Rutul language

Rutul
мыхӀабишды чӀел myxʼabišdy č̣el
Pronunciation	[mɨxabiʃdɨ t͡ʃʼɛl]
Native to	Russia, Azerbaijan
Region	Southern Dagestan, Russian–Azerbaijani border
Ethnicity	Rutul
Native speakers	30,000 in Russia (2010 census) 17,000 in Azerbaijan (no date)
Language family	Northeast Caucasian Lezgic Samur Western Samur Rutul
Writing system	Cyrillic
Official status
Official language in	Dagestan (Russia)
Language codes
ISO 639-3
Glottolog	rutu1240
Rutul in the Caucasus

Rutul is a language spoken by the Rutuls, an ethnic group living in Dagestan (Russia) and some parts of Azerbaijan. It is spoken by 30,000 people in Dagestan (2010 census) and 17,000 (no date) in Azerbaijan. The word Rutul derives from the name of a Dagestani village where speakers of this language make up the majority.

Rutul is endangered in Russia and classified as "definitely endangered" by UNESCO's Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger.

Rutul belongs to the Lezgic group of the Northeast Caucasian language family. The Rutuls call their language myxʼabišdy čʼel.

Rutul was not a written language until the writing system for it (based on Cyrillic) was developed in 1990. A Latin alphabet was developed in 2013 based on the Shin-Shorsu dialect. Speakers are often bilingual or multilingual, having a good command of the Azeri, Lezgian and/or Russian languages. There are 8 dialects and 2 subdialects of Rutul. The literary version of the language remains in the process of development. In the Rutul-populated regions of southern Russia, Rutul is taught in primary schools (grades 1 to 4).

Among the languages of the Lezgic group, Tsakhur appears to be the closest relative of Rutul. Other than these two, there are seven more languages in the Lezgic group, namely: Lezgian, Tabasaran, Aghul, Budukh, Kryts, Udi and Archi.