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Open Access Publications from the University of California

About

Languages of the Caucasus is an open-access peer-reviewed electronic journal that publishes linguistic research on languages of the Caucasus.

The first issue (1.1) will be a memorial volume for Aleksandr Kibrik and Sandro Kodzasov, founders of an illustrious tradition of fieldwork and analysis of languages of the Caucasus and intellectual inspiration to Caucasianists and typologists everywhere. 

We will use a volume and issue number system for ease of bibliographical reference, but papers will be published as soon as they are accepted and received in final form.  Articles for the memorial issue can be submitted at any time from Jan. 15 to about mid-November 2015 (leaving time for review, acceptance, and editing during 2015).  Articles not for the memorial issue will appear in Vol. 1.2 if received in time for review and acceptance during 2015.  (That is, the memorial and plain issues of Vol. 1 will run simultaneously.)

Articles

Standard Tabasaran: short grammar sketch

This is a sketch grammar of Tabasaran (Glottolog code taba1259), a language of the Lezgic branch of the East Caucasian or Nakh-Daghestanian language family spoken in the Republic of Dagestan, Russian Federation. Tabasaran exhibits a complex morphology, characterized by the retention of archaic features such as preverbs, prefixed and infixed negation and gender/number agreement. At the same time, the language shows curious innovations, including the development of personal agreement, the marking of verbal aspect through preverbation and dialectal variations in tense and mood categories. Tabasaran is known for its rich nominal inflection comprising 46 cases, with 42 of them being spatial or adverbial. This paper covers all areas of grammar and is informed by modern typology. It is based on published descriptions, my own fieldwork, and corpus work collected in Dagestan in the years 2010, 2014 and 2015.