ВикIазив талхъан (Vik’aziv Talkhan) — in Kubachi language.
The Kubachi language, also known as Kubachin, is a highly distinctive member of the Northeast Caucasian language family, spoken primarily in the mountain village of Kubachi in the Dagestan republic of Russia. While it is traditionally classified as a divergent dialect within the Dargwa (Dargin) dialect continuum, its significant linguistic differences make it mutually unintelligible with other Dargwa varieties. Many linguists and organizations recognise it as a separate, independent language. It belongs to the Dargwic branch, placing it alongside other languages such as Kaitag and the standard literary Dargwa.
Kubachi is renowned for its remarkable phonological complexity, featuring a vast inventory of consonants, including uvulars, pharyngeals, and glottal stops. A unique phonetic shift distinguishes it from other Dargwa varieties: the original Dargwic phoneme [r] has either disappeared or transitioned into [j], causing the lengthening of adjacent vowels. Like other languages in the Northeast Caucasian family, it is characterised by ergative, i.e. absolutive morphology and complex noun class systems.
The language has seen various transitions. From the 13th century until 1928, literacy was maintained through the Ajam script, a modified Arabic alphabet adapted for local phonetics. A notable work, the “Madjmu’i,” was published in this script in 1913. Today, Kubachi is primarily written using the Cyrillic alphabet, though its use in formal literature remains limited as the standard literary Dargin is often used for official purposes.
In the “linguistic wonderland” of Dagestan, Kubachi exists alongside over thirty distinct tongues, including Avar, Lezgian, and Kumyk. Historically, the rugged Caucasian terrain isolated these communities, allowing Kubachi to flourish independently despite pressures from neighbouring regional powers like Persia and the Mongol Empire. While Russian now serves as the lingua franca for inter-ethnic communication, Kubachi remains a vital symbol of the unique cultural identity of the Kubachi people, famously known for their centuries-old tradition of exquisite goldsmithing and armoury.
