Rutul is a language spoken by the

Rutuls Rutuls, Rutulians ( rut, Мыхабыр, Mykhabyr) are a Northeast Caucasian ethnic group native to Dagestan and adjacent parts of Azerbaijan. According to the 2010 Russian Census, there were 35,240 Rutuls in Russia. In 1989 Soviet Census in A ...

, an ethnic group living in

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 C ...

(

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

) and some parts of

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 th ...

. It is spoken by 30,000 people in Dagestan (2010 census) and 17,000 (no date) in Azerbaijan. The word ''Rutul'' derives from the name of a Dagestani village where speakers of this language make up the majority.ETHEO: Rutul Language
/ref> Rutul is

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inva ...

in Russia and classified as "definitely endangered" 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 ...

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 ...

Classification

Rutul belongs to the Lezgic group of the

Northeast Caucasian The Northeast Caucasian languages, also called East Caucasian, Nakh-Daghestani or ''Vainakh-Daghestani'', is a family of languages spoken in the Russian republics of Dagestan, Chechnya and Ingushetia and in Northern Azerbaijan as well as in ...

language family. The

call their language myxʼabišdy čʼel.

History

Rutul was not a written language until the writing system for it (based on

Cyrillic , bg, кирилица , mk, кирилица , russian: кириллица , sr, ћирилица, uk, кирилиця , fam1 = Egyptian hieroglyphs , fam2 = Proto-Sinaitic , fam3 = Phoenician , fam4 = G ...

) was developed in 1990. A Latin alphabet was developed in 2013 based on the Shin-Shorsu dialect. Speakers are often bilingual or multilingual, having a good command of the

Azeri Azerbaijanis (; az, Azərbaycanlılar, ), Azeris ( az, Azərilər, ), or Azerbaijani Turks ( az, Azərbaycan Türkləri, ) are a Turkic peoples, Turkic people living mainly in Azerbaijan (Iran), northwestern Iran and the Azerbaijan, Republi ...

, Lezgian and/or

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

languages. There are 8 dialects and 2 subdialects of Rutul. The literary version of the language remains in the process of development. In the Rutul-populated regions of southern Russia, Rutul is taught in primary schools (grades 1 to 4).

Phonology

Vowels

Consonants

Related languages

Among the languages of the Lezgic group, Tsakhur appears to be the closest relative of Rutul.The Tsakhur language
The ''ETHEO'' Project. Last updated 11 October 2005. Retrieved 26 December 2006 Other than these two, there are seven more languages in the Lezgic group, namely: Lezgian, Tabasaran, Aghul, Budukh,

Kryts Kryts may refer to: * Kryts people, of the Caucasus of Azerbaijan * Kryts language, Lezgic language spoken by the Kryts people {{Disambig Language and nationality disambiguation pages ...

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 ...

and Archi. Rutul alphabet

References

External links

Rutul dictionary online
(select simple or advanced browsing) * Appendix:Cyrillic script
Folk Songs and Dances of the Rutuls of AzerbaijanRutul basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database (3 Rutul dialects: Mukhad, Ixrek, Luchek)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rutul Language Lezgian languages Northeast Caucasian languages Languages of Azerbaijan Languages of Russia Endangered Caucasian languages