There are as many dialects (sometimes languages) in
Daghestan as Turani groups which we mentioned more than thirty. Every group speaks its own
dialect or language. Especially in mountainous areas there are different languagest
spoken, thus it is still an appropriate name for Daghestan as the Arabs once called as
Cebelü'l-Elsine (Mountain of Languages). Also Russians call it as Gora Yazıkov which
have a similar meaning that of Arabs’. There are some languages which are spoken only by
200-300 families in one or two villages in mountainous region and cannot be
undersood by anyone else. According to the classification
in this field, languages in Daghestan is studied in four groups: first grup includes Avar,
Andi, Didoy and Archi; Darga (Hurkili) is in the second group; Lakh (Ghazi-Kumukh) in the
third group; and Lezghi language is in the fourth group. According to Şemsedding Sami who
claimed that Lezghis are the real native of Daghestan, Lezghi language has the basic
elements on which Daghestan languages constructed. He says; "...As Lezghi tribe live
in a small area, there should have been a common unity in language, but they are separated
in many tribes and live own their own lands, and speak their own language as well.”
Native Daghestan Languages belong to Iberian-Caucasian
language group, where Turkish languages such as Kumukh and Nogay belong to Turkish
language group. Turkish languages are spoken only on plain areas. Some place names in
Hungarian, Avar, Bulgarian, Khazar and Oguz are still kept today in Daghestan.
Before soviet system Turkish was a dominant language in plain areas and used as a means of
communication between the mountainous tribes. Today, Russian is used for this function.
Spoken by 71% of the population, almost all of technical information is in Russian, which
is used as a means for communication. According to Daghestan Constitution, it is given a
freedom to write and speak in 11 languages. Daghestan radio broadcasts in nine of
these languages.
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