Table of contents:
- History of the region and multinationality
- Indigenous people and largest ethnic groups
- Languages and endangered representatives
- The most multilingual are the villagers
Video: 40 languages in one country, or How the peoples of Dagestan understand each other
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
Dagestan is considered the most multinational Russian region. Its 3 million inhabitants are a fusion of ethnic groups and mentalities that easily get along with each other. Dozens of Dagestani peoples speak dozens of languages. And an ordinary villager sometimes owns several at once in addition to foreign European ones. Derbent among the cities of Russia is recognized by UNESCO as the most tolerant. Some historians call modern Dagestan “Russia in miniature”.
History of the region and multinationality
Historically, Dagestan is located at the junction of Europe with Asia, West with East, Christianity with Islam. Such a unique geopolitical location has substantiated the social and linguistic identity of the region. The specificity lies in the diversity of national mentality, polyconfessionalism and age-old traditions.
Dagestan is not a national concept, but a territorial one. Both dominant ethnic groups and small peoples have lived here for centuries. Often the natural and geographical conditions influenced the life and settlement of a particular ethnic group. For example, the mountainous part of the republic was inhabited, for the most part, by the Avars, and the flat lands were occupied by the Kumyks.
The first state formation, which included the lands of today's Dagestan, was Caucasian Albania, dated back to the 5th century BC. Due to frequent wars, lands were transferred from one winner to another. Of course, not only rulers replaced each other, but also culture and religion. Gradually, the lands of Dagestan united different nationalities, rallying to defend their own territories. Initially, the flat lands were mastered by alien peoples (Arabs, Shiites, Sunnis), and the indigenous tribes went to the mountains. Over time, people became related, forming a single Dagestan ethnos.
According to the republican Constitution, the indigenous peoples of Dagestan recorded 14 nationalities. But the Avars alone are subdivided into one and a half dozen groups. And the Dargins are made up of Kubachins and Kaitags. The southern regions are historically associated with the residence of Mountain Jews - Tats. Belarussians, Tatars, Persians, Ossetians, Ukrainians are referred to compact groups of the population. And these are not all ethnic groups living in Dagestan.
Indigenous people and largest ethnic groups
In terms of numbers, the Avars are called the largest ethnic group in Dagestan. They account for about a third of the total population of the republic. In an outdated form, this name sounds like Avars, and the first settlers, who did not know the local national subtleties, even called the Avars Lezgins. The second largest group is the Dargins, who make up at least 17% of the population. The Dargins, following the example of the Avars, live in the mountains, partly occupying the central foothills of the republic. The third position in terms of the number of representatives is occupied by the Kumyks (about 15%). Historically, this people lived by agriculture, which is why it inhabits the flat territories. The Lezgins account for about 13% of the total population and the 4th position in the list of nationalities.
Languages and endangered representatives
Dagestan's polylingualism is a unique component of the republican culture. It is not for nothing that the country of mountains (dag - mountain, stan - country) is also called the "mountain of tongues". The linguistic situation here is quite extraordinary. On one small, on a national scale, the people speak 30 autochthonous languages. In addition, virtually every language is scattered into a multitude of dialects. The language system of Dagestan is extraordinary even in the context of the Caucasian diversity. There are languages in the republic that are represented by a separate aul and are understandable only to the inhabitants of a small territory.
The prevailing sociolinguistic situation among students is also interesting. In the villages, small children speak their native language. Teaching Russian begins at school. Speakers of unwritten autochthonous languages must, in addition to their native language, know at least one written language. It is necessary for learning and social needs. Usually, this language is one of the Dagestani literary languages: Avar, Lezghin, Dargin, Kumyk, etc. It turns out that the speakers of the minor Dagestan languages are multilingual. For example, the Andean language, which has no state status, is not taught at school. Avar is taught as a native language, which is not even closely related to the Andians. Next, Russian is connected to it, and in the senior grades - 1-2 foreign ones. As a result, the average Andian is fluent in five languages to varying degrees.
Today, the situation with languages is not rosy. The younger generation, especially the advanced urban dwellers, use their national dialect in everyday speech less and less. Therefore, even the basic language becomes a problem for them. Such a picture leads to the disappearance of the Dagestan languages, the overwhelming majority of which have already been recognized as endangered.
The most multilingual are the villagers
Before the spread of the Russian language in the Dagestan lands, rural residents, in addition to their native language, knew several languages of their neighbors, and sometimes even one major language of the area. Residents of the village of Genukh, neighboring Georgia, were called one of the most multilingual Dagestanis. In addition to their native Ginukh language, they spoke the neighboring Bezhta and Tsez, the interethnic language of the area, Avar, and all the men also spoke with dignity in Georgian. By the middle of the 20th century, Russian was added to this list, gradually beginning to supplant the rest of the small dialects. Nevertheless, in Genukha even today you can find many age residents who speak five or six languages.
True, not all Dagestanis were distinguished by such multilingualism. The speakers of the largest national languages sometimes did not know any other than their native language. Avars, Laks, Lezgins were quite satisfied with one thing. Only the most educated representatives of the largest groups additionally mastered the Arabic alphabet. Today most of the Dagestanis speak their native and Russian languages.
By the way, it is widely believed that only dark-skinned and black-haired people live in the Caucasus. In fact even blue-eyed blondes can be found there.
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