Lezgian ( ), also called Lezgi ( ) or Lezgin ( ), is a Northeast Caucasian language. It is spoken by the Lezgins, who live primarily in southern Dagestan—where it is an official language—and northern Azerbaijan. It is classified as "vulnerable" by UNESCO's Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger.UNESCO Interactive Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger
Geographic distribution 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.
Classification
Dialects According to Institute of Linguistics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Lezgian is composed of 3 dialects consisting of 17 subdialects.These are: Kyurin Dialect Gyunei (Spoken around along the left bank of the lower reaches of the Samur River basin in the Magaramkentsky, Suleiman-Stalsky Districts including the cities of Magaramkent, Kasumkent and Derbent) Yarkin (Spoken around the middle reaches of Chiragchay River basin in the Suleiman-Stalsky and Khivsky Districts) Kurakh (Spoken around the Kurakh River basin in the Kurakhsky District, including the city of Kurakh) Giliyar (Spoken in the village of Gilyar in the Magaramkentsky District) Gelkhen (Spoken in the village of Gelkhen in the Kurakhsky District) Akhty Dialect Akhtyn (Spoken around the middle reaches of Akhtychay River basin in the Akhtynsky District, including the city of Akhty) Dokuzparin (Spoken around the Usukhchay River basin in the Dokuzparinsky District, including the city of Usukhchay) Kurush (Spoken in the village of Kurush in the Dokuzparinsky District) Dzhaba (Spoken in the village of Dzhaba in the Akhtynsky District) Gdym (Spoken in the village of Gdym in the Akhtynsky District) Dashagil-Filfil (Spoken in the Oghuz District of Azerbaijan) Fiy (Spoken in the village of Fiy in the Akhtynsky District) Quba Dialect Quba (Spoken in the Quba District of Azerbaijan) Kuzun (Spoken in the Qusar District of Azerbaijan including the city of Qusar) Kımıl (Spoken in the village of Qımıl in the Quba District of Azerbaijan) Anykh (Spoken in the village of Əniq in the Qusar District of Azerbaijan)
Other classifications differ in their treatment of Lezgian dialects. Glottolog lists 8 dialects of Lezgian, some of which correspond to the villages where they are spoken. The dialects are listed in alphabetical order based on their name in Glottolog: Akhty Anykh Garkin Gyunei Kiuri Kubachi Quba Stal
Related languages
Nine languages survive in the Lezgic language family:
Lezgic languages Nuclear Lezgic Eastern Samur Lezgin Tabasaran Aghul Udi Caucasian Albanian † – extinct Western Samur Tsakhur Rutul Southern Samur Kryts Jek Budukh Archi
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.
Phonology
Vowels + Vowels of Lezgian Front Central Back unrounded rounded Close Mid Open
has two main allophones: and ; the former prevails in closed syllables (especially before uvulars and ), the latter in open syllables. is very often rounded and raised to after labialized consonants, which may then lose their labialization. For example, becomes or . is more open in stressed syllables and or in pre-stress syllables. In the environment of labialized consonants /e/ is often pronounced as ~. if a vowel plus sequence is not followed by a vowel, the may be deleted and the vowel nasalized. Thus can be pronounced . Chitoran and Babaliyeva show, at least for Babaliyeva in her native Yargun dialect, pre-tonic high vowels are syncopated.
Consonants 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. + Consonants of Lezgian Labial Dental Post-alveolar Palatal Velar Uvular Glottal plain lab. plain lab. plain lab. Nasal // // Plosive voiced // // // // voiceless // // // // // // // // aspirated // // // // // // // ejective // // // // // // // Affricate voiced // // voiceless // // // aspirated // // // ejective // // // Fricative voiced // // // // // // voiceless // // // // // // // // // Approximant // // // Trill //
Alphabets
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 (1928–1938), and Cyrillic (1938–present).
The Lezgian Cyrillic alphabet is as follows:Талибов Б. Б., Гаджиев М. М. Лезгинско-русский словарь. Moscow, 1966. А аБ бВ вГ гГъ гъГь гьД дЕ еЁ ёЖ жЗ зИ иЙ йК кКъ къКь кьКӀ кӏЛ лМ мН нО оП пПӀ пӏР рС сТ тТӀ тӏУ уУь уьФ фХ хХъ хъХь хьЦ цЦӀ цӏЧ чЧӀ чӏШ шЪ ъЫ ыЬ ьЭ эЮ юЯ я
Grammar Lezgian is unusual for a Northeast Caucasian language in not having noun classes (also called "grammatical gender"). Standard Lezgian grammar features 18 grammatical cases, produced by agglutinating suffixes, of which 12 are still used in spoken conversation.
Vowel Harmony Lezgian has a limited form of palatal and labial vowel harmony. In native Lezgian words, only syllables up to and including the stressed syllable are subject to vowel harmony. Since native Lezgian words are never stressed after the second syllable, only two vowels in a word can be subject to vowel harmony.
Palatal harmony contrasts the front vowels // with the back vowels //, and labial vowel harmony contrasts the labialized vowels // with non-labialized //. The vowels (// are considered neutral).
Cases The four grammatical cases are: Absolutive case (basic form of the word, no ending): marks the subject of an intransitive verb and the direct object of a transitive sentence. It is also used to mark a nominal predicate (who or what something turns into/becomes) and as a vocative. Ergative case (various endings; the most common are: -ди, -a or -е; [-di, -a or e], which are added to the Absolutive): marks the subject of transitive verbs, and the subject of some compound intransitive verbs.
Genitive case (ending -н [-n]; added to the Ergative): marks possession. It is also used with the meaning 'of', as well as describing the qualities, attributes, and materials. The genitive case precedes the noun that it modifies.
Dative case (ending -з [-z]; added to the Ergative): usually marks the indirect object of sentences, that is the recipient of an action. It is also used to mark the subject of some verbs (mainly about emotions) and to express a point of time and direction.
There are fourteen Locative cases: Adessive case (ending -в [-v]; added to the Ergative): marks the object of some verbs to mean 'by', 'to', 'with'. Adelative case (ending -вай [-vaj]; added to the Ergative): expresses movement from somewhere. It is also used with the verb 'to be able' and to express an accidental action. Addirective case (ending -вди [-vdi]; added to the Ergative): used as an instrumental case, but also sometimes used with its original meaning, 'in the direction of', and more rarely 'near by'. The Postessive case (ending -хъ [-qh]; added to the Ergative): means 'behind', 'at', 'toward', 'in exchange for', and 'with'. In a construction with the verb ава (ava), it expresses possession. Postelative case (ending -хъай [-qhaj]; added to the Ergative): can either mean 'from' or the cause of fear or shame. Postdirective case (ending -хъди [-qhdi]; added to the Ergative): rarely used case, meaning 'toward(s)'. Subessive case (ending -к [-k]; added to the Ergative): means either 'below' or 'participates'. Subelative case (ending -кай [-kaj]; added to the Ergative): means either 'from below', 'from', '(from) against', 'with' or 'out of' (partitive). It is also used to mark Y in the construction 'X becomes out-of-Y' and can express the topic of a sentence ('about') or the cause of emotions. Subdirective case (ending -кди [-kdi]; added to the Ergative): expresses cause (never motion under), and can mean 'because' or 'of' (when in sentences such as 'the man died of a disease'. Inessive case (endings -а or -е [-a or -e]; added to Absolutive): means 'at', 'in' or 'during/whilst'. Inelative case (endings -ай or -ей [-aj or -ej]; added to Inessive): means 'out of' or 'in return for'. Superessive case (ending -л [-l]; added to the Inessive): means 'on', and also to express the cause of some emotions. Superelative case (ending -лай [-laj]; added to the Inessive): means 'off', 'after' or 'than' (comparison). Superdirective case (ending -лди [-ldi]; added to the Inessive): means 'onto', 'until', 'in' (when followed by an adjective), as an instrumental case (e.g. language) or instructive with abstract nouns.
Declension The plural form of nouns is most often formed with the suffix -ar (or -jar if the word ends in a vowel). -er is also used to conform with palatal vowel harmony. The suffixes -lar/-ler are borrowed from the Turkic languages and are used for Turkic loanwords. {| class="wikitable" |+Plural Formation !Singular !Plural !Translation |- |muhman |muhman-ar |'guests''' |- |dide|dide-jar|'mothers|- |pel |pel-er |'foreheads|- |daǧ |daǧ-lar |'mountains|} There are two types of declensions.
First declension Case Singular Plural Absolutive buba bubajar Ergative bubadi bubajri Genitive bubadin bubajrin Dative bubadiz bubajriz Adessive bubadiv bubajriv Adelative bubadivaj bubajrivaj Addirective bubadivdi bubajrivdi Postessive bubadiqʰ bubajriqʰ Postelative bubadiqʰaj bubajriqʰaj Postdirective bubadiqʰdi buabajriqʰdi Subessive bubadikʰ bubajrikʰ Subelative bubadikʰaj bubajrikʰaj Subdirective bubadikʰdi bubajrikʰdi Inessive bubada bubajra Inelative bubadaj bubajraj Superessive bubadal bubajral Superelative bubadalaj bubajralaj Superdirective bubadaldi bubajraldi
Nominal Derivation Lezgian has three native suffixes for nominal derivation: -wal, -wi, and -qʰan.
-wal derives nouns from adjectives, e.g., 'proud > pride'. -wi forms nouns of origin from place names, e.g., 'person from Makhachkala'. -qʰan creates agent nouns from other nouns, e.g., 'hunt > hunter'. -wal and -wi are highly productive, while -qʰan is not.
Verbal Inflection Verbs are divided into two classes: strong and weak. Strong verbs are stressed on the thematic vowel (e.g., u-n), whereas weak verbs lack a thematic vowel and are stressed on the base (e.g., kis-un).
The inflectional endings are divided into three groups based on the type of stem: the masdar, imperfective, and aorist stems. However, the different stem forms are only distinguished in strong verbs. A partial paradigm is given below: +Strong VerbWeak Verbraxun "talk"fin "go"kisun "fall asleep"Base formrax-f-kis-Masdar Stemrax-u-f-i-kis-Masdarrax-u-nf-i-nkis-unOptativerax-u-rajf-i-rajkis-rajImperfective Stemrax-a-f-i-kis-Infinitiverax-a-zf-i-zkis-izImperfectiverax-a-zwaf-i-zwakis-zawaAorist Stemrax-a-f-e-kis-Aoristrax-a-naf-e-nakis-naPerfectrax-a-nwaf-e-nwakis-nawa