Udi language

Template:Short description Template:Template otherTemplate:Main other Udi (also called Uti or Udin) is a language spoken by the Udi people and a member of the Lezgic branch of the Northeast Caucasian language family.Template:Sfnp It is believed an earlier form of it was the main language of Caucasian Albania, which stretched from south Dagestan to current day Azerbaijan.Template:Sfnp The Old Udi language is also called the Caucasian Albanian languageTemplate:Sfnp and possibly corresponds to the "Gargarian" language identified by medieval Armenian historians.Template:Sfnp Modern Udi is known simply as Udi.

History

File:Old Udi language.png

Old Udi was spoken from Tavush province and eastern Artsakh in the west to the city of Qəbələ in the east, an area centered around Utik province and the city of Partaw (now Barda).Template:Sfnp

The Udi language can most appropriately be broken up into five historical stages:Template:Sfnp

Early Udi	around 2000 BC – 300 AD
Old Udi	300–900
Middle Udi	900–1800
Early Modern Udi	1800–1920
Modern Udi	1920–present

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.Template:Sfnp

Speakers

The language is spoken by about 4,000 people in the village of Nij, Azerbaijan, in Qabala District, in Oghuz District, 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 Qvareli Municipality of the Kakheti province of Georgia.

Udi is endangered, classified as "severely endangered" by UNESCO's Red Book of Endangered Languages.

Phonology

Vowels

Vowels of UdiTemplate:Sfnp

	Front	Central	Back
Close	Template:IPA link Template:IPA link (Template:IPA link)		Template:IPA link Template:IPA link
Mid	Template:IPA link Template:IPA link (Template:IPA link)	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link Template:IPA link
Open	(Template:IPA link)		Template:IPA link Template:IPA link

Consonants

Consonant phonemes of Udi

		Labial	Dental	Alveolar		Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
				lenis	fortis
Nasal		Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link
Plosive	voiced	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link				Template:IPA link
	voiceless	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link				Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link
	ejective	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link				Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link
Affricate	voiced		Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link
	voiceless		Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link
	ejective		Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link
Fricative	voiceless	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link		Template:IPA link		Template:IPA link
	voiced	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link		Template:IPA link
Trill				Template:IPA link
Approximant			Template:IPA link			Template:IPA link

Old Udi, unlike modern Udi, did not have the close-mid front rounded vowel /ø/.Template:Sfnp Old Udi contained an additional series of palatalized consonants.Template:Sfnp

Alphabets

File:Udin latin alphabet-1934.jpeg

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.Template:Sfnp

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

In 1974, a Udi alphabet based on the Cyrillic alphabet was compiled by 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 ().

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. The alphabet is as follows:

A a	B b	C c	Ç ç	D d	E e	Ə ə	F f	G g	Ğ ğ	H h
X x	I ı	İ i	Ҝ ҝ	J j	K k	Q q	L l	M m	N n	O o
Ö ö	P p	R r	S s	Ş ş	T t	U u	Ü ü	V v	Y y	Z z
Ц ц	Цı цı	Eъ eъ	Tı tı	Əъ əъ	Kъ kъ	Pı pı	Xъ xъ	Şı şı	Öъ öъ	Çı çı
Çъ çъ	Ć ć	Jı jı	Zı zı	Uъ uъ	Oъ oъ	İъ iъ	Dz dz

In 2007 in Astrakhan, Vladislav Dabakov published a 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 (), 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:

А а	Аь аь	Аъ аъ	Б б	В в	Г г	Гъ гъ	Гь гь	Д д	Дз дз	Дж дж
Джъ джъ	Е е	Ж ж	Жъ жъ	З з	И и	Иъ иъ	Й й	К к	К' к'	Къ къ
Л л	М м	Н н	О о	Оь оь	Оъ оъ	П п	П' п'	Р р	С с	Т т
Т' т'	У у	Уь уь	Уъ уъ	Ф ф	Х х	Хъ хъ	Ц ц	Ц' ц'	Ч ч	Чъ чъ
Ч' ч'	Ч’ъ ч’ъ	Ш ш	Шъ шъ	Ы ы	Э э	Эъ эъ	Ю ю	Я я

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.Template:Sfnp Most affixes are restricted to specific parts of speech. Some affixes behave as clitics. The word order is SOV.

Udi does not have gender, but has declension classes.Template:Sfnp Old Udi, however, did reflect grammatical gender within anaphoric pronouns.Template:Sfnp

Noun

Udi has a complex case system of 11 cases with 3 inflectional types:

1. Absolutive inflection (AI). Basis for oblique cases
2. Oblique inflection (OI). Characterised by additional morpheme ("stem augment"), usually -n-
3. Ergative inflection (EI). Serves as a basis for the other oblique cases.

Case

		Absolutive	Oblique	Ergative
Absolutive	-	ğar	mex	xe
Ergative	-en	ğar-en	mex-n-en	xe-n
Genitive	-Vy, -un	ğar-i	mex-n-ay	xe-n-ey
Dative1	-V	ğar-a	mex-n-u	xe-n-e
Dative2	-V-x	ğar-a-x	mex-n-u-x	xe-n-e-x
Ablative	-V-xo	ğar-a-xo	mex-n-u-xo	xe-n-e-xo
Comitative	-V-xol	g/ar-a-xol	---	---
Superessive	-V-l	ğar-a-l	mex-n-u-l	xe-n-e-l
Allative	-V-ć	ğar-a-ć	mex-n-u-ć	xe-n-e-ć
Adesssive	-V-st'a	ğar-a-st'a	mex-n-u-st'a	xe-n-est'e
Benefactive	-en-k'ena, -enk'	ğar-enk'ena	---	---

ğar means 'son'; mex means 'scythe'; xe means 'water' (note that OI is more common for xe). -V denotes voiced consonant.

Sample text

Cyrillic alphabet (2007)	Latin alphabet (2007)	English translation
		A king caught a king, imprisoned him and carried him to his own land, keeping in his own house. He ruled over that kingdom, too. After 20 years, the imprisoned king asked this king: "I'm thinking of my homeland, allow me to go to my land and I will examine it."

See also

• Languages of the Caucasus

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)