Sociolinguistic portrait of the Kumyk language

Ataev Boris Makhachevich, Abdullabekova Umsalimat Bagautdinovna

This article discusses the sociolinguistic portrait of the Kumyk language. The purpose of the study is to highlight the sociolinguistic characteristics of the Kumyk language on the basis of sociolinguistic studies. The Kumyk language is an early-written, medium-numerous, medium-developed language, which has a mixed compact-dispersed way of settling the speakers of the Kumyk language. In the field of education, it acts as a subject of instruction in primary and secondary schools. As a means of teaching, the functioning of the Kumyk language is limited to a certain set of disciplines of the philological cycle in higher education. The Kumyk language, like other state languages of Dagestan, is not used in important areas such as administration, office work, and official correspondence. «Kumyk-Russian bilingualism» is characteristic for speakers of the Kumyk language.

Keywords:Turkic languages, Kumyk language, sociolinguistic situation, language situation, languages of Dagestan, linguistic ecology.