A Grammar of Lezgian

Acknowledgments

First of all I have to thank my Lezgian friends and consultants in Moscow and Maxaikala who spent many hours with me, patiently answering questions whose points were mostly obscure to them: Muminat M. Gusejnova, Maisa Xalimbekova, Muradxan Axmedov, Fizuli and Salbuzdag Kurbanov, Nizam Zagirov, Etibar Bagirov, Farid I. Gusejnov.

I am very grateful to Professor Axmedula G. Gjul'magomedov for his hospitality in Maxaikala, to Muminat and Ibrahim Gusejnov for making me feel at home in their house, and to Farid Gusejnov for his friendship.

I also profited from discussions with Bukar B. Talibov, Enver M. Sejxov and RadZidin I. Gajdarov in Maxaikala, and with Sandro V. Kodzasov, Mixail E. Alekseev, Vjaieslav A. Cirikba, and Aleksandr E. Kibrik in Moscow.

Georg Bossong read the whole manuscript and suggested various improvements. Sandro Kodzasov, Matthias Butt, and Michael Job read earlier versions of the phonological chapters and provided numerous valuable suggestions. And special thanks are due to Matthias Butt for solving all my computational problems.

This work would not have been possible without the generous financial and organizational support of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). I thank Moscow State University and especially the Linguistics Department for their hospitality (Irina Μ. Kobozeva, Aleksandr E. Kibrik). And I would also like to mention some of my Moscow friends and colleagues who made my stay there such a unique experience: Sergej A. Krylov, Mira Β. Bergel'son, Andrej A. Kibrik, Vladimir A. Plungian, Ol'ga Ju. Boguslavskaja, Igor' M. Boguslavskij, Yakov G. Testelec, Leonid I. Kulikov, Vera I. Podlesskaya and (from Leningrad/St.Petersburg) Vladimir P. Nedjalkov.

Most of the actual writing of this grammar was done while I had the privilege to work in the ideal environment of the European Science Foundation Programme in Language Typology (EUROTYP), together with its Programme Director Ekkehard König and dozens of linguists from all over Europe, whose interest in Lezgian has always kept me motivated.

Finally, I have to thank Hans-Jürgen Sasse, George Smith, Stefanie Eschenlohr, and Albrecht Hofheinz for help of various kinds. 

Berlin, August 1992