Tsakhur

Tsakhur is a language spoken by the Tsakhur people, a minority group in Azerbaijan and Dagestan. It is also spoken by some in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. It is a member of the Lezgic branch of the Northeast Caucasian language family. Tsakhur has two dialects, Southern and Northern. The Southern dialect is spoken in Azerbaijan, while the Northern dialect is spoken in Dagestan. Tsakhur is written in a version of the Cyrillic alphabet. The Tsakhur people are thought to have descended from the Alans, a nomadic people who once inhabited the steppes of Central Asia. The Tsakhur language is closely related to the Lezgian language, which is spoken by the Lezgins, another minority group in Azerbaijan and Dagestan. Tsakhur is a endangered language. According to Ethnologue, there are only about 4,000 speakers of Tsakhur, all of whom live in Azerbaijan. The Tsakhur people are often bilingual, speaking both Tsakhur and Azerbaijani. However, the use of Tsakhur is in decline, particularly among younger generations. There is very little written material in Tsakhur. Most of what is available is in the form of folktales and poetry. However, there are some efforts underway to create educational materials in Tsakhur, in order to help preserve the language.