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Lak
лакку маз lakku maz لاکّو ماز
Pronunciation
Native to	North Caucasus
Region	Mountain Dagestan
Ethnicity	Laks
Native speakers	152,050 (2010 census)
Language family	Northeast Caucasian Lak
Writing system	Cyrillic (Lak alphabet) Latin (formerly) Arabic (formerly)
Official status
Official language in	Russia  Dagestan
Language codes
ISO 639-3	lbe
Glottolog	lakk1252
Lak
Lak is classified as Vulnerable by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

Lak (лакку маз, ) is a Northeast Caucasian language forming its own branch within this family. It is the language of the Lak people from the Russian autonomous republic of Dagestan, where it is one of six standardized languages. It is spoken by about 157,000 people.

History

In 1864 Russian ethnographer and linguist P. K. Uslar wrote: "Kazikumukh grammar or as I called it for short in the native language, the Lak grammar, Lakku maz, the Lak language, is ready".

In 1890, P. K. Uslar compiled a textbook on Lak grammar titled The Lak Language. It stated under the title "Lak alphabet": "The proposed alphabet is written for people who name themselves collectively Lak, genitive Lakral. From among these people each one is named separately Lakkuchu 'Lakian man', the woman – Lakkusharssa 'Lakian woman'. Their homeland they name Lakral kIanu – 'Lak place'."

Lak has throughout the centuries adopted a number of loanwords from Arabic, Turkish, Persian, and Russian. Ever since Dagestan was part of the Soviet Union and later Russia, the largest portion of loanwords have come from Russian, especially political and technical vocabulary. There is a newspaper and broadcasting station in Lak.

In accordance with the Constitution of the Republic of Dagestan of 1994, Lak was named as the state language along with Russian and some other major languages spoken in Dagestan (about 20 local languages are unwritten and have no official status). Lak is used as a teaching tool in elementary school and taught as a subject in secondary schools, vocational schools and universities. There is a Lak newspaper, "Ilchi".

The standard Lak language is based on the dialect of the city of Kumukh. This city should not be confused with the Kumyk ethnic group, a Turkic people also present in the Caucasus. Lak has the following dialects: Kumukh, Vitskhi, Arakul, Balkhar, Shadni, Shalib, Vikhli, Kuli, and Kaya.

Initially Lak by lexicon was found to be close to Dargin and the two were often combined in one Lak–Dargin subgroup of Dagestani languages. However, further research has led linguists to conclude that this association was insufficient.

Phonology

Consonants

1. The sound transcribed here as a glottal stop is named rather ambiguously a "glottalic laryngeal" by both sources.

According to Catford (1977), some dialects have /t͡p, d͡b, t͡pʼ/.

Vowels

Five vowels are presented as /i, e, a, o, u/. Three vowels /i, a, u/ are also pharyngealized as /iˤ, aˤ, uˤ/, and also have allophones of .

Grammar

Lak is one of the few North East Caucasian languages with verbal agreement for person. It generally only distinguishes between speech-act participants and non-speech-act participants. In other words, the first- and second-person agreement markers are the same.

The free pronouns of Lak do distinguish first and second person.

Writing systems

The Lak language was written using the Arabic script until 1928. Afterwards it was written with a Latin alphabet for ten years, and since 1938 it has been written in Cyrillic.

The Lak alphabet in Cyrillic initially included 48 letters and later 54 letters with double letters as "тт", "пп", "чч", "хьхь", etc.:

Writing Comparison Table

Compiled according to,

References

1. Lak at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. ^ P. K. Uslar. Этнография Кавказа . Языкознание . 4. Лакский язык . Tbilisi, 1890.
3. Словарь арабских и персидских лексических заимствований в лакском языке . N. B. Kurbaytayeva, I. I. Efyendiyev. Makhachkala, 2002.
4. Илчи – Lak newspaper Archived 2011-08-18 at the Wayback Machine
5. Consonant Systems of the North-East Caucasian Languages on TITUS DIDACTICA
6. ^ The Lak Language – A quick reference, by Wolfgang Schulze (2007)
7. Catford, J. C. (1977). "Mountain of Tongues: The Languages of the Caucasus". Annual Review of Anthropology. 6: 283–314. doi:10.1146/annurev.an.06.100177.001435. JSTOR 2949334.
8. Anderson, Gregory D. S. (1997). Lak phonology. Kaye A (ed.), Phonologies of Asia and Africa (including the Caucasus): University of Chicago.
9. Helmbrecht, J. (1996). "The Syntax of Personal Agreement in East Caucasian Languages". Sprachtypol. Univ. Frsch. (STUF) 49:127–48. Cited in Bhat, D.N.S. 2004. Pronouns. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 26.
10. "Новый алфавит для народностей Дагестана". Культура и письменность Востока. Баку. 1928. pp. 176–177. Archived from the original on 2022-04-02.
11. "Lakh romanization" (PDF). Institute of the Estonian Language. 2003-04-27. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2015-04-27. Retrieved 2016-02-13.
12. Yevlampiev, Ilya; Pentzlin, Karl; Joomagueldinov, Nurlan. (2011, May 20) Revised Proposal to encode Arabic characters used for Bashkir, Belarusian, Crimean Tatar, and Tatar languages - Unicodehttps://unicode.org/L2/L2011/11209-n4072-arabic.pdf
13. The Lak Language — Лакку маз. A Quick Reference Author: Wolfgang Schulze (IATS, LMU Munich). 2007
14. ^ Removed in 1932

External links

• Lak Grammar by Wolfgang Schulze
• Transliteration of Lak
• Lak House – Lak culture and society site
• Lak words

v t e North Caucasian languages
The proposed North Caucasian language family comprises the Northeast and Northwest Caucasian language families.
Northwest (Pontic)	Abazgi Abaza Abkhaz Circassian Adyghe Abzakh Bzhedug Hakuchi Hatuqwai Natukhaj Shapsug Kabardian Besleney Hattic (proposed) Ubykh
Northeast (Caspian)	Avar–Andic Andic Andi Akhvakh Bagvalal–Tindi Botlix–Godoberi Chamalal Karata-Tukita [ru] Avar Dargic Chirag North-Central Mehweb Gapshima Muira [ru] Tsudaqar–Usisha–Butri Northern Dargwa [ru] Aqusha [ru] Literary Dargwa Murego–Gubden [uk] Kadar Mugi [ru] Upper Mulebki Urakhi Southern Ashti [ru]–Kubachi Sanzhi–Itsari Amuzgi–Shiri Sanakari–Chakhrizhi Southwestern Dargwa Sirhwa [lez; uk] Tanti Upper Vurqni Kaitag–Shari Kaitag Shari Tsezic Bezhta–Hunzib–Khwarshi Inkhoqwari Hinukh–Tsez Lezgic Archi Samur Eastern Aghul Lezgian Tabasaran Udi Caucasian Albanian Southern Budukh Kryts Western Rutul Tsakhur Nakh Bats Vainakh Chechen Aukh Ingush Other Khinalug Lak
Italics indicate extinct languages

v t e Languages of the Caucasus
Caucasian (areal)	South (Kartvelian) Karto-Zan Georgian Judaeo-Georgian Old Georgian Zan Laz Mingrelian Svan Northeast (Caspian) Avar–Andic Andic Andi Akhvakh Bagvalal–Tindi Botlikh–Godoberi Chamalal Karata Avar Dargin Chirag North-Central Mehweb Gapshima Muira [ru] Tsudaqar–Usisha–Butri Northern Dargwa [ru] Aqusha [ru] Literary Dargwa Murego–Gubden [uk] Kadar Mugi [ru] Upper Mulebki Urakhi Southern Ashti [ru]–Kubachi Sanzhi–Itsari Amuzgi–Shiri Sanakari–Chakhrizhi Southwestern Dargwa Sirhwa [lez; uk] Tanti Upper Vurqni Kaitag–Shari Kaitag Shari Lezgic Archi Samur Eastern Aghul Lezgin Tabasaran Southern Budukh Kryts Jek Western Rutul Tsakhur Udi Nakh Bats Vainakh Chechen Aukh Ingush Tsezic (Didoic) Bezhta–Hunzib–Khwarshi Hinukh–Tsez Others Khinalug Lak Northwest (Pontic) Abazgi Abaza Abkhaz Circassian Adyghe Kabardian Ubykh
Indo- European	Iranian Kurdish Kurmanji Ossetian Persian Talysh Kilit Tat Judeo-Tat Slavic Russian Ukrainian Others Armenian Eastern Western German Pontic Greek
Turkic	Kipchak Karachay-Balkar Kumyk Nogai Urum Oghuz Azerbaijani Turkish Turkmen
Others	Kalmyk Oirat Lomavren Northeastern Neo-Aramaic Assyrian Bohtan Shirvani Arabic
Italics indicate extinct languages Languages between parentheses are varieties of the language on their left. See also Languages of Armenia Languages of Azerbaijan Languages of Georgia Languages of Russia

• Languages of the Caucasus
• Lak language
• Northeast Caucasian languages
• Languages of Russia
• Vulnerable languages
• Dagestan
• Laks (Caucasus)