This articleshould specify the language of its non-English content using{{lang}} or{{langx}},{{transliteration}} for transliterated languages, and{{IPA}} for phonetic transcriptions, with an appropriateISO 639 code. Wikipedia'smultilingual support templates may also be used - notablylez for Lezghian.See why.(January 2025)
/a/ has two main allophones:[ɑ] and[ʌ]; the former prevails in closed syllables (especially before uvulars and/r/), the latter in open syllables.[8]
/a/ is very often rounded and raised to/ɔ/ after labialized consonants, which may then lose their labialization. For example,кӏвач'foot'/k’ʷat͡ʃʰ/ becomes[k’ʷɔt͡ʃʰ] or[k’ɔt͡ʃʰ].[8]
/e/ is more open[ɛ] in stressed syllables and/ɪ/ or[e] in pre-stress syllables. In the environment of labialized consonants /e/ is often pronounced as[ø]~[œ].[8]
if a vowel plus/n/ sequence is not followed by a vowel, the/n/ may be deleted and the vowel nasalized. Thus/zun/'I' can be pronounced[zũ].[9]
Chitoran and Babaliyeva show, at least for Babaliyeva in her native Yargun dialect, pre-tonic high vowels aresyncopated.[10]
There are 54 consonants in Lezgian. Characters to the right are the letters of the Lezgian Cyrillic Alphabet. Aspiration is not normally indicated in the orthography, despite the fact that it is phonemic.
Lezgian has been written in several different alphabets over the course of its history. These alphabets have been based on three scripts:Arabic (before 1928),Latin (1928–1938), andCyrillic (1938–present).
Lezgian is unusual for a Northeast Caucasian language in not havingnoun classes (also called "grammatical gender"). Standard Lezgian grammar features 18grammatical cases,[13] produced by agglutinating suffixes, of which 12 are still used in spoken conversation.
Absolutive case (basic form of the word, no ending): marks the subject of an intransitive verb and the direct object of a transitive sentence. It is also used to mark a nominal predicate (who or what something turns into/becomes) and as avocative.
Ergative case (various endings; the most common are: -ди, -a or -е; [-di, -a or e], which are added to the Absolutive): marks the subject of transitive verbs, and the subject of some compound intransitive verbs.
Genitive case (ending -н [-n]; added to the Ergative): marks possession. It is also used with the meaning 'of'. The genitive case precedes the noun that it modifies.
Dative case (ending -з [-z]; added to the Ergative): usually marks the indirect object of sentences, that is the recipient of an action. It is also used to mark the subject of some verbs (mainly about emotions) and to express a point of time and direction.
Adessive case (ending -в [-v]; added to the Ergative): marks the object of some verbs to mean 'by', 'to', 'with'.
Adelative case (ending -вай [-vaj]; added to the Ergative): expresses movement from somewhere. It is also used with the verb 'to be able' and to express an accidental action.
Addirective case (ending -вди [-vdi]; added to the Ergative): used as aninstrumental case, but also sometimes used with its original meaning, 'in the direction of', and more rarely 'near by'.
ThePostessive case (ending -хъ [-qh]; added to the Ergative): means 'behind', 'at', 'toward', 'in exchange for', and 'with'. In a construction with the verb ава (ava), it expresses possession.
Postelative case (ending -хъай [-qhaj]; added to the Ergative): can either mean 'from' or the cause of fear or shame.
Postdirective case (ending -хъди [-qhdi]; added to the Ergative): rarely used case, meaning 'toward(s)'.
Subessive case (ending -к [-k]; added to the Ergative): means either 'below' or 'participates'.
Subelative case (ending -кай [-kaj]; added to the Ergative): means either 'from below', 'from', '(from) against', 'with' or 'out of' (partitive). It is also used to mark Y in the construction 'X becomes out-of-Y' and can express the topic of a sentence ('about') or the cause of emotions.
Subdirective case (ending -кди [-kdi]; added to the Ergative): expresses cause (never motion under), and can mean 'because' or 'of' (when in sentences such as 'the man diedof a disease'.
Inessive case (endings -а or -е [-a or -e]; added to Absolutive): means 'at', 'in' or 'during/whilst'.
Inelative case (endings -ай or -ей [-aj or -ej]; added to Inessive): means 'out of' or 'in return for'.
Superessive case (ending -л [-l]; added to the Inessive): means 'on', and also to express the cause of some emotions.
Superelative case (ending -лай [-laj]; added to the Inessive): means 'off', 'after' or 'than' (comparison).
Superdirective case (ending -лди [-ldi]; added to the Inessive): means 'onto', 'until', 'in' (when followed by an adjective), as an instrumental case (e.g. language) or instructive with abstract nouns.
Nouns following a number are always in the singular. Numbers precede the noun. "Сад" and "кьвед" lose their final "-д" before a noun.
Lezgian numerals work in a similar fashion to the French ones, and are based on the vigesimal system in which "20", not "10", is the base number. "Twenty" in Lezgian isкъад, and higher numbers are formed by adding the suffix -ни to the word (which becomes "къанни"; the same change occurs in пудкъад and кьудкъад) and putting the remaining number afterwards. This way 24 for instance is къанни кьуд ("20 and 4"), and 37 is къанни цӏерид ("20 and 17"). Numbers over 40 are formed similarly (яхцӏур becomes яхцӏурни). 60 and 80 are treated likewise. For numbers over 100 just put a number of hundreds, then (if need be) the word with a suffix, then the remaining number. 659 is thus ругуд вишни яхцӏурни цӏекӏуьд. The same procedure follows for 1000. 1989 is агьзурни кӏуьд вишни кьудкъанни кӏуьд in Lezgi.
