SOME SPECIFIC PHONEMES OF THE ZAKATAL DIALECT OF THE AVAR LANGUAGE

Abstract

Isolated existence during a long historical period and the lack of close contacts with the other Avar dialects led to the specificity of the Zakatal dialect. The Zakatal dialect, on the one hand, has archaic facts and phenomena, on the other hand it possesses some new facts, which are not typical of other dialects. This applies to almost all sections of the Zakatal dialect: lexicon, morphology, syntax, phonetics. Significant discrepancies between the Zakatal dialect and other dialects of the Avar language are found in the lexical composition and phonetic structure. Especially striking differences are observed in the sound and phonemic composition, as well as the actions of the phonetic process in the Zakatal dialect and in other Avar dialects. In terms of the composition of phonetic units, these differences relate primarily to the following: There are lateral consonants in the other Avar dialects; there are no laterals in the Zakatal dialect; there are labialized consonants in the other Avar dialects, but they are absent in the Zakatal dialect; in the Zakatal dialect there are sounds and phonemes, absent in other dialects; in the Zakatal dialect there is an opposition of consonants on the hardness of softness that are not typical of other Avar dialects. These and some other phonetic features determine the specifics of the Zakatal dialect of the Avar language.