Kryts language

Kryts (Kryc) is a Lezgic language of the Northeast Caucasian language family spoken in parts of the Quba Rayon of Azerbaijan by 6,000 people in 1975.^[1] Its dialects are Kryts, Jek, Khaput, Yergyudzh [lez], and Alyk, which are all quite distinct to the point of only partial mutual intelligibility, therefore they could also be considered separate languages in a dialect continuum.^[1]

Kryts
Kryc
кърыцIаь мез ġrəċä mez/qryc’ä mez цIека meз ċeka mez/c’eka mez Йергуьж мез
Pronunciation	[ɢrɨts’æ mɛz]
Native to	Azerbaijan
Region	Quba Rayon
Ethnicity	Kryts people
Native speakers	5,000 (2007)[1]
Language family	Northeast Caucasian Lezgic Samur Southern Samur Kryts
Dialects	Kryts Jek Khaput Yergyudzh [lez] Alyk
Language codes
ISO 639-3	kry
Glottolog	kryt1240
ELP	Kryts
Kryts
Kryts is classified as Severely Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger[2]

Kryts is endangered,^[3][4] classified as "severely endangered" by UNESCO's Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger.^[5]

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar			Uvular			Pharyngeal/ Epiglottal	Glottal
					plain	lab.	pal.	plain	lab.	pal.
Stop	voiceless	p	t		k	kʷ	kʲ	q	qʷ	qʲ		ʔ
	ejective	pʼ	tʼ		kʼ	kʷʼ	kʲʼ	qʼ	qʷʼ	qʲʼ
	voiced	b	d		ɡ	ɡʷ		(ɢ)
Affricate	voiceless		(t͡s)	t͡ʃ
	ejective		t͡sʼ	t͡ʃʼ
	voiced		(d͡z)	d͡ʒ
Fricative	voiceless	f	s	ʃ	x			χ			(ʜ)	h
	voiced	v	z	ʒ	ɣ			ʁ	ʁʷ		ʕ
Nasal		m	n
Trill			r
Approximant			l	j

• /ʁ/ may also be realized as [ɢ] or [qː], in complementary distribution.
• Sounds /t͡s, d͡z/ only occur in other dialects of the language.
• /h/ may vary from a glottal sound to an epiglottal fricative /ʜ/.

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i	(ɨ)	u
Mid	e
Open		a

• /i/ can be heard as [ɨ], in free variation
• The four vowels may also be pharyngealized as /iˤ, uˤ, eˤ, aˤ/.

Orthography

In 2020, a dictionary was published in the Khaput variety, using the Latin script.^[6]

A a	B b	C c	Ç ç	Ç' ç'	D d	E e	Ә ә	F f	G g	Ğ ğ	Ğ' ğ'
H h	H' h'	Ĥ ĥ	X x	X' x'	J j	İ i	I ı	K k	K' k'	Q q	Q' q'
Q̂ q̂	L l	M m	N n	O o	Ö ö	P p	P' p'	R r	S s	Ş ş	S' s'
T t	U u	Ü ü	V v	Y y	Z z