Macedonian is an Eastern South Slavic language. It is part of the Indo-European language family, and is one of the Slavic languages, which are part of a larger Balto-Slavic branch. Spoken as a first language by around 1.6 million people, it serves as the official language of North Macedonia. Most speakers can be found in the country and its diaspora, with a smaller number of speakers throughout the transnational region of Macedonia. Macedonian is also a recognized minority language in parts of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Romania, and Serbia and it is spoken by emigrant communities predominantly in Australia, Canada and the United States.
The Northeast Caucasian languages, also called East Caucasian, Nakh-Daghestani or Vainakh-Daghestani, or sometimes Caspian languages, is a family of languages spoken in the Russian republics of Dagestan, Chechnya and Ingushetia and in Northern Azerbaijan as well as in Georgia and diaspora populations in Western Europe and the Middle East. According to Glottolog, there are currently 36 Nakh-Dagestanian languages.
Kabardian, also known as East Circassian, is a Northwest Caucasian language, that is considered to be the east dialect of Adyghe language. While some Soviet linguists have treated the two as distinct languages, the Circassians consider the eastern and western language variants to be dialects of one Circassian language.
Dagestan, officially the Republic of Dagestan, is a republic of Russia situated in the North Caucasus of Eastern Europe, along the Caspian Sea. It is located north of the Greater Caucasus, and is a part of the North Caucasian Federal District. The republic is the southernmost tip of Russia, sharing land borders with the countries of Azerbaijan and Georgia to the south and southwest, the Russian republics of Chechnya and Kalmykia to the west and north, and with Stavropol Krai to the northwest. Makhachkala is the republic's capital and largest city; other major cities are Derbent, Kizlyar, Izberbash, Kaspiysk, and Buynaksk.
Teochew, also known as Teo-Swa, is a Southern Min language spoken by the Teochew people in the Chaoshan region of eastern Guangdong and by their diaspora around the world. It is sometimes referred to as Chiuchow, its Cantonese rendering, due to English romanization by colonial officials and explorers. It is closely related to Hokkien, as it shares some cognates and phonology with Hokkien.
The peoples of the Caucasus, or Caucasians, are a diverse group comprising more than 50 ethnic groups throughout the Caucasus.
Kaitag is a Northeast Caucasian language spoken in Dagestan, Russia. It has sometimes been considered a divergent dialect of Dargwa due to it being part of the Dargin dialect continuum. The Routledge Ethnographic Handbook (2017) divided Kaitag into two dialects: northern (Magalis-Kaitak) and southern (Karakaitak). Recent results of the Association of the Russian Sociolinguists (2021) further developed it into three dialects: Lower Kaitag, Upper Kaitag and Shari, the latter of which may be a separate but closely related language.
Kubachi is a language in the Dargin dialect continuum spoken in Dagestan, Russia, by Kubachi people. It is often considered a divergent dialect of Dargwa, but it has also historically been portrayed as a separate language. Ethnologue lists it as a separate language.
Itsari is a language in the Dargin dialect continuum spoken in Dagestan, Russia spoken in the village Itsari, as well as in Kizlyarsky District, Druzhba, and other villages and cities, both in and outside of Dagestan, by about 2,000 people. It is often considered a divergent dialect of Dargwa. Ethnologue lists it as a dialect of Dargwa but recognizes that it may be a separate language. Its closest relative is Sanzhi, which has only about 200 speakers and is considered to be an endangered language, as parents are now teaching their children Russian for practical purposes.
Dargwa is a Northeast Caucasian language spoken by the Dargin people in the Russian republic Dagestan. This article discusses the literary dialect of the dialect continuum constituting the Dargin languages. It is based on the Aqusha and Urakhi dialects of Northern Dargin.
The Kadar dialect is a dialect of the Northern Dargwa language, one of the Dargin languages, which is characterized by specific phonetic, morphological, lexical and syntactic features. It is traditionally regarded as a single dialect of Dargwa. The vocabulary layer of the Kadar dialect includes words borrowed from Arabic, Persian, Russian and especially Turkic, due to contact with Kumyk.
The Mehweb language is a Dargin language, frequently considered a dialect of a unified Dargwa language, spoken in the village of Megeb in Dagestan, as well as by former residents of the village who have moved to larger cities, by about 800 to 900 people.
Tsudaqar is a Dargin language, quite different from the literary variety, spoken by over 33,000 people in the Levashinsky and Akushinsky Districts, Novy Kostek in Khasavyurtovsky District, and Novokare in Babayurtovsky District, Dagestan. The village of Tsudakhar was the traditional center. It is considered to be threatened with extinction, being transmitted to children, but not by all families. In modern times, work is underway to revitalize Tsudaqar and create an alphabet for the language.
