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	kʼʷ	kʼʲ	qʼ	qʼʷ	qʼʲ
	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

References

• Authier, Gilles (2009). Grammaire kryz. Collection Linguistique (Société de linguistique de Paris). Vol. 93. Leuven: Peeters. ISBN 9789042923157.

1. Kryts at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
2. UNESCO Interactive Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger Archived 22 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine
3. "Kryts". The Endangered Languages Project.
4. "UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger". UNESCO.
5. UNESCO Interactive Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger Archived February 17, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
6. Hərərə Mezınə Şikilbəzınə Luğət [Picture Dictionary in the Haput Language]. ISBN 978-9952-511-17-8.

External links

• Kryts basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database