Rutul language
Rutul or Rutulian is a language spoken by the Rutulians, an ethnic group living in Dagestan and some parts of Azerbaijan. It is spoken by 30,000 people in Dagestan and 17,000 in Azerbaijan. The word Rutul derives from the name of a Dagestani village where speakers of this language make up the majority.
Rutulian is endangered in Russia and classified as "definitely endangered" by UNESCO's Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger.
Classification
The Rutulian language includes 4 main dialects: Mukhadian, Shinazian, Ikhrek-Myukhrekian, Borch-Khnovian.Rutulian belongs to the Lezgic group of the Northeast Caucasian language family. The Rutulians call their language .
Related languages
Among the languages of the Lezgic group, Tsakhur appears to be the closest relative of Rutulian. Other than these two, there are seven more languages in the Lezgic group, namely: Lezgian, Tabasaran, Aghul, Budukh, Kryts, Udi and Archi.History
Rutulian was not a written language until the writing system for it was developed in 1990. A Latin alphabet was developed in 2013 based on the Shin-Shorsu dialect. Speakers are often bilingual or multilingual, having a good command of the Azeri, Lezgian and/or Russian languages. The literary version of the language remains in the process of development. In the Rutul-populated regions of southern Russia, Rutulian is taught in primary schools.Writing
Before the Russian Revolution, the Rutulians used the Arabic script. In the Arabic script, as a written source, the text of the song in the Ikhrek dialect of the Rutulian language of the ashug of the 18th century Kur Rajaba is known. In 1913, created a Cyrillic-based alphabet for Rutulian. The modern Rutulian alphabet based on the Cyrillic alphabet was introduced in 1990. Arabic was used, among other things, when writing scientific papers. Turkish was also used in everyday life. The founders of the Rutulian script and the compilers of the Rutulian alphabet based on the Cyrillic alphabet are S.M. Makhmudova, K.E. Jamalov, G.K. Ibragimov. In 1992 prof. Makhmudova S. M. and Jamalov K. E. published an ABC book in Rutulian for grade 1 students - “Alifba: 1-classad kitab”. In this edition, in addition to the previously adopted alphabet, the digraph Дз 'дз was introduced. After that, three more school textbooks of the Rutulian language were published: Мыхаӏд чӏел, Recipes by S. M. Makhmudova and Рутул чӏел by E. Ismailova. In 2012-2013 a textbook on the Rutul language for universities was published: Grammar of the Rutulian language, Part 1-2 by S. M. Makhmudova. In 2006, Dzhamalov K. E. and Semedov S. A. released a Rutulian-Russian dictionary In this edition, the letter Ь ь was excluded from the alphabet, but Аь аь was included. In 2019, the Rutulian-Russian dictionary by A. S. Alisultanov and T. A. Suleimanova was published.The Rutulians have a rich literature dating back to the 11th century with the name of Zeinab Hinavi, an Albanian poet. The classic of Rutulian, Lezgin and Azerbaijani poetry is the eighteenth-century ashug Kur-Rajab. In the 20th and 21st centuries, Rutulian literature was developed and developed by Jameseb Salarov, Nurakhmed Ramazanov, Magomed Ulileev, Musa Makhmudov, Ezerchi, Yusif Medzhidov, Sakit Kurbanov, Shafi Ibragimov, Veysal Cherkezov and others. In 2008, the first generalizing work "Rutulian literature" was published, which provides information about Rutulian writers, poets and ashugs.
The writing system for the Rutulians of Azerbaijan was developed in 2013 based on the dialect of the village of Şin. When developing this alphabet, it was proposed to write the pharyngealized vowel with the letter ı;'. The authors of the alphabet also proposed a more logically consistent system for denoting velar consonants, but it was rejected as not coinciding with the system adopted in the Azerbaijani alphabet.
The Rutulian alphabet in Azerbaijan includes the following letters:
Comparison chart
| IPA | Cyrillic | Latin | IPA | Cyrillic | Latin |
| ɑ | A a | A a | o | О о | O o |
| ɑˤ | АӀ аӀ | AӀ aӀ | p | П п | P p |
| æ | Аь аь | Ə ə | p' | ПӀ пӀ | P' p' |
| b | Б б | B b | r | Р р | R r |
| ʋ | В в | V v | s | С с | S s |
| g | Г г | G g | t | Т т | T t |
| h | Гь гь | H h | t' | ТӀ тӀ | T' t' |
| ʁ | Гъ гъ | Ğ ğ | u | У у | U u |
| ɣ | ГӀ гӀ | Gh gh | y | Уь уь | Ü ü |
| d | Д д | D d | uˤ | УӀ уӀ | UӀ uӀ |
| d͡ʒ | Дж дж | C c | f | Ф ф | F f |
| e | Е е | E e | χ | Х х | X x |
| ʒ | Ж ж | J j | x | Хь хь | Xh xh |
| z | З з | Z z | q | Хъ хъ | Qh qh |
| i | И и | İ i | t͡s | Ц ц | Ts ts |
| j | Й й | Y y | t͡s' | ЦӀ цӀ | Ts' ts' |
| k | К к | K k | t͡ʃ | Ч ч | Ç ç |
| q' | Кь кь | Q' q' | t͡ʃ' | ЧӀ чӀ | Ç' ç' |
| ɢ | Къ къ | Q q | ʃ | Ш ш | Ş ş |
| k' | КӀ кӀ | K' k' | ʔ | Ъ ъ | ' |
| l | Л л | L l | ɨ | Ы ы | I ı |
| m | М м | M m | ɨˤ | ЫӀ ыӀ | IӀ ıӀ |
| n | Н н | N n | - | - |