Avar (МагIарул мацI)

[avarabrek]

transcripts...
ı have no arabian or cyrillic fonts in
my PC...
ı made a lot of website ,
you can find movies transcripts in this adres
http://avar.armed.us ,
be hurry , I will hack it , because I lose
my account secret code...

about Ajam books , ı will tell you something
about them , ı must speak our old Avarian people ,
they have memorized every sentences of this books..

I havent got a scanner , ıf ı had ı would send you
this books copies...

[avarabrek]

... ı hacked so..
but ı remember a new...
in here :
http://avarabrek.awardspace.com/animasyon.html

ı will attack on this , in a month ,

_____________
we change name of site to -> www.avarlar.org ,
ı am in high school now ,
ı have final exams , and endless mission
write codes codes codes....
so ı haven't got any time ,
but ı will never forget you ,
that's just that ı meet you... zhiguli..
take it easy !

"... galloping horsemen ,
to the Hunzakh ,
to see the face of freedom..."
(thats a little part of Avarian poem ,(translating
is very comic to the english , english not yet to
say poet's sensation...)
I take this poem archives of young Avar poet
: "Surhay Avaroğlu"...

[zhiguli]

thanks again ali for all your resources. look forward to seeing those ajam books.

as for the notes, this will probably be my last posting here (obviously the thread will still be here for related discussions). since i'm planning to start a site about avar any other material will go there directly. anyone else who is interested in helping out with this site, offering free, ad-free webspace, translations (into russian), etc. can contact me by pm.

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to recap, the genitive/possessive pronouns:

дир my
дур your (sg.)
нижер our (excl.)
нилъер our (incl.)
нужер your (pl.)

third persons:

гьаб this (near the first person/speaker)
гьеб that (near the second person/addressee)
доб that (farther away)

for в (male) class the pronouns are

гьасул гьесул досул

for й (feminine) and б (neuter) class the pronoun is the same:

гьалъул гьелъул долъул

for л (plurals):

гьазул гьезул дозул

the interrogatives also decline:

щив/щий (who) both have the genitive лъил, whereas щиб (what sg.) and щал (what pl.) have сундул.

and the ergative pronouns:

дица i
дуца you (sg.)
нижеца we (excl.)
нилъеца we (incl.)
нужеца you (pl.)

гьаб(гьеб, доб): гьас (гьес, дос)
гьай(гьей, дой), гьаб(гьеб, доб): гьалъ(гьелъ, долъ)
гьал(гьел, дол): гьаз(гьез, гьоз)

щив, щий: лъица
щиб, щал: сундуца/сунца

as you can see, the genitive is formed with the ending -ул added to the ergative ending in 1st and 2nd declension, and added to the oblique stem (ergative without the -ца ending) in the third declension.

квералъ+ул hand's
инсуца инсул

the genitive corresponds more or less to the english "'s/of", though it could be said to have a broader range of uses

it can be a possesive:
дир чу my horse
дур вац your brother
инсул рукъ father's (nom. эмен) house

it can show that something is part of a whole:
кочIол рагIаги words of a song/song's words (nom. кечI)
квералъул килщал fingers of the hand (nom. sg. килищ)

and the material something is made or consists of/contains:
меседил баргъич golden ring
чагъиралъул шиша bottle of wine

more examples:

дагъистаналъул росу dagestani village
росдал гIадамал village people
рогIол гIуж summer time
хасалил сордо winter night

[zhiguli]

some avar lessons in french:

http://gilles.authier.free.fr/avar.htm

[zhiguli]

Russian-Tindi dictionary (a language related to Avar):

http://www.tsumada.ru/?f=dic

[zhiguli]

the site (still under heavy construction) is finally online, thanks be to fellow unilanger om, who provided the webspace. the address:

http://maarul.vnvsoft.com

i also got an email from our friend ali ulvi, who has also started another site, which you can visit here:

http://avarbek.awardspace.com

[zhiguli]

from another forum, some audio of spoken avar:

http://rapidshare.com/files/28337572/avarca-1.mp3.html

[zhiguli]

avar-russian dictionary now online:

http://www.tsumada.ru/?f=dic

[zhiguli]

from another site - some traditional (and not so traditional) avar music by муи гасанова (file will be deleted):

http://rapidshare.com/files/33636527/MU ... O.rar.html

[zhiguli]

[url=http://rapidshare.com/files/63830152/rusavarrazg-1.rar.html]русско-аварский разговорник. часть 1
Russian-Avar phrasebook, part 1[/url]

In Russian only...English translations will be put up on my site as time permits.

[zhiguli]

Some reports about the status of Avar (and other minority languages) in Russia:

http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/20 ... 89226.html

http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/20 ... 140ff.html

No Money For Books

The collapse of the Soviet system demolished the ideological rationale and the hothouse conditions, including generous state subsidies, that existed for encouraging the use and teaching of small languages. At the same time, a knowledge of Russian as lingua franca remained crucial, especially within a multiethnic society such as Daghestan, where, in addition, unemployment is high and competition for jobs intense.

Moreover, Daghestan's government, which as of 2005 depended on subsidies from Moscow for 80 percent of its budget, was forced to revise spending priorities, with education getting short shrift. This has led to chronic shortages of school textbooks in languages other than Russian.

Even the language of Daghestan's largest ethnic group, the Avars (who numbered 758,438 people in 2002, or 29.4 percent of the republic's population), is under threat, and has been for some time.

In 2002, a language teacher in Kaspiisk told RFE/RL's North Caucasus Service that several factors were contributing to the decline in the use of Avar: a lack of qualified teachers and up-to-date textbooks (not all schools had an adequate number of textbooks, and the limited number available were up to 20 years old); the lack of an up-to-date Avar-Russian dictionary; and, crucially, lack of interest among school students in studying their own native language. Some wealthy businesspeople sponsored the publication of language textbooks, but those textbooks were not always approved by and coordinated with the republic's Pedagogical Institute.

The situation does not seem to have improved greatly over the past five years. In 2003, a new Avar-Russian dictionary was published, the first for over 50 years, but native speakers say it is not of outstanding quality, and the print run was only 3,000 copies.

And the problem of school textbooks remains acute. Magomed Gazaliyev, the director of a school in the village of Andikh in Shamil Raion in west-central Daghestan, told RFE/RL's North Caucasus Service in July that his school cannot buy new textbooks for students in 10th and 11th grades, and that teachers comb villages in the hope of buying old ones.

"We have been without books for more than 10 years," he said.

Gazaliyev said the republican Education Ministry claims it does not have sufficient funds to finance the publication of a new series of textbooks. He said the ministry is apparently hoping that a private sponsor might be found.

Study Time Reduced

Gazaliyev further complained that the number of hours devoted to the study of Avar in schools is being reduced, but did not specify how drastically. In rural schools, instruction in all subjects is in Avar for the first four grades. From fifth to ninth grade, instruction is in Russian, with two hours per week devoted to the Avar language and two to Avar literature. In 10th and 11th grades, two hours per week are devoted to the Avar language.

"They are reducing the time spent on teaching the native language and literature and increasing the number of hours spent studying other subjects at their expense," Gazaliyev told RFE/RL.

Radio and television broadcasting in languages other than Russian has also been subjected to cuts. Republican television now broadcasts exclusively in Russian, although there are still daily radio programs in the 13 other titular languages, in addition to Russian. The number of hours broadcast is directly proportional to the number of speakers of a given language, with Avar and Dargin having the most and Tsakhur the least.

All these factors serve to undermine many Avars' commitment to their native language. And the decline in the use of Avar is not confined to urban areas with a multiethnic population, but extends to districts where the population is almost exclusively Avar.

A correspondent for RFE/RL's North Caucasus Service recently quoted Bata Aliyev, a resident of the village of Mesterukh in Akhvakh Raion, as saying that with every year that passes, it becomes clearer that members of the local Avar population are losing respect for their native language.

"The raion administration, the local education board, schools, and local television are contributing to the gradual decline of the Avar language, because the Russian language is used everywhere," Aliyev said. "Very little time is devoted to the study of the Avar language in school."

The published summary of the July 12 roundtable discussion in Makhachkala did not give any indication whether participants came to the conclusion that some languages are in greater danger of becoming obsolescent than others, and if so, which.

The participants said much of the blame for the decline of Daghestan's indigenous languages lies with the Education Ministry. They characterized many of the ministry's staff members as having no relevant expertise and implied they are indifferent to the issue of teaching small languages

They contrasted the situation in Daghestan, where high-school students spend a maximum of four hours per week studying their native language, literature, and history, with that in Kabardino-Balkaria, where the comparable figure is 36 hours.

The roundtable participants appealed to Daghestan President Aliyev to take urgent measures to reverse the decline in the use of small languages. But even if the republic's leadership could secure funds for programs to promote the study of Avar and other state languages, it could take years before such programs yielded the desired effect.

And here is that old report from 2002, just in case it disappears again:

AVAR LANGUAGE FACES MARGINALIZATION IN DAGHESTAN.

The development of native languages faces major obstacles in the Republic of Daghestan. Scarce attention is paid to native languages, including Avar, either within the education system or at home. Even in Avar villages, the language goes largely untaught in a formal sense. Classroom hours prescribed for Avar are usually added to those assigned for psychology, sociology, and other newly emerging subjects. In many schools, Avar is taught by history teachers, librarians, recent graduates, and even by those who simply failed their university entrance examinations. Teachers prefer to find better-paid jobs rather than add more work by teaching Avar, and they often leave the field of education altogether.

In urban environments, while there are teachers of Avar, children do not appear eager to learn it. Some even feel ashamed to speak it and continue to harbor stereotypes and misconceptions about the Avar-speaking population. Other children claim they already know Avar, since they speak it at home. However, most are children who speak in a regional dialect and whose parents and relatives do not always recognize the difference between the dialect and the Avar language. Khadijat Bechedova, a teacher in Kaspiisk, told RFE/RL's North Caucasus Service that parents often complain to her that, because of Avar classes, their children frequently arrive late for mosque prayers and sports activities. The fact is that neither the population as a whole nor many officials consider developing their own language a priority, and they often speak Russian.

Another reason children are unfamiliar with their native language lies in the lack of textbooks. Both in cities and villages, teachers often must rely on 20-year-old books -- when they can find them at all. Daghestan has few funds to publish textbooks. Some have been written by nonacademics and sponsored by wealthy Daghestani citizens, but they are often published without prior consultation with the Daghestan Pedagogical Institute. The same situation prevails with Avar-Russian dictionaries, which have not been printed for decades. In order to promote such publications and similar initiatives, some foundations and institutions have been created, but they are not always efficient. And Avar journalists and academics have launched several ad hoc initiatives. But, without state-initiated and large-scale reforms, the Avar language will not be able to develop in the Republic of Daghestan.

[zhiguli]

And at long last, the Avar self-teacher book is now available:

Самоучитель аварского языка. 13MB

[zhiguli]

A recent discovery:

http://forum.k1urh.ru/viewtopic.php?t=3

Dictionaries, a phrasebook, a textbook, and other materials about the Lak language and people, and an album of (folk) music by Марьям Дандамаева:

http://forum.k1urh.ru/viewtopic.php?t=3&start=9

For the Arabists and Persianists among you there's also a dictionary of Arab/Persian loan words in Lak:

http://forum.k1urh.ru/viewtopic.php?t=3&start=6

[peterlin]

For the Arabists and Persianists among you there's also a dictionary of Arab/Persian loan words in Lak:

http://forum.k1urh.ru/viewtopic.php?t=3&start=6

Similar dictionaries of "orientalisms" in Lezgi, Dargwa and Avar are available here:

http://israf.narod.ru/monographies.htm

I wish I had access to these when I was writing my masters' (it was on Iranian loans in Lezgi)

[zhiguli]

a relatively new site with articles from the avar newspaper хIакъикъат:

http://hakikat.etnosmi.ru/

in the sidebar there are links to newspapers in 12 other dagestani languages.

there is also this paper, having to do with islam, in avar and 5 other dagestani languages:

http://assalam.ru/arhiv/index.shtml

and this regional newspaper, сугъралъ, with archives going back to 2003:

http://sogratl.net/gazeta/gazeta.php

you may have noticed my site is down - it will not be making a return. i still have some of the material from there if anyone needs it.

[zhiguli]

A recent discovery on Google books:
Cyril Graham - The Avâr Language
starting on page 312, an early description of the Avar language from 1873, back when it was still written in Arabic letters. More of historical interest than anything, but still fascinating.
And the first (and probably only) blog in Avar, by journalist and writer Дугъричил МуртазагIали. There are translation of poems by Rumi into Avar (in both the current Cyrillic and the old Latin alphabet of the 1930s) along with the English (and sometimes Persian).

[zhiguli]

Some materials for Lak:

Лакку дуниял, a set of 52 lessons with audio (in Russian)

Some old Soviet cartoons and other videos dubbed into Lak

Some old folk songs from the 60s by Alpiyat Shapieva

[księżycowy]

Interesting.
I remember finding a textbook for Lak (I think) too, but then again the one you linked to has audio!
I suppose I better get moving on my Russian!

[księżycowy]

Might be a bit off topic but, out of curiosity have you come across any good Circassian/Kabardian lessons zhilugi? (Or anyone else for that matter.)

I've had to put my Russian lessons on hold, but I figured I'd gather a few resources now for after I start Russian back up.

[zhiguli]

Haven't a clue. You might want to start at this page:

http://jaimoukha.synthasite.com/

It looks like the author has put out a self-teacher in French (in the Parlons series)