Abstract
This paper describes the sociolinguistic situation of Mehweb, a lect of the Dargwa branch of East Caucasian, in the Republic of Daghestan. In the course of several field trips to the village of Mehweb, sociolinguistic interviews were conducted in four neighbouring Avar- and Lak-speaking villages. The paper describes the demographic situation in Mehweb, the villagers' official status, their social and economic life in the past and at present. The multilingual repertoire of Mehwebs and their neighbours is described in both qualitative and quantitative terms. I conclude that, while there are no signs of language loss, the traditional patterns of multilingualism in Mehweb are highly endangered
Highlights
Mehweb belongs to the Dargwa group of East Caucasian (Nakh-Daghestanian) language family
Mehweb is spoken in a single village called Mehweb4 which is geographically separated from all other Dargwa languages
While Dargwa languages generally constitute a continuous area, Mehweb is surrounded by speakers of Avar and Lak, which are languages of other branches of the family
Summary
Mehweb belongs to the Dargwa group of East Caucasian (Nakh-Daghestanian) language family. It is sometimes considered as a dialect of Dargwa (Magometov 1982), but more often treated as a separate language (Khaidakov 1985, Koryakov & Sumbatova 2007). Mehweb is spoken in a single village called Mehweb which is geographically separated from all other Dargwa languages. All Mehwebspeaking families originate from the village Mehweb. The Mehwebs often suggest that their idiom is more conservative than other Dargwa lects and contains some archaic features. This opinion is expressed in some descriptions of Mehweb (Magometov 1982, Khaidakov 1985).
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