Tabasaran language

Tabasaran (or Tabassaran) is a member of the Lezgian subfamily of the Northeast Caucasian languages. It is spoken in the southern parts of the Russian Caucasus republic of Dagestan. Tabasaran speakers, Tabasaran people, live in the basin of Upper Rubas-chai and Upper Chirakh-chai. There are two main dialects: North (Khanag) and South Tabasaran. It has a literary language based on the Southern dialect, one of six in the Dagestan Republic.

Tabassaran is an ergative language. The verb system is relatively simple; verbs agree with the noun in number, person and (in North Tabassaran) class. North Tabassaran has two noun classes, while Southern Tabassaran has none.

Sample

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

Uzuz uwu kkundžazuz "Узуз уву ккунжaзуз" — "I love you."

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

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

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

Bibliography

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

External links

• Entry in the Red Book of the Peoples of the Russian Empire
• Sample text
• The consonant system of Tabasaran
• Description at Languages of the World
• Entry at the Rosetta Project