Lexicographical work on the Aghul Language and a new Aghul-GeorgianEnglish Dictionary

Review article

Abstract

This review article discusses lexicographical work on the Aghul language, a lesser-spoken Daghestanian language with about 21,000 native speakers. Most speakers are bilingual in Russian, and intergenerational transmission is weakening; therefore, documentation and learning resources are especially important. The paper outlines the main stages of Aghul lexicography, beginning with Dirr’s grammar sketch and short glossary (1907). It then examines Shaumian’s grammar and Aghul–Russian dictionary (1941), based on fieldwork carried out in 1933, which introduces dialect tags, cross-references, and occasional notes on loanword sources. The study also presents the most extensive modern printed dictionary, Mahomed Ramazanov’s Aghul–Russian dictionary (2010), containing about 40,000 lexical units and including detailed grammatical notes, example sentences, and expanded etymological labeling of borrowings. In addition, the article briefly considers newer digital resources, such as community-built online dictionaries and linguistic databases. Based on this overview, the paper proposes a design for a new Aghul–Georgian– English dictionary within the project “Caucasian-Georgian Dictionaries.” The planned macrostructure combines academic consistency with appliance by integrating standard headwords, transliteration (Latin and Georgian), dialect labels, part of speech, inflection notes, Georgian and English translations, corpusbased examples, usage notes, and cross-references.