Bezhta language

Bezhta
Bezhta
бежкьалас миц ; bežƛʼalas mic / beƶⱡʼalas mic
Pronunciation	[ˈbeʒt͡ɬʼɑlɑs mit͡s]
Native to	North Caucasus
Region	Southern Dagestan
Ethnicity	Bezhta people
Native speakers	6,800 (2006–2010)
Language family	Northeast Caucasian Tsezic Bezhta–Hunzib–Khwarshi Bezhta; ; ;
Language codes
ISO 639-3	kap
Glottolog	bezh1248
ELP	Bezhta
	This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

The Bezhta (or Bezheta) language (Bezhta: бежкьалас миц, bežƛʼalas mic, beƶⱡʼalas mic, pronounced [ˈbeʒt͡ɬʼɑlɑs mit͡s]), also known as Kapucha (from the name of a large village^[2]), belongs to the Tsezic group of the North Caucasian language family. It is spoken by about 6,200 people in southern Dagestan, Russia^[3]

Bezhta can be divided into three dialects – Bezhta Proper, Tlyadal and Khocharkhotin^[3] – which are spoken in various villages in the region. Its closest linguistic relatives are Hunzib and Khwarshi.^[4] Bezhta is unwritten, but various attempts have been made to develop an official orthography for the language. The Bezhta people use Avar as the literary language. The first book ever printed in Bezhta was the Gospel of Luke (1999).^[5]

^ Bezhta at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
^ Shirin Akiner, Islamic Peoples of the Soviet Union, 2nd ed. (KPI, Distributed by Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1986: ISBN 0-7103-0188-X), p. 253.
^ ^a ^b Ethnologue entry for Bezhta
^ Cite error: The named reference Schulze09 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Cite error: The named reference IBT200012 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[e18-1] Bezhta at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)

[2] Shirin Akiner, Islamic Peoples of the Soviet Union, 2nd ed. (KPI, Distributed by Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1986: ISBN 0-7103-0188-X), p. 253.

[Ethnologue-3] Ethnologue entry for Bezhta

[Schulze09-4] Cite error: The named reference Schulze09 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[IBT200012-5] Cite error: The named reference IBT200012 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

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Bezhta
бежкьалас миц bežƛʼalas mic / beƶⱡʼalas mic
Pronunciation	[ˈbeʒt͡ɬʼɑlɑs mit͡s]
Native to	North Caucasus
Region	Southern Dagestan
Ethnicity	Bezhta people
Native speakers	6,800 (2006–2010)^[1]
Language family	Northeast Caucasian Tsezic Bezhta–Hunzib–Khwarshi Bezhta
Language codes
ISO 639-3	`kap`
Glottolog	`bezh1248`
ELP	Bezhta
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.