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| Tsakhur | |
|---|---|
| цӀаӀхна мизts'əxna miz | |
| Pronunciation | /t͡sʼaˤχnamiz/ |
| Native to | North Caucasus Azerbaijan |
| Ethnicity | Tsakhurs |
Native speakers | 22,300 (2010-2011)[1] |
| Latin in Azerbaijan,Cyrillic in Russia | |
| Official status | |
Official language in |  Russia |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | tkr |
| Glottolog | tsak1249 |
| ELP | Tsakhur |
 Map of Tsakhurs in the Caucasus | |
 Tsakhur is classified as Definitely Endangered by theUNESCOAtlas of the World's Languages in Danger (2010) | |
| This article containsIPA phonetic symbols. Without properrendering support, you may seequestion marks, boxes, or other symbols instead ofUnicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, seeHelp:IPA. | |
Tsakhur (Tsakhur:цӀаӀхна миз,romanized: ts'əxna miz) spoken by theTsakhurs in northernAzerbaijan and southwesternDagestan (Russia). It is spoken by about 11,700 people in Azerbaijan and by about 10,600 people in Russia.[1] The wordTsakhur derives from the name of aDagestani village where speakers of this language make up the majority.
Although Tsakhur isendangered in communities in closest contact withAzerbaijani, it is vigorous in other communities, gaining prominence in the region, seen in the growth of interest in learning Tsakhur in school and a growing body of Tsakhur-learning materials.[2] Tsakhur is classified as "definitely endangered" byUNESCO'sAtlas of the World's Languages in Danger.[3]
![[icon]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.m.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aWiki_letter_w_cropped.svg) | This sectionneeds expansion. You can help byadding missing information.(April 2025) |
Tsakhur belongs to theLezgic group of theNortheast Caucasian language family. TheTsakhurs call their languageC'a'ꭓna miz.
Among the languages of the Lezgic group,Rutul appears to be the closest one to Tsakhur. Other than these two, there are eight more languages in the Lezgic group, namely:Lezgian,Tabasaran,Aghul,Budukh,Kryts,Udi, andArchi.
The first written documentation of Tsakhur dates back to 1895 and is attributed toRoderich von Erckert. The first description of Tsakhur grammar was published byAdolf Dirr in 1913.[2]
In the 1930s, aliterary form of Tsakhur was developed. Starting from 1934, the language was taught inprimary schools inAzerbaijan andDagestan. In 1938, the use of literary Tsakhur in Azerbaijan was discontinued but regained its status in 1989.[2]
The Tsakhur alphabet in Azerbaijan is based on theLatin script, whereas in Dagestan the language usesCyrillic. In the past (as early as the 11th century) there have been attempts to write Tsakhur in theArabic script.[4]
In 2008, Asif Rustamov directed the first and so far only feature film in Tsakhur calledFacing Back to theQibla.[5]
Tsakhur is spoken mostly in rural areas of Azerbaijan'sZaqatala andQakh rayons, as well as mountainous parts of Dagestan's Rutul region. There are 15,900 Tsakhurs in Azerbaijan (1999 census) and 10,400 in Russia (2002 census). In 1989, 93% of them reported Tsakhur as their first language.[2]
In Azerbaijan and Russia, Tsakhur is taught as a subject in primary schools (grades 1 to 4) in Tsakhur-populated regions. Newspapers and radio broadcast in Tsakhur are also available. It is one of twelve official languages of the Dagestan region in Russia where it is spoken. However, the language does not have an official status in Azerbaijan.[2]
The two major dialects of the Tsakhur language are Tsakh and Gelmets.[2]
Similar to many Northeast Caucasian languages, Tsakhur is known for its complex phonology and a large number of vowel phonemes (including 7 simple, 5pharyngealized and 3umlauted vowels[clarification needed]). Its first in-depth phonological description was provided byNikolai Trubetzkoy in 1931.
The consonant inventory, according to Shulze's study of the language, of Tsakhur is shown below. Forms are phonemic unless numbered, in which case they are suspected to be phonemes but currently with incomplete evidence for this.[6] The inventory shows some asymmetries, but exhibits series ofpalatalized,labialized, andpharyngealized phonemes.
| Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Laryngeal | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plain | pal. | lab. | plain | pal. | lab. | plain | lab. | plain | pal. | lab. | plain | lab. | phar. | plain | lab. | phar. | |||
| Nasal | m | n | nʲ1 | ||||||||||||||||
| Plosive / Affricate | voiceless | p | t | tʲ1 | tʷ | ts | tsʲ1 | tsʷ1 | tʃ | tʃʷ | k | kʲ | kʷ1 | q | qʷ | qˤ | |||
| ejective | pʼ | tʼ | tʲʼ1 | tʷʼ1 | tsʼ | tsʲʼ1 | tsʷʼ1 | tʃʼ | tʃʷʼ | kʼ | kʲʼ1 | kʷʼ1 | qʼ | qʷʼ | qˤʼ | ʔ | ʕʼ | ||
| geminate | pː | tː | tsː | tʃʼː1 | tʃʷː1 | kː | kʲː1 | qː | qʷː1 | qˤː1 | |||||||||
| voiced | b | d | dʲ | dz | dʒ | dʒʷ1 | g | gʲ | gʷ | ɢ | ɢʷ1 | ɢˤ | |||||||
| Fricative | voiceless | f | s | sʲ1 | ʃ | ʃʷ1 | x | xʲ | xʷ | χ | χʷ | χˤ | h | hʷ1 | hˤ | ||||
| geminate | sː | sʲː1 | ʃː | ʃʷː1 | xː | xʲː1 | xʷː1 | χː | χʷː1 | χˤː1 | |||||||||
| voiced | β ~w1 | z | zʲ1 | zʷ1 | ɣ | ʁ | ʁʷ1 | ʁˤ | |||||||||||
| Approximant/Trill | l | lʲ | r | j | |||||||||||||||
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i ~iː | u | |
| Mid | e ~eː | ə | o |
| Open | a ~aː |
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | iˤ | uˤ | |
| Mid | eˤ | əˤ | oˤ ~oˤː |
| Open | aˤ ~aˤː |
.JPG)
The alphabet for the Tsakhur language based on the Latin alphabet was compiled byA. N. Genko in 1934. 8 textbooks were published. However, after 4 years, teaching and publishing books in the Tsakhur language ceased.
It was resumed only in 1989, but already in a new, Cyrillic alphabet.
| А а | АӀ аӀ | Б б | В в | Г г | ГӀ гӀ | Гъ гъ | Гь гь | Д д | Дж дж |
| Е е | Ё ё | Ж ж | З з | И и | Й й | К к | КӀ кӀ | Къ къ | Кь кь |
| Л л | М м | Н н | О о | ОӀ оӀ | П п | ПӀ пӀ | Р р | С с | Т т |
| ТӀ тӀ | У у | УӀ уӀ | Ф ф | Х х | Хъ хъ | Хь хь | Ц ц | ЦӀ цӀ | Ч ч |
| ЧӀ чӀ | Ш ш | Щ щ | Ъ ъ | Ы ы | ЫӀ ыӀ | Э э | Ь ь | Ю ю | Я я |
The Latin script has been used for Tsakhur in Azerbaijan since 1996. It was later reformed.
The first alphabet was as follows:
A a, AӀ aӀ, B b, V v, Q q, Qъ qъ, D d, E e, I i, Y y, K k, G g, KӀ kӀ, Kь kь, Kъ kъ, L l, M m, N n, O o, OӀ oӀ, P p, PӀ pӀ, R r, T t, TӀ tӀ, U u, UӀ uӀ, Ç ç, ÇӀ çӀ, C c, I ı, IӀ ıӀ, Ƶ ƶ, ƵӀ ƶӀ, F f, X x, Xь xь, QӀ qӀ, Xъ xъ, H h, Ş ş, S s, Z z.[7]
| A a | Ә ә | B b | C c | Ç ç | Ç' ç' | D d | E e | F f | G g | G' g' |
| Gh gh | Ğ ğ | H h | X x | Xh xh | I ı | I' ı' | İ i | J j | K k | K' k' |
| Q q | Q' q' | L l | M m | N n | O o | Ö ö | P p | P' p' | R r | S s |
| Ş ş | T t | T' t' | Ts ts | Ts' ts' | U u | Ü ü | V v | Y y | Z z | ' |
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Tsakhur has 18grammatical cases and has retainedsuffixaufnahme. Verbs may have singular and plural forms, and 7grammatical moods. The tense system is complex. In contrast to the related languages, Tsakhur sentences can be formed byaffective construction.[4]
Tsakhur exhibits a number of noun cases, including grammatical and local cases. Theergative andgenitive cases show agreement with the head noun class, as shown below.[6]
| Case | Marker |
|---|---|
| Absolutive | -∅ |
| Ergative | -e(ː)[a] / -(V)n[b] |
| Genitive | -(V)na[c], -(V)n[d], -(V)ni[e] |
| Dative | -(V)s |
| Case | balkan'horse' | zer'cow' | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sg. | Pl. | Sg. | Pl. | |
| Absolutive | balkan | balkanar | zer | zerbə |
| Ergative | balkanan | balkanāšše | zeran | zerbən |
| Genitive | balkanana | balkanāššina | zerana | zerbəna |
| Dative | balkanus | balkanāššis | zerus | zerbəs |
Tsakhur has a system of noun class.
As with other related languages, Tsakhur uses a complex system of postpositions, mainly local ones.[6]
| Numeral | Tsakhur |
|---|---|
| 1 | sa- |
| 2 | qˤʼo- |
| 3 | xeb- |
| 4 | joqu- |
| 5 | xo- |
| 6 | jixe- |
| 7 | jiɣe- |
| 8 | moli- |
| 9 | juˤt͡ʃʼu- |
| 10 | jit͡səʔ- |
| 20 | ɢa- |
| 30 | xebt͡sʼalʲ |
The proposedNorth Caucasian language family comprises theNortheast andNorthwest Caucasian language families. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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