Kaitag language

Kaitag is a Northeast Caucasian language spoken in Dagestan, Russia. It has sometimes been considered a divergent dialect of Dargwa due to it being part of the Dargin dialect continuum. The Routledge Ethnographic Handbook divided Kaitag into two dialects: northern and southern. Recent results of the Association of the Russian Sociolinguists further developed it into three dialects: Lower Kaitag, Upper Kaitag and Shari, the latter of which may be a separate but closely related language.

Dialects

The languages consists of eight varieties, forming three dialects. Each of the Upper varieties corresponds to a historical province of the region.

Upper Kaitag – Хъар Хайдакь.
* Shurkkant – "The Cliff Dwellers" – Шурккант.
*Qattagan – "The Gorge Dwellers" – Къаттагне.
*Irchamul – "The Land of Nine" – Ирчӏамул.
Lower Kaitag – Ххьар Хайдакь.
*Barshamai – Баршамаӏъган.
*Karatsan – Гъаӏрцӏнила.
*Jibahni – Чӏивгьаӏн.
*Sanchi – Сунклан.
Shari – Шаӏръи.
Phonology

Vowels

Consonants

Consonants form by series of voiced, aspirated, fortis, ejective, and labialized variants. The palatal fricative might be the voiceless post-palatal fricative, which can be more precisely transcribed as or .

Alphabet

The Kaitag language is usually written in the Cyrillic script. The letters of the alphabet are :

а
~

аӏ

гв

гъ

гъв

гь

гьв

е
~

жв

и
~

кв

кк

ккв

кӏ

кӏв

хъ

хъв

къ

къв

кь

пп

пӏ

сс

тт

тӏ

хв

хх

ххв

хь

хьв

ххь

ххьв

цц

цӏ

чв

чч

ччв

чӏ

чӏв

шв

шш

шшв

Lexicon

Most of Kaitag's vocabulary stems from proto-Northeast-Caucasian roots. Like with other languages of Dagestan, there is a considerable number of Arabic, Iranian, Turkic and recently Russian loanwords.

No.	English	Kaitag
1	I	ду
2	you '	и
3	he	гье
4	we	нисса ', ниххьва '
5	you '	нишша
6	they	гьетти
7	this	гьеж
8	that	гьет
9	here	гьежин
10	there	гьетин
11	who	ча
12	what	ци
13	where	квацци
14	when	цикъел
15	how	цигле
16	not	аккву ', а- '
17	all	сукке
18	many	дахъ
19	some	чумилра
20	few	кам
21	other	дикӏар
22	one	ца
23	two	чӏве
24	three	аӏв
25	four	угъ
26	five	шве
27	big	хвала
28	long	ухъен
29	wide	баӏъу
30	thick	буцц
31	heavy	декӏ
32	small	никӏва
33	short	кутӏ
34	narrow	гъваӏрцӏ
35	thin	букӏал
36	woman	ххьулум
37	man '	мургул
38	man	мейдам
39	child	даӏргьаӏ
40	wife	ххьади
41	husband	сув
42	mother	уба
43	father	атта
44	animal	мицӏираг
45	fish	кӏас
46	bird	ахьлиъаӏн
47	dog	ххваӏ
48	louse	нез
49	snake	цӏецӏи
50	worm	милкъваӏ
51	tree	ккалкка
52	forest	дуцца
53	stick	миргъаӏ
54	fruit	удар
55	seed	шва
56	leaf	кӏаппар
57	root	йамппа
58	bark '	кам
59	flower	жуже
60	grass	кьар