Lak language

This article is about the Northeast Caucasian language. For the Kurdish variety, see Laki dialect. For the Kartvelian language, see Laz language. For the Austronesian language, see Siar-Lak language. For the language with former ISO 639-3 code "lak", see Lau Laka language.

Lak (лакку маз, [lakːu maz] ) is a Northeast Caucasian language forming its own branch within this family. It is the language of the Lak people from the Russian autonomous republic of Dagestan, where it is one of six standardized languages. It is spoken by about 157,000 people.

Lak
лакку маз lakku maz لاکّو ماز
Pronunciation	[lakːu maz]
Native to	North Caucasus
Region	Mountain Dagestan
Ethnicity	Laks
Native speakers	152,050 (2010 census)[1]
Language family	Northeast Caucasian Lak
Writing system	Cyrillic (Lak alphabet) Latin (formerly) Arabic (formerly)
Official status
Official language in	Russia  Dagestan
Language codes
ISO 639-3	lbe
Glottolog	lakk1252
Lak
Lak is classified as Vulnerable by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

History

Cover page of the textbook on Lak grammar named "Лакскiй языкъ" or The Lak language compiled by P. K. Uslar in 1890

"Лакская азбука" or The Lak alphabet. Many called the language "Bak Tak" from Peter Uslar's Lak Grammar.

Gospel of Luke and Acts of the Apostles in Lak, 2019

In 1864 Russian ethnographer and linguist P. K. Uslar wrote: "Kazikumukh grammar or as I called it for short in the native language, the Lak grammar, Lakku maz, the Lak language, is ready".^[2]

In 1890, P. K. Uslar compiled a textbook on Lak grammar titled The Lak Language. It stated under the title "Lak alphabet": "The proposed alphabet is written for people who name themselves collectively Lak, genitive Lakral. From among these people each one is named separately Lakkuchu 'Lakian man', the woman – Lakkusharssa 'Lakian woman'. Their homeland they name Lakral kIanu – 'Lak place'."^[2]

Lak has throughout the centuries adopted a number of loanwords from Arabic, Turkish, Persian, and Russian.^[3] Ever since Dagestan was part of the Soviet Union and later Russia, the largest portion of loanwords have come from Russian, especially political and technical vocabulary. There is a newspaper and broadcasting station in Lak.^[4]

In accordance with the Constitution of the Republic of Dagestan of 1994, Lak was named as the state language along with Russian and some other major languages spoken in Dagestan (about 20 local languages are unwritten and have no official status). Lak is used as a teaching tool in elementary school and taught as a subject in secondary schools, vocational schools and universities. There is a Lak newspaper, "Ilchi".

The standard Lak language is based on the dialect of the city of Kumukh. This city should not be confused with the Kumyk ethnic group, a Turkic people also present in the Caucasus. Lak has the following dialects: Kumukh, Vitskhi, Arakul, Balkhar, Shadni, Shalib, Vikhli, Kuli, and Kaya.

Initially Lak by lexicon was found to be close to Dargin and the two were often combined in one Lak–Dargin subgroup of Dagestani languages. However, further research has led linguists to conclude that this association was insufficient.

Phonology

Consonants

Consonants^[5][6]

		Labial	Dental	Postalveolar		Velar		Uvular		Pharyngeal	Glottal
				plain	lab.	plain	lab.	plain	lab.
Nasal		m	n
Plosive	voiced	b	d			ɡ	ɡʷ			ʡ
	voiceless lenis	p	t			k	kʷ	q	qʷ		ʔ[a]
	voiceless fortis	pː	tː			kː	kːʷ	qː	qːʷ
	ejective	pʼ	tʼ			kʼ	kʷʼ	qʼ	qʷʼ
Affricate	voiceless lenis		t͡s	t͡ʃ	t͡ʃʷ
	voiceless fortis		t͡sː	t͡ʃː	t͡ʃːʷ
	ejective		t͡sʼ	t͡ʃʼ	t͡ʃʷʼ
Fricative	voiceless lenis		s	ʃ	ʃʷ	x	xʷ	χ	χʷ		h
	voiceless fortis		sː	ʃː	ʃːʷ	xː	xːʷ	χː	χːʷ
	voiced	v ~ w ~ β	z	ʒ	ʒʷ			ʁ	ʁʷ
Trill			r							ʜ
Approximant			l	j

1. The sound transcribed here as a glottal stop is named rather ambiguously a "glottalic laryngeal" by both sources.

According to Catford (1977), some dialects have /t͡p, d͡b, t͡pʼ/.^[7]

Vowels

Five vowels are presented as /i, e, a, o, u/. Three vowels /i, a, u/ are also pharyngealized as /iˤ, aˤ, uˤ/, and also have allophones of [e, æ, œ].^[8]

Grammar

Lak is one of the few North East Caucasian languages with verbal agreement for person. It generally only distinguishes between speech-act participants and non-speech-act participants. In other words, the first- and second-person agreement markers are the same.^[9]

	Singular	Plural
1,2	-ra	-ru
3	-r / -ri / -∅

The free pronouns of Lak do distinguish first and second person.^[6]

	Singular		Plural
	Absolutive	Oblique
1	na	tːu-	žu(-)
2	ina	wi-	zu(-)

Writing systems

The Lak language was written using the Arabic script until 1928. Afterwards it was written with a Latin alphabet for ten years, and since 1938 it has been written in Cyrillic.

The Lak alphabet in Cyrillic initially included 48 letters and later 54 letters with double letters as "тт", "пп", "чч", "хьхь", etc.:

А а	Аь аь	Б б	В в	Г г	Гъ гъ	Гь гь	Д д
Е е	Ё ё	Ж ж	З з	И и	Й й	К к	Къ къ
Кь кь	Кӏ кӏ	Л л	М м	Н н	О о	Оь оь	П п
Пп пп	Пӏ пӏ	Р р	С с	Т т	Тӏ тӏ	У у	Ф ф
Х х	Хъ хъ	Хь хь	Хӏ хӏ	Ц ц	Цӏ цӏ	Ч ч	Чӏ чӏ
Ш ш	Щ щ	Ъ ъ	Ы ы	Ь ь	Э э	Ю ю	Я я

Obsolete Lak alphabets in Latin script

Writing Comparison Table

Compiled according to,^[10][11][12]

Cyrillic alphabet Latin (1930s) Perso-Arabic IPA[13] А а A a آ [a], [ə], [ɛ] Аь аь Ә ә أ [æ]~[ɛ] Б б B b ب [b] В в V v و [w]~[β] Г г G g گ [g] Гъ гъ Ƣ ƣ غ [ʁ] Гь гь H h ھ [h] Д д D d د [d] Е е e, Je je اە [je], [e] Ё ё Jo jo - [jo] Ж ж Ƶ ƶ ژ، ج [ʒ] З з Z z ز [z] И и I i اى [i], [y] Й й J j ی [j] К к K k ک [k] Къ къ Q q ڠ [qː] Кк кк Kk kk کّ [kː] Кь кь Ꝗ ꝗ ق [qʼ] КӀ кӀ Ⱪ ⱪ ࢰ [kʼ] Л л L l ل [l] М м M m م [m] Н н N n ن [n] О о O o اؤ [o] Оь оь Ө ө اۊ [oˤ]~[ø] П п P p پ [p] Пп пп Pp pp پّ [pː] ПӀ пӀ Ҏ ҏ ڢ [pʼ] Р р R r ر [r] С с S s س [s] Сс сс Ss ss سّ [sː] Т т T t ت [t] Тт тт Tt tt تّ [tː] ТӀ тӀ T̨ t̨ ط [tʼ] У у U u او [u], [y] Ф ф F f[14] ف [f] Х х X x خ [χ] Хх хх Xx xx خّ [χː] Хъ хъ Ӿ ӿ څ [q] Хь хь Ҳ ҳ ؼ [x] Хьхь хьхь Ҳҳ ҳҳ ؼّ [xː] ХӀ хӀ ħ[14] ح [ħ] Ц ц Ꞩ ꞩ ڝ [ʦ] Цц цц Ꞩꞩ ꞩꞩ ڝّ [ʦː] ЦӀ цӀ Ⱬ ⱬ ڗ [ʦʼ] Ч ч C c چ [ʧ] Чч чч Cc cc چّ [ʧː] ЧӀ чӀ Ç ç[14] ڃ [ʧʼ] Ш ш Ş ş ش [ʃ] Щ щ Şc şc شّ [ʃʷ] Ъ ъ ’ ئ [ʔ] Ы ы - - Ь ь - - Э э E e اە [e] Ю ю Ju ju, Ө ө اۊ [ju], [y] Я я Ja ja, Ә ә أ [ja],[æ] - ⱨ[14] ع - Ꞓ ꞓ[14] ڃ Perso-Arabic Cyrillic Latin IPA آ / ـا А а A a [a], [ə], [ɛ] أ Аь аь Ә ә [æ]~[ɛ] ب Б б B b [b] ت Т т T t [t] تّ Тт тт Tt tt [t:] ث С с S s [s] پ П п P p [p] پّ Пп пп Pp pp [p:] ج Ж ж Ƶ ƶ [ʒ] ح ХӀ хӀ Ħ ħ [ħ] خ Х х X x [χ] خّ Хх хх Xx xx [χ:] څ Хъ хъ Ӿ ӿ [q] چ Ч ч C c [ʧ] چّ Чч чч Cc cc [ʧ:] ڃ ЧӀ чӀ Ç ç [ʧʼ] د Д д D d [d] ذ З з Z z [z] ر Р р R r [r] ز З з Z z [z] ڗ ЦӀ цӀ Ⱬ ⱬ [ʦʼ] ژ Ж ж Ƶ ƶ [ʒ] س С с S s [s] سّ Сс сс Ss ss [s:] ش Ш ш Ş ş [ʃ] شّ Щ щ Şc şc [ʃʷ] ص С с S s [s] ض З з Z z [z] ڝ Ц ц Ꞩ ꞩ [ʦ] ڝّ Цц цц Ꞩꞩ ꞩꞩ [ʦ:] ط ТӀ тӀ T̨ t̨ [tʼ] ظ З з Z z [z] ع Ъ ъ ’ [ʔ] غ Гъ гъ Ƣ ƣ [ʁ] ڠ Къ къ Q q [qː] ف Ф ф F f [f] ڢ ПӀ пӀ Ҏ ҏ [pʼ] ق Кь кь Ꝗ ꝗ [qʼ] ک К к K k [k] کّ Кк кк Kk kk [k:] گ Г г G g [g] ࢰ КӀ кӀ Ⱪ ⱪ [kʼ] ؼ Хь хь Ҳ ҳ [x] ؼّ Хьхь хьхь Ҳҳ ҳҳ [x:] ل Л л L l [l] م М м M m [m] ن Н н N n [n] و В в V v [w]~[β] اؤ / ؤ О о O o [o] اۊ / ۊ Оь оь Ө ө [oˤ]~[ø] او / و У у U u [u], [y] ھ Гь гь H h [h] اە / ە Е е Э э E e [e] ی Й й J j [j] ای / ی И и I i [i], [y] ئ Ъ ъ ’ [ʔ]

References

1. Lak at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. P. K. Uslar. Этнография Кавказа [Ethnography of the Caucasus]. Языкознание [Linguistics]. 4. Лакский язык [The Lak language]. Tbilisi, 1890.
3. Словарь арабских и персидских лексических заимствований в лакском языке [Dictionary of Arabic and Persian lexical borrowings in Lak language]. N. B. Kurbaytayeva, I. I. Efyendiyev. Makhachkala, 2002.
4. Илчи – Lak newspaper Archived 2011-08-18 at the Wayback Machine
5. Consonant Systems of the North-East Caucasian Languages on TITUS DIDACTICA
6. The Lak Language – A quick reference, by Wolfgang Schulze (2007)
7. Catford, J. C. (1977). "Mountain of Tongues: The Languages of the Caucasus". Annual Review of Anthropology. 6: 283–314. doi:10.1146/annurev.an.06.100177.001435. JSTOR 2949334.
8. Anderson, Gregory D. S. (1997). Lak phonology. Kaye A (ed.), Phonologies of Asia and Africa (including the Caucasus): University of Chicago.
9. Helmbrecht, J. (1996). "The Syntax of Personal Agreement in East Caucasian Languages". Sprachtypol. Univ. Frsch. (STUF) 49:127–48. Cited in Bhat, D.N.S. 2004. Pronouns. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 26.
10. "Новый алфавит для народностей Дагестана". Культура и письменность Востока. Баку. 1928. pp. 176–177. Archived from the original on 2022-04-02.
11. "Lakh romanization" (PDF). Institute of the Estonian Language. 2003-04-27. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2015-04-27. Retrieved 2016-02-13.
12. Yevlampiev, Ilya; Pentzlin, Karl; Joomagueldinov, Nurlan. (2011, May 20) Revised Proposal to encode Arabic characters used for Bashkir, Belarusian, Crimean Tatar, and Tatar languages - Unicodehttps://unicode.org/L2/L2011/11209-n4072-arabic.pdf
13. The Lak Language — Лакку маз. A Quick Reference Author: Wolfgang Schulze (IATS, LMU Munich). 2007
14. Removed in 1932

External links

• Lak Grammar by Wolfgang Schulze
• Transliteration of Lak
• Lak House – Lak culture and society site
• Lak words