Juhuri language
Encyclopedia
Juhuri, Juwuri or Judæo-Tat (çuhuri / жугьури / ז'אוּהאוּראִ) is a form of the Tat language and is the traditional language of the Mountain Jews
of the eastern Caucasus Mountains
, especially Azerbaijan
and Dagestan
, now mainly spoken in Israel
.
The language is related to Persian
; it belongs to the southwestern group of the Iranian
division of the Indo-European languages
. A similar, but still different language is spoken by the Muslim
Tats
of Azerbaijan
, a group to which the Mountain Jews were mistakenly considered to belong during the era of Soviet historiography
. The words Juhuri and Juhuro literally translate as "Jewish" and "Jews."
Juhuri has Semitic
(Hebrew/Aramaic/Arabic) elements on all linguistic levels. Juhuri has the Hebrew sound "ayin
" (ע) while no neighbouring languages have it.
Juhuri is an endangered language
classified as "definitely endangered" by UNESCO
's Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger.
. In the 1920s Latin script
was adapted for it; later it was written in Cyrillic characters
. Recently, the use of the Hebrew alphabet has enjoyed renewed popularity.
) and is much more closely related to modern Persian than most other Iranian languages of the Caucasus e.g. Talysh
, Ossetian
, and Kurdish
. However, it also bears strong influence from other sources:
Medieval Persian
: Postpositions are used predominantly in lieu of prepositions e.g. modern Persian: باز او => Juhuri: æ uræ-voz "with him/her".
Arabic
: like in modern Persian, a significant portion of the vocabulary is Arabic in origin. Unlike modern Persian, Juhuri has almost universally retained the original pharyngeal/uvular phonemes of Arabic e.g. /ʕæsæl/ "honey" (Arab. عسل), /sæbæħ/ "morning" (Arab. صباح).
Hebrew: As other Jewish dialects, the language also has many Hebrew loan words e.g. /ʃulħon/ "table" (Heb. שלחן), /mozol/ "luck" (Heb. מזל), /ʕoʃiɾ/ "rich" (Heb. עשיר). Hebrew words are typically pronounced in the tradition of other Mizrahi Jews
. Examples: ח and ע are pronounced pharyngeally (like Arabic ح, ع respectively); ק is pronounced as a voiced uvular plosive (like Persian ق/غ). Classical Hebrew /w/ (ו) and /aː/ (kamatz), however, are typically pronounced as /v/ and /o/ respectively (similar to the Persian/Ashkenazi traditions, but unlike the Iraqi tradition, which retains /w/ and /aː/)
Azeri
: Vowel harmony
and many loan words
Russian
: Loan words adopted after the Russian Empire's annexation of Daghestan and Azerbaijan
Northeast Caucasian languages
: e.g. /tʃuklæ/ "small" (probably the same origin as the medieval Caucasian city name "Sera-chuk" mentioned by Ibn Battuta
, meaning "little Sera")
Other common phonology/morphology changes from classical Persian/Arabic/Hebrew:
The dialects of Oğuz
(formerly Vartashen) and the now extinct Jewish community of Mücü
have not been studied well and thus cannot be classified.
Mountain Jews
Highland Jews, Mountain Jews or Kavkazi Jews also known as Juvuro or Juhuro, are Jews of the eastern Caucasus, mainly of Azerbaijan and Dagestan. They are also known as Caucasus Jews, Caucasian Jews, or less commonly East Caucasian Jews, because the majority of these Jews settled the eastern part...
of the eastern Caucasus Mountains
Caucasus Mountains
The Caucasus Mountains is a mountain system in Eurasia between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea in the Caucasus region .The Caucasus Mountains includes:* the Greater Caucasus Mountain Range and* the Lesser Caucasus Mountains....
, especially Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...
and Dagestan
Dagestan
The Republic of Dagestan is a federal subject of Russia, located in the North Caucasus region. Its capital and the largest city is Makhachkala, located at the center of Dagestan on the Caspian Sea...
, now mainly spoken in Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
.
The language is related to Persian
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
; it belongs to the southwestern group of the Iranian
Iranian languages
The Iranian languages form a subfamily of the Indo-Iranian languages which in turn is a subgroup of Indo-European language family. They have been and are spoken by Iranian peoples....
division of the Indo-European languages
Indo-European languages
The Indo-European languages are a family of several hundred related languages and dialects, including most major current languages of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and South Asia and also historically predominant in Anatolia...
. A similar, but still different language is spoken by the Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
Tats
Tats
Tats are an Iranian people, presently living within Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Russia ....
of Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...
, a group to which the Mountain Jews were mistakenly considered to belong during the era of Soviet historiography
Soviet historiography
Soviet historiography is the methodology of history studies by historians in the Soviet Union . In the USSR, the study of history was marked by alternating periods of freedom allowed and restrictions imposed by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union , and also by the struggle of historians to...
. The words Juhuri and Juhuro literally translate as "Jewish" and "Jews."
Juhuri has Semitic
Semitic
In linguistics and ethnology, Semitic was first used to refer to a language family of largely Middle Eastern origin, now called the Semitic languages...
(Hebrew/Aramaic/Arabic) elements on all linguistic levels. Juhuri has the Hebrew sound "ayin
Ayin
' or ' is the sixteenth letter in many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew and Arabic . It is the twenty-first letter in the new Persian alphabet...
" (ע) while no neighbouring languages have it.
Juhuri is an endangered language
Endangered language
An endangered language is a language that is at risk of falling out of use. If it loses all its native speakers, it becomes a dead language. If eventually no one speaks the language at all it becomes an "extinct language"....
classified as "definitely endangered" by UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
's Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger.
Distribution
The language is presently spoken by an estimated 106,000 people:- IsraelIsraelThe State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
: 70,000 in 1998 - AzerbaijanAzerbaijanAzerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...
: 24,000 in 1989 - RussiaRussiaRussia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
: 3,000 in 2002 - USA: 5,000
Phonology
| Front Front vowel A front vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a front vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far in front as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Front vowels are sometimes also... |
Near-front Near-front vowel A near-front vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a near-front vowel is that the tongue is positioned as in a front vowel, but slightly further back in the mouth. The near-front vowels identified by the International Phonetic Alphabet are:*... |
Central Central vowel A central vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a central vowel is that the tongue is positioned halfway between a front vowel and a back vowel... |
Back Back vowel A back vowel is a type of vowel sound used in spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a back vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far back as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Back vowels are sometimes also called dark... |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unrounded | Rounded | ||||
| Close Close vowel A close vowel is a type of vowel sound used in many spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a close vowel is that the tongue is positioned as close as possible to the roof of the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant.This term is prescribed by the... and Near-close Near-close vowel A near-close vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a near-close vowel is that the tongue is positioned similarly to a close vowel, but slightly less constricted. Near-close vowels are sometimes described as lax variants of the fully close vowels... |
i | y | ɪ | u | |
| Mid Mid vowel A mid vowel is a vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a mid vowel is that the tongue is positioned mid-way between an open vowel and a close vowel... |
ɛ | o | |||
| Open Open vowel An open vowel is defined as a vowel sound in which the tongue is positioned as far as possible from the roof of the mouth. Open vowels are sometimes also called low vowels in reference to the low position of the tongue... |
æ | a |
| Bilabial | Labio-dental | Dental | Alveolar Alveolar consonant Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the alveoli of the superior teeth... |
Post-alveolar | Palatal | Velar Velar consonant Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue against the soft palate, the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the velum).... |
Uvular Uvular consonant Uvulars are consonants articulated with the back of the tongue against or near the uvula, that is, further back in the mouth than velar consonants. Uvulars may be plosives, fricatives, nasal stops, trills, or approximants, though the IPA does not provide a separate symbol for the approximant, and... |
Pharyngeal Pharyngeal consonant A pharyngeal consonant is a type of consonant which is articulated with the root of the tongue against the pharynx.-Pharyngeal consonants in the IPA:Pharyngeal consonants in the International Phonetic Alphabet :... |
Glottal Glottal consonant Glottal consonants, also called laryngeal consonants, are consonants articulated with the glottis. Many phoneticians consider them, or at least the so-called fricative, to be transitional states of the glottis without a point of articulation as other consonants have; in fact, some do not consider... |
|||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosives and affricates |
p | b | t | d | t͡ʃ | d͡ʒ | k | ɡ | ɢ | |||||||||||
| Nasals Nasal consonant A nasal consonant is a type of consonant produced with a lowered velum in the mouth, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. Examples of nasal consonants in English are and , in words such as nose and mouth.- Definition :... |
m | n | ||||||||||||||||||
| Fricatives | f | v | s | z | ʃ | χ | ħ | h | ||||||||||||
| Approximants | l | j | ʕ | |||||||||||||||||
| Taps | ɾ | |||||||||||||||||||
Alphabet
In the early 20th century Juhuri used the Hebrew scriptHebrew alphabet
The Hebrew alphabet , known variously by scholars as the Jewish script, square script, block script, or more historically, the Assyrian script, is used in the writing of the Hebrew language, as well as other Jewish languages, most notably Yiddish, Ladino, and Judeo-Arabic. There have been two...
. In the 1920s Latin script
Latin alphabet
The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most recognized alphabet used in the world today. It evolved from a western variety of the Greek alphabet called the Cumaean alphabet, which was adopted and modified by the Etruscans who ruled early Rome...
was adapted for it; later it was written in Cyrillic characters
Cyrillic alphabet
The Cyrillic script or azbuka is an alphabetic writing system developed in the First Bulgarian Empire during the 10th century AD at the Preslav Literary School...
. Recently, the use of the Hebrew alphabet has enjoyed renewed popularity.
| Latin Latin alphabet The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most recognized alphabet used in the world today. It evolved from a western variety of the Greek alphabet called the Cumaean alphabet, which was adopted and modified by the Etruscans who ruled early Rome... |
Aa | Bb | Cc | Çç | Dd | Ee | Əə | Ff | Gg | Hh | Ḩḩ | Ħћ | Ii | Jj | Kk | Ll | Mm | Nn | Oo | Pp | Rr | Ss | Şş | Tt | Uu | Vv | Xx | Yy | Zz | |
| Cyrillic Cyrillic alphabet The Cyrillic script or azbuka is an alphabetic writing system developed in the First Bulgarian Empire during the 10th century AD at the Preslav Literary School... |
Аа | Бб | Чч | Жж | Дд | Ее | Ээ | Фф | Гг | Гьгь | ГӀгӀ | Хьхь | Ии | Йй | Кк | Лл | Мм | Нн | Оо | Пп | Гъгъ | Рр | Сс | Шш | Тт | Уу | Вв | Хх | Уьуь | Зз |
| Hebrew Hebrew alphabet The Hebrew alphabet , known variously by scholars as the Jewish script, square script, block script, or more historically, the Assyrian script, is used in the writing of the Hebrew language, as well as other Jewish languages, most notably Yiddish, Ladino, and Judeo-Arabic. There have been two... |
אַ | בּ | 'ג'/צ | 'ז | ד | אי | א | פ | ג | ה | ע | ח | אִ | י | כּ | ל | מ | נ | אָ | פּ | ק | ר | ס | ש | ת | אוּ | ב | כ | או | ז |
Influences and etymology
Judæo-Tat/Juhuri is a Southwest Iranian language (as is modern PersianPersian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
) and is much more closely related to modern Persian than most other Iranian languages of the Caucasus e.g. Talysh
Talysh
Talysh may refer to:*Talysh people*Talysh language*Talysh Khanate*Talysh-Mughan Autonomous Republic - a self-declared autonomy, which existed briefly in the south of Azerbaijan in 1993*Talysh Mountains*Talış, Agsu, Azerbaijan*Talış, Hajigabul, Azerbaijan...
, Ossetian
Ossetian
Ossetian may refer to:* The Ossetian language* A member of the Ossetian people* A person from the region of Ossetia...
, and Kurdish
Kurdish language
Kurdish is a dialect continuum spoken by the Kurds in western Asia. It is part of the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian group of Indo-European languages....
. However, it also bears strong influence from other sources:
Medieval Persian
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
: Postpositions are used predominantly in lieu of prepositions e.g. modern Persian: باز او => Juhuri: æ uræ-voz "with him/her".
Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
: like in modern Persian, a significant portion of the vocabulary is Arabic in origin. Unlike modern Persian, Juhuri has almost universally retained the original pharyngeal/uvular phonemes of Arabic e.g. /ʕæsæl/ "honey" (Arab. عسل), /sæbæħ/ "morning" (Arab. صباح).
Hebrew: As other Jewish dialects, the language also has many Hebrew loan words e.g. /ʃulħon/ "table" (Heb. שלחן), /mozol/ "luck" (Heb. מזל), /ʕoʃiɾ/ "rich" (Heb. עשיר). Hebrew words are typically pronounced in the tradition of other Mizrahi Jews
Mizrahi Jews
Mizrahi Jews or Mizrahiyim, , also referred to as Adot HaMizrach are Jews descended from the Jewish communities of the Middle East, North Africa and the Caucasus...
. Examples: ח and ע are pronounced pharyngeally (like Arabic ح, ع respectively); ק is pronounced as a voiced uvular plosive (like Persian ق/غ). Classical Hebrew /w/ (ו) and /aː/ (kamatz), however, are typically pronounced as /v/ and /o/ respectively (similar to the Persian/Ashkenazi traditions, but unlike the Iraqi tradition, which retains /w/ and /aː/)
Azeri
Azerbaijani language
Azerbaijani or Azeri or Torki is a language belonging to the Turkic language family, spoken in southwestern Asia by the Azerbaijani people, primarily in Azerbaijan and northwestern Iran...
: Vowel harmony
Vowel harmony
Vowel harmony is a type of long-distance assimilatory phonological process involving vowels that occurs in some languages. In languages with vowel harmony, there are constraints on which vowels may be found near each other....
and many loan words
Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
: Loan words adopted after the Russian Empire's annexation of Daghestan and Azerbaijan
Northeast Caucasian languages
Northeast Caucasian languages
The Northeast Caucasian languages constitute a language family spoken in the Russian republics of Dagestan, Chechnya, Ingushetia, northern Azerbaijan, and in northeastern Georgia, as well as in diaspora populations in Russia, Turkey, and the Middle East...
: e.g. /tʃuklæ/ "small" (probably the same origin as the medieval Caucasian city name "Sera-chuk" mentioned by Ibn Battuta
Ibn Battuta
Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Battuta , or simply Ibn Battuta, also known as Shams ad–Din , was a Muslim Moroccan Berber explorer, known for his extensive travels published in the Rihla...
, meaning "little Sera")
Other common phonology/morphology changes from classical Persian/Arabic/Hebrew:
- /aː/ => /o/, /æ/, or /u/ e.g. /kitob/ "book" (Arab. كتاب), /ɾæħ/ "road/path" (Pers. راه), /ɢurbu/ "sacrifice" (Arab. or Aramaic /qurbaːn/)
- /o/ => /u/ e.g. /ovʃolum/ "Absalom" (Heb. אבשלום)
- /u/ => /ü/, especially under the influence of vowel harmonyVowel harmonyVowel harmony is a type of long-distance assimilatory phonological process involving vowels that occurs in some languages. In languages with vowel harmony, there are constraints on which vowels may be found near each other....
- Stress on final syllable words
- Dropping of the final /n/, e.g. /soχtæ/ "to make" (Pers. ساختن)
Dialects
Being a variety of the Tat language, Judæo-Tat itself can be divided into several dialects:- Quba dialect (traditionally spoken in QubaQubaQuba is a rayon in northeastern Azerbaijan. The capital is located on the Kudyal River at 41.37°N, 48.50°E....
and Qırmızı Qəsəbə) - Derbent dialect (traditionally spoken in the town of DerbentDerbentDerbent |Lak]]: Чурул, Churul; Persian: دربند; Judæo-Tat: דארבּאנד/Дэрбэнд/Dərbənd) is a city in the Republic of Dagestan, Russia, close to the Azerbaijani border. It is the southernmost city in Russia, and it is the second most important city of Dagestan...
and the surrounding villages), has been used as a standard form of Judæo-Tat - Kaitag dialect (spoken in the North CaucasusNorth CaucasusThe North Caucasus is the northern part of the Caucasus region between the Black and Caspian Seas and within European Russia. The term is also used as a synonym for the North Caucasus economic region of Russia....
)
The dialects of Oğuz
Oguz
Oghuz is a rayon of Azerbaijan. The population of the region consisted of Azerbaijanis....
(formerly Vartashen) and the now extinct Jewish community of Mücü
Mücü
Mücü is a village and municipality in the Ismailli Rayon of Azerbaijan. It has a population of 229....
have not been studied well and thus cannot be classified.
External links
- Judeo-Tat page at Ethnologue.com
- Горско-еврейский язык (словарь, грамматика, библиотека)
- JUHURO.RU - Информационно развлекательный портал горских евреев Горские Евреи Израиля population ~70,000
- Горские Евреи Нальчика Mountain Jews of Nalchik.
- Горские Евреи Америки Mountain Jews of the US.
- Cайт Горских Евреев Культура новости