Lesgian language
| Lesgic | ||
|---|---|---|
|
Spoken in |
Dagestan ( Russian Federation ), Azerbaijan | |
| speaker | approx. 590-670,000 | |
| Linguistic classification |
||
| Official status | ||
| Recognized minority / regional language in |
 Dagestan
|
|
| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639 -1 |
- |
|
| ISO 639 -2 |
lez |
|
| ISO 639-3 |
lez |
|
Lezgian is a Northeast Caucasian (nachisch-Dagestani) language into three dialects Cuban (mainly in Azerbaijan region Quba (around and to the north), Kürinisch (east Süddaghestans) and Achtisch Akhty the west Süddaghestans) splits.
It was spoken in the Russian census of 2002 by 336,698 people in the south of the Autonomous Republic of Dagestan ( Russian Federation ), it is likely to be more today due to population growth. Throughout Russia this last census showed 411,500 Lezgins . In Azerbaijan , the 1999 census showed around 178,000 lesgians in the country, which would mean almost stagnation since 1989. The demoscopic department of the Russian Institute for Ethnology and Anthropology therefore estimates, based on its own research, about 250 to 260 thousand Lesgians in Azerbaijan. There are several tens of thousands more Lesgian speakers in the rest of Russia and in other countries.
alphabet
In the 19th century, a script was developed based on the Curinian dialect, which has the most speakers, using Arabic letters . However, this was not used often. After the founding of the Soviet Union , the Latin alphabet was used for the written language in 1928 and the Cyrillic alphabet in 1938 .
| А а | 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 | П п | ПӀ пӀ | Р р |
| С с | Т т | ТӀ тӀ | У у | Уь уь | Ф ф | Х х | Хъ хъ |
| Хь хь | Ц ц | ЦӀ цӀ | Ч ч | ЧӀ чӀ | Ш ш | Щ щ | Ъ ъ |
| Ы ы | Ь ь | Э э | Ю ю | Я я |
Linguistic situation
The linguistic situation of Lesgic in Russia is different from that in Azerbaijan. In the Russian republic of Dagestan, Lesgic has had the status of a regional official language since Soviet times. Lesgic can be studied there at universities, there are radio programs, books and newspapers in the language. In Azerbaijan, however, Lesgic has no official recognition to this day (as of August 2018). In 1939 the Azerbaijani government banned the use of Lesgic in schools, with a few brief interruptions this ban was maintained until 1991. Since the independence of Azerbaijan there have been some Lesgian schools again, but the assimilation policy towards the Lesgians was largely retained. Ethnologue sees Lesgic in Azerbaijan as threatened.
Although the official position of Lesgic in Russia is better, the Lesgians living there are also exposed to, albeit weaker, assimilation pressure. Many Lesgian parents send their children to Russian-speaking schools instead of Lesgian schools, even if Lesgian schools are available. Lesgic is particularly threatened in mixed-language areas, since Russian serves as a lingua franca and for interethnic communication. It is increasingly being used there by the younger generation in their private lives. In the regions of Dagestan where Lesgier make up a clear majority of the population, the language is in a vital state and not endangered. Since 2016, UNESCO has classified Lesgic as "potentially threatened" ("vulnerable").
The majority of Lesgic speakers speak fluent Russian or, in Azerbaijan, Azerbaijani .
See also
literature
- Martin Haspelmath : A Grammar of Lezgian ( Mouton Grammar Library , Volume 9). Mouton de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1993.
Web links
- Lezgi in the World Atlas of Language Structures
- Lezgi in the International Dictionary Series
- Cuba dialect of Lezgi in the International Dictionary Series
- Mikrakh dialect of Lezgi in the International Dictionary Series
Individual evidence
- ↑ According to the Dagestan Constitution, "Russian and the Languages of the Peoples of Dagestan" are official languages. See also Permanent Committee on Geographical Names for British Official Use : Respublika Dagestan. Land of Mountains: Mountain of Languages (PDF; 307 kB) 2004, p. 5
- ↑ See e.g. B. EI2 , V., pp. 729-30.
- ↑ Results of the Russian census for Dagestan: last table, first line after the header, fifth column with numbers
- ↑ Results of the Russian census on Russians and national minorities (circle section in purple): penultimate bar (numbers in thousands)
- ↑ Article. In their magazine Demoskop Weekly , 2004/05, tenth paragraph .
- ↑ Lezgi in the Ethnologue
- ↑ a b Martin Haspelmath: A Grammar of Lezgian , p. 23
- ↑ unesco.org