Correspondences of post-uvular consonants in Dargwa languages

Nina Sumbatova (Institute of Linguistics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow; nina.sumbatova@gmail.com)

Journal of Language Relationship, № 22/1-2, 2024 - p.131-161

Abstract: In this paper, I study the correspondences of the post-uvular (that is, pharyngeal and laryngeal) consonants in the Dargwa languages of the Nakh-Dagestanian language family. The study is based on the data of nine lects of the Dargwa language group (Aqusha, Muira, Kadar, Mehweb, Tanti, Itsari, Chirag, Kaytag, Kubachi). I also suggest a reconstruction of a fragment of the Proto-Dargwa consonant system and describe the transitions from the reconstructed phonemes to their reflexes in modern languages. The reconstruction shows that the modern systems of postuvular consonants in Dargwa have been strongly influenced by the development of pharyngealization, an important phonological feature of the modern varieties of Dargwa.

Keywords: Nakh-Dagestanian languages, Dargwa languages, post-uvular consonants, laryngeal consonants, pharyngeal consonants, pharyngealization, reconstruction of consonant systems

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