Tsakhur (Mishlesh) (Caxur)

Source: Кодзасов С.В. 1999. Фонетика. In: Кибрик А.Е., Тестелец Я.Г. (ред.) Элементы цахурского языка в типологическом освещении. Моква: Наследие, 14–47.

Comments: R — sonorant, T — obstruent. /tʷ, tʷː, tsʷʼ, ʃʷ, ʃʷː, hʷ/ are rare and were not included in the phonemic table in the source. Long segments are found only intervocalically and are split by syllabification. Therefore, they are not treated as phonemic, although they are included in the table of phonemes in the source. /ɘ/ is denoted as /ɨ/ in the source, although it is stated that it is a close-mid vowel. Glottal stop is realised as creaky voice but may resurface as a glottal stop or as an epiglottal stop (there is an inconsistency in the description) in the context of pharyngealisation. /h/ is pronounced as an epiglottal fricative when pharyngealised. Pharyngealisation is treated as a word-level prosody spreading from left to right and blocked by front vowels; in addition to changing the quality of vowels and laryngeals, it also leads to palatalisation of denti-alveolars and velars. Two other ‘timbre’ phenomena are noted but not investigated in detail: raised glottis leading to ‘emphatic palatalisation’ and ‘super clear’ pronunciation of vowels. /f/ is found only in borrowings. /qʰ/ is a plosive, which is uncommon in the languages of Daghestan. Uvulars are generally not as deep as in other Daghestanian languages. Labialisation is losing its phonemic status in the speech of younger speakers. Palatalisation is weak: palatalised velars are not realised as palatals, and palatalised dentals are not affricated.

Contributed by: Dmitry Nikolaev (dnikolaev@fastmail.com)