Tsez language

The Tsez language, also called Dido, is spoken by the Tsez people in the mountains of the Tsunta District in Dagestan, Russia. About 15,000 people speak this language. The name Tsez might come from their word for "eagle," but this is likely just a story. The name Dido comes from the Georgian word "didi," meaning "big." Tsez is part of the Northeast Caucasian language family, which has many interesting and unique languages.

Dialects

Tsez has several dialects, each with its own name. Some of these are Asakh, Mokok, Kidero, Shapikh, and Sagada. The examples in this article are from the Tsebari subdialect of Asakh. The Sagada dialect is very different and some people think it should be its own language.

Hinukh and Khwarshi were once considered dialects of Tsez, but they are now usually seen as separate languages in the same family.

Phonology

Each sound in Tsez is shown with special symbols in three writing systems: IPA, Latin, and Cyrillic.

Consonants

• Tsez has 33 different consonant sounds.
• A special sound called the glottal stop comes before some vowels at the start of words, but it is not a separate letter.
• When too many consonants come together, the language adds a small vowel sound in between to make it easier to say.
• Some consonants can have a special tightening sound, shown in writing with a small mark.

Vowels

• One type of Tsez has only one long vowel sound.
• When two vowels would come together, one is left out. But if a special sound u comes at the end of a word, it changes the sound of the consonant before it.
• The vowel e at the start of a word is written differently in Cyrillic.
• Some types of Tsez have extra vowel sounds that are not found everywhere.

Phonotactics

The basic pattern of sounds in a word is usually a consonant followed by a vowel, sometimes with another consonant at the end. The language adds small pieces of words to change their meaning in different ways, keeping the same sound pattern.

Orthography

Tsez is mostly a spoken language and does not have a strong written tradition. People in the area often use Avar and Russian for writing, even in schools. Efforts have been made to create a writing system for Tsez, especially to record traditional stories. Often, a Cyrillic script, similar to the one used for Avar, is used for this purpose.

Most men know Avar better than women, and younger people usually speak Russian more than Tsez. This is because Tsez is not taught in schools; instead, Avar is taught for the first five years, and then Russian is taught. In 1993, a linguist named Mikhail Alekseev created a writing system for Tsez, and in 2023, a new letter called ГӀ гӀ was added.

Morphology

Tsez grammar was first studied in 1963. Today, people are making a collection of Tsez folklore stories.

Nouns

Nouns change to show if they are one or many, and they have groups called noun classes.

Number

Nouns can be one thing or many things. To show many, the ending "-bi" is added: "besuro" (fish) becomes "besuro-bi" (fishes). For other uses, the ending "-za" is used: "of the fishes" becomes "besuro-za-s".

Case

There are eight main ways to show a noun’s role in a sentence and many ways to show place. Tsez is a special language where who does something and who gets it done are treated the same in sentences. Some nouns change shape or add endings to show these roles. Choosing the right ending can be hard even for people who speak Tsez.

Syntactic case suffixes

Of the two "of" ways, one is used with nouns directly, and the other with changed forms. The "like" way is used for comparisons.

Rajabov suggests three more special ways, but people do not all agree on how to use them.

Locative case suffixes

The "toward" way is also called "versative". In one form, it means "behind" or "beyond". The table shows the close and far forms of the ending. Sometimes, two same forms are used for the "toward" way. An extra vowel "o" is used after nouns ending in a consonant.

Noun classes

Tsez has four noun classes for one noun and two for many nouns. These classes are shown as beginnings of words that match the noun. Not all words show these beginnings.

Some things are put in classes based on how they move or what they are used for. For example, moving things like the sun are in one class, while things made by women like clothes are in another. Materials and shapes also decide class placement. Names take the class of the nouns they stand for. New words are placed in classes based on similar words that already exist.

Verbs and adverbs match the main part of the sentence, depending on the noun class.

Pronouns

Personal pronouns

Personal pronouns exist only for "I" and "you"; for "he/she/it", words like "this" or "that" are used. The words for "I" and "you" are the same in some ways, which can make sentences hard to understand. But they are different in other ways and have special words for groups close by.

There is also a word meaning "self".

Demonstrative pronouns

Words showing if something is close ("this") or far ("that") are added to nouns and change based on class, number, and case. They can also work as words for the third person.

Interrogative pronouns

Words asking "who?" or "what?" change form based on if they talk about people or things. They usually stay in place but can move to the start of the sentence for importance.

Other words asking include "how much?", "which?", "how?", "why?", "where?", "when?", and "why?".

Verbs

Tsez has many ways to change verbs. The only verb that does not follow the rules is "to be". Verbs are grouped by the sounds that end them.

Tense-aspect-mood

There are five ways to show when something happens in the main mood. Past ways show if the speaker saw the event or heard about it.

• In questions, the past seen ending is "-ā" instead of "-s(i)". In yes-no questions, the verb gets an extra "-ā", except for the past seen form, which gets "-iyā" after consonant sounds or "-yā" after vowel sounds.
• There are two future ways: one used when the speaker wants something to happen, and one used in general.
• Other moods include:
  • The command way has no ending for doing actions and "-o" for having actions done.
  • The wish way adds "-ƛ" to the command way.
• There are many detailed verb ways showing emphasis, actions that continue, actions that finish, and more.

Negation

The basic way to say "not" in verbs is with the ending "-čʼV", where V is a vowel that changes based on when it happens. For example, the verb "to go" can have different negative forms.

• The command not to do something adds "-no" to the future way, like "don’t eat!".
• The wish not to do something adds "-ƛ" to that, like "let him not eat!".

Non-finite forms

Parts of verbs act like adjectives and change based on class. There are many kinds of these parts.

Converbs, like middle verbs, are many in Tsez. The list shows some ways converbs and main verbs relate in time.

Other ways converbs are not about time include:

• Finishing and continuing converbs: "-n(o)" and "-x(o)"
• Place converb: "-z-ā"
• Reason converb: "-xoy", "-za-ƛʼ", or "-za-q"
• If converb: "-nāy" or "-łi"
• Even if converb: "-łin"
• To do infinitive: "-a"
• Doing verb noun: "-(a)ni"

Potential and causative

The possible way adds "-(e)ł", and the causing way adds "-(e)r". When adding some future endings, the extra vowel is removed.

Particles

Tsez has many small words, most acting like tiny words stuck to others. The word "-tow" adds importance, and "-kin" adds importance and focus. The word "-gon" marks a topic being compared. There is also a word for quoting speech, ending in "-ƛin". Other free words include "yes, so" and "no".

Word formation

Derivation

Noun-forming suffixes

Some endings turn words into nouns:

• "-bi" / "-zi" for people living in a place
• "-łi" for abstract ideas and jobs
• "-kʼu" for tools or descriptions
• "-ni" for abstract ideas
• "-qu" or "-qan" for containers or jobs
• "-qʼoy" / "-qoy" / "-ħoy" for things that wrap objects
• "-yo" for owners

Adjective-forming suffixes

Some endings turn words into adjectives:

• "-mu" for simple adjectives
• "-šay" for things that cannot be separated
• "-tay" for not having something
• "-xu" for things that can be separated

Verb-forming suffixes

Some endings turn words into verbs:

• "-kʼ-" for verbs that take something
• "-ł-" for verbs that do not take something

Compounding and reduplication

New words can be made by joining existing words. Only the last word changes shape. Sometimes the last word is shorter. Adding endings can also happen.

Repeating a word, called reduplication, is common. It can change nouns, make adjectives stronger, or create sounds like animal noises.

Joining words with Tsez verbs like "-oq-" or "-od-" also makes new verbs. Only the Tsez verb changes shape. Examples include "to be decorated", "to sell", and "to talk".

Syntax

Noun phrase

Noun phrases have a main noun. This can be a noun, a pronoun, or a special kind of expression. All these nouns change their form depending on their role in the sentence.

Tsez is a language where the main noun comes last. Anything that describes the noun, like words that tell us more about it, comes before the noun and matches it in certain ways.

The usual order of these describing words is:

1. a clause that gives more information
2. a pronoun showing ownership without strong feeling
3. a pronoun showing ownership with strong feeling
4. a word that limits or restricts the meaning
5. a word that points out a specific thing
6. a number or word that shows amount
7. a word that adds more description

Verb phrase

Verb phrases have a verb as the main part. Verbs can change based on whether they are about doing something to something else or just describing a state.

Copulas

Copulas help connect the subject with a noun or an adjective. They act like the English word "to be."

Intransitive verbs

Intransitive verbs have only one main part, and this part does not change form based on who is doing the action.

Monotransitive verbs

Monotransitive verbs need two parts: one that does the action and one that receives the action. The one doing the action changes form, while the one receiving the action stays the same.

Ditransitive verbs

Ditransitive verbs need three parts: one that does the action, one that receives the action, and one that gets the result of the action.

Affective clauses

Affective clauses have verbs that show feelings or senses, like "love" or "see." The person feeling or sensing is shown in one way, and what they feel or sense is shown in another way.

Potential clauses

Potential clauses talk about things that can happen, like using the word "can" in English.

Causativization

Causative constructions talk about making someone do something.

Word order

Tsez is a language where the main part of the sentence usually comes last. The order of words can change to show what is most important.

The usual order is: Who does it — Who gets it — What happens — Where it happens — How it happens

Interrogative sentences

Yes/no questions end with a special suffix that shows it is a question.

Negation

Negative words come after what they are saying no to.

Coordination

Putting clauses together like "and" is not common. Words can be put together with special endings.

Subordination

Relative clauses

Any part of a sentence can be turned into a description of the main noun.

Adverbial clauses

There are different kinds of clauses that describe when or why something happens.

Infinitival clauses

Some verbs can be followed by another verb that shows what should happen.

Completement clauses

When a clause acts like a noun, a special ending can be added to show it is like a noun.

Reported speech

When someone reports what another person said, a special word can show it is reported speech.

Lexicon

The Tsez language has many words borrowed from Avar, Georgian, Arabic, Russian, and Turkic languages. Because of this, and because people are adopting more Western ways of living, the Tsez language is being used less often. Many people now use Avar or Russian instead.

Numerals

Numbers in Tsez can look different depending on how they are used. There are special forms for counting things and for talking about numbers.

• There are two ways to say numbers from 11 to 19, but only one of these ways can change form when needed.
• Numbers above 20 are based on multiples of 20, like 40, 60, and 80.
• The word for 100 has a different form when used in certain number combinations.
• The word for 1000 comes from the Persian language, likely through Avar.
• Bigger numbers are made by putting the smaller number after the larger one.
• When making numbers like 47, the larger part comes first, followed by the smaller part.

Cardinal numbers (like "one, two, three") come before the noun they describe, and the noun stays in its single form. Ordinal numbers (like "first, second, third") are made by adding a special word to the cardinal number. Adverbial numbers (like "once, twice, thrice") are formed by changing the ending of the cardinal number.

Sample of the Tsez language

Here is a story from the Tsez language, told in the Asakh dialect with Latin letters.

The Cat's Feat
Once there was a pig, a wolf, a fox, and a hare. One day, they decided to send the wolf to the mountains to get a sheep for dinner. The pig sent the hare to get water, while the wolf and fox went to the mountains for a ram. At night, they reached the sheep, and the fox started making noises from the east. Hearing this, the dogs ran that way, so the wolf went from the west and found a fat ram. The wolf and fox brought the ram back to camp. They put a pan on the fire and sent the hare for water again. But at the spring, the hare felt cold.

The hare could not see well in the dark. When it arrived, the cat started moving. Hearing this, the hare ran back without getting any water. The pig asked, "Why did you run away without the water?" The hare answered that it saw a person there. The fox and hare went back to the spring and asked the cat, "What are you?" The cat replied, "I am a person." The fox then asked, "What is that on your shoulder?" The cat said, "A rifle." The fox and hare were very scared, but they knew it was just a cat, so the three of them went to cook the meat together. The pig hid behind some trees, pushed out its ears, and slept there, while the cat warmed itself by the fire.

The pig kept moving its ears. The cat thought it was a mouse and jumped over quickly. The pig was very frightened and ran away into the forest, shouting loudly. The wolf, hare, and fox thought a big animal was coming and all ran away quickly. The cat was left with all the ram's meat and ate for seven days until it was full from the wolf and fox's share.