Chechen

Where it’s spoken

Chechen (Нохчийн мотт, Noxçiyn mott) is the official language of the Chechen Republic within the Russian Federation, alongside Russian. About 1.4 million people speak it. Significant Chechen-speaking communities live in Jordan, Turkey, Syria, and Western Europe — many descended from refugees of the 19th-century Caucasian War.

What it sounds like

Chechen has one of the largest vowel inventories in the world — analyses count between 16 and 31 distinct vowel phonemes (depending on whether diphthongs are counted separately). It has ejective consonants (p’, t’, c’, ç’, k’, q’), pharyngeals, and a contrast between palatalized and non-palatalized consonants. Stress is usually on the first syllable.

How it’s written

Chechen has used Arabic script (with various local adaptations from the 17th century), Latin (1925–1938), and Cyrillic (since 1938). The current Cyrillic alphabet has 49 letters to accommodate Chechen’s rich phonology. Some attempts at a return to Latin have been made.

History

Chechen has been spoken in its current homeland for thousands of years. Two devastating Chechen wars (1994–96 and 1999–2009) and prior 19th-century imperial campaigns have affected the language community.