Rutul language

Rutul is a language spoken by the Rutuls, an ethnic group living in Dagestan (Russia) and some parts of Azerbaijan. It is spoken by 30,000 people in Dagestan (2010 census)[3] and 17,000 (no date) in Azerbaijan.[4] The word Rutul derives from the name of a Dagestani village where speakers of this language make up the majority.[5]

Rutul
мыхӀабишды чӀел myxʼabišdy č̣el
Pronunciation[mɨxabiʃdɨ t͡ʃʼɛl]
Native toRussia, Azerbaijan
RegionSouthern Dagestan, Russian–Azerbaijani border
EthnicityRutul
Native speakers
36,400 (2010 census)[1]
Northeast Caucasian
  • Lezgic
    • Samur
      • Western Samur
        • Rutul
Cyrillic
Official status
Official language in
 Dagestan
Language codes
ISO 639-3rut
Glottologrutu1240[2]
Rutul in the Caucasus

Rutul is endangered in Russia[6] and classified as "definitely endangered" by UNESCO's Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger.[7]

Classification

Rutul belongs to the Lezgic group of the Northeast Caucasian language family. The Rutuls call their language myxʼabišdy čʼel.

History

Rutul was not a written language until the writing system for it (based on Cyrillic) was developed in 1990. A Latin alphabet was developed in 2013 based on the Shin-Shorsu dialect.[8] Speakers are often bilingual or multilingual, having a good command of the Azeri, Lezgian and/or Russian 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).[5]

Phonology

Vowels
Vowel phonemes[9]
Front Central Back
Close i iː y ɨ ɨː u uː
Mid ɛ eː
Open æ ɑ ɑː

Consonants
Consonant phonemes[9]
Labial Dental Alveolar Palatal Velar Uvular Pharyn-
geal		 Glottal
plain lab. plain lab. plain lab. plain lab.
Nasal m n
Plosive voiced b d ɡ ɡʷ ɢ ɢʷ
voiceless p t k kʷ q qʷ ʡ ʔ
ejective pʼ tʼ kʼ kʷʼ qʼ qʷʼ
Affricate voiced d͡z d͡ʒ d͡ʒʷ
voiceless t͡s t͡sʷ t͡ʃ t͡ʃʷ
ejective t͡sʼ t͡sʷʼ t͡ʃʼ t͡ʃʷʼ
Fricative voiceless (f) s sʷ ʃ ʃʷ x xʷ χ χʷ ħ h
voiced z (ʒ) ɣ ʁ ʁʷ ʢ
Trill r ʜ
Approximant w l j

Among the languages of the Lezgic group, Tsakhur appears to be the closest relative of Rutul.[10] Other than these two, there are seven more languages in the Lezgic group, namely: Lezgian, Tabasaran, Aghul, Budukh, Kryts, Udi and Archi.

Rutul alphabet

See also

References
  1. "Rutul". Ethnologue. Retrieved 2018-07-31.
  2. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Rutul". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  3. Информационные материалы об окончательных итогах Всероссийской переписи населения 2010 года
  4. Rutul language at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
  5. (in Russian) ETHEO: Rutul Language
  6. Published in: Encyclopedia of the world’s endangered languages. Edited by Christopher Moseley. London & New York: Routledge, 2007. 211–280.
  7. UNESCO Interactive Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger
  8. Clarkson, Jonathan; Iurkova, Elena (December 2015). "Important Factors in the Development of an Orthography: Shin-Shorsu Rutul—a Case Study". SIL Forum for Language Fieldwork 2015-002. SIL International. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015. Retrieved 2016-06-22.
  9. G. X. Ibragimov. 2004. Rutul'skij Jazyk. Machacala: Maxačkala: Dagestanskij Gosudarstvennyj Pedagogičeskij Universitet.
  10. (in Russian) The Tsakhur language. The ETHEO Project. Last updated 11 October 2005. Retrieved 26 December 2006
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