Khinalug language

Khinalug is a Northeast Caucasian language spoken by about 3,000 people in the villages of Khinalug and Gülüstan, Quba in the mountains of Quba Rayon, northern Azerbaijan. It may either belong to the Lezgic branch of the Northeast Caucasian language family, or it may form its own independent branch within that family.
Khinalug is endangered, and classified as "severely endangered" by UNESCO's Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger.

History

Khinalug is the language of the village Khinalug in the Quba district of Azerbaijan. It has been tentatively classified by previous researchers as a member of the Lezgic branch of the Northeast Caucasian languages. Although Khinalug is the official language of the village, it is mostly spoken by villagers in informal circumstances, while the national language Azerbaijani is used formally for educational purposes and to communicate with non-Khinalug speakers. Khinalug is considered to be a threatened language. In recent years, the road leading to the villages where it is spoken has fallen into disrepair, leaving the area mostly isolated.

Phonology

The Khinalug language previously had its own script. Alexander Kibrik and a team of 13 linguists from Moscow State University visited the village in 2005. In 2007 they developed a Latin orthography for Khinalug, in collaboration with local school teachers in the village. It is presented in angle brackets on the tables below.

Consonants

¹ The cedilla in the orthography is in the middle of the bottom of the , as is typical of Russian linguistics.
² Kh and gh are rare.
³ Kx is very rare.
⁴ The pharyngeal sounds mostly appear in Arabic loanwords.

Vowels

Khinalug has nine vowels and four diphthongs.
Diphthongs include: .

Alphabet

The version below was created by scientists from Frankfurt University in 2013, following research into Khinalug phonology by Moscow specialists.
Kibrik's alphabet from above is presented again, this time in table form.

Vocabulary

The following words were phonetically transcribed from Khinalug:

Khinalug singular	Khinalug plural	Translation
arhaz	arhazırdır	pen
c’imir	c’imirdir	sparrow
izin	izindir	gingiva
kırab	kırabırdır	galoshes
mısır	mısırdır	rope
nek’id	nek’idirdir	back
t’uk’un	t’uk’undur	cheek
t’umbol	t’umboldur	prune
ustot	ustoturdur	pepper
ustul	ustuldur	table
dalıg	dalιgιrdιr	work
culoz	culozurdur	tooth
jalkan	jalkandιr	mane
kotuk	kotukurdur	tree stump
mekteb	mektebirdir	school
mizer	mizerdir	textile

Note: ı is roughly pronounced as the e in "fallen". u is roughly pronounced as the ou in "coup".