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Bezhta
Kapucha
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) 8,138 (2020 census)
Language family	Northeast Caucasian Tsezic Bezhta–Hunzib–Khwarshi Bezhta
Dialects	Bezhta proper Tladal Khocharkhota Turk.Bezhta
Language codes
ISO 639-3	kap
Glottolog	bezh1248
ELP	Bezhta
Bezhta
Bezhta is classified as Definitely Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger (2010)
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), belongs to the Tsezic group of the North Caucasian language family. It is spoken by about 6,200 people in southern Dagestan, Russia

Bezhta can be divided into three dialects – Bezhta Proper, Tlyadal [ru] and Khocharkhota – which are spoken in various villages in the region. Its closest linguistic relatives are Hunzib and Khwarshi. 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).

Phonology

Bezhta has a rich consonantal and – unlike its relatives Tsez and Avar – a relatively large vowel inventory (16 distinct vowel phonemes), compared to other languages of the same family.

Vowels

Consonants

Morphology

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (January 2010)

Bezhta is mostly agglutinative and the vast amount of locative cases makes its case system particularly rich. The verb morphology is relatively simple. It is an ergative language.

Numerals

Unlike Tsez, Bezhta has a decimal system with the word for twenty being an exception.

• Multiples of 10 higher than 20 are formed by adding the suffix -yig (-йиг) to the multiplier. Hence, the word for 30 is łanayig (лъанайиг).
• Compound numbers are formed by juxtaposition, the smaller numbers following the greater ones. The number 47 is thus expressed as ṏqʼönäyig aƛna (оьᵸкъоьнаьйиг алIна).

Orthography

Bezhta is typically unwritten. The orthography used in translations of biblical texts is as follows:

Sample of the Bezhta language

This is a passage taken from the Gospel of Luke written in a Cyrillic orthography based on Avar and Chechen, a Latinized transcription and one in IPA.

References

1. Том 5. «Национальный состав и владение языками». Таблица 7. Население наиболее многочисленных национальностей по родному языку
2. Bezhta at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
3. Shirin Akiner, Islamic Peoples of the Soviet Union, 2nd ed. (KPI, Distributed by Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1986: ISBN 0-7103-0188-X), p. 253.
4. ^ Ethnologue entry for Bezhta
5. Schulze, Wolfgang (2009). "Languages in the Caucasus" (PDF). p. 6. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 June 2012. Retrieved 7 May 2012.
6. Institute for Bible Translation. "Translators' News" (PDF). p. 1. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2004-09-01. Retrieved 2014-01-30.
7. Comrie, Bernard; Khalilov, Madzhid; Khalilova, Zaira (2015). Grammatika Bezhtinskogo Jazyka . Leipzig-Makhachkala: MPIEVA.
8. Ulrich, Alexis. "Bezhta numbers". Of Languages and Numbers. Retrieved 2024-10-28.
9. Chalilov, Madžid Šaripovič (2017). Jazyk, folʹklor i ėtnografija bežtincev [The language, folklore and ethnography of the Bezhta people]. Moskva: Institut perevoda Biblii. ISBN 978-5-91431-157-2.
10. Chalilov, Madžid Šaripovič (2017). Jazyk, folʹklor i ėtnografija bežtincev [The language, folklore and ethnography of the Bezhta people]. Moskva: Institut perevoda Biblii. ISBN 978-5-93943-240-5.
11. "Gospel of Luke in Bezhta". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2006-03-12.

External links

• Margus Kolga; Igor Tõnurist; Lembit Vaba; Jüri Viikberg (1993). "The Bezhtas". The Red Book of the Peoples of the Russian Empire.
• The Bezhta People and Language (P.J. Hillery)
• Bezhta Vocabulary List (from the World Loanword Database)
• Bezhta basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database

v t e North Caucasian languages
The proposed North Caucasian language family comprises the Northeast and Northwest Caucasian language families.
Northwest (Pontic)	Abazgi Abaza Abkhaz Circassian Adyghe Abzakh Bzhedug Hakuchi Hatuqwai Natukhaj Shapsug Kfar Kama Kabardian Besleney Hattic (proposed) Ubykh
Northeast (Caspian)	Avar–Andic Andic Andi Akhvakh Bagvalal–Tindi Botlix–Godoberi Chamalal Karata-Tukita [ru] Avar Dargic Chirag North-Central Mehweb Gapshima Muira [ru] Tsudaqar–Usisha–Butri North Dargwa [ru] Aqusha [ru] Literary Dargwa Murego–Gubden [uk] Kadar Mugi [ru] Upper Mulebki Urakhi Southern Ashti [ru]–Kubachi Sanzhi–Itsari Amuzgi–Shiri Sanakari–Chakhrizhi Southwestern Dargwa Sirhwa [lez; uk] Tanti Upper Vurqni Kaitag–Shari Kaitag Shari Tsezic Bezhta–Hunzib–Khwarshi Inkhoqwari Hinukh–Tsez Lezgic Archi Samur Eastern Aghul Lezgian Tabasaran Udi Caucasian Albanian Southern Budukh Kryts Western Rutul Tsakhur Nakh Bats Vainakh Chechen Aukh Ingush Other Khinalug Lak
Italics indicate extinct languages

v t e Languages of the Caucasus
Caucasian (areal)	South (Kartvelian) Karto-Zan Georgian Judaeo-Georgian Old Georgian Zan Laz Mingrelian Svan Northeast (Caspian) Avar–Andic Andic Andi Akhvakh Bagvalal–Tindi Botlikh–Godoberi Chamalal Karata Avar Dargin Chirag North-Central Mehweb Gapshima Muira [ru] Tsudaqar–Usisha–Butri Northern Dargwa [ru] Aqusha [ru] Literary Dargwa Murego–Gubden [uk] Kadar Mugi [ru] Upper Mulebki Urakhi Southern Ashti [ru]–Kubachi Sanzhi–Itsari Amuzgi–Shiri Sanakari–Chakhrizhi Southwestern Dargwa Sirhwa [lez; uk] Tanti Upper Vurqni Kaitag–Shari Kaitag Shari Lezgic Archi Samur Eastern Aghul Lezgin Tabasaran Southern Budukh Kryts Jek Western Rutul Tsakhur Udi Nakh Bats Vainakh Chechen Aukh Ingush Tsezic (Didoic) Bezhta–Hunzib–Khwarshi Hinukh–Tsez Others Khinalug Lak Northwest (Pontic) Abazgi Abaza Abkhaz Circassian Adyghe Kabardian Ubykh
Indo- European	Iranian Kurdish Kurmanji Ossetian Persian Talysh Kilit Tat Judeo-Tat Slavic Russian Ukrainian Others Armenian Eastern Western German Pontic Greek
Turkic	Kipchak Karachay-Balkar Kumyk Nogai Urum Oghuz Azerbaijani Turkish Turkmen
Others	Kalmyk Oirat Lomavren Northeastern Neo-Aramaic Assyrian Bohtan Shirvani Arabic
Italics indicate extinct languages Languages between parentheses are varieties of the language on their left. See also Languages of Armenia Languages of Azerbaijan Languages of Georgia Languages of Russia

• Languages of the Caucasus
• Agglutinative languages
• Northeast Caucasian languages
• Languages of Russia
• Dagestan
• Endangered Caucasian languages