Chechen language (in Chechen: Нохчийн мотт) is a very interesting language spoken by around 2 million people, in Caucasus. The language now use cyrillic script. Chechen has 8 cases (declension). The principle of declension states that the ending of a word changes according to its function in the sentence. In other words, the word "house" will change its ending if we say "in the house", "coming from the house" or "towards the house".
For Europeans, the Chechen language (sometimes known as Chechen-Ingush for its resemblance to the language spoken in the neighboring republic) has many unusual characteristics. Learning Chechen is therefore facilitated when students are introduced to the main characteristics of the grammar and structure of this Caucasian language. Try lesson #1 for free
Chechen language is spoken by 2 millions persons mainly living in Chechnya (capital: Grozny). It belongs to Norteast Caucasian family which is only a geographical division. Limba Audio course is glad to launch the first complete course to learn this Northeast Caucasian language. Despite some other website offering a glimpse into the language, Limba is the first step by step audio course that offer a real knowledge of the language spoken in Chechnya now. Every lesson offers a deep intuitive understanding of one of the most difficult language in the world. Chechen is one of those languages little known outside Russia and Caucasus but its knowledge open a culture of mountain (highest mountain: Tebulosmta in Chechen Тулой-лам at 4493m) filled with beauty, dance (Lezginka) and traditions. Chechen is such a challenging and interesting language to learn and Limba Audio is proud to promote this minority language of Caucasus.
Нохчийн мотт as it is said by Chechen people themselves is the language of the Нохчий people and is mainly spoken in the Republic of Chechnya (Нохчийн Республика) by around 2 to 3 million speakers and by the Chechen diaspora (Нохчийн диаспора) living in Europe (France, Germany, Belgium and Austria). It is also spoken in the neighbouring countries (Georgia) and in Daghestan. Chechen language is in the Waynakh language family. It, like other languages, is rooted deep in antiquity. The Chechen language is related to the most ancient Hurrian-Urartian languages of Western Asia and Transcaucasia. Traces of languages - the ancestors of modern Chechens - are found in the Hurrian script, recorded in the inscriptions of the ancient Eastern states of Mitanni (XVIII-XVI centuries BC) and Urartu (XVI century AD). Chechen is a language of the North-East Caucasus and it will introduce you to a language that is both rich and extremely complex. Knowledge of the Chechen language will allow you a unique foray into the fascinating imagination of this mountain people influenced by their religion and traditions.
Chechen is very similar to the Ingush language (we often consider them as one main language), spoken in the neighboring republic (Гӏалгӏай Мохк).
Grammar of Chechen language
Cases in Chechen language
As many other languages with a declensions, Chechen possesses 6 to 8 cases (or inflections) The number of cases can differs depending which book of reference grammar we take to explain Chechen language. According to what we consider a case, here are the one found in Chechen: absolutive, genitive, dative, ergative, allative, instrumental, locative and comparative. Each cases involves a different function in the sentence and then a change in the structure of the word. Chechen language, as Ingush is a highly inflected and agglutinative language with a heavy case system.
Let's consider an example of the declension of the Chechen word нана mother:
★ ЦIерниг: Nominative (also called absolutive) in Chechen: The nominative case is generally the subject of the sentence. It answer the question мила? who (singular) or муьлш? who (plural). It also answers the questions хIун what? | The word "mother" in nominative form is said "нана" and has no inlfection or change in the word. The words in the Chechen dictionary are always written in its nominative form (absolutive case).
★ Доланиг: Genitive (хьенан? whose?) ; стенан? of what? | The Chechen word "mother" in genitive case form is said Ненан. This case is similar in function to the genitive that we find in Latin, Russian or many languages. Genitive singular case has following endings: -ин, -уун. The question asked is "whose?" and it indicates possession. In Chechen questions asked are as follows: h’enan? (for animate), stenan? (for inanimate). For instance: Зураан болхZura's work/job. шен йиша his sister. Ахьмадан машина the car of Akhmad. Note that the possessive adjectives in Chechen (my, your, his, her, etc) will be put at the genitive form.
★ Лург: Dative (хьанна? (to whom?) ; стенна? (to what?) | The Chechen word "mother" in dative case form is said Нанна. Dative singular in Chechen has following endings: -на, -анна. For instance, "dad bought a car for Louis". Dadaс (Dad) Louisna (Louis in Dative) mashen (car) etsna (bought). Now we ask "to whom" Dad bought a car. The answer is "Louisna" in dative case.
★ Дийриг: Ergative (хьан? (to whom?) ; стен? (to what?) | [han? sten?]). The Ergative Case (erg) is always used to mark the subject of the sentence who uses a transitive verb. The ergative is the agent. | The Chechen word "mother" in ergative case form is said Нанас.
★ Коьчалниг: Instrumental (also called comitative) (хьаьнца? (with whom?) ; стенца? (with what?) | The Chechen word "mother" in instrumental case form is said Ненаца
★ Хотталург: [Hottalurg] (хьанах? (by whom?); стенах? (by what?) | The Chechen word "mother" in allative case form is said Ненах
★ Меттигниг: Locative * (хьаьнга? to whom?; стенга? (to what?) | The Chechen word "mother" in locative case form is said Нене. following endings – a, e. The question asked is "where?" h’a’nga(animate)/ stenga (inanimate) in Chechen. Louis went to school. Where did Louis go? To school. So "school" should be in Locative case. Louis ishkole (school in locative) vakhara (went). The question in Chechen stenga (where) vahara (went) Louis?
★ Дустург: Comparative ** (хьанал? (whom?) ; стенал? (what?) | The Chechen word "mother" in comparative case form is said Ненал. following endings -ал, -лла. Noun takes this form when something is being compared in Chechen. For instance, "I am higher than Louis" in chechen "So (I) Louisalla (Louis in comparative) lekha (high, higher in this context) бу (am)".
The grammar of Chechen written by Zura Dotton and John Doyle Wagner describes up to 10 cases in Chechen language: They add Lative, Inessive and Ablative cases.
Parts of the speech in Chechen
As any other language, Chechen has the following parts of speech:
☛ Nouns | ЦIердош: Noun is a part of speech that gives definitions to the names of an object or living creature, answering the questions: мила? - who? Singular муьлш? - who? Plural хIун? - what?
Example of noun in Chechen: гата towel, куьг hand, говр horse, сурт picture, стом fruit, к1ант boy
☛ Adjectives | Билгалдош: in Chechen as in any other language, an adjective is a part of speech (generally a word) describing the qualities or states of an object, an animal, a thing or a person. Adjectives in Chechen normally precede the nouns that they modify. Example of adjectives in Chechen: Iаьржа (black), г1алара (urban), дика (good), хаза (beautiful), вон (bad), ц1иэн (red). Here are some example of uses of adjectives in Chechen language.
♦ big book | доккха жайна
♦ black cat | 1аьржа цициг
♦ intelligent teacher | хьекъале хьехархо
♦ dangerous city | кхераме г1ала
♦ small school | жима ишкол
♦ good boy | дика к1ант
♦ beautiful dress | хаза коч
♦ red car | ц1иэн машина
☛ Numeral name | Терахьдош: Indicates the number of items, how many and which number. Маса?— кхоъ, шийтта, б1е, ткъе итт. - translation: how many? - three, twelve, one hundred, thirty. Масалг1а?— кхоалг1а, шуьйтталг1а, б1олг1а, ткъе уьтталг1а. - translation: which one? - third, twelfth, hundredth, thirtieth.
☛ Pronouns | ЦIерметдош: The pronoun is an independent part of speech that indicates objects and replaces their name with: со, хьо, и (иза),тхо, шу, уьш,вай, хIара, муха, муьлха, маса, масалгIа. - translation: I; you; he-she; we; you; they; our; this; how; which; how much; which the. In Chechen language, the pronoun will change when in the sentence since it’s function will be different.
Verbs in Chechen
Хандош The part of speech to which words refer to the action or state of an object or living creature and answers the questions: х1ун дан? х1ун хила? (what to do?). For example: to speak дийца, to write язда, to learn 1амо, to say ала, to read еша, to sleep вижа, to go ваха, to eat яа.
1. Simple present. I work: ас болх bo (litt: I work do)
2. Compound present (present continuous) . I am working. со болх беш бу (litt: I work doing am)
3. Recently passed tense. I recently worked. ас (I) болх (work) би (e sound)
4. Obviously passed tense . Aс (I) bolkh (work) бира (did). Father asks the son did you do that work. The son answers I have done the work or I did the work (job).
5. Past perfect tense. Aс (I) болх (work) бина (did). Employer could asks "do you have an experience working in that area?". Applicant could answer, "I have worked in that area or I did that kind of work.
6. Pluperfect tense (Passed long time ago). Aс (I) болх (work) бинера ( the letter e pronounced like in the word hell) (did a long time age, shows that it is not recent) I have worked or I did that work a long time ago.
7. Past multiple (imperfect) time. Aс (I) болх (work) бора (have done multiple times). For instance, employer asks have you been working on that project, workers answers I have been working on that project.
8. Future possible tense. Aс (I) болх (work) ба (do) мега (might) ( a at the end is not pronounced or not accented).
9. Future actual (definite) tense (future tense). Aс (i) bolkh (work) beeyr бу (will do)
It may seem too hard at the beginning and indeed the one who learns Chechen need to have some patience. Step by step you can get there.
Карара хан (present): х1ун до? х1ун хуьлу? (what to do?) - яздо, йоьшу (writing, reading); (past tense): х1ун дина? х1ун хилла? (what did you do) - яздина, ешна (wrote, read); Yog1u khan (past tense): х1ун дийр ду? х1ун хир ду? (what will he do?) - кхана яздийр ду, кхана йоьшур ю I'll write tomorrow; I'll read it tomorrow.
This Audio Course of Chechen is the best form training if you are working with the Chechen diaspora or planning a travel to Grozny.
You may want to ask, why should I learn Chechen language among several languages in the world? Foremost, the Chechnya republic consists of a beautiful set of people with incredible cultures and peculiarities. Chechnya festivals are often captivating, with lots of dances, games, and fashion shows. Hence, it provides an opportunity to explore the practices of intriguing places in the world. Finally the morphology of Chechen language is unique and linguist lovers will be delighted to learn this language of Caucasus.
Unlike most Caucasian languages, the Chechen language course uses large diphthongs and vowels.
Chechen dialects are phonological, which can help an individual brush up the sound analysis skill. These dialects include; Akkin, Ploskost, Kistin, Itumkala, Cheboroi, Galanchoi, and Melkhin. Since the world is trending towards societal acceptance, learning the Chechen language, which has received significant criticism in the past, is a good option.
The Chechen audio course is suitable for both young and old. Psychological science admits that training a child in a native language would cause such a child to learn a foreign language quickly.
Chechnya history would be incomplete without mentioning its bounce back from the ban that happened in the 1940s. Fortunately, the reverse is the case today. The Russians had significant wars with the Chechnya, leading to the eradication of the Chechen language.