 | This articleshould specify the language of its non-English content using{{lang}} or{{langx}},{{transliteration}} for transliterated languages, and{{IPA}} for phonetic transcriptions, with an appropriateISO 639 code. Wikipedia'smultilingual support templates may also be used - notably tab for Tabassaran.See why.(January 2025) |
| Tabasaran | |
|---|---|
| Tabassaran | |
| табасаран чIалtabasaran ç̇al ихь чIалix ç̇al | |
| Pronunciation | [tɑbɑsɑrɑnt͡ʃʼɑl] [ixt͡ʃʼɑl] |
| Native to | North Caucasus |
| Region | SouthernDagestan |
| Ethnicity | Tabasarans |
Native speakers | 126,900 (2010 census)[1] |
| Official status | |
Official language in | Russia
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | tab |
| Glottolog | taba1259 |
| ELP | Tabasaran |
 Map of Tabasarans in the Caucasus | |
 Tabasaran is classified as Vulnerable by theUNESCOAtlas of the World's Languages in Danger. | |
| 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. | |
Tabasaran (also writtenTabassaran) is aNortheast Caucasian language of theLezgic branch. It is spoken by theTabasaran people in the southern part of theRussian Republic ofDagestan. 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 anergative language. The verb system is relatively simple; verbs agree with the subject in number, person and (in North Tabasaran) class. North Tabasaran has twonoun classes (that is,grammatical gender), whereas Southern Tabasaran lacks noun classes / gender.
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It is spoken in the basin of UpperRubas-nir and UpperChirakh-nir.
The post-alveolar sibilants may bewhistled.
| Front | Back | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| unrounded | rounded | ||
| Close | i | y | u |
| Mid | ɛ | ||
| Open | æ | ɑ | |
Vowel sounds of Tabasaran are [i, y, ɛ, æ, ɑ, u].
Peter von Uslar devised Cyrillic-based orthographies for many Caucasian languages, including Tabasaran.[3]
From 1931 to 1938, the Latin alphabet was used as a base for the Tabasaran writing system. The first book was published in 1932.[4]
Initially, the alphabet took the following form:[5]
a, b, c, cc, cь, ç, çь, d, e, ә, f, g, ƣ, h, i, j, k, kk, ⱪ, l, m, n, u, p, pp, ᶈ, q, ꝗ, r, s, , , ş, şь, t, tt, t̨, y, v, x, ҳ, ӿ, z, ⱬ, zz, ƶ, ƶƶ, ƶь, '
Soon after, capital letters and the lettersO o and
were introduced. The alphabet then took the following form:[6]
| A a | B b | C c | Cь cь | Ç ç | Çь çь | D d | E e | Ә ә | F f | G g |
| Ƣ ƣ | H h | I i | J j | K k | Ⱪ ⱪ | L l | M m | N n | O o | P p |
 ᶈ | Q q | Ꝗ ꝗ | R r | S s | | Ş ş | Şь şь | T t |   | U u |
| V v | X x | Ҳ ҳ | Ӿ ӿ | Y y | Z z | Ⱬ ⱬ | Ƶ ƶ | | Ƶь ƶь | ' |
Tabasaran has been written usingCyrillic since 1938.[7]
| Letter | IPA |
|---|---|
| А а | /ɑ/ |
| Аь аь | /æ/ |
| Б б | /b/ |
| В в | /v/ |
| Г г | /ɡ/,/ɢ/ |
| 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 fromRussian.
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It is highly probable that Tabasaran is anactive language of thefluid-S type.
Tabasaran was listed in theGuinness Book of World Records as having the largestcase system in the world, with 48. Hjelmslev (1935) claimed that Tabasaran had the 'empirical maximum' number of cases, with 52 (though 2 occur only on adjectives). However, such claims are based on a sloppy analysis of 'case', and other languages such asTsez would have even larger counts under such definitions. Comrie & Polinsky (1998) analyze the system as having 14 case morphemes (counting the absolutive with no suffix) in southern dialects (including the standard language) and 15 in northern dialects.[8][9]These include 4 core/argument cases (absolutive, ergative, genitive -n and dative -z). The absolutive is the citation form. The ergative, which may be irregular but typically ends in -i, functions as the stem for all other cases.There are also 7 or 8 locative case suffixes: -ʔ 'in', -xy 'at', -h 'near / in front' (neutralized with 'at' in the south), -ʔin 'on' (horizontal), -k 'on' (vertical), -kk 'under', -q 'behind' and-ghy 'among'. The locative cases may take an additional suffix, allative -na or ablative -an, for 21 or 24 combinations. All of these, as well as the dative, can take a further suffix -di to mark the location as less specific, for 47 (southern) to 53 (northern) combinations of case suffixes.
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?"
Zakurʕürza. "Закур гъюрза." — "I'll come tomorrow."
Uzu kana qheza. "Узу кана хъэза." — "I'll be back."
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link){{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link){{cite journal}}:Cite journal requires|journal= (help)The proposedNorth Caucasian language family comprises theNortheast andNorthwest Caucasian language families. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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