Tabasaran language

Tabasaran
табасаран чIал tabasaran č’al
Native to	Russia
Region	Southern Dagestan
Ethnicity	Tabasarans
Native speakers	130,000 (2010 census)
Language family	Northeast Caucasian Lezgic Samur Eastern Samur Lezgi–Aghul–Tabasaran Tabasaran
Official status
Official language in	Dagestan (Russia)
Language codes
ISO 639-3	tab
Glottolog	taba1259

Tabasaran (also written Tabassaran) is a Northeast Caucasian language of the Lezgic branch. It is spoken by the Tabasaran people in southern part of the Russian Republic of Dagestan. There are two main dialects: North (Khanag) and South Tabasaran. It has a literary language based on the Southern dialect, one of the official languages of Dagestan.

Tabasaran is an ergative language. The verb system is relatively simple; verbs agree with the subject in number, person and (in North Tabasaran) class. North Tabasaran has two noun classes (also dubbed with the term "grammatical gender"), whereas Southern Tabasaran has none (i.e. one fewer than North Tabasaran, because no noun classes means that all nouns belong to the same class).

Geographical distribution

It is spoken in the basin of Upper Rubas-nir and Upper Chirakh-nir.

Phonology

Consonants

Consonant phonemes of Tabasaran

		Labial	Dental		Palatal		Velar	Uvular	Epiglottal	Glottal
			plain	sibilant	plain	labial
Nasal		m	n
Plosive/ Affricate	voiced	b	d	d͡z	d͡ʒ	d͡ʒʷ	ɡ	ɢ
	voiceless	p	t	t͡s	t͡ʃ	t͡ʃʷ	k	q		ʔ
	fortis	pː	tː	t͡sː	t͡ʃː	t͡ʃːʷ	kː	qː
	ejective	pʼ	tʼ	t͡sʼ	t͡ʃʼ	t͡ʃʷʼ	kʼ	qʼ
Fricative	voiceless	f		s	ʃ	ʃʷ	x		ʜ
	fortis	fː		sː	ʃː	ʃːʷ	xː
	voiced	v		z	ʒ	ʒʷ	ɣ		ʢ	ɦ
Approximant			l		j
Trill			r

Writing system

Tabasaran is written using Cyrillic.

Letter	IPA
А а	/ɑ/
Аь аь	/æ/
Б б	/b/
В в	/v/
Г г	/ɡ/
Гг гг	/ɣ/
Гъ гъ	/ʕ/
Гь гь	/h/
Д д	/d/
Е е	/ɛ/, /jɛ/
Ё ё	/jo/
Ж ж	/ʒ/, /dʒ/
Жв жв	/ʒʷ/
З з	/z/, /dz/
И и	/i/
Й й	/j/
К к	/kʰ/
Кк кк	/kː/
Къ къ	/qːʰ/
Кь кь	/qʼ/
Кӏ кӏ	/kʼ/
Л л	/l/
М м	/m/
Н н	/n/
О о	/o/
П п	/pʰ/
ПП пп	/pː/
Пӏ пӏ	/pʼ/
Р р	/r/
С с	/s/
Т т	/tʰ/
Тт тт	/tː/
Тӏ тӏ	/tʼ/
У у	/u/
Уь уь	/y/
Ф ф	/f/
Х х	/ɦ/
Хъ хъ	/qʰ/
Хь хь	/x/
Ц ц	/tsʰ/
Цц цц	/tsːʰ/
Цӏ цӏ	/tsʼ/
Ч ч	/tʃʰ/
Чв чв	/tʃʷʰ/
Чч чч	/tʃːʰ/
Чӏ чӏ	/tʃʼ/
Ш ш	/ʃ/
Шв шв	/ʃʷ/
Щ щ	/ɕ/
Ъ ъ	/ʔ/
Ы ы	/ɨ/
Ь ь
Э э	/ɛ/
Ю ю	/y/, /ju/
Я я	/æ/, /jɑ/

Note: The letters indicated in orange are encountered only in loanwords from Russian.

Grammar

Tabasaran is very probably an active language of the fluid-S type. It is reported to have 53 noun cases but see Comrie and Blake.

Samples

Uwu aldakurawu "Уву алдакураву" — "You are falling."

Uzuz uwu kkunduzuz "Узуз уву ккундузуз" — "I love you."

Uwu fudžuwa? "Уву фужува?" — "Who are you?"

Fici wuna? "Фици вуна?" — "How are you?"

Zakur ʕürza "Закур гъюрза" — "I'll come tomorrow"

Uzu kana qheza "Узу кана хъэза" — "I'll be back"

References

• Chanmagomedov, B.G.-K. & K.T. Šalbuzov, Tabasaransko-russkij slovar’, Moskva: Ilim, 2001, ISBN 5-02-022620-3 [Includes outline of Tabasaran grammar (Grammatičeskij očerk tabasaranskogo jazyka) by K.K. Kurbanov (p. 395-476)]

External links

• Tabasaran dictionary online from IDS (select simple or advanced browsing)
• Entry in the Red Book of the Peoples of the Russian Empire
• Sample text
• Description at Languages of the World
• Entry at the Rosetta Project
• Tabasaran basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database