"All members of the youngest generation are dominant in Russian, but everybody has at least a passive command of Sanzhi and is able to use a simplified form of the language in communication with members of the oldest generation, e.g. in interaction between grandchildren and grandparents.... Among the youngest generation language shift is observable, and it is reasonable to assume that members of the youngest generation in particular who are still children today will not pass on Sanzhi to their children. Since Sanzhi Dargwa is not employed in the public domain (e.g. administration, education, media, court) the language is unwritten and used only for oral communication within the Sanzhi community."

"Women of the oldest generation (60 years and older) are the only group for whom Sanzhi is the dominant language. Men of the oldest generation as well as many members of the middle generation (age 30 to 60) are more or less balanced bilinguals, and use the two languages in accordance with the different functional domains (public/official vs. private/speech community).Russian becomes the dominant language at the latest when children start attending kindergarten. Therefore, they generally have a limited and mostly passive command of Sanzhi and prefer to speak only Russian. Sanzhi people of the young generation, including small children, speak predominantly Russian with each other."

The language is not written.