Tabasaran language

Tabasaran
табасаран чIал tabasaran č’al
Native to	Russia
Region	Southern Dagestan
Ethnicity	Tabasarans
Native speakers	129,000  (2002)
Language family	Northeast Caucasian Lezgic Samur Eastern Samur Lezgi–Aghul–Tabasaran Tabasaran
Language codes
ISO 639-3	tab

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" ), while Southern Tabasaran has none (i.e. one fewer than North Tabasaran).

Geographical distribution

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

Phonology

Consonants

Consonant phonemes of Tabasaran

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

• Note that the source names the epiglottal series ″pharyngeal″ indiscriminately in all the tables, also when it includes a plosive and thus clearly is not a true pharyngeal.

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 red 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 fifty-three 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