The degree of difference from standard Russian varies between speakers depending on their age, education, occupation, location and other social factors.
With the rapid urbanization in the area, Dagestanis born in ethnically and linguistically diverse cities to parents originating from more monoethnic and monolingual rural areas may acquire a heavily vernacular-influenced Russian variety as their first language while not speaking their heritage languages natively.
One of the most common traits of Dagestani Russian varieties is frequent use of the constructions же есть (že jest) and есть же (jest že) and their contracted forms жиесь (žijes) and ежжи (ježži).
They are used as topic markers, a concept absent from standard Russian but common in vernacular languages of the area.
These expressions are also considered iconic of the dialect and are often used as a marker of regional identity, an example being the Dagestani cuisine restaurant "Жи Есть" in Moscow.