khalilova, who has carried out fieldwork in the period from 2005 to 2009, gives the figure 8,500. Other sources give much lower figures, such as Ethnologue with the figure 1,870 and the latest population census of Russia with the figure 3,296. The low figures are because many Khwarshi have registered themselves as being Avar speakers, because Avar is their literary language.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andi language</span> Northeast Caucasian language

Andi is a Northeast Caucasian language belonging to the Avar–Andic branch spoken by about 5,800 ethnic Andi (2010) in the Botlikh region of Dagestan. The language is spoken in the villages Andi, Gunkha, Gagatl, Ashali, Rikvani, Chanko, Zilo, and Kvanxidatl.

The Hinukh are a people of Dagestan living in 2 villages: Genukh, Tsuntinsky District - their 'parent village' and Novomonastyrskoe, Kizlyarsky District - where they settled later and live together with Avars and Dargins and also in the cities of Dagestan. They are being assimilated by the Caucasian Avars.

The Godoberi are one of the Andi-Dido peoples of Dagestan. They numbered 1,425 in 1926 and about 4,500 in 2007. They live mainly in the three villages of Godoberi, Ziberkhali and Beledi in the Botlikhsky District. About 1800 Godoberis live on the plains of Dagestan in Terechnoye.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ossetian language</span> Eastern Iranian language of Ossetia, in the Caucasus

Ossetian, commonly referred to as Ossetic and rarely as Ossete, is an Eastern Iranian language that is spoken predominantly in Ossetia, a region situated on both sides of the Russian-Georgian border in the Greater Caucasus region. It is the native language of the Ossetian people, and a relative and possibly a descendant of the extinct Scythian, Sarmatian, and Alanic languages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chamalal language</span> Northeast Caucasian language

Chamalal is an Andic language of the Northeast Caucasian language family spoken in southwestern Dagestan, Russia by approximately 5,100 ethnic Chamalals. It has three quite distinct dialects, Gadyri, Gakvari, and Gigatl.

In Russian grammar, the system of declension is elaborate and complex. Nouns, pronouns, adjectives, demonstratives, most numerals and other particles are declined for two grammatical numbers and six grammatical cases ; some of these parts of speech in the singular are also declined by three grammatical genders. This gives many spelling combinations for most of the words, which is needed for grammatical agreement within and (often) outside the proposition. Also, there are several paradigms for each declension with numerous irregular forms.

References

  1. 1 2 Eberhard, David M.; Simons, Gary F.; Fennig, Charles D., eds. (2022). Ethnologue: Languages of the World (25th ed.). Dallas, Texas: SIL International.
  2. Том 5. «Национальный состав и владение языками». Таблица 7. Население наиболее многочисленных национальностей по родному языку
  3. 1 2 3 Kolga, Margus (2001). The Red Book of the Peoples of the Russian Empire. Tallinn: NGO Red Book.
  4. "Ghodoberi". Endangered Languages Project.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Kibrik, Aleksandr (1996). Godoberi. Munchen: Lincom.
  6. 1 2 3 Саидова, П. А. (1973). Годоберинский язык (Грамматический очерк, тексты, словарь)[Godoberi language (Grammar essay, texts, dictionary)]. Махачкала: Дагестанский филиал АН СССР.
  7. 1 2 Саидова, П. А. (2006). Годоберинско-русский словарь. Махачкала: Институт языка, литературы и искусства им. Г. Цадасы Дагестанского научного центра РАН.

Further reading