Lezgi language
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Lezgi Лезги чІал lezgi čʼal |
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|---|---|---|
| Spoken in: | Russia, also spoken in Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan | |
| Region: | Southern Dagestan, western Caspian Sea coast, central Caucasus | |
| Total speakers: | about 450,000 | |
| Language family: | Northeast Caucasian Lezgian Lezgi |
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| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639-1: | none | |
| ISO 639-2: | lez | |
| ISO/FDIS 639-3: | lez | |
| Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. See IPA chart for English for an English-based pronunciation key. | ||
Lezgi, also called Lezgian, is a language spoken by the Lezgins who live in southern Dagestan (a republic of Russia) and northern Azerbaijan.
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[edit] Classification
Lezgi belongs to the Lezgian group of the Northeast Caucasian (Dagestan) language family.
[edit] Geographic distribution
In 1996, Lezgi was spoken by about 257,000 people in Russia, mainly in Southern Dagestan, as well as 171,400 people in Azerbaijan. Lezgi is also spoken in Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. The total number of speakers is about 451,000.
[edit] Official status
Lezgi is not an official language, but is one of six literary languages of Dagestan.
[edit] Related languages
There are ten languages in the Lezgian language family, namely: Lezgi, Tabasaran, Rutul, Aghul, Tsakhur, Budukh, Kryts, Khinalugh, Udi and Archi. These languages have the same names as the Lezgian tribes.
The Quba dialect spoken in Azerbaijan differs considerably from the standard language.
[edit] Grammar
Lezgi is unusual for a Northeast Caucasian language in not having noun classes. Literary Lezgi grammar features 18 noun cases, of which 12 are still used in spoken conversation.
[edit] Bibliography
- Haspelmath, Martin. 1993. A grammar of Lezgian. (Mouton grammar library; 9). Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter. – ISBN 3-11-013735-6
- Talibov, Bukar B. and Magomed M. Gadžiev. 1966. Lezginsko-russkij slovar’. Moskva: Izd. Sovetskaja Ėnciklopedija.
