Kryts (Kryc) is a
Samur language of the
Northeast Caucasian language family spoken in parts of the
Quba Rayon
Quba District (; az, Quba rayonu) is one of the 66 districts of Azerbaijan. It is located in the north-east of the country and belongs to the Guba-Khachmaz Economic Region. The district borders the districts of Qusar, Qabala, Ismayilli, Sham ...
of
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...
by 6,000 people in 1975.
[Ethnologue entry for Kryts](_blank)
/ref> Its dialects are Kryts, Jek, Khaput, Yergyudzh, and Alyk, which are all quite distinct to the point of only partial mutual intelligibility
In linguistics, mutual intelligibility is a relationship between languages or dialects in which speakers of different but related varieties can readily understand each other without prior familiarity or special effort. It is sometimes used as ...
, therefore they could also be considered separate languages in a dialect continuum
A dialect continuum or dialect chain is a series of language varieties spoken across some geographical area such that neighboring varieties are mutually intelligible, but the differences accumulate over distance so that widely separated vari ...
.endangered
An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and in ...
, classified as "severely endangered" by UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international coope ...
's Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger
The UNESCO ''Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger'' is an online publication containing a comprehensive list of the world's endangered languages. It originally replaced the ''Red Book of Endangered Languages'' as a title in print after a ...
.UNESCO Interactive Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger
Phonology
Consonants
* /ʁ/ may also be realized as
or
ː in complementary distribution.
* Sounds /t͡s, d͡z/ only occur in other dialects of the language.
* An /h/ may vary from a glottal sound to an epiglottal fricative /ʜ/.
Vowels
* /i/ can be heard as
in free variation
* The four vowels may also be pharyngealized as /iˤ, uˤ, eˤ, aˤ/.
References
*Authier, Gilles. 2009. Grammaire kryz. Paris: Peeters.
External links
Kryts basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database
Northeast Caucasian languages
Languages of Azerbaijan
Endangered Caucasian languages
Kryts
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