Tindi is a Northeast Caucasian language spoken in the Russian republic of Dagestan. Tindis have no individual designation for their language, but those living in the village of Idar [ru] call their language Idarab mitstsi meaning 'the language of the Idar village'. It is only an oral language; Avar or Russian are used in written communication instead.[2] Tindi vocabulary contains many loanwords from Avar, Turkish, Arabic, and Russian.[3] It has approximately 4,500 speakers.[1]

Phonology

Vowels

There are 20 phonemic vowels in Tindi.[4][5]

Front Central Back
Close i iː u uː
Mid e eː o oː
Open a aː

Nasalized vowels may also exist as /ĩ, ẽ, ã, õ, ũ/ and as long-nasalized /ĩː, ẽː, ãː, õː, ũː/.

Consonants

Labial Dental Alveolar Palatal Velar Uvular Pharyn-
geal
Glottal
central lateral central palatalized
lenis fortis lenis fortis lenis fortis lenis fortis lenis fortis lenis fortis
Nasal m n
Plosive voiceless p t k kʲː
ejective kʲʼ ʔ
voiced b d ɡ ɡʲ
Affricate voiceless t͡s t͡sː t͡ʃ t͡ʃː t͡ɬː q͡χː
ejective t͡sʼ t͡sʼː t͡ʃʼ t͡ʃʼː t͡ɬʼː q͡χʼː
Fricative voiceless s ʃ ʃː ɬ ɬː ç χ χː ħ h
voiced z ʒ ʁ ʕ
Trill r
Approximant w l j

References

  • Magomedbekova, Z. M. (2001). "Tindinskij Jazyk". Yazyki mira: Kavkazskie Yazyki. Moskva: Academia. pp. 283–291.


No tags for this post.