Lezgi language
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{{language |name=Lezgi |nativename=Лезги чІал lezgi č'al |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=Lezgian |iso2=lez|iso3=lez}}
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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Classification
Lezgi belongs to the Lezgian group of the Northeast Caucasian (Dagestan) language family.
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.
Official status
Lezgi is not an official language, but is one of six literary languages of Dagestan.
Dialects
The Lezgi spoken in Dagestan has ten spoken dialects: Lezgi, Tabassaran, Rutul, Aghul, Tsakhur, Budukh, Kryts, Khinalugh, Udi, and Archi. These dialects have the same names as the Lezgin tribes. These Lezgin tribes use a modified version of the Cyrillic alphabet to write their Lezgin dialects.
The Quba dialect spoken in Azerbaijan differs considerably from the standard language.
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.
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
de:Lesgische Sprache ko:레즈긴어 pl:Język lezgiński ru:Лезгинский язык fi:Lezgin kieli