Ingush language

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Ingush ГІалгІай Ğalğaj
Spoken in:	Russia, Kazakhstan
Region:	Ingushetia, Chechnya

Total speakers:	~400,000
Language family:	Caucasian (disputed) North (disputed) Northeast Veinakh (Chechen-Ingush) Ingush
Official status
Official language in:	Ingushetia (federal subject of Russia)
Regulated by:	No official regulation
Language codes
ISO 639-1:	`none`
ISO 639-2:	`inh`
ISO 639-3:	`inh`
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode.

Ingush is a language spoken by approximately 415,000 people (2005), known as the Ingush, across a region covering Ingushetia, Chechnya, Kazakhstan and Russia. In Ingush, the language is called ГІалгІай Ğalğaj (pronounced [ʁəlʁɑj]).

1 Classification
2 Geographic distribution
- 2.1 Official status
3 Writing system
4 Phonology
5 External links

Classification

Ingush and Chechen, together with Bats, constitute the Nakh branch of the Northeast Caucasian language family. They are not mutually intelligible, though there is pervasive passive bilingualism between Ingush and Chechen.

Geographic distribution

Ingush is spoken by about 415,000 people (2005), primarily across a region in the Caucasus covering parts of Russia, primarily Ingushetia and Chechnya. Speakers can also be found in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Belgium, Norway, Turkey and Jordan.

Official status

Ingush and Russian are the official languages of Ingushetia, a federal subject of Russia.

Writing system

Ingush became a written language with an Arabic-based writing system at the beginning of the 20th century. After the October revolution it first used a Latin alphabet which was later replaced by Cyrillic letters.

А а	Аь аь	Б б	В в	Г г	ГI гI	Д д	Е е
Ё ё	Ж ж	З з	И и	Й й	К к	Кх кх	Къ къ
КI кI	Л л	М м	Н н	О о	П п	ПI пI	Р р
С с	Т т	ТI тI	У у	Ф ф	Х х	Хь хь	ХI хI
Ц ц	ЦI цI	Ч ч	ЧI чI	Ш ш	Щ щ	Ъ ъ	Ы ы
Ь ь	Э э	Ю ю	Я я	Яь яь	I

Phonology

Vowels	front	central	back
high	и [i]		у [u]
mid	э [e]	? [ə]	о [o]
low	аь [æ]		а [ɑː, ɑ]

Diphthongs are иэ, уо, оа, ий, эи, ои, уи, ов, ув.

Consonants	Sonorant			Voiced obstruents			Voiceless
	nasal	approx.	trill	plosive	fric.	affric.	plosive		fric.	trill	affricates
	nasal	approx.	trill	plosive	fric.	affric.	pulm.	ejec.	fric.	trill	pulm.	ejec.
Labial	м [m]	в [w]		б [b]			п [p]	пI [pʼ]	ф [f]
Alveolar	н [n]	л [l]	р [r]	д [d]	з [z] ж []	дз [dz] дж []	т [t]	тI [tʼ]	с [s] ш []	рхI [r̥]	ц [ts] ч []	цI [tsʼ] чI []
Palatal		й [j]
Velar				г [g]			к [k]	кI [kʼ]
Uvular					гI [ʁ]		кх [q]	къ [qʼ]	х [χ]
Pharyngeal				I [ʡ]					хь [ħ]
Glottal				ъ [ʔ]					хI [h]

(update: [1])

External links

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