Introduction

The Tabasaran ethnic population is around 146,000, while the total number of speakers is about 127,000. The speakers live in the Dagestan republic and are divided equally into urban areas and 98 Tabasaran mountain villages.

The language is classified as Nakh-Daghestanian, Lezgic, Nuclear Lezgic, East Lezgic. The ISO code is tab. The autonym for the language is табасаран чIал‎ (tabasaran ҫ̇al). Alternate names include Ghumghum, Tabasarantsky, and Tabassaran. The two dialects are South Tabasaran and North Tabasaran (Khanag).

The development of the language includes literature, newspapers, periodicals, and a grammar. The Cyrillic script is used for writing.