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).
Contents
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Geographical distribution 1
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Phonology 2
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Vowels 2.1
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Consonants 2.2
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Writing system 3
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Grammar 4
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Samples 5
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References 6
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External links 7
Geographical distribution
It is spoken in the basin of Upper Rubas-nir and Upper Chirakh-nir.
Phonology
Vowels
Consonants
Writing system
Tabasaran is written using Cyrillic.
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Letter
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IPA
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А а
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/ɑ/
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Аь аь
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/æ/
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Б б
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/b/
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В в
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/v/
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Г г
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/ɡ/
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Гг гг
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/ɣ/
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Гъ гъ
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/ʕ/
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Гь гь
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/h/
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Д д
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/d/
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Е е
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/ɛ/, /jɛ/
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Ё ё
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/jo/
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Ж ж
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/ʒ/, /dʒ/
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Жв жв
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/ʒʷ/
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З з
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/z/, /dz/
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И и
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/i/
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Й й
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/j/
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К к
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/kʰ/
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Кк кк
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/kː/
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Къ къ
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/qːʰ/
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Кь кь
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/qʼ/
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Кӏ кӏ
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/kʼ/
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Л л
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/l/
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М м
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/m/
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Н н
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/n/
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О о
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/o/
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П п
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/pʰ/
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ПП пп
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/pː/
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Пӏ пӏ
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/pʼ/
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Р р
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/r/
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С с
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/s/
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Т т
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/tʰ/
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Тт тт
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/tː/
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Тӏ тӏ
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/tʼ/
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У у
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/u/
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Уь уь
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/y/
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Ф ф
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/f/
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Х х
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/ɦ/
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Хъ хъ
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/qʰ/
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Хь хь
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/x/
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Ц ц
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/tsʰ/
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Цц цц
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/tsːʰ/
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Цӏ цӏ
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/tsʼ/
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Ч ч
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/tʃʰ/
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Чв чв
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/tʃʷʰ/
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Чч чч
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/tʃːʰ/
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Чӏ чӏ
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/tʃʼ/
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Ш ш
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/ʃ/
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Шв шв
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/ʃʷ/
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Щ щ
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/ɕ/
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Ъ ъ
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/ʔ/
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Ы ы
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/ɨ/
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Ь ь
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Э э
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/ɛ/
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Ю ю
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/y/, /ju/
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Я я
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/æ/, /jɑ/
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Note: The letters indicated in orange 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 53 noun cases[4] but see Comrie[5] and Blake.[6]
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
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^ Tabasaran at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
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^ Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Tabassaran".
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^ Consonant Systems of the North-East Caucasian Languages on TITUS DIDACTICA
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^ Comrie, B (1981). The languages of the Soviet Union. Cambridge University Press.
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^ Comrie, B. & Polinsky, M. (1998). The great Daghestan case hoax.
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^ Blake, Barry J. (2001). Case. Cambridge University Press.
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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
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Tabasaran dictionary online from IDS (select simple or advanced browsing)
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Entry in the Red Book of the Peoples of the Russian Empire
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Sample text
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Description at Languages of the World
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Entry at the Rosetta Project
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Tabasaran basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database
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Federal language
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State languages of federal subjects
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Languages with official status
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Scripts
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