Avar | |
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Avaric | |
Магӏарул мацӏ, Авар мацӏ Maⱨarul maⱬ, Avar maⱬ |
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Native to | Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Georgia and Turkey |
Ethnicity | Avars |
Native speakers
|
760,000 (2010) |
Cyrillic (current) Georgian, Arabic, Latin(historical) |
|
Official status | |
Official language in
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Dagestan (Russia) |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-1 |
av – Avaric |
ISO 639-2 |
ava – Avaric |
ISO 639-3 | Either: – Avaric – Old Avar |
ava – Avar |
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oav – Old Avar |
|
Glottolog | avar1256 |
Avar (self-designation Магӏарул мацӏ Maⱨarul maⱬ [maʕarul mat͡sʼ] "language of the mountains" or Авар мацӏ Avar maⱬ [awar mat͡sʼ] "Avar language"), also known as Avaric, is a language that belongs to the Avar–Andic group of the Northeast Caucasian family.
It is spoken mainly in the western and southern parts of the Russian Caucasus republic of Dagestan, and the Balaken, Zaqatala regions of north-western Azerbaijan. Some Avars live in other regions of Russia. There are also small communities of speakers living in the Russian republics of Chechnya and Kalmykia; in Georgia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Jordan, and the Marmara Sea region of Turkey. It is spoken by about 762,000 people worldwide. UNESCO classifies Avar as vulnerable to extinction.
It is one of six literary languages of Dagestan, where it is spoken not only by the Avar, but also serves as the language of communication between different ethnic groups.
There are two main dialect groups: the northern, which includes Khunzakh, Kazbek, Gunib, Gumbet and others; and the southern, which includes Andalal, Gidatl', Antsukh, Charoda, Tlyarata, Tsumada, Tsunta and others.
Avar is an agglutinative language, of SOV order.