Bezhta language
Appearance
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
[change | change source]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
[change | change source]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
[change | change source]- ↑ Bezhta at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
- ↑ "Bezhta | Ethnologue Free".
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Bezhta language and alphabet".