Tabasaran language
| Tabasaran | |
|---|---|
| табасаран чIал tabasaran ҫ̇al | |
| Native to | Russia |
| Region | Southern Dagestan |
| Ethnicity | Tabasarans |
Native speakers | 130,000 (2010 census)[1] |
| Official status | |
Official language in | Dagestan (Russia) |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | tab |
| Glottolog | taba1259 |
| ELP | Tabasaran |
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
| 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[clarification needed] an active language of the fluid-S type[clarification needed]. It is reported to have 53 noun cases[3] but see Comrie[4] and Blake.[5][further explanation needed]
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
- ^ Tabasaran at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ Consonant Systems of the North-East Caucasian Languages on TITUS DIDACTICA
- ^ Comrie, B (1981). The languages of the Soviet Union. Cambridge University Press.
- ^ Comrie, B.; Polinsky, M. (1998). The great Daghestanian case hoax (pdf).
{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter|lastauthoramp=ignored (|name-list-style=suggested) (help) - ^ Blake, Barry J. (2001). Case. Cambridge University Press.
- 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)]
