Pronunciation [ˈbeʒt͡ɬʼɑlɑs mit͡s] Region Southern Dagestan ISO 639-3 kap | Native to Russia Native speakers 6,800 (2006–2010) | |
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Language family Northeast Caucasian
Tsezic
Bezhta–Hunzib–Khwarshi
Bezhta | ||
The Bezhta (or Bezheta) language (Bezhta: бежкьалас миц, bežƛʼalas mic, [ˈbeʒt͡ɬʼɑlɑs mit͡s]), also known as Kapucha (from the name of a large village), belongs to the Tsezic group of the North Caucasian language family. It is spoken by about 6,200 people in southern Dagestan, Russia
Contents
Bezhta can be divided into three dialects – Bezhta Proper, Tlyadal and Khocharkhotin – which are spoken in various villages in the region. Its closest linguistic relatives are Hunzib and Khwarshi. Bezhta is unwritten, but various attempts have been made to develop an official orthography for the language. The Bezhta people use Avar as the literary language. The first book ever printed in Bezhta was the Gospel of Luke.
Phonology
Bezhta has a rich consonantal and – unlike its relatives Tsez and Avar – a relatively large vowel inventory (18 distinct vowel phonemes), compared to other languages of the same family.
Morphology
Bezhta is mostly agglutinative and the vast amount of locative cases makes its case system particularly rich. The verb morphology is relatively simple, though. It is an ergative language.
Numerals
Unlike Tsez, Bezhta has a decimal system with the word for twenty being an exception.
Sample of the Bezhta language
This is a passage taken from the Gospel of Luke written in a Cyrillic orthography based on Avar and Chechen, a Latinized transcription and one in IPA.