Aukh dialect


The Aukh dialect is a dialect of the Chechen language. It is primarily spoken by residents of northern Dagestan, and the estimated number of speakers is about 160,000. It is the native dialect of the Aukh society. Linguist Yuri Koryakov considers Aukh to be on par with Ingush and Chechen in the Vainakh language group.

Subdialects

Phonology

In the Aukh dialect, similar to the Chechen language, there is an absence of words with the voiceless fricative consonant which is more common in Ingush. Additionally, both the Aukh dialect and the Chechen literary language exhibit vowel nasalization, particularly at the end of words, unlike Ingush. The vowel system of the Aukh dialect closely resembles that of the Chechen literary language.
Transitional between it and Ingush, the Aukh dialect is similar to the Chechen dialect in that in its verb forms, as in Chechen, the vowels and are widespread, while in Ingush they are very rare. According to Professor I. Arsakhanov, "The Aukh dialect, although it occupies an intermediate position between the Chechen and Ingush languages, still gravitates to the Chechen language".