Archi language

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|date=December 2009}} but Roderich von Erckert saw it as closer to Lak.{{Citation needed|date=December 2009}} The language has also been considered as a separate entity that could be placed somewhere between Avar and Lak.{{By whom|date=January 2010}}{{Citation needed|date=December 2009}} The Italian linguist Alfredo Trombetti placed Archi within an Avar–Ando–Dido group,{{Citation needed|date=December 2009}} 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|date=December 2009}} Schulze places it in the Lezgian branch with all other Lezgian languages belonging to the Samur group.

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 74 and 82 consonant phonemes.

Archi has a symmetric six-vowel system ({{IPA|/i e ə a o u/}}).

All vowels except for {{IPA|/ə/}} can occur in five varieties: short, pharyngealized, high tone, long (with high tone), and pharyngealized with high tone (e.g. {{IPA|/a/}}, {{IPA|/aˤ/}}, {{IPA|/á/}}, {{IPA|/áː/}}, and {{IPA|/áˤ/}}). Of all these, only {{IPA|/ə/}} and {{IPA|/íˤ/}} do not occur word-initially.{{cite web |title=Archi Dictionary |url=https://www.smg.surrey.ac.uk/archi-dictionary |access-date=2 June 2024}} Examples of non-initial {{IPA|/íˤ/}} are {{IPA|/díˤt͡ʃa/}} ('to be fat'){{cite web|url=http://www.smg.surrey.ac.uk/Archi/Linguists/lexeme.aspx?LE=1083|title=Archi - 1083 - диIча|access-date=14 March 2015}} and {{IPA|/iˤntíˤmmaj/}} ('brain').{{cite web|url=http://www.smg.surrey.ac.uk/Archi/Linguists/lexeme.aspx?LE=1420|title=Archi - 1420 - иIнтиIммай|access-date=14 March 2015}}

Of all living languages, Archi has the world's largest phonemic non-click consonant inventory, with only 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.

1. These have no word-initial dictionary entries (even though {{IPA|/pː/}}, {{IPA|/tː/}}, and {{IPA|/kː/}} are relatively common).
2. These appear in the Tutorial but have no dictionary entries.
3. This does not appear in the Tutorial but does have a word-internal dictionary entry (in {{IPA|/mot͡sːór/}}, 'alpine pasture used in summer').{{cite web |title=Archi - 2101 - моццор |url=http://www.smg.surrey.ac.uk/Archi/Linguists/lexeme.aspx?LE=2101 |access-date=14 March 2015}}

Some of these sounds are very rare. For example, {{IPA|/ʁˤʷ/}} has only one dictionary entry word-internally (in {{IPA|/íʁˤʷdut/}}, 'heavy'){{cite web|url=http://www.smg.surrey.ac.uk/Archi/Linguists/lexeme.aspx?LE=1387|title=Archi - 1387 - игъIвдут|access-date=14 March 2015}} and two entries word-initially. Likewise, {{IPA|/ʟ̝/}} has only two dictionary entries: {{IPA|/náʟ̝dut/}} ('blue; unripe'){{cite web|url=http://www.smg.surrey.ac.uk/Archi/Linguists/lexeme.aspx?LE=2213|title=Archi - 2213 - наIкьдут|access-date=14 March 2015}} and {{IPA|/k͡𝼄ʼéʟ̝dut/}} ('crooked, curved').{{cite web|url=http://www.smg.surrey.ac.uk/Archi/Linguists/lexeme.aspx?LE=1838|title=Archi - 1838 - кьекьдут|access-date=14 March 2015}}

The fortis consonants are not simply two instances of the same consonant, though they do appear largely complementary, with the double instances {{IPA|/mm/}}, {{IPA|/ll/}}, and {{IPA|/nn/}} being the most common and {{IPA|/zz/}} less so. That said, {{IPA|/pp/}} can still be found in {{IPA|/𝼄íppu/}} ('three').{{cite web|url=http://www.smg.surrey.ac.uk/Archi/Linguists/lexeme.aspx?LE=3833|title=Archi - 3833 - лъибтIу|access-date=14 March 2015}} This is also noted by {{Harvcoltxt|Kodzasov|1977}},translated in {{Harvcoltxt|Ladefoged|Maddieson|1996|pp=97–98}} 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 {{IPA|/𝼄/}}, the voiced velar lateral fricative {{IPA|/ʟ̝/}}, and the corresponding voiceless and ejective affricates {{IPA|/k͡𝼄/}}, {{IPA|/k͡𝼄ʼ/}} are extremely unusual speech sounds among the languages of the world, because 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.

{{Confusing|section|reason=the orthography table is too complex|date=October 2024}}

Until recently Archi did not have a written form, except in studies by specialists who used the Latin script. In 2006, the Surrey Morphology 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.

{{Expand section|date=February 2023}}

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. There are four noun classes, which are only evident from verbal agreement.

Depending on the specifics of the analysis, the ergative and the absolutive cases are not always 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 in which 6 directional-case suffixes are combined with 5 spatial cases to produce a total of 30 case-localization combinations. However, they do not constitute 30 distinct case forms because they are easily derivable from a pair of morphemes.

The four noun classes of Archi are only evident from verbal inflection. This table summarizes the noun classes and their associated verbal morphology:

The following phrases were phonetically transcribed from Archi:{{cite book|last=Lubotsky|first=Alexander|title=Van Sanskriet tot Spijkerschrift: Breinbrekers uit alle talen|language=nl|trans-title=From Sanskrit to Cuneiform: Brain teasers from all languages|pages=17, 68–69|access-date=30 April 2016|publisher=Amsterdam University Press|year = 2010|isbn=978-9089641793|url=https://www.academia.edu/1209157}}

The inclusions of "little" and "young" in the phrases translate a diminutive, which in Archi language commonly refers either to a smaller or younger version of the subject. The non-diminutive nouns in the above examples belong to noun class III, while their diminutives belong to noun class IV. This difference in noun class is reflected on the verb in all of these examples, by the contrast between class III agreement in b from class IV in ∅ (with no b). The -b- in the past tense appears in front of the -x̄u / -č̣u / -ku inflection, while in the present tense the b- is the first letter of the verb. For the nouns referring to inanimate objects, the class shift is the only sign of the diminutive: the noun itself does not change in form. E.g. x́it means both "ladle" (III) and "spoon" (IV), k̂ut̄ali both "bag" (III) and "little bag" (IV). Nouns pertaining to younger animals have different words, e.g. dogi "donkey" (III) but ḳêrt "young donkey" (IV), nôiš "horse" (III) but uri "young horse" (IV).

{{reflist}}

• {{cite book |editor-last1=Bond |editor-first1=Oliver |editor-first2=Greville G. |editor-last2=Corbett |editor-first3=Marina |editor-last3=Chumakina |editor-first4=Dunstan |editor-last4=Brown |year=2016 |title=Archi: Complexities of agreement in cross-theoretical perspective |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press}}
• {{Cite book |last1=Chumakina |first1=Marina |url=http://www.smg.surrey.ac.uk/archi-dictionary |title=A dictionary of Archi: Archi-Russian-English |last2=Dunstan Brown |last3=Greville G. Corbett |last4=Harely Quilliam |publisher=University of Surrey |year=2007 |edition=Online |doi=10.15126/SMG.16/2}}
• {{Cite book |last=Kodzasov |first=Sandro |title=Opyt Strukturnogo Opisanija Archinskogo Jazyka |publisher=Izdatel’stvo Moskovskogo Universiteta |year=1977 |editor-last=Kibrik |editor-first=A. E. |volume=1 |location=Moscow |chapter=Fonetika Archinskogo Jazyka, part 2 |editor-last2=Samedov |editor-first2=I. P. |editor-last3=Olovjannikova |editor-first3=D. S. |editor-last4=Kodzasov |editor-first4=S. V.}}
• {{SOWL}}

• {{cite book |last=Chumakina |first=Marina |year=2014 |chapter=Семантическое согласование в арчинском языке [Semantic agreement in Archi] |editor-last1=Plungyan |editor-first1=V. A. |script-title=ru:Язык. Константы. Переменные. Памяти Александра Евгеньевича Кибрика |trans-title=Language. Constants. Variables. In memoriam of A.E. Kibrik |pages=454–470 |location=St Petersburg |publisher=Aleteya |language=ru}}
• {{cite book |last=Chumakina |first=Marina |year=2015 |chapter=Archi |editor-first1=Peter O. |editor-last1=Müller |editor-first2=Ingeborg |editor-last2=Ohnheiser |editor-first3=Susan |editor-last3=Olsen |editor-first4=Franz |editor-last4=Rainer |title=Word formation: An international handbook of the languages of Europe |series=Handbooks of Linguistics and Communication Science |volume=HSK40 |location=Berlin |publisher=de Gruyter Mouton}}
• {{cite book |last=Dirr |first=A. M. |year=1908 |chapter=Arčinskij jazyk |title=Sbornik materialov dlja opisanija mestnostej i plemen Kavkaza |location=Tbilisi|language=ru}}
• {{cite book |last=Kaxadze |first=O. I. |year=1979 |title=The Archi language and its relation to other Daghestan languages |publisher=Mecniereba |location=Tbilisi|language=ka}}
• {{cite journal |last=Kibrik |first=Aleksandr E. |year=1972 |title=O formal'nom vydelenii soglasovatel'nyx klassov v arčinskom jazyke |journal=Voprosy jazykoznanija |volume=1 |pages=124–131 |language=ru}}
• {{cite book |last=Kibrik |first=Aleksandr E. |year=1977 |volume=2: Taksonomičeskaja grammatika |title=Opyt strukturnogo opisanija arčinskogo jazyka |location=Moscow |publisher=Izdatel'stvo moskovskogo universiteta|language=ru}}
• {{cite book |last=Kibrik |first=Aleksandr E. |year=1977 |volume=3: Dinamičeskaja grammatika |title=Opyt strukturnogo opisanija arčinskogo jazyka |location=Moscow |publisher=Izdatel'stvo moskovskogo universiteta|language=ru}}
• {{cite book |last=Kibrik |first=Aleksandr E. |year=1993 |chapter=Archi |editor=R. Smeets |title=Indigenous languages of the Caucasus |volume=3 |publisher=Caravan Books |location=New York |pages=297–365}}
• {{cite book |last=Kibrik |first=Aleksandr E. |year=1998 |chapter=Archi |editor-first1=Andrew |editor-last1=Spencer |editor-first2=Arnold M. |editor-last2=Zwicky |title=The Handbook of Morphology |publisher=Blackwell Publishers |pages=455–476}}
• {{cite book |last1=Kibrik |first1=Aleksandr E. |last2=Kodzasov |first2=S. V. |last3=Olovjannikova |first3=I. P. |last4=Samedov |first4=D. S. |name-list-style=amp|year=1977 |title=Arčinskij jazyk. Teksiy i slovari |publisher=Izdatel'stvo moskovskogo universiteta |location=Moscow|language=ru}}
• {{cite book |last1=Kibrik |first1=Aleksandr E. |last2=Kodzasov |first2=S. V. |last3=Olovjannikova |first3=I. P. |last4=Samedov |first4=D. S. |year=1977 |title=Opyt strukturnogo opisanija arčinskogo jazyka |volume=1: Leksika. Fonetika |publisher=Izdatel'stvo moskovskogo universiteta |location=Moscow|language=ru}}
• {{cite book |last=Mikailov |first=K. Š. |year=1967 |title=Arčinskij jazyk |location=Maxachkala|language=ru}}
• {{cite book |last=Xajdakov |first=S. M. |year=1967 |chapter=Arčinskij jazyk |title=Jazyki narodov SSSR |volume=4 |publisher=Nauka |location=Moscow|language=ru}}

{{Incubator|aqc}}

• Appendix:Cyrillic script
• [http://www.smg.surrey.ac.uk/archi-dictionary Archi–Russian–English dictionary]
• [http://www.smg.surrey.ac.uk/languages/archi/tutorial Archi language tutorial]
• [http://wold.clld.org/vocabulary/16 Archi Vocabulary List] (from the World Loanword Database)
• [http://starling.rinet.ru/cgi-bin/response.cgi?root=new100&morpho=0&basename=new100\ncc\lez&first=0 Archi basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database]
• A sample of the Archi language, 'the Bear Story':
• [http://www.smg.surrey.ac.uk/languages/archi/tutorial as a sound file]
• [http://www.smg.surrey.ac.uk/languages/archi/tutorial in written form]
• https://www.smg.surrey.ac.uk/languages/archi/ Archi language overview
• [https://nplus1.ru/material/2019/03/18/archinsky-language Почему арчинский язык считается одним из самых трудных в мире]

{{Northeast Caucasian languages}}

{{Languages of the Caucasus}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Archi Language}}

Category:Northeast Caucasian languages

Category:Languages of Russia

Category:Endangered Caucasian languages

Category:Languages written in Cyrillic script