Cyrillic Digraphs - Chechen and Ingush

Chechen and Ingush

Chechen uses the following digraphs:

  • Vowels: аь /æ/, яь /jæ/, оь /ø/, ёь /jø/, уь /y/, юь /jy/
  • Ejectives in ⟨Ӏ⟩: кӀ /kʼ/, пӀ /pʼ/, тӀ /tʼ/, цӀ /tsʼ/, чӀ /tʃʼ/
  • Other consonants: гӀ /ɣ/, кх /q/, къ /qʼ/, хь /ħ/, хӀ /h/
  • The trigraph рхӀ /r̥/

In Ingush, there are no ejectives, so for example кӀ is pronounced /k/. Some of the other values are also different: аь /æ/ etc., уь /ɨ/ etc., кх /qχ/ (vs. къ /q/), хь /ç/

The vowel digraphs are used for front vowels for other Dagestanian languages and also the local Turkic languages Kumyk and Nogay. ⟨Ӏ⟩ digraphs for ejectives is common across the North Caucasus, as is гӀ for /ɣ~ʁ~ʕ/.

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