Botlikh language

Botlikh
Botlikh
Botlix
буйхалъи мицIцIи/bujxałi mic’c’i
Pronunciation	[bujχaɬi mits’ːi]
Native to	North Caucasus
Region	Southwestern Dagestan
Ethnicity	3,788 Botlikh people (2020)
Native speakers	5,073 (2020 census); c. 8,000 (2012)
Language family	Northeast Caucasian Avar–Andic Andic Akhvakh–Tindi Karata–Tindi Botlikh–Tindi Botlikh; ; ; ; ; ;
Dialects	Botlikh proper; Miarso;
Writing system	unwritten; (transcribed using Cyrillic script)
Language codes
ISO 639-3	bph
Glottolog	botl1242
ELP	Botlikh
	Botlikh
	Botlikh is classified as Definitely Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger (2010)

Botlikh (also spelled Botlix) is an Andic language of the Northeast Caucasian language family spoken by the Botlikhs in the villages of Botlikh (Buikhe), Miarso and Ashino, as well as in Chontaul, Ankho and in Batlakhatli,^[4] in southwestern Dagestan, Russia by approximately 5,000 people, according to the 2020 census.^[2]

Dialects

Botlikh has two dialects, being Botlikh proper and Miarso. Differences in phonology and morphology are small, and the two are mutually intelligible.^[4]

Phonology

Vowels

Botlikh has five basic vowels. Vowels can also be long or nasalized.^[5]

Botlikh vowels^[5]
	Front	Back
Close	i	u
Mid	e	o
Open		a

Consonants

Botlikh consonants^[5]
		Labial	Dental		Alveolar				Palatal		Velar		Uvular		Pharyngeal	Glottal
			Dental		central		lateral		Palatal		Velar		Uvular
			lenis	fortis	lenis	fortis	lenis	fortis	lenis	fortis	lenis	fortis	lenis	fortis
Plosive	voiced	b ⟨б⟩	d ⟨д⟩								ɡ ⟨г⟩
	voiceless	p ⟨п⟩	t ⟨т⟩								k ⟨к⟩
	ejective		tʼ ⟨тӀ⟩								kʼ ⟨кӀ⟩			q͡χʼː ⟨къ⟩		ʔ ⟨ъ⟩
Affricate	voiceless		t͡s ⟨ц⟩	t͡sː ⟨цц⟩	t͡ʃ ⟨ч⟩	t͡ʃː ⟨чч⟩		t͡ɬː ⟨лӀ⟩				k͡xː ⟨кк⟩		q͡χː ⟨хъ⟩
	ejective		t͡sʼ ⟨цӀ⟩	t͡sʼː ⟨цӀцӀ⟩	t͡ʃʼ ⟨чӀ⟩	t͡ʃʼː ⟨чӀчӀ⟩		t͡ɬʼː ⟨кь⟩				k͡xʼː ⟨кӀкӀ⟩
	voiced				d͜ʒ ⟨дж⟩
Fricative	voiceless	v ⟨в⟩	s ⟨с⟩	sː ⟨сс⟩	ʃ ⟨ш⟩	ʃː ⟨щ⟩	ɬ ⟨лъ⟩	ɬː ⟨лълъ⟩		çː ⟨хь⟩	ɣ ⟨гь⟩	xː ⟨хх⟩	χ ⟨х⟩		ʜ ⟨хӀ⟩	h ⟨гь⟩
Fricative	voiced		z ⟨з⟩		ʒ ⟨ж⟩				j ⟨й⟩		x ⟨х⟩		ʁ ⟨гъ⟩		ʕ ⟨гӀ⟩
Approximant		m ⟨м⟩	n ⟨н⟩		r ⟨р⟩		l ⟨л⟩

Orthography

Botlikh is unwritten, and Botlikhs have mostly used Avar as their medium of written communication. When Botlikhs need to write their language, they use the Avar alphabet.^[4] The following orthography is used in a Botlikh–Russian dictionary.^[6]

А а

Аᴴ аᴴ

Б б

В в

Г г

Гъ гъ

Гь гь

ГӀ гӀ

Д д

Дж дж

(Е е)

Ж ж