Mehweb language

Mehweb (Mehweb: мехӀвела мез, meħʷela mez^[4]) or Megeb is a Dargin language, frequently considered a dialect of a unified Dargwa language, spoken in the village of Megeb in Dagestan, as well as by former residents of the village who have moved to larger cities, by about 800 to 900 people.^[2]

Mehweb
Megeb[1]
мехӀвела мез
Pronunciation	[meħʷela mez]
Native to	Russia
Region	Megeb, Dagestan
Ethnicity	Dargins
Native speakers	800-900 (2019)[2] 1,300 (2021)[3]
Language family	Northeast Caucasian Dargin North-Central Dargin Mehweb
Writing system	unwritten
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
Glottolog	mege1234
Mehweb

Geographical distribution

Mehweb is isolated from all other varieties of Dargwa and is surrounded by regions of Avar- and Lak-language speakers. All native speakers of Mehweb originate from Megeb, including those who have migrated to larger cities. Some Mehweb is spoken in the nearby Avar village of Obokh. There is no language shift occurring in the village, but multilingualism in Russian has increased over the years.^[2] The official language in the region is Avar, which Mehweb speakers are taught in school, and as a result, many speakers are bi- or trilingual.^[5]

Classification

While Mehweb is a typical representative of the northern branch of Dargin, its isolation, estimated to span from 300 to 1000 years, combined with the development of a distinct identity and influence from Avar and Lak, has led many to consider it as a separate language.^[6] It is completely mutually unintelligible with other Dargin languages.^[7]

Phonology

Consonants

Mehweb has 41 consonants. Gemination does not occur.

Consonants of Mehweb^[2]

		Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar		Uvular		Pharyngeal		Epiglottal		Glottal
						plain	lab.	plain	lab.	plain	lab.	plain	lab.	plain	lab.
Plosive	voiced	b	d			ɡ	ɡʷ
	voiceless	p	t			k	kʷ	q	qʷ			(ʡ)1	(ʡʷ)1	ʔ	ʔʷ
	ejective	pʼ	tʼ			kʼ	kʷʼ	qʼ	qʷʼ
Fricative	voiced		z	ʒ		(ɣ)2		ʁ	ʁʷ					(ɦ)3
	voiceless		s	ʃ		x	xʷ	χ	χʷ	ħ	ħʷ	(ʜ)1	(ʜʷ)1	h	hʷ
Affricate	voiced		(d͡z)4	(d͡ʒ)4
	voiceless		t͡s	t͡ʃ
	ejective		t͡sʼ	t͡ʃʼ
Sonorant		m w	n l r5		j

Mehweb has a three-way opposition between voiced plosives, ejectives and voiceless plosives.^[2]

1. [ʡ] and [ʜ] are essentially pharyngealized versions of [ʔ] and [ħ].
2. [ɣ] is rare and is realised as [ɡ] by younger speakers.
3. [h] may be rarely realized as [ɦ].
4. [d͡z] and [d͡ʒ] are realizations of [z] and [ʒ] by older speakers.
5. Sonorants [n] [l] [r] can be articulated as being either dental or alveolar.

Pharyngealization is considered to be suprasegmental, as it is not associated with any specific consonant or vowel. It results in epiglottalization of the glottal phonemes and centralization of vowels.^[2]

Vowels

	Front		Back
	plain	phar.	plain	phar.
Close	i	(iˤ)	u	(uˤ)
Mid	e	(eˤ)		oˤ
Open	a	aˤ

Vowel length is not phonemic. Vowels [iˤ], [eˤ], and [uˤ] are very rare and their status is unclear, and the other pharyngealized vowels are uncommon.^[2]

Writing system

Mehweb is an unwritten language, and speakers use Avar or Russian for writing. There is no evidence that Mehweb was written using Arabic or Cyrillic in the past, unlike Archi.^[2]