Sanzhi language

Sanzhi is an endangered Dargin language spoken by about 250 people in Dagestan, closely related to Itsari. It is considered critically endangered due to its obsolescence in favor of Russian. The language is unwritten.

History

In the 1970s, the Sanzhis left their original village of Sanzhi, which is believed to have been inhabited for around 10,000 years, and moved to the lowlands, predominantly the village of Druzhba. In the summers, however, they still return to Sanzhi to do various activities like fishing and berry picking.

Phonology

Consonants

Younger speakers tend to pronounce the labialized consonants as plain ones.

Vowels

Sanzhi has 7 vowels, 4 plain ones and 3 pharyngealized vowels.
/i/ has the allophones , ; , , /e/ can be realized as or , and /u/ is realized as , ; /uˁ/ is also prononced as .
is by far the most common pharyngealized vowel, as is much rarer and has only one known minimal pair. Only a few words have , and even speakers are uncertain about it.

Syllable structure

Possible syllables in native words are as follows:
V, VC, VCC, CV, CVC and CVCC
The general structure is V.
Simple underived verbs, however, are much more limited in their structure; only , and are permitted in the onset.