Andean languages

Andean Languages (Quannian) - a group of Avar-Ando-Cesian languages ( Nakh-Dagestan family ). Distributed among the Andean people in the western part of Dagestan , mainly in the basin of the Andy Koysu river ( Botlikh , Tsumadinsky , Akhvakh , Shamil regions ) and north-west of Azerbaijan ( Zakatalsky district ); after the 1950s, a significant part moved to the flat part of Dagestan. The total number of Andean speakers is about 15 thousand people (estimate, 2010).

With the Avar language, the Andean groups unite into an Avo-Andean group , opposed to the Cesian within the Avar-Ando-Cesian branch.

Traditionally, 8 languages ​​are included in the Andean languages; according to lexicostatistics, they are divided into 3 subgroups:

• Akhvakh language (possibly - 2 languages);
• Andean ;
• Interno-Andean , which is divided into Karatin language and a continuum of Botlikh , Godauberin , Chamalinski , Bagvalin and Tinda .

In another embodiment, within the Andean group, three subgroups are distinguished, the first subgroup is formed by the Andean, Botlikh and Godoburin, the second Akhvakh and Karatin, the third Bagvalin, Tinda and Chamalinsky.

In the third variant, as well as in the first, Akhvakh and Andean are separated, while the inner-Andean ones are distributed as follows: Botlikh-Godoburinsky (Botlikhsky and Godudherinsky), Bagvalinsky-Tindinsky (Bagvalinsky and Tinda), Karatinsky, Chamalinsky.

Many of them are characterized by a pronounced dialect differentiation; Some dialects may claim to be independent languages, since the differences between them are comparable to differences between languages, and there is no mutual understanding between speakers of neighboring dialects (for example, Ahvakh, Karatin).

Genetic Andean languages ​​are closest to Avar . According to glottochronology , the division of the Avar-Andean community belongs to the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. er , and the disintegration of the common Indian community - by the middle of the 1st millennium BC. er (in the scientific literature there are also other chronological assessments, for example, the disintegration of the Avar-Andean unity to the beginning of the Common Era, and the division of the Andean community in the 8th century AD.).

The peculiarity of the phonetic system of the Andean languages ​​is the presence of a lateral series of consonants (L, L ', ł); often opposing noisy consonants (especially spirants) in strength; in some languages abrasive spirants (s ', š') are marked.

Triangular vowel system (i, e, a, o, u); oppositions of vowels in longitude and nasalization are phonematic (the latter has signs of prosodicity; see Prosodic means of language), and both oppositions are historically innovations. There is a syllabic tonal accent; in most languages, the four-tone system is high, low, ascending, and descending tones ( tones have no phonological significance).

In most Andean languages, there are 3 nominal classes (male, female, and non-personal); There are five of them in the Andean and Chamal languages, which most likely reflects the original state; In the dialects of the Andean language there are two- and six-grade systems. Characteristic is the presence of a suffix (sometimes prefix ) position for a class indicator in adjectives and participles , a prefix symbol in a part of verbs . From the class of the noun depends on the index of the indirect basis, as well as the indicator of the genitive case (2 forms differ). Among the grammatical cases, along with the dative is also presented the affective , shaping subject of the verbs of sensory perception (“see”, “hear”, “know”, sometimes “love”, etc.). In the system of local cases, there are 6–7 localizations (including typologically rare localization “in contact with a guide”); Among the indicators of the direction in addition to the essive ("finding"), the allative ("moving to") and the ablative ("moving from") can be represented by the translational ("movement on, through"). The variety (up to ten) of the plural noun suffixes is marked.

The number system is decimal (in Akhvakh - twenty).

Personal pronouns 1 plural persons distinguish the forms of inclusive and exclusive .

Personal coordination in the verb is noted (as an innovation) in the northern dialect of the Akhvakh language. The main part of the indicative and temporal forms of indicative is represented by analytical constructions (participles, adverbs , infinitives with the auxiliary verb “to be”); common for all Andean languages ​​is a synthetic verb form which is a past tense form ( aorist ), in many languages ​​the present total tense is presented (constants). The indices of the imperative of transitive and intransitive verbs differ. There is a morphological causative . Verb-based reduplication (mainly partial) is used to express the verbal plurality (distributivity, repeatability, etc.).

In the vocabulary of the Andean languages, the influence of Avar is significant; it is assumed that numerous borrowings from Arabic , Iranian and Turkic languages , as well as from the Russian language penetrated through the Avar language .

All Andean languages ​​are written in writing; since the 1990s there are separate attempts to introduce writing. Currently, the Andean languages ​​use Avar script.

The study of the Andean languages ​​begins in the first half of the 20th century ( A. M. Dirr , later A. A. Bokarev ); T. E. Gudava , Z. M. Magomedbekova, I. I. Tsertsvadze, P. T. Magomedova, M. E. Alekseev, a group of Moscow researchers led by A. E. Kibrik and others made a significant contribution to the study of the Andean languages.