Dargin writing is a written form of communication representing the North East Caucasian

Dargin language Dargwa (, ''dargan mez'') is a Northeast Caucasian language spoken by the Dargin people in the Russian republic Dagestan. This article discusses the literary dialect of the dialect continuum constituting the Dargin languages. It is based on th ...

. This language has approximately 439,000 speakers, most of whom live in the Russian republic of

Dagestan Dagestan ( ; ; ), officially the Republic of Dagestan, is a republic of Russia situated in the North Caucasus of Eastern Europe, along the Caspian Sea. It is located north of the Greater Caucasus, and is a part of the North Caucasian Fede ...

. Additionally, Dargin writing is used in the Russian Republics of

Kalmykia Kalmykia, officially the Republic of Kalmykia,; , ''Khalmg Tanghch'' is a republic of Russia, located in the Volga region of European Russia. The republic is part of the Southern Federal District, and borders Dagestan to the south and Stavr ...

, Khantia-Mansia, and

Chechnya Chechnya, officially the Chechen Republic, is a Republics of Russia, republic of Russia. It is situated in the North Caucasus of Eastern Europe, between the Caspian Sea and Black Sea. The republic forms a part of the North Caucasian Federa ...

, as well as nearby countries of

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan, officially the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia lying in the Tian Shan and Pamir Mountains, Pamir mountain ranges. Bishkek is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Kyrgyzstan, largest city. Kyrgyz ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

Turkmenistan Turkmenistan is a landlocked country in Central Asia bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the south and southwest and the Caspian Sea to the west. Ash ...

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

, and

Uzbekistan , image_flag = Flag of Uzbekistan.svg , image_coat = Emblem of Uzbekistan.svg , symbol_type = Emblem of Uzbekistan, Emblem , national_anthem = "State Anthem of Uzbekistan, State Anthem of the Republ ...

Arabic script

The Dargins used the Arabic alphabet for centuries before the adoption of Latin. The Arabic alphabet for Dargwa, before it was replaced by Latin in 1928, looked like this:

Uslar's Cyrillic

In 1892,

Peter von Uslar Baron Pyotr Karlovich Uslar ( rus, Пётр Карлович Услар, p=ˈpʲɵtr kərɫəvʲɪt͡ɕ ʊsɫər), known by his German name Peter von Uslar ( – ), was a Russian general, engineer and linguist of German descent, known for his r ...

published his grammar on the

Urakhi dialect Urakhi (also Khyurkili) is a dialect of North Dargwa spoken by around 35,000 people in Sergokalinsky District, the northern portions of Akushinsky District and in the villages of Gerga and in Kayakentsky District. Along with the Aqusha diale ...

(or Khyurkili), which included an alphabet for it in Cyrillic. It is displayed below. Dargin alph Uslar

In 1911, it was modified further.

Latin script

The Arabic alphabet was adapted as the Dargin phonetics alphabet in 1920, but it was poorly adapted to the sounds of the

. So in 1928, as part of the All-Union project on

Romanization In linguistics, romanization is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Latin script, Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and tra ...

, the Latin-based alphabet was adopted for Dargin. In the same year, the first primer in this alphabet was published (cupanov r. Nuşala ʐaꝗ-sawet. Mәħәc-qala, 1928). Initially the Dargin Romanized alphabet had no capital letters. After the reform of 1932, capital letters were introduced, some Latin letters were excluded and the alphabet took the form shown in the table below:

Modern alphabet

The

Cyrillic alphabet The Cyrillic script ( ) is a writing system used for various languages across Eurasia. It is the designated national script in various Slavic, Turkic, Mongolic, Uralic, Caucasian and Iranic-speaking countries in Southeastern Europe, Easte ...

was adopted in 1938. In the 1960s, the letter ПI, пI was added.

References

* Appendix:Cyrillic script
Dargin language

Dargwa basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database

Specific

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dargwa language Northeast Caucasian languages Languages of Russia Dagestan