Rutul is a language spoken by the Rutuls, an ethnic group living in Dagestan

Dagestan

The Republic of Dagestan is a federal subject of Russia, located in the North Caucasus region. Its capital and the largest city is Makhachkala, located at the center of Dagestan on the Caspian Sea...

 (Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

) and some parts of Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...

. It is spoken by 29,400 people in Dagestan and the remaining 110 in Azerbaijan. The word Rutul derives from the name of a Dagestani village where speakers of this language make up the majority.

Rutul is endangered

Endangered language

An endangered language is a language that is at risk of falling out of use. If it loses all its native speakers, it becomes a dead language. If eventually no one speaks the language at all it becomes an "extinct language"....

 in Russia and classified as "definitely endangered" by UNESCO

UNESCO

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...

's Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger.

Classification

Rutul belongs to the Lezgic group

Lezgic languages

The Lezgic languages are one the seven branches of the Northeast Caucasian language family. Lezgian and Tabasaran are literary languages.-Classification:* Peripheral: Archi – 1200 speakers* Samur ** Eastern Samur*** Udi – 5000 speakers...

 of the Northeast Caucasian

Northeast Caucasian languages

The Northeast Caucasian languages constitute a language family spoken in the Russian republics of Dagestan, Chechnya, Ingushetia, northern Azerbaijan, and in northeastern Georgia, as well as in diaspora populations in Russia, Turkey, and the Middle East...

 language family. The Rutuls call their language myxʼabišdy čʼel.

History

The term Rutul was first used in the 15th century to designate Lezgic-speaking people in what is now southern Dagestan and Azerbaijan's Shaki Rayon. It has been in official use since after 1917. Rutul was not a written language until the writing system for it (based on the Cyrillic alphabet

Cyrillic alphabet

The Cyrillic script or azbuka is an alphabetic writing system developed in the First Bulgarian Empire during the 10th century AD at the Preslav Literary School...

) was developed in 1990. Speakers are often bilingual or multilingual, having a good command of the Azeri, Lezgian and/or Russian

Russian language

Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...

 languages. There are 8 dialects and 2 subdialects of Rutul. The literary version of the language remains in the process of development. In the Rutul-populated regions of southern Russia, Rutul is taught in primary schools (grades 1 to 4).

Related languages

Among the languages of the Lezgic group, Tsakhur

Tsakhur language

Tsakhur is a language spoken by the Tsakhurs, an ethnic group, which populates northern Azerbaijan and southwestern Dagestan . It is spoken by about 13,000 people in Azerbaijan and by about 9,770 people in Dagestan...

 appears to be the closest relative of Rutul. Other than these two, there are seven more languages in the Lezgic group, namely: Lezgian, Tabasaran

Tabasaran language

Tabasaran is a Northeast Caucasian language of the Lezgic branch. It is spoken by the Tabasaran people in southern part of the Russian Republic of Dagestan. There are two main dialects: North and South Tabasaran. It has a literary language based on the Southern dialect, one of six in the Dagestan...

, Aghul

Aghul language

Aghul, also spelled Agul, is a language spoken by the Aguls who live in southern Dagestan, Russia and in Azerbaijan. It is spoken by about 28,300 people .-Classification:...

, Budukh

Budukh language

Budukh or Budugh is a Samur language of the Northeast Caucasian language family spoken in parts of the Quba Rayon of Azerbaijan. It was reportedly spoken by approximately 1,000 Budukhs in 1990, but Authier reports at most 200 speakers....

, Kryts

Kryts language

Kryts , or Jek , is a Samur language of the Northeast Caucasian language family spoken in parts of the Quba Rayon of Azerbaijan by 6,000 people in 1975....

, Udi

Udi language

The Udi language, spoken by the Udi people, is a member of the Lezgic branch of the Northeast Caucasian language family. It is believed an earlier form of it was the main language of Caucasian Albania, which stretched from south Dagestan to current day Azerbaijan.The language is spoken by about...

 and Archi

Archi language

Archi is a Northeast Caucasian language spoken by the 1,200 Archis in the village of Archib, southern Dagestan, Russia and the six surrounding smaller villages...

.

External links

• Rutul dictionary online (select simple or advanced browsing)
• Appendix:Cyrillic script
• Folk Songs and Dances of the Rutuls of Azerbaijan