Lezgi, also called Lezgian, is a language spoken by the Lezgins who live in southern Dagestan (a republic of Russia) and northern Azerbaijan. Articles with similar titles include the NATO phonetic alphabet, which has also informally been called the “International Phonetic Alphabet”. For information on how to read IPA transcriptions of English words, see IPA chart for English. ... The Republic of Dagestan IPA: (Russian: ; Avar: , ), older spelling Daghestan, is a federal subject of the Russian Federation (a republic). ... The Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed body of water on Earth by area, variously classed as the worlds largest lake or a full-fledged sea. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Caucasus Mountains. ... A language family is a group of languages related by descent from a common proto-language. ... The Northeast Caucasian languages, also called East Caucasian, Caspian, Nakh-Dagestanian, or Dagestanian, are a family of languages spoken mostly in the Dagestan, Chechnya, and Ingushetia regions of Russia, in Northern Azerbaijan, and in Georgia. ... ISO 639-1 is the first part of the ISO 639 international-standard language-code family. ... ISO 639-2 is the second part of the ISO 639 standard, which lists codes for the representation of the names of languages. ... ISO 639-3 is an international standard for language codes. ... Articles with similar titles include the NATO phonetic alphabet, which has also informally been called the “International Phonetic Alphabet”. For information on how to read IPA transcriptions of English words, see IPA chart for English. ... The Unicode Standard, Version 5. ... Flag of the Lezgian people The Lezgins, also called the Lezgin, Lezgi, Lezgis, Lezgs, and Lezgians are an ethnic group who live mainly in southern Dagestan and northern Azerbaijan who speak the Lezgi language. ... The Republic of Dagestan IPA: (Russian: ; Avar: , ), older spelling Daghestan, is a federal subject of the Russian Federation (a republic). ...

Classification

Lezgi belongs to the Lezgian group of the Northeast Caucasian (Dagestan) language family. The Northeast Caucasian languages, also called East Caucasian, Caspian, Nakh-Dagestanian, or Dagestanian, are a family of languages spoken mostly in the Dagestan, Chechnya, and Ingushetia regions of Russia, in Northern Azerbaijan, and in Georgia. ... The Northeast Caucasian languages, also called East Caucasian, Caspian, Nakh-Dagestanian, or Dagestanian, are a family of languages spoken mostly in the Dagestan, Chechnya, and Ingushetia regions of Russia, in Northern Azerbaijan, and in Georgia. ...

Geographic distribution

In 1996, Lezgi was spoken by about 257,000 people in Russia, mainly in Southern Dagestan, as well as 171,400 people in Azerbaijan. Lezgi is also spoken in Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. The total number of speakers is about 451,000. Year 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full 1996 Gregorian calendar). ...

Official status

Lezgi is an official language in the Dagestan. Refer to article at Wikipedia List of official languages by state An official language is a language that is given a unique legal status in the countries, states, and other territories. ... This is a complete list of the official languages designated in the sovereign states of the world. ...

Related languages

There are ten languages in the Lezgian language family, namely: Lezgi, Tabasaran, Rutul, Aghul, Tsakhur, Budukh, Kryts, Khinalugh, Udi and Archi. These languages have the same names as the Lezghi ethnic subgroups. Tabasaran (or Tabassaran) is a member of the Lezgi subfamily of the Northeast Caucasian languages. ... Rutul is a language spoken by the Rutuls, an ethnic group living in Dagestan (Russia) and some parts of Azerbaijan. ... **Used Lezgi language page as a template, working on replacing information** Aghul, also called Agul, is a language spoken by the Aguls who live in southern Dagestan (a republic of Russia) and Azerbaijan. ... Tsakhur is a language spoken by the Tsakhurs, an ethnic group, which populates northern Azerbaijan and southwestern Dagestan (Russia). ... The Udi language, spoken by the Udi people, is a member of the Northeast Caucasian language family. ... Archi is a Caucasian language spoken by the 1,000 Archis in the village of Archi, southern Dagestan, Russia. ...

The Quba dialect spoken in Azerbaijan differs, but not considerably from the standard language.

Grammar

Lezgi is unusual for a Northeast Caucasian language in not having noun classes. Literary Lezgi grammar features 18 noun cases, of which 12 are still used in spoken conversation. In linguistics, the term noun class refers to a system of categorizing nouns. ... In linguistics, declension is the inflection of nouns, pronouns and adjectives to indicate such features as number (typically singular vs. ...

Bibliography

• Haspelmath, Martin. 1993. A grammar of Lezgian. (Mouton grammar library; 9). Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter. – ISBN 3-11-013735-6

• Talibov, Bukar B. and Magomed M. Gadžiev. 1966. Lezginsko-russkij slovar’. Moskva: Izd. Sovetskaja Ėnciklopedija.

External links

• Notes on the Lezgi language
• Ethnologue report for Lezgi
• Languages of the World report