# Rutul language

Rutul or Rutulian is a language spoken by the Rutuls, an ethnic group living in Dagestan (Russia) and some parts of Azerbaijan. It is spoken by 30,000 people in Dagestan (2010 census) and 17,000 (no date) 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 in Russia and classified as "definitely endangered" by UNESCO's Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger.

## Classification

Rutul belongs to the Lezgic group of the Northeast Caucasian language family. The Rutuls call their language МыхаӀбишды чӀел, Myhabishdy chel.

### Related languages

Among the languages of the Lezgic group, Tsakhur appears to be the closest relative of Rutul. Other than these two, there are seven more languages in the Lezgic group, namely: Lezgian, Tabasaran, Aghul, Budukh, Kryts, Udi and Archi.

## History

Rutul was not a written language until the writing system for it (based on Cyrillic) was developed in 1990. A Latin alphabet was developed in 2013 based on the Shin-Shorsu dialect. Speakers are often bilingual or multilingual, having a good command of the Azeri, Lezgian and/or Russian 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).

## Phonology
### Vowels

Vowel phonemes :
| | Front | Front | Central | Back |
| Close | i iː | y | ɨ ɨː | u uː |
| Mid | ɛ eː | ɛ eː | | |
| Open | æ | æ | | ɑ ɑː |

### Consonants

Consonant phonemes :
| | | Labial | Dental | Dental | Alveolar | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Velar | Uvular | Uvular | Pharyn- geal | Glottal |
| | | Labial | plain | lab. | plain | lab. | Palatal | plain | lab. | plain | lab. | Pharyn- geal | Glottal |
| Nasal | Nasal | m | n | | | | | | | | | | |
| Plosive | voiced | b | d | | | | | ɡ | ɡʷ | ɢ | ɢʷ | | |
| Plosive | voiceless | p | t | | | | | k | kʷ | q | qʷ | ʡ | ʔ |
| Plosive | ejective | pʼ | tʼ | | | | | kʼ | kʷʼ | qʼ | qʷʼ | | |
| Affricate | voiced | | d͡z | | d͡ʒ | d͡ʒʷ | | | | | | | |
| Affricate | voiceless | | t͡s | t͡sʷ | t͡ʃ | t͡ʃʷ | | | | | | | |
| Affricate | ejective | | t͡sʼ | t͡sʷʼ | t͡ʃʼ | t͡ʃʷʼ | | | | | | | |
| Fricative | voiceless | (f) | s | sʷ | ʃ | ʃʷ | | x | xʷ | χ | χʷ | ħ | h |
| Fricative | voiced | | z | | (ʒ) | | | ɣ | | ʁ | ʁʷ | ʢ | |
| Trill | Trill | | | | r | | | | | | | ʜ | |
| Approximant | Approximant | w | l | | | | j | | | | | | |

## Writing

Before the Russian Revolution, the Rutuls used the Arabic script. In the Arabic script (Ajami), as a written source, the text of the song in the Ikhrek dialect of the Rutul language of the ashug of the 18th century Kur Rajaba is known. In 1913, Adolf Dirr [ru] created a Cyrillic-based alphabet for Rutul. The modern Rutul alphabet based on the Cyrillic alphabet was introduced in 1990. Arabic was used, among other things, when writing scientific papers. Turkish (Azerbaijani) was also used in everyday life. The founders of the Rutul script and the compilers of the Rutul alphabet based on the Cyrillic alphabet are S.M. Makhmudova, K.E. Jamalov, G.K. Ibragimov. In 1992 prof. Makhmudova S. M. and Jamalov K. E. published an ABC book in Rutul for grade 1 students - “Alifba: 1-classad kitab”. In this edition, in addition to the previously adopted alphabet, the digraph Дз дз was introduced. After that, three more school textbooks of the Rutul language were published: Мыхаӏд чӏел (grades 2 and 4), Recipes by S. M. Makhmudova and Рутул чӏел by E. Ismailova. In 2012-2013 a textbook on the Rutul language for universities was published: Grammar of the Rutul language, Part 1-2 by S. M. Makhmudova. In 2006, Dzhamalov K. E. and Semedov S. A. released a Rutul-Russian dictionary (Ihrek dialect) In this edition, the letter Ь ь was excluded from the alphabet, but Аь аь was included. In 2019, the Rutul-Russian dictionary by A. S. Alisultanov and T. A. Suleimanova was published.
The Rutuls have a rich literature dating back to the 11th century with the name of Zeinab Hinavi, an Albanian poet. The classic of Rutul, Lezgin and Azerbaijani poetry is the eighteenth-century ashug Kur-Rajab. In the 20th and 21st centuries, Rutul literature was developed and developed by Jameseb Salarov, Nurakhmed Ramazanov, Magomed Ulileev, Musa Makhmudov, Ezerchi, Yusif Medzhidov, Sakit Kurbanov, Shafi Ibragimov, Veysal Cherkezov and others. In 2008, the first generalizing work "Rutul literature" was published. , which provides information about Rutul writers, poets and ashugs.
The writing system for the Rutuls of Azerbaijan was developed in 2013 based on the dialect of the village of Şin. When developing this alphabet, it was proposed to write the pharyngealized vowel [ɨˤ] with the letter ı;. The authors of the alphabet also proposed a more logically consistent system for denoting velar consonants, but it was rejected as not coinciding with the system adopted in the Azerbaijani alphabet. The Rutul alphabet in Azerbaijan includes the following letters:
Latin-based Rutul Alphabet :
| A a | AӀ aӀ | B b | C c | Ç ç | Çʼ çʼ | D d | E e | Ә ә | F f |
| G g | Gʼ gʼ | Gh gh | Ğ ğ | H h | X x | Xh xh | I ı | IӀ ıӀ | İ i |
| J j | K k | Kʼ kʼ | Q q | Qʼ qʼ | Qh qh | L l | M m | N n | O o |
| P p | Pʼ pʼ | R r | S s | Ş ş | T t | Tʼ tʼ | Ts ts | Tsʼ tsʼ | U u |
| Ü ü | UӀ uӀ | V v | Y y | Z z | ʼ |
Cyrillic-based Rutul Alphabet :
| А а | АӀ аӀ | Б б | В в | Г г | Гъ гъ | Гь гь | ГӀ гӀ | Д д | Е е | Ё ё |
| Дж дж | Ж ж | Дз дз | З з | И и | Й й | К к | Къ къ | Кь кь | КӀ кӀ | Л л |
| М м | Н н | О о | П п | ПӀ пӀ | Р р | С с | Т т | ТӀ тӀ | У у | Уь уь |
| УӀ уӀ | Ф ф | Х х | Хъ хъ | Хь хь | Ц ц | ЦӀ цӀ | Ч ч | ЧӀ чӀ | Ш ш | Щ щ |
| Ъ ъ | Ы ы | ЫӀ ыӀ | Ь ь | Э э | Ю ю | Я я |

### Comparison chart

| IPA | Cyrillic | Latin | IPA | Cyrillic | Latin |
| ɑ | A a | A a | o | О о | O o |
| ɑˤ | АӀ аӀ | AӀ aӀ | p | П п | P p |
| æ | Аь аь | Ə ə | p' | ПӀ пӀ | P' p' |
| b | Б б | B b | r | Р р | R r |
| ʋ | В в | V v | s | С с | S s |
| g | Г г | G g | t | Т т | T t |
| h | Гь гь | H h | t' | ТӀ тӀ | T' t' |
| ʁ | Гъ гъ | Ğ ğ | u | У у | U u |
| ɣ | ГӀ гӀ | Gh gh | y | Уь уь | Ü ü |
| d | Д д | D d | uˤ | УӀ уӀ | UӀ uӀ |
| d͡ʒ | Дж дж | C c | f | Ф ф | F f |
| e | Е е | E e | χ | Х х | X x |
| ʒ | Ж ж | J j | x | Хь хь | Xh xh |
| z | З з | Z z | q | Хъ хъ | Qh qh |
| i | И и | İ i | t͡s | Ц ц | Ts ts |
| j | Й й | Y y | t͡s' | ЦӀ цӀ | Ts' ts' |
| k | К к | K k | t͡ʃ | Ч ч | Ç ç |
| q' | Кь кь | Q' q' | t͡ʃ' | ЧӀ чӀ | Ç' ç' |
| ɢ | Къ къ | Q q | ʃ | Ш ш | Ş ş |
| k' | КӀ кӀ | K' k' | ʔ | Ъ ъ | ' |
| l | Л л | L l | ɨ | Ы ы | I ı |
| m | М м | M m | ɨˤ | ЫӀ ыӀ | IӀ ıӀ |
| n | Н н | N n | |