Lezgian, also called Lezgi or Lezgin /ˈlɛzɡiːn/,[3][4] is a Northeast Caucasian language. It is spoken by the Lezgins, who live in southern Dagestan (Russia); northern Azerbaijan; and to a much lesser degree Turkmenistan; Uzbekistan; Kazakhstan; Turkey, and other countries. It is a much-written literary language[citation needed] and an official language of Dagestan. It is classified as "vulnerable" by UNESCO's Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger.[5]
Lezgian | |
---|---|
лезги чӏал lezgi č’al[1] | |
Pronunciation | [lezɡi tʃʼal] |
Native to | North Caucasus |
Region | Dagestan and Azerbaijan |
Ethnicity | Lezgins |
Native speakers | 630,000 (2020)[2] |
Cyrillic, Latin (historically) | |
Official status | |
Official language in | Russia |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-2 | lez |
ISO 639-3 | lez |
Glottolog | lezg1247 |
Distribution of the Lezgin language (represented in small areas by L) in North Caucasus | |
Lezgian is classified as Vulnerable by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger | |
In 2002, Lezgian was spoken by about 397,000 people in Russia, mainly Southern Dagestan; in 1999 it was spoken by 178,400 people in mainly the Qusar, Quba, Qabala, Oghuz, Ismailli and Khachmaz provinces of northeastern Azerbaijan. Lezgian is also spoken in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Germany and Uzbekistan by immigrants from Azerbaijan and Dagestan.
Some speakers are in the Balikesir, Yalova, İzmir, Bursa regions of Turkey especially in Kirne (Ortaca), a village in Balikesir Province which touches the western coast, being south-west of Istanbul.
The total number of speakers is about 800,000.[6]
Nine languages survive in the Lezgic language family:
These have the same names as their ethnic groups.
Some dialects differ heavily from the standard form, including the Quba and Akhty dialects spoken in Azerbaijan.[6]
Front | Central | Back | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
unrounded | rounded | |||
Close | i ⟨и⟩ | y ⟨уь⟩ | /ɨ/ ⟨ы⟩[a] | u ⟨у⟩ |
Mid | e ⟨е, э⟩ | o ⟨o⟩[b] | ||
Open | æ ⟨я⟩ | a ⟨а⟩ |
There are 54 consonants in Lezgian. Characters to the right are the letters of the Lezgian Cyrillic Alphabet. Aspiration is not normally indicated in the orthography, despite the fact that it is phonemic.
Labial | Dental | Post- alveolar |
Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Glottal | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
plain | lab. | plain | lab. | plain | lab. | ||||||
Nasal | /m/ м | /n/ н | |||||||||
Plosive | voiced | /b/ б | /d/ д | /g/ г | /gʷ/ гв | ||||||
voiceless | /p/ п | /t/ т | /tʷ/ тв | /k/ к | /kʷ/ кв | /q/ къ | /qʷ/ къв | /ʔ/ ъ | |||
aspirated | /pʰ/ п | /tʰ/ т | /tʷʰ/ тв | /kʰ/ к | /kʷʰ/ кв | /qʰ/ хъ | /qʷʰ/ хъв | ||||
ejective | /pʼ/ пl | /tʼ/ тl | /tʷʼ/ тӏв | /kʼ/ кl | /kʷʼ/ кlв | /qʼ/ кь | /qʷʼ/ кьв | ||||
Affricate | voiced | /dz/ дз | /dʒ/ дж | ||||||||
voiceless | /t͡s/ ц | /t͡sʷ/ цв | /t͡ʃ/ ч | ||||||||
aspirated | /t͡sʰ/ ц | /t͡sʷʰ/ цв | /t͡ʃʰ/ ч | ||||||||
ejective | /t͡sʼ/ цl | /t͡sʷʼ/ цlв | /t͡ʃʼ/ чl | ||||||||
Fricative | voiced | /v/ в | /z/ з | /zʷ/ зв | /ʒ/ ж | /ʁ/ гъ | /ʁʷ/ гъв | ||||
voiceless | /f/ ф | /s/ с | /sʷ/ св | /ʃ/ ш | /x/ хь | /xʷ/ хьв | /χ/ х | /χʷ/ хв | /h/ гь | ||
Approximant | /l/ л | /j/ й | /w/ в | ||||||||
Trill | /r/ р |
Lezgian has been written in several different alphabets over the course of its history. These alphabets have been based on three scripts: Arabic (before 1928), Latin (1928–38), and Cyrillic (1938–present).
The Lezgian Cyrillic alphabet is as follows:[13]
А а | Б б | В в | Г г | Гъ гъ | Гь гь | Д д | Е е |
Ё ё | Ж ж | З з | И и | Й й | К к | Къ къ | Кь кь |
КI кl | Л л | М м | Н н | О о | П п | ПI пl | Р р |
С с | Т т | ТI тl | У у | Уь уь | Ф ф | Х х | Хъ хъ |
Хь хь | Ц ц | ЦI цl | Ч ч | ЧI чl | Ш ш | Ъ ъ | Ы ы |
Ь ь | Э э | Ю ю | Я я |
The Latin alphabet was as follows:
A a | Ä ä | B b | C c | Č č | Ch ch | Čh čh | D d |
E e | F f | G g | Gh gh | H h | I i | J j | K k |
Kh kh | L l | M m | N n | Ŋ ŋ | O o | Ö ö | P p |
Ph ph | Q q | Qh qh | R r | S s | Š š | T t | Th th |
U u | Ü ü | V v | X x | X́ x́ | Y y | Z z | Ž ž |
Lezgian is unusual for a Northeast Caucasian language in not having noun classes (also called "grammatical gender"). Standard Lezgian grammar features 18 grammatical cases,[14] produced by agglutinating suffixes, of which 12 are still used in spoken conversation.
The four grammatical cases are:[12]
There are two types of declensions.
Case | Singular | Plural | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Absolutive | буба | buba | бубаяр | bubajar |
Ergative | бубади | bubadi | бубайри | bubajri |
Genitive | бубадин | bubadin | бубайрин | bubajrin |
Dative | бубадиз | bubadiz | бубайриз | bubajriz |
Adessive | бубадив | bubadiv | бубайрив | bubajriv |
Adelative | бубадивай | bubadivaj | бубайривай | bubajrivaj |
Addirective | бубадивди | bubadivdi | бубайривди | bubajrivdi |
Postessive | бубадихъ | bubadiqʰ | бубайрихъ | bubajriqʰ |
Postelative | бубадихъай | bubadiqʰaj | бубайрихъай | bubajriqʰaj |
Postdirective | бубадихъди | bubadiqʰdi | буабайрихъди | buabajriqʰdi |
Subessive | бубадик | bubadikʰ | бубайрик | bubajrikʰ |
Subelative | бубадикай | bubadikʰaj | бубайрикай | bubajrikʰaj |
Subdirective | бубадикди | bubadikʰdi | бубайрикди | bubajrikʰdi |
Inessive | бубада | bubada | бубайра | bubajra |
Inelative | бубадай | bubadaj | бубайрай | bubajraj |
Superessive | бубадал | bubadal | бубайрал | bubajral |
Superelative | бубадалай | bubadalaj | бубайралай | bubajralaj |
Superdirective | бубадалди | bubadaldi | бубайралди | bubajraldi |
The numbers of Lezgian are:
уд | ud | zero |
сад | sad | one |
кьвед | qʷ’ed | two |
пуд | pud | three |
кьуд | q’ud | four |
вад | vad | five |
ругуд | rugud | six |
ирид | irid | seven |
муьжуьд | muʒud | eight |
кlуьд | k’yd | nine |
цlуд | ts’ud | ten |
цlусад | ts’usad | eleven |
цlикьвед | ts’iqʷ’ed | twelve |
цlипуд | ts’ipud | thirteen |
цlикьуд | ts’iq’ud | fourteen |
цlувад | ts’uvad | fifteen |
цlуругуд | ts’urugud | sixteen |
цlерид | ts’erid | seventeen |
цlемуьжуьд | ts’emyʒud | eighteen |
цlекlуьд | ts’ek’yd | nineteen |
къад | qad | twenty |
къадцуд | qadtsud | thirty |
яхцlур | jaxts’ur | forty |
яхцlурцуд | jaxtsurtsud | fifty |
пудкъад | pudqad | sixty |
пудкъадцlуд | pudqadtsud | seventy |
кьудкъад | q’udqal | eighty |
къудкъадницlуд | q'udq'adnitsud | ninety |
виш | viʃ | one hundred |
агъзур | aɣzur | one thousand |
Nouns following a number are always in the singular. Numbers precede the noun. "Сад" and "кьвед" lose their final "-д" before a noun.
Lezgian numerals work in a similar fashion to the French ones, and are based on the vigesimal system in which "20", not "10", is the base number. "Twenty" in Lezgian is "къад", and higher numbers are formed by adding the suffix -ни to the word (which becomes "къанни" - the same change occurs in пудкъад and кьудкъад) and putting the remaining number afterwards. This way 24 for instance is къанни кьуд ("20 and 4"), and 37 is къанни цӏерид ("20 and 17"). Numbers over 40 are formed similarly (яхцӏур becomes яхцӏурни). 60 and 80 are treated likewise. For numbers over 100 just put a number of hundreds, then (if need be) the word with a suffix, then the remaining number. 659 is thus ругуд вишни яхцӏурни цӏекӏуьд. The same procedure follows for 1000. 1989 is агьзурни кӏуьд вишни кьудкъанни кӏуьд in Lezgi.