Udi language

The Udi language, spoken by the Udi people, is a member of the Lezgic branch of the Northeast Caucasian language family.^[4] It is believed an earlier form of it was the main language of Caucasian Albania, which stretched from south Dagestan to current day Azerbaijan.^[5] The Old Udi language is also called the Caucasian Albanian language^[6] and possibly corresponds to the "Gargarian" language identified by medieval Armenian historians.^[5] Modern Udi is known simply as Udi.

The language is spoken by about 4,000 people in the Azerbaijani village of Nij in Qabala rayon, in Oghuz rayon, as well as in parts of the North Caucasus in Russia. It is also spoken by ethnic Udis living in the villages of Debetavan, Bagratashen, Ptghavan, and Haghtanak in Tavush Province of northeastern Armenia and in the village of Zinobiani (former Oktomberi) in the Kvareli Municipality of the Kakheti province of Georgia.

Udi is endangered,^[7] classified as "severely endangered" by UNESCO's Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger.^[8]

History

The Udi language can most appropriately be broken up into five historical stages:^[9]

Soon after the year 700, the Old Udi language had probably ceased to be used for any purpose other than as the liturgical language of the Church of Caucasian Albania.^[10]

The Old Udi language was spoken in an area stretching from Tavush province and eastern Artsakh in the west to the city of Qəbələ in the east, centered around the province of Utik and the city of Partaw (known now as Barda).^[11]

Syntax

Old Udi was an ergative–absolutive language.^[12]

Morphology

Udi is agglutinating with a tendency towards being fusional. Udi affixes are mostly suffixes or infixes, but there are a few prefixes. Old Udi used mostly suffixes.^[4] Most affixes are restricted to specific parts of speech. Some affixes behave as clitics. The word order is SOV.^[13]

Udi does not have gender, but has declension classes.^[14] Old Udi, however, did reflect grammatical gender within anaphoric pronouns.^[15]

Phonology

Vowels

^[16]

Consonants

Old Udi, unlike modern Udi, did not have the front rounded vowel ö.^[18] Old Udi contained an additional series of palatalized consonants.^[6][18]

Alphabet

Udi Latin alphabet table from a 1934 book

The Old Udi language used the Caucasian Albanian alphabet. As evidenced by Old Udi documents discovered at Saint Catherine's Monastery in Egypt dating from the 7th century, the Old Udi language used 50 of the 52 letters identified by Armenian scholars in later centuries as having been used in Udi language texts.^[18]

In the 1930s, there was an attempt by Soviet authorities to create an Udi alphabet based on the Latin alphabet but its usage ceased after a short time.

In 1974, a Udi alphabet based on the Cyrillic alphabet was compiled V. L. Gukasyan. The alphabet in his Udi-Azerbaijani-Russian Dictionary is as follows: А а, Аъ аъ, Аь аь, Б б, В в, Г г, Гъ гъ, Гь гь, Д д, Дж дж, ДжӀ джӀ, Дз дз, Е е, Ж ж, ЖӀ жӀ, З з, И и, Й й, К к, Ҝ ҝ, КӀ кӀ, Къ къ, Л л, М м, Н н, О о, Оь оь, П п, ПӀ пӀ, Р р, С с, Т т, ТӀ тӀ, У у, Уь, Уь, Ф ф, Х х, Хъ хъ, Ц ц, Ц' ц', ЦӀ цӀ, Ч ч, Ч' ч', ЧӀ чӀ, Чъ чъ, Ш ш, ШӀ шӀ, Ы ы. This alphabet was also used in the 1996 collection Nana oččal (Нана очъал).

In the mid-1990s, a new Latin-based Udi alphabet was created in Azerbaijan. A primer and two collections of works by Georgy Kechaari were published using it and it was also used for educational purposes in the village of Nic. Alphabet is as follows:^[19]

In 2007 in Astrakhan, Vladimir Dabakovym published collection of Udi folklore with a Latin-based alphabet as follows: A a, Ă ă, Ә ә, B b, C c, Ĉ ĉ, Ç ç, Ç' ç', Č č, Ć ć, D d, E e, Ĕ ĕ, F f, G g, Ğ ğ, H h, I ı, İ i, Ĭ ĭ, J j, Ĵ ĵ, K k, K' k', L l, M m, N n, O o, Ö ö, Ŏ ŏ, P p, P' p', Q q, Q' q', R r, S s, Ś ś, S' s', Ŝ ŝ, Ş ş, T t, T' t', U u, Ü ü, Ŭ ŭ, V v, X x, Y y, Z z, Ź ź.

In 2013 in Russia, an Udi primer Nanay muz (Нанай муз) was published with a Cyrillic-based alphabet, a modified version of the one used by V. L. Gukasyan in the Udi-Azerbaijani-Russian Dictionary. The alphabet is as follows:^[20]

See also

• Languages of the Caucasus

References

Harris, Alice C. (2002). Endoclitics and the Origins of Udi Morphosyntax. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-924633-5. 

• The Sociolinguistic Situation of the Udi in Azerbaijan – John M. Clifton, Deborah A. Clifton, Peter Kirk, and Roar Ljøkjell

External links

• Appendix:Cyrillic script
• The Udi Language: A grammatical description with sample text - Wolfgang Schulze 2001
• Udi basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database
• The Udis
• Historical map
• A Functional Grammar of Udi, Wolfgang Schulze, 2002
• A Functional Grammar of Udi, Wolfgang Schulze, 2006
• The cognitive dimension of clausal organization in Udi, Wolfgang Schulze, 2000
• The Udi language, Wolfgang Schulze, 2002
• John M. Clifton: The Sociolinguistic Situation of the Udi in Azerbaijan. SIL International, 2005. (PDF-Datei; 206 kB)

Languages of Azerbaijan
Official language	Azerbaijani
Minority languages	Armenian Avar Budukh Georgian Judeo-Tat Khinalug Kryts Lezgian Russian Rutul Talysh Tat Tsakhur Udi

Languages of the Caucasus
Caucasian (areal)	Caspian Avar–Andic Andic Akhvakh Bagvalal–Tindi Botlix–Godoberi Chamalal Karata Literary Andi Avar Dargic Literary Dargwa and dialects Chirag Itsari Kajtak Kubachi Didoic Bezhta–Hunzib–Khwarshi Hinukh–Literary Tsez Lezgic Aghul Archi Budukh Kryts Lezgian Rutul Tabasaran Tsakhur Udi Nakh Bats Chechen–Ingush Other Khinalug Lak Kartvelian Karto-Zan–Svan Georgian Svan Zan Laz Mingrelian Pontic Abazgi–Adyghe Abkhaz–Abaza Circassian
Indo-European	Armenian Armenian Germanic German Hellenic Pontic Greek Iranic Northern Ossetian Western Judæo-Tat Talysh Tat Persian Slavic Russian Ukrainian
Mongolic	Kalmyk
Turkic	Kipchak–Cuman Karachay–Balkar Kumyk Kipchak–Nogai Nogai Oghuz Azerbaijani Turkmen
See also: Languages of Armenia  Languages of Azerbaijan  Languages of Georgia  Languages of Russia