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Lezgin , also called Lezgi or Lezgian, is a Northeast Caucasian language. It is spoken by the
Lezgins Lezgins or Leks ( lez, Лезгияр, Лекьер. lezgijar) are a Northeast Caucasian ethnic group native predominantly to southern Dagestan, a republic of Russia, and northeastern Azerbaijan. The Lezgin are predominantly Sunni Muslims and s ...
, who live in southern
Dagestan Dagestan ( ; rus, Дагеста́н, , dəɡʲɪˈstan, links=yes), officially the Republic of Dagestan (russian: Респу́блика Дагеста́н, Respúblika Dagestán, links=no), is a republic of Russia situated in the North Ca ...
(
Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eight ...
); northern
Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of t ...
; and to a much lesser degree
Turkmenistan Turkmenistan ( or ; tk, Türkmenistan / Түркменистан, ) is a country located in Central Asia, bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the sout ...
;
Uzbekistan Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked co ...
;
Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbekis ...
;
Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...
, and other countries. It is a much-written literary language and an
official language An official language is a language given supreme status in a particular country, state, or other jurisdiction. Typically the term "official language" does not refer to the language used by a people or country, but by its government (e.g. judiciary, ...
of
Dagestan Dagestan ( ; rus, Дагеста́н, , dəɡʲɪˈstan, links=yes), officially the Republic of Dagestan (russian: Респу́блика Дагеста́н, Respúblika Dagestán, links=no), is a republic of Russia situated in the North Ca ...
. It is classified as "vulnerable" by
UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
's
Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger The UNESCO ''Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger'' is an online publication containing a comprehensive list of the world's endangered languages. It originally replaced the ''Red Book of Endangered Languages'' as a title in print after a ...
.


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 Quba () is a city and the administrative centre of the Quba District of Azerbaijan. The city lies on the north-eastern slopes of Shahdag mountain, at an altitude of 600 metres above sea level, on the right bank of the Kudyal river. It has a po ...
,
Qabala Qabala ( az, Qəbələ) is a city and the administrative centre of the Qabala District of Azerbaijan. The municipality consists of the city of Gabala and the village of Küsnat. Before the city was known as Kutkashen, but after the Republic of ...
, Oghuz, Ismailli and Khachmaz ''(Xaçmaz)'' provinces of northeastern Azerbaijan. Lezgian is also spoken in
Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbekis ...
,
Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan,, pronounced or the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the south, and the People's Republic of China to the east ...
,
Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...
,
Turkmenistan Turkmenistan ( or ; tk, Türkmenistan / Түркменистан, ) is a country located in Central Asia, bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the sout ...
, Ukraine, Germany and
Uzbekistan Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked co ...
by immigrants from
Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of t ...
and
Dagestan Dagestan ( ; rus, Дагеста́н, , dəɡʲɪˈstan, links=yes), officially the Republic of Dagestan (russian: Респу́блика Дагеста́н, Respúblika Dagestán, links=no), is a republic of Russia situated in the North Ca ...
. Some speakers are in the Balikesir,
Yalova Yalova is a market-gardening town located in northwestern Turkey on the eastern coast of the Sea of Marmara. The town has a population of 156,838, while the population of the surrounding Yalova Province is 291,001 . A largely modern town, it ...
, Izmir,
Bursa ( grc-gre, Προῦσα, Proûsa, Latin: Prusa, ota, بورسه, Arabic:بورصة) is a city in northwestern Turkey and the administrative center of Bursa Province. The fourth-most populous city in Turkey and second-most populous in the ...
regions of Turkey especially in Kirne (Ortaca), a village in Balikesir Province which touches the western coast, being south-west of
Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_in ...
. The total number of speakers is about 800,000.


Related languages

Nine languages survive in the Lezgic language family: * Lezgin * Tabasaran * Rutul * Aghul * Tsakhur * Budukh * Kryts *
Udi Udi may refer to: Places * Udi, Enugu, a local government areas and city in Nigeria * Udi, a place in the Etawah district of Uttar Pradesh, India People * Udi Gal (born 1979), Israeli Olympic sailor * Udi Vaks (born 1979), Israeli Olympic judoka ...
* 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

* has two main allophones: and ; the former prevails in closed syllables (especially before uvulars and ), the latter in open syllables. * is very often rounded after labialized consonants, which may then lose their labialization. * is open () in stressed syllables * if a vowel plus sequence is not followed by a vowel, the may be deleted and the vowel nasalized. Thus ('I') can be pronounced . * In the environment of labialized consonants /e/ is often pronounced as �~œ


Consonants

There are 54 consonants in Lezgian. Characters to the right are the letters of the Lezgian Cyrillic Alphabet. Note that aspiration is not normally indicated in the orthography, despite the fact that it is phonemic.


Alphabets

Lezgian has been written in several different alphabets over the course of its history. These alphabets have been based on three scripts:
Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walte ...
(before 1928),
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
(1928–38), and
Cyrillic , bg, кирилица , mk, кирилица , russian: кириллица , sr, ћирилица, uk, кирилиця , fam1 = Egyptian hieroglyphs , fam2 = Proto-Sinaitic , fam3 = Phoenician , fam4 = Gr ...
(1938–present). The Lezgian Cyrillic alphabet is as follows: The Latin alphabet was as follows:


Grammar

Lezgian is unusual for a Northeast Caucasian language in not having
noun class In linguistics, a noun class is a particular category of nouns. A noun may belong to a given class because of the characteristic features of its referent, such as gender, animacy, shape, but such designations are often clearly conventional. Some a ...
es (also called "grammatical gender"). Standard Lezgian grammar features 18
grammatical case A grammatical case is a category of nouns and noun modifiers (determiners, adjectives, participles, and numerals), which corresponds to one or more potential grammatical functions for a nominal group in a wording. In various languages, nominal ...
s, produced by agglutinating suffixes, of which 12 are still used in spoken conversation.


Cases

The four grammatical cases are: *
Absolutive case In grammar, the absolutive case (abbreviated ) is the case of nouns in ergative–absolutive languages that would generally be the subjects of intransitive verbs or the objects of transitive verbs in the translational equivalents of nominative� ...
(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 In grammar, the vocative case (abbreviated ) is a grammatical case which is used for a noun that identifies a person (animal, object, etc.) being addressed, or occasionally for the noun modifiers (determiners, adjectives, participles, and nume ...
. *
Ergative case In grammar, the ergative case ( abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that identifies the noun as the agent of a transitive verb in ergative–absolutive languages. Characteristics In such languages, the ergative case is typically marked (mos ...
(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 In grammar, the genitive case ( abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that marks a word, usually a noun, as modifying another word, also usually a noun—thus indicating an attributive relationship of one noun to the other noun. A genitive can a ...
(ending -н n added to the Ergative): marks possession. It is also used with the meaning 'of'. The genitive case precedes the noun that it modifies. *
Dative case In grammar, the dative case (abbreviated , or sometimes when it is a core argument) is a grammatical case used in some languages to indicate the recipient or beneficiary of an action, as in "Maria Jacobo potum dedit", Latin for "Maria gave Jacob ...
(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 case In grammar, the locative case (abbreviated ) is a grammatical case which indicates a location. It corresponds vaguely to the English prepositions "in", "on", "at", and "by". The locative case belongs to the general local cases, together with the ...
s: **
Adessive case In grammar, an adessive case (abbreviated ; from Latin '' adesse'' "to be present (at)": ''ad'' "at" + ''esse'' "to be") is a grammatical case generally denoting location at, upon, or adjacent to the referent of the noun; the term is most frequentl ...
(ending -в v added to the Ergative): marks the object of some verbs to mean 'by', 'to', 'with'. **
Adelative case In grammar, the ablative case (pronounced ; sometimes abbreviated ) is a grammatical case for nouns, pronouns, and adjectives in the grammars of various languages; it is sometimes used to express motion away from something, among other uses. T ...
(ending -вай
vaj Vaj may refer to: * Vaj, Isfahan * Vaj (street artist) * vaj, ISO 639-3 and ISO 639-2 code for Sekele language See also * VAG (disambiguation) {{disambiguation ...
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 In grammar, the instrumental case (abbreviated or ) is a grammatical case used to indicate that a noun is the ''instrument'' or means by or with which the subject achieves or accomplishes an action. The noun may be either a physical object or an ...
, 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 In linguistics, the postelative case (abbreviated An abbreviation (from Latin ''brevis'', meaning ''short'') is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method. It may consist of a group of letters or words taken from the full version of t ...
(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 The subessive case (abbreviated ) is a grammatical case indicating location under or below something. It occurs in Northeast Caucasian languages like Tsez and Bezhta as well as in Old Nubian Old Nubian (also called Middle Nubian or Old Nobiin) ...
(ending -к k added to the Ergative): means either 'below' or 'participates'. ** Subelative case (ending -кай
kaj Kaj may refer to: Places in Iran * Kaj, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari * Kaj, Hamadan * Kaj, Isfahan * Kaj, Qom * Kaj, Razavi Khorasan * Kaj, Sistan and Baluchestan Other uses * Kaj River, a river of Afghanistan * Kaj (name) * A fictional frog ...
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 In grammar, the inessive case ( abbreviated ; from la, inesse "to be in or at") is a locative grammatical case. This case carries the basic meaning of "in": for example, "in the house" is in Finnish, in Estonian, () in Moksha, in Basque, i ...
(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 AJ, or variants, may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional characters * A. J. (''The Fairly OddParents''), a fictional character * A.J. Soprano, a fictional character in ''The Sopranos'' * Superspinner AJ, a fictional character in th ...
added to Inessive): means 'out of' or 'in return for'. **
Superessive case In grammar, the superessive case (abbreviated ) is a grammatical case indicating location on top of, or on the surface of something. Its name comes from Latin ''supersum, superesse'': to be over and above. While most languages communicate this conce ...
(ending -л l added to the Inessive): means 'on', and also to express the cause of some emotions. ** Superelative case (ending -лай
laj Laj or Loj ( fa, لج or لاج) may refer to: * Ləj Ləj (also, Lazh and Lyazh) is a village and municipality in the Lankaran Rayon of Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes ...
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

There are two types of declensions.


First declension


Vocabulary


Numbers

The numbers of Lezgian are: Nouns following a number are always in the singular. Numbers precede the noun. "Сад" and "кьвед" lose their final "-д" before a noun. Lezgian numerals work in a similar fashion to the French ones, and are based on the vigesimal system in which "20", not "10", is the base number. "Twenty" in Lezgian is "къад", and higher numbers are formed by adding the suffix -ни to the word (which becomes "къанни" - the same change occurs in пудкъад and кьудкъад) and putting the remaining number afterwards. This way 24 for instance is къанни кьуд ("20 and 4"), and 37 is къанни цӏерид ("20 and 17"). Numbers over 40 are formed similarly (яхцӏур becomes яхцӏурни). 60 and 80 are treated likewise. For numbers over 100 just put a number of hundreds, then (if need be) the word with a suffix, then the remaining number. 659 is thus ругуд вишни яхцӏурни цӏекӏуьд. The same procedure follows for 1000. 1989 is агьзурни кӏуьд вишни кьудкъанни кӏуьд in Lezgi.


References


Bibliography

* *


External links


Lezgi-Englich online dictionary
* Appendix:Cyrillic script
Notes on the Lezgi language

Languages of the World report

Lezgian basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database

Lezgian Dictionary + Mobile apps
{{Authority control Northeast Caucasian languages Lezgins Languages of Azerbaijan Languages of Russia Languages of Georgia (country) Languages of Kazakhstan Languages of Uzbekistan Languages of Turkey Languages of Turkmenistan Languages of Ukraine Languages of Kyrgyzstan Lezgian languages Vulnerable languages