Tsez Languages

(also Dido languages), a group of unwritten Dagestan languages that include Tsez (Dido), Khvarshi, Hinukh, Bezhta, Kapucha, and Hunzib. The Tsez languages are spoken primarily in Tsuntinskii Raion of the Dagestan ASSR. According to a 1970 estimate, there are approximately 11,500 speakers of the languages.

Historically, the Tsez languages are most closely related to the Avar language and the Andi languages. Their rich vowel system includes pharyngealized, nasal, and long vowels, and the highly developed consonant system includes uvular, pharyngeal, abrupt, and lateral consonants. Consonant clusters are rare. The Tsez languages are agglutinative, with four to six nominal classes. The declensions have an unusually large number of locative cases. Verb forms may be synthetic or analytic, and essentially follow a single conjugation. In addition to absolute and ergative constructions, there is an “affective” construction, in which a transitive verb indicates the way the object is affected by the action. The Tsez languages contain many borrowings, mainly from Avar.