Lezgian language

Lezgian language

Infobox Language
name=Lezgian
nativename=Лезги чІал
pronunciation= [lezɡi ʧʼal]
states=Russia, also spoken in Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan
region=Southern Dagestan, western Caspian Sea coast, central Caucasus
speakers=about 450,000
familycolor=Caucasian
fam1=Northeast Caucasian
fam2=Lezgic
iso2=lez|iso3=lez

Lezgian, also called Lezgi, is a language spoken by the Lezgins who live in southern Dagestan (a republic of Russia) and northern Azerbaijan.

Classification

Lezgian belongs to the Lezgic group of the Northeast Caucasian (Dagestan) language family.

Geographic distribution

In 1996, Lezgian was spoken by about 257,000 people in Russia, mainly in Southern Dagestan, as well as 171,400 people in Azerbaijan. Lezgian is also spoken in Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. The total number of speakers is about 451,000.

Official status

Lezgian is an official language in Dagestan. Refer to article at Wikipedia List of official languages by state

Related languages

There are ten languages in the Lezgic language family, namely: Lezgian, Tabasaran, Rutul, Aghul, Tsakhur, Budukh, Kryts, Khinalugh, Udi and Archi. These languages have the same names as the Lezgic ethnic subgroups.

The Quba dialect spoken in Azerbaijan differs, but not considerably from the standard language.

Grammar

Lezgian is unusual for a Northeast Caucasian language in not having noun classes. Standard Lezgian grammar features 18 noun cases, of which 12 are still used in spoken conversation.

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.

External links

* [http://peterlin.jzn.pl/lezgi/chal.html Notes on the Lezgi language]
* [http://www.ethnologue.org/show_language.asp?code=lez Ethnologue report for Lezgi]
* [http://languageserver.uni-graz.at/ls/lang?id=3072 Languages of the World report]


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