Bezhta language

Bezhta
бежкьалас миц
bežƛʼalas mic / beƶⱡʼalas mic
Pronunciation/ˈbeʒt͡ɬʼɑlɑs mit͡s/
Native toNorth Caucasus
RegionSouthern Dagestan
EthnicityBezhta people
Native speakers
6,800 (2006–2010)
Northeast Caucasian
  • Tsezic
    • Bezhta–Hunzib–Khwarshi
      • Bezhta
Language codes
ISO 639-3kap
Glottologbezh1248
ELPBezhta
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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.

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.

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.

References

  1. ↑ Bezhta at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  2. ↑ "Bezhta | Ethnologue Free".
  3. 1 2 "Bezhta language and alphabet".