Tabasaran | |
---|---|
табасаран чIал tabasaran ç̇al ихь чIал | |
Native to | North Caucasus |
Region | Southern Dagestan |
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 |
Tabasaran | |
Tabasaran is classified as Vulnerable by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger | |
Tabasaran (also written Tabassaran) is a Northeast Caucasian language of the Lezgic branch. It is spoken by the Tabasaran people in the 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 (that is, grammatical gender), whereas Southern Tabasaran lacks noun classes / gender.