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Chamalal
чамалалдуб мичIчI (çamalaldub miçʿçʿ)
Native to	Russia
Region	Southwestern Dagestan
Ethnicity	Chamalal people
Native speakers	500 (2010)
Language family	Northeast Caucasian Avar–Andic Andic Akhvakh–Tindi Karata–Tindi Botlikh–Tindi Chamalal
Language codes
ISO 639-3	cji
Glottolog	cham1309

Chamalal (also called Camalal or Chamalin) is an Andic language of the Northeast Caucasian language family spoken in southwestern Dagestan, Russia by approximately 500 ethnic Chamalals. It has three quite distinct dialects, Gadyri, Gakvari, and Gigatl.

Classification

The native self-designation is chamalaldu, and the speakers call their language chamalaldub mitchtch. The language belongs to the Andi subgroup of the northwestern (Avar-Ando-Dido) group of Dagestan languages.

The closest languages in the Dagestan genealogy are Bagulal and Tindi. Chamalal also bears a discernible influence from Godoberi in its Gigatl dialect.

History

Chamalal is spoken in southwestern Dagestan, Russia by indigenous Chamalals since the 8th or 9th century. The ethnic population is approximately 5,000, with around 500 speakers. The 1926 census noted the population of the Chamalals, but later they were counted as Avars, so it is difficult to quantify the exact number of indigenous people. The language has a 6b (threatened) status.

There is no universal agreement on the origin of the Chamalals, and historically, they have much in common with the Avars, being politcally and economically associated with Avaria. Their unique culture might have occured as a result of the endogamous arrangement of their society or the polystructural political system established in the Andi-Koisu river basin.

Islam reached the Chamalal villages in the 8th-9th centuries following Arab conquests, with Sunnite Islam following in the 13th-14th centuries, taking root over a couple hundred years. Christianity made an attempt to advance into the Chamalal territories from Georgia in the 8th century, but it was forced to retreat upon the arrival of Islam. Since the 8th century, Avaria has been under foreign rule, but in the 16th century, 16 Chamalal villages formed a separate political unit. The resulting "free community" managed the political and economic life of the Chamalals.

The Chamalal economy relies on small-scale seasonal livestock-breeding of primarily sheep, but also cattle and goats. Large-scale land cultivation is difficult in the area because of the shortage of arable land. Agriculture on irrigated terraced fields is moderately successful, mostly with cultivated wheat, rye, potatoes, vegetables, flax, and hemp as industrial crops. However, the small yields lead to insufficient grain to last the year round, so additional resources are brought over from the Avarian plains.

Geographic distribution

The approximately 500 ethnic speakers live in a few dozen villages in the Tsumadinsky District (Tsumada) on the left bank of the Andi-Koisu river in the Dagestan Republic and in the Chechnya Republic. The speakers are mostly Muslim, primarily following Sunni Islam since the 8th or 9th century. The major Chamalal villages are Lower-Gaquar, Agual, Tsumada, Urukh, Gachitl, Quenkh, Gigatl and Gadór. Their neighbours are mainly Ando-Dido peoples: Godoberis to the north, Avars, Bagulals and Tindis to the east and Avars to the south.

The Chamalals are anthropologically related to the Caucasian type of the Balkano-Caucasian race. They also have certain features of the Caspian (Lezgians) types. Ethnoculturally, the Chamalals resemble the Avars, in a spiritual and material sense, though they have minor differences in terms of folk costumes and traditions.

Official status

There are no countries with Chamalal as an official language.

Dialects/Varieties

Chamalal has there distinct dialects: Gadyri (Gachitl-Kvankhi), Gakvari (Agvali-Richaganik-Tsumada-Urukh), and Gigatl (Hihatl). There are also two more dialects: Kwenkhi, Tsumada.

It is also sometimes divided into two dialects -- the Gaquar dialect and the Gigatl dialect, with the former having the following subdialects: Upper-Gaquar, Lower-Gaquar, Quenkh and Gadór.

Derived languages

Gigatl (Hihatl) and Chamalal proper (with Gadyri, Gakvari, Tsumada and Kwenkhi dialects) are considered to be sublanguages.

Written System

The Chamalal people have no written language. Instead, they use the Avar language for literary purposes. Very little research has investigated the Chamalal language. It was first studied as an independent language byA. Dirr and R. Erckert in the late 19th century, and only researched more systematically after World War II.

Bibliography

• Anderson, S. (2005). Language, 81(4), 993-996. 
• Back Matter. (1996). Historische Sprachforschung / Historical Linguistics, 109(2).
• Blažek, V. (2002). The ‘beech’-argument — State-of-the-Art. Historische Sprachforschung / Historical Linguistics, 115(2), 190-217.
• Friedman, V. (2005). The Slavic and East European Journal, 49(3), 537-539.
• Greppin, J. (1996). New Data on the Hurro-Urartian Substratum in Armenian. Historische Sprachforschung / Historical Linguistics, 109(1), 40-44.
• Harris, A. (2009). Exuberant Exponence in Batsbi. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory, 27(2), 267-303.
• Haspelmath, M. (1996). Language, 72(1), 126-129.
• Kolga, M., Tõnurist, I., Vaba, L., & Viikberg, J. (1993). The Red book of the Peoples of the Russian Empire.
• Schulze, W. (2005). Grammars for East Caucasian. Anthropological Linguistics, 47(3), 321-352.
• Szczśniak, A. (1963). A Brief Index of Indigenous Peoples and Languages of Asiatic Russia. Anthropological Linguistics, 5(6), 1-29.
• Tuite, K., & Schulze, W. (1998). A Case of Taboo-Motivated Lexical Replacement in the Indigenous Languages of the Caucasus. Anthropological Linguistics, 40(3), 363-383.
• Voegelin, C., & Voegelin, F. (1966). Index of Languages of the World. Anthropological Linguistics,8(6), I-222.

Further reading

• Margus Kolga; Igor Tõnurist; Lembit Vaba; Jüri Viikberg (1993). "The Chamalals". The Red Book of the Peoples of the Russian Empire.

Category:Northeast Caucasian languages Category:Andic languages Category:Languages of Russia