Kryz

Kryts (Kryz) is a Northeast Caucasian language of the Lezgic branch (Shahdagh subgroup, sister to Budukh), spoken by approximately 9,000 people in five villages of Quba Rayon in northeastern Azerbaijan (Khryz, Jek, Haput, Yergüj, Alik), with diaspora communities resettled on the Caspian lowland plains. It is typologically remarkable for its system of nine noun (gender) classes — among the largest of any Lezgic language and reflecting an archaic Proto-Lezgic state — combined with ergative-absolutive alignment, a rich set of locative cases, and class agreement triggered on the verb. Authier's (2009) Grammaire kryz, based on the Alik dialect, remains the standard reference. The language has no community orthography and is unwritten in everyday use; education is in Azerbaijani, and intergenerational transmission is weakening, with Ethnologue rating it 6b (Threatened).