Tabasaran is a Northeast Caucasian language

Northeast Caucasian languages

The Northeast Caucasian languages constitute a language family spoken in the Russian republics of Dagestan, Chechnya, Ingushetia, northern Azerbaijan, and in northeastern Georgia, as well as in diaspora populations in Russia, Turkey, and the Middle East...

 of the Lezgic

Lezgic languages

The Lezgic languages are one the seven branches of the Northeast Caucasian language family. Lezgian and Tabasaran are literary languages.-Classification:* Peripheral: Archi – 1200 speakers* Samur ** Eastern Samur*** Udi – 5000 speakers...

 branch. It is spoken by the Tabasaran people

Tabasaran people

The Tabasarans are an ethnic group who live mostly in Dagestan, Russia. Their population in Russia is about 200,000. They speak the Tabasaran language. They are mainly Sunni Muslims. Russian pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva is half Tabasaran....

 in southern part of the Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

n Republic of Dagestan

Dagestan

The Republic of Dagestan is a federal subject of Russia, located in the North Caucasus region. Its capital and the largest city is Makhachkala, located at the center of Dagestan on the Caspian Sea...

. 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.

Tabasaran is an ergative language. The verb system is relatively simple; verbs agree with the noun in number, person and (in North Tabasaran) class. North Tabasaran has two noun classes (also dubbed with the term "grammatical gender

Grammatical gender

Grammatical gender is defined linguistically as a system of classes of nouns which trigger specific types of inflections in associated words, such as adjectives, verbs and others. For a system of noun classes to be a gender system, every noun must belong to one of the classes and there should be...

" ), while Southern Tabasaran has none (i.e. one fewer than North Tabasaran).

Geographical distribution

It is spoken in the basin of Upper Rubas-chai and Upper Chirakh-chai.

Consonants

Consonant phonemes of Tabasaran

		Labial Labial consonant Labial consonants are consonants in which one or both lips are the active articulator. This precludes linguolabials, in which the tip of the tongue reaches for the posterior side of the upper lip and which are considered coronals...		Dental		Alveolar Alveolar consonant Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the alveoli of the superior teeth...				Palatal Palatal consonant Palatal consonants are consonants articulated with the body of the tongue raised against the hard palate...	Velar Velar consonant Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue against the soft palate, the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the velum)....		Uvular Uvular consonant Uvulars are consonants articulated with the back of the tongue against or near the uvula, that is, further back in the mouth than velar consonants. Uvulars may be plosives, fricatives, nasal stops, trills, or approximants, though the IPA does not provide a separate symbol for the approximant, and...		Epi- glottal Epiglottal consonant An epiglottal consonant is a consonant that is articulated with the aryepiglottic folds against the epiglottis. They are occasionally called aryepiglottal consonants.-Epiglottal consonants in the IPA:...	Glottal Glottal consonant Glottal consonants, also called laryngeal consonants, are consonants articulated with the glottis. Many phoneticians consider them, or at least the so-called fricative, to be transitional states of the glottis without a point of articulation as other consonants have; in fact, some do not consider...
						plain		lab. Labialisation Labialization is a secondary articulatory feature of sounds in some languages. Labialized sounds involve the lips while the remainder of the oral cavity produces another sound. The term is normally restricted to consonants. When vowels involve the lips, they are called rounded.The most common...
		lenis	fortis Fortis and lenis In linguistics, fortis and lenis are terms generally used to refer to groups of consonants that are produced with greater and lesser energy, respectively, such as in energy applied, articulation, etc....	lenis	fortis	lenis	fortis	lenis	fortis		lenis	fortis	lenis	fortis
Nasal Nasal consonant A nasal consonant is a type of consonant produced with a lowered velum in the mouth, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. Examples of nasal consonants in English are and , in words such as nose and mouth.- Definition :...		m		n
Plosive	voiced Voice (phonetics) Voice or voicing is a term used in phonetics and phonology to characterize speech sounds, with sounds described as either voiceless or voiced. The term, however, is used to refer to two separate concepts. Voicing can refer to the articulatory process in which the vocal cords vibrate...	b		d							ɡ		ɢ
	voiceless Voiceless In linguistics, voicelessness is the property of sounds being pronounced without the larynx vibrating. Phonologically, this is a type of phonation, which contrasts with other states of the larynx, but some object that the word "phonation" implies voicing, and that voicelessness is the lack of...	p	pː	t	tː						k	kː	q	qː		ʔ
	ejective Ejective consonant In phonetics, ejective consonants are voiceless consonants that are pronounced with simultaneous closure of the glottis. In the phonology of a particular language, ejectives may contrast with aspirated or tenuis consonants...	pʼ		tʼ							kʼ		qʼ
Affricate Affricate consonant Affricates are consonants that begin as stops but release as a fricative rather than directly into the following vowel.- Samples :...	voiced Voice (phonetics) Voice or voicing is a term used in phonetics and phonology to characterize speech sounds, with sounds described as either voiceless or voiced. The term, however, is used to refer to two separate concepts. Voicing can refer to the articulatory process in which the vocal cords vibrate...			d͡z		d͡ʒ		d͡ʒʷ
	voiceless Voiceless In linguistics, voicelessness is the property of sounds being pronounced without the larynx vibrating. Phonologically, this is a type of phonation, which contrasts with other states of the larynx, but some object that the word "phonation" implies voicing, and that voicelessness is the lack of...			t͡s	t͡sː	t͡ʃ	t͡ʃː	t͡ʃʷ	t͡ʃːʷ
	ejective Ejective consonant In phonetics, ejective consonants are voiceless consonants that are pronounced with simultaneous closure of the glottis. In the phonology of a particular language, ejectives may contrast with aspirated or tenuis consonants...			t͡sʼ		t͡ʃʼ		t͡ʃʷʼ
Fricative Fricative consonant Fricatives are consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. These may be the lower lip against the upper teeth, in the case of ; the back of the tongue against the soft palate, in the case of German , the final consonant of Bach; or...	voiceless Voiceless In linguistics, voicelessness is the property of sounds being pronounced without the larynx vibrating. Phonologically, this is a type of phonation, which contrasts with other states of the larynx, but some object that the word "phonation" implies voicing, and that voicelessness is the lack of...	f	fː	s	sː	ʃ	ʃː	ʃʷ	ʃːʷ		x	xː			ʜ
	voiced Voice (phonetics) Voice or voicing is a term used in phonetics and phonology to characterize speech sounds, with sounds described as either voiceless or voiced. The term, however, is used to refer to two separate concepts. Voicing can refer to the articulatory process in which the vocal cords vibrate...	v		z		ʒ		ʒʷ			ɣ				ʢ	ɦ
Trill Trill consonant In phonetics, a trill is a consonantal sound produced by vibrations between the articulator and the place of articulation. Standard Spanish <rr> as in perro is an alveolar trill, while in Parisian French it is almost always uvular....						r
Approximant Approximant consonant Approximants are speech sounds that involve the articulators approaching each other but not narrowly enough or with enough articulatory precision to create turbulent airflow. Therefore, approximants fall between fricatives, which do produce a turbulent airstream, and vowels, which produce no...				l						j

• Note that the source names the epiglottal
  Epiglottal consonant
  An epiglottal consonant is a consonant that is articulated with the aryepiglottic folds against the epiglottis. They are occasionally called aryepiglottal consonants.-Epiglottal consonants in the IPA:...
  
   series ″pharyngeal
  Pharyngeal consonant
  A pharyngeal consonant is a type of consonant which is articulated with the root of the tongue against the pharynx.-Pharyngeal consonants in the IPA:Pharyngeal consonants in the International Phonetic Alphabet :...
  
  ″ indiscriminately in all the tables, also when it includes a plosive and thus clearly is not a true pharyngeal.

Writing system

Tabasaran is written using the Cyrillic alphabet

Cyrillic alphabet

The Cyrillic script or azbuka is an alphabetic writing system developed in the First Bulgarian Empire during the 10th century AD at the Preslav Literary School...

.

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 red are encountered only in loanwords from Russian

Russian language

Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...

.

Grammar

Tabasaran is very probably an active language of the fluid-S type .
It is reported to have fifty-three noun cases but see and.

Sample

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"

External links

• Tabasaran dictionary online from IDS (select simple or advanced browsing)
• Entry in the Red Book of the Peoples of the Russian Empire
• Sample text
• Description at Languages of the World
• Entry at the Rosetta Project