| Population |
944,600 speakers out of an ethnic population of 956,879 (1989 census). The population of Chechnya is 1,200,000 (1994). Population total all countries 1,000,000. |
| Region |
Chechnya, north Caucasus. The capital is Syelzha Ghaala (Chechen name) or Grozny (Groznii; Russian name). 80% live in rural areas. Also spoken in Georgia, Germany, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Syria, Turkey (Asia), Uzbekistan. |
| Alternate names |
NOKHCHIIN, NOKCHIIN MUOTT, GALANCHO |
| Dialects |
PLOSKOST, ITUMKALA (SHATOI), MELKHIN, KISTIN, CHEBERLOI, AKKIN (AUX). |
| Classification |
North Caucasian, North Central, Chechen-Ingush. |
| Comments |
Melkhi is the transitional dialect to Ingush. Chechen is at least partially intelligible with Ingush--more so with contact. Most speakers are quite fluent in Russian. The largest North Caucasian language. Used in publishing. They call themselves 'Nakhchuo' (sg.) or 'Nokhchi' (pl.). There are many Russians, Ingush, Ossetins, and other peoples living among them. From 1944 to 1957 they were deported to Kazakhstan and Siberia, losing 1/4 to 1/2 of their population, and have lost much land, economic resources, and civil rights. They have been largely removed from the productive lowlands. Dictionary. Grammar. Ergative case system; many consonants and vowels; extensive inflectional morphology, many nominal cases, several gender classes; complex sentences by chaining participial clauses; verbs have gender agreement with the direct object or intransitive subject, but no person agreement (Johanna Nichols). Cyrillic script used. Used in schools. Newspapers, radio programs. Alpine forest (highlands). Mountain slope, foothills, plains. Shepherds, agriculturalists: grain. Sunni Muslim: Sufi. Bible portions 1986-1995. |
