Bezhta language
| Bezhta | |
|---|---|
| бежкьалас миц bežƛʼalas mic / beƶⱡʼalas mic | |
| Pronunciation | /ˈbeʒt͡ɬʼɑlɑs mit͡s/ |
| Native to | North Caucasus |
| Region | Southern Dagestan |
| Ethnicity | Bezhta people |
Native speakers | 6,800 (2006–2010)[1] |
Northeast Caucasian
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | kap |
| Glottolog | bezh1248 |
| ELP | Bezhta |
Bezhta (also called Bezheta or Kapucha) is a Northeast Caucasian language spoken by the Bezhta people. About 7,000 people speak Bezhta.
Bezhta has three dialects. They are Bezhta proper, Tlyadal and Khocharkhotin.[2]
Phonology
Bezhta has many consonants, shown below in the International Phonetic Alphabet.
| Bilabial | Alveolar | Velar | Alveolopalatal | Uvular | Pharyngeal | Glottal | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| central | lateral | lateral | central | |||||||
| Nasal | m | n | ||||||||
| Plosive | voiceless | p | t | k | q | ʔ | ||||
| voiced | b | d | ɡ | |||||||
| ejective | pʼ | tʼ | kʼ | qʼ | ||||||
| Affricate | voiceless | t͡s | t͡ɬ ~ k͡ʟ̝̊ | t͡ʃ | ||||||
| ejective | t͡sʼ | t͡ɬʼ ~ k͡ʟ̝̊ʼ | t͡ʃʼ | |||||||
| Fricative | voiceless | s | ɬ | x | ʃ | χ | ħ | h | ||
| voiced | z | ʒ | ʁ | ʕ | ||||||
| Trill | r | |||||||||
| Approximant | l | w | j | |||||||
Bezhta has eight vowel qualities. These are /æ/, /ɑ/, /e/, /ø~ə/, /o/, /i/, /y~ɨ/ and /u/. All Bezhta vowels can also be nasalised. /æ/, /ɑ/, /e/, /o/, /i/ and /u/ can also be long, and /ɑ/ and /e/ can be long and nasalised.[3]
Writing
Bezhta is rarely written, and people who speak Bezhta usually write in Avar instead. When it is written, Bezhta is usually written in the Cyrillic script.[3]
References
- ↑ Bezhta at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
- ↑ "Bezhta | Ethnologue Free".
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Bezhta language and alphabet".