Lak language

Lak (, ) is a Northeast Caucasian language forming its own branch within the family. It is the language of the Lak people from the Russian autonomous republic of Dagestan, where it is one of six official languages. It is spoken by about 157,000 people.

History

In 1864, Russian ethnographer and linguist P. K. Uslar wrote: "Kazikumukh grammar or as I called it for short in the native language, the Lak grammar, Lakku maz, the Lak language, is ready".P. K. Uslar. Этнография Кавказа [Ethnography of the Caucasus]. Языкознание [Linguistics]. 4. Лакский язык [The Lak language]. Tbilisi, 1890.

In 1890, P. K. Uslar compiled a textbook on Lak grammar titled The Lak Language. It stated under the title "Lak alphabet": "The proposed alphabet is written for people who name themselves collectively Lak, genitive Lakral. From among these people each one is named separately Lakkuchu 'Lakian man', the woman – Lakkusharssa 'Lakian woman'. Their homeland they name Lakral kIanu – 'Lak place'."

Lak has throughout the centuries adopted a number of loanwords from Arabic, Turkish, Persian, and Russian.Словарь арабских и персидских лексических заимствований в лакском языке [Dictionary of Arabic and Persian lexical borrowings in Lak language]. N. B. Kurbaytayeva, I. I. Efyendiyev. Makhachkala, 2002. Ever since Dagestan was part of the Soviet Union and later Russia, the largest portion of loanwords have come from Russian, especially political and technical vocabulary. There is a newspaper and broadcasting station in Lak.Илчи – Lak newspaper

In accordance with the Constitution of the Republic of Dagestan of 1994, Lak was named as the state language along with Russian and some other major languages spoken in Dagestan (about 20 local languages are unwritten and have no official status). Lak is used as a teaching tool in elementary school and taught as a subject in secondary schools, vocational schools and universities. There is a Lak newspaper, Ilchi.

The standard Lak language is based on the dialect of the city of Kumukh. This city should not be confused with the Kumyk ethnic group, a Turkic people also present in the Caucasus. Lak has the following dialects: Kumukh, Vitskhi, Arakul, Balkhar, Shadni, Shalib, Vikhli, Kuli, and Kaya.

Initially Lak by lexicon was found to be close to Dargin and the two were often combined in one Lak–Dargin subgroup of Dagestani languages. However, further research has led linguists to conclude that this association was insufficient.

Phonology

Consonants

+ConsonantsConsonant Systems of the North-East Caucasian Languages on TITUS DIDACTICALabialDentalPostalveolarVelarUvularPharyngealGlottal Nasal Plosive voiced voiceless lenis voiceless fortis ejective Affricate voiceless lenis voiceless fortis ejective Fricative voiceless lenis voiceless fortis voiced ~ ~ Trill Approximant

According to Catford (1977), some dialects have .

Vowels Five vowels are presented as /i, e, a, o, u/. Three vowels /i, a, u/ are also pharyngealized as /iˤ, aˤ, uˤ/, and also have allophones of [e, æ, œ].

Writing systems The Lak language was written using the Arabic script until 1928. Afterwards it was written with a Latin alphabet for ten years, and since 1938 it has been written in Cyrillic.

The Lak alphabet in Cyrillic initially included 48 letters and later 54 letters with double letters as "тт", "пп", "чч", "хьхь", etc.: А а Аь аь 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 КӀ кӀ Л л М м Н н О о Оь оь П п Пп пп ПӀ пӀ Р р С с Т т ТӀ тӀ У у Ф ф Х х Хъ хъ Хь хь ХӀ хӀ Ц ц ЦӀ цӀ Ч ч ЧӀ чӀ Ш ш Щ щ Ъ ъ Ы ы Ь ь Э э Ю ю Я я

Writing Comparison Table Compiled according to,Yevlampiev, Ilya; Pentzlin, Karl; Joomagueldinov, Nurlan. (2011, May 20) Revised Proposal to encode Arabic characters used for Bashkir, Belarusian, Crimean Tatar, and Tatar languages - Unicodehttps://unicode.org/L2/L2011/11209-n4072-arabic.pdf

Cyrillic alphabet Latin (1930s)Perso-ArabicIPA , , ~ ~ , - , ~ Ҏ ҏ T̨ t̨ , Ӿ ӿ Ҳ ҳ Ҳҳ ҳҳ Removed in 1932 - - - - , , - -

Perso-Arabic Cyrillic Latin IPA [a], [ə], [ɛ] [æ]~[ɛ] [b] [t] [t:] [s] [p] [p:] [ʒ] [ħ] [χ] [χ:] Ӿ ӿ [q] [ʧ] [ʧ:] [ʧʼ] [d] [z] [r] [z] [ʦʼ] [ʒ] [s] [s:] [ʃ] [ʃʷ] [s] [z] [ʦ] [ʦ:] T̨ t̨ [tʼ] [z] [ʔ] [ʁ] [qː] [f] Ҏ ҏ [pʼ] [qʼ] [k] [k:] [g] [kʼ] Ҳ ҳ [x] Ҳҳ ҳҳ [x:] [l] [m] [n] [w]~[β] [o] [oˤ]~[ø] [u], [y] [h] [e] [j] [i], [y] [ʔ]

Grammar Lak is an ergative-absolutive language with a rich case inventory. The basic case forms are: +Absolutive-ØGenitive/Ergative/Instrumental-lDative-nGeneral Ablative-š:aComitative-š:alInstrumental, Causal-ynuComparative-yarPossessive/Adessive-(a)xGeneral Allative-x:unCircumessive-xlu Lak is one of the few North East Caucasian languages with verbal agreement for person. It generally only distinguishes between speech-act participants and non-speech-act participants. In other words, the first- and second-person agreement markers are the same.Helmbrecht, J. (1996). "The Syntax of Personal Agreement in East Caucasian Languages". Sprachtypol. Univ. Frsch. (STUF) 49:127–48. Cited in Bhat, D.N.S. 2004. Pronouns. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 26.

Singular Plural 1,2 -ra -ru 3 -r / -ri / -∅

The free pronouns of Lak do distinguish first and second person.

Singular Plural Absolutive Oblique 1 na tːu- žu(-) 2 ina wi- zu(-)

References

Lak language

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