Lezgic languages explained
| Lezgic |
| Region: |
|
| Familycolor: | Caucasian |
| Fam1: | Northeast Caucasian |
| Child1: | Archi (Peripheral Lezgic) |
| Child2: | Samur (Nuclear Lezgic) |
| Glotto: | lezg1248 |
| Glottorefname: | Lezgic |
| Map: | Northeast Caucasian languages.png |
The Lezgic languages are one of seven branches of the Northeast Caucasian language family. Lezgin and Tabasaran are literary languages.
Classification
- Peripheral: Archi – 1700 speakers[1]
- Samur[2] (Nuclear Lezgic)
- Eastern Samur
- Udi – 6,600 speakers
- Lezgin–Aghul–Tabasaran
- Southern Samur
- Western Samur
The voicing of ejective consonants
The Lezgic languages are relevant to the glottalic theory of Indo-European, because several have undergone the voicing of ejectives that have been postulated but widely derided as improbable in that family. The correspondences have not been well worked out (Rutul is inconsistent in the examples), but a few examples are:
- Non-Lezgic: Avar pronounced as /tstsʼar/; Lezgic: Rutul pronounced as /dur/, Tsakhur pronounced as /do/ 'name'
- Non-Lezgic: Archi pronounced as /motʃʼor/, Lak pronounced as /tʃʼiri/; Lezgic: Rutul pronounced as /mitʃʼri/, Tabassaran pronounced as /midʒir/, Aɡul pronounced as /mudʒur/ 'beard'
- Non-Lezgic: Avar pronounced as /motsʼ/; Lezgic: Tabassaran pronounced as /vaz/ 'moon'
A similar change has taken place in non-initial position in the Nakh languages.[3]
See also
External links
Notes and References
- https://rosstat.gov.ru/storage/mediabank/Tom5_tab7_VPN-2020.xlsx 7. НАСЕЛЕНИЕ НАИБОЛЕЕ МНОГОЧИСЛЕННЫХ НАЦИОНАЛЬНОСТЕЙ ПО РОДНОМУ ЯЗЫКУ
- http://www.lrz-muenchen.de/~wschulze/lgxcauc.pdf Languages in the Caucasus, by Wolfgang Schulze (2009)
- Paul Fallon, 2002. The synchronic and diachronic phonology of ejectives, p 245.
