Rare 1963 Soviet Book: Hinukh Dialect of Dido Language – E. Lomtadze | Tsar to Soviet Books

Rare 1963 Soviet Caucasian Monograph: "The Hinukh Dialect of the Dido Language" by E. Lomtadze

Product Overview

For academic research facilities, historical linguists, and collectors of rare Caucasica, this 1963 original Soviet hardcover offers irreplaceable primary source material on one of the smallest indigenous language groups of the Caucasus. Published in Tbilisi by the Academy of Sciences of the Georgian SSR (Издательство Академии наук Грузинской ССР / საქართველოს სსრ მეცნიერებათა აკადემია), The Hinukh Dialect of the Dido Language (Гинухский диалект дидойского языка / დიდოური ენის ჰინუხური დიალექტი) is a groundbreaking monograph authored by philologist Elizbar Lomtadze.

Given its highly targeted field of study, this volume was issued in a restricted institutional run of only 1,000 copies, making clean surviving examples exceedingly scarce.

Structural & Phonetic Profile of an Endangered Caucasian Language

Spoken in the remote village of Ginukh (Tsunta District, Dagestan), Hinukh is a Tsezic language within the Avar-Andic-Tsezic branch of Northeast Caucasian. Lomtadze's monograph provides a deep structural analysis, including:

• Phonetic Inventory & Sound Correspondences: Exhaustive mapping of vowel and consonant systems, documenting phonetic shifts between Hinukh, Avar, Dido (Tsez), and Bezhta (Kapucha).

• Grammatical Matrix: Detailed research on noun class systems, ergative-absolutive alignment, case declensions, and complex synthetic/analytic verb forms.

• Fieldwork & Textual Samples: Includes transcribed native narrative texts and folklore with parallel Russian translations, serving as an irreplaceable record of 20th-century Hinukh oral traditions.

Complete Bibliographic Specifications

• Title: Гинухский диалект дидойского языка (The Hinukh Dialect of the Dido Language)

• Author: Elizbar Lomtadze (Элизбар Ломтадзе / ელისბარ ლომთაძე)

• Publisher: Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences of the Georgian SSR

• Publication Date: 1963 (Tbilisi, Georgia, USSR)

• Language: Russian (Main text & analysis) / Georgian / Hinukh

• Binding: Original publisher's deep red cloth boards, gold foil typography

• Print Run / Circulation: 1,000 copies (Soviet Тираж)

• Classification: Northeast Caucasian Languages / Tsezic Philology / Dagestanian Linguistics

Condition & Preservation Report

• Exterior Condition: The original crimson cloth boards are clean, flat, and rigid. Front gold foil stamping remains remarkably bright and legible.

• Binding Strength: Exceptionally firm, square, and tight. The text block exhibits pristine structural integrity.

• Paper Quality: Clean, unmarked pages throughout with uniform, light vintage age-toning typical of early 1960s Soviet paper stocks. Free from marginal notation, highlighting, previous ownership inscriptions, or library defacement.