Everything about Adyghe Language totally explained
Adyghe language (
adygabze,
adəgăbză) is one of the two official languages of the
Republic of Adygea in the
Russian Federation, the other being
Russian. It is spoken by various tribes of the
Adyghe people:
Abzekh,
Adamey,
Bzhedugh;
Hatukuay,
Kemirgoy,
Makhosh;
Natekuay,
Shapsigh;
Zhane,
Yegerikuay, each with its own dialect. The language referred to by its speakers as
Adygebze or
Adəgăbză, and alternatively spelled in English as
Adygean,
Adygeyan or
Adygei. It is also known as
Circassian.
There are apparently around 128,000 speakers of the language on the native territory in Russia, almost all of them are mother-tongue speakers. In the whole world, some 300,000 speak the language. The largest Adyghe-speaking community is in
Turkey, spoken by the post Russo-Caucasian war diaspora.
Adyghe belongs to the family of
Northwest Caucasian languages.
Kabardian is a very close relative, treated by some as a dialect of Adyghe or of an overarching
Circassian language. The
Ubykh,
Abkhaz, and
Abaza languages are also close relatives thereof.
The language was standardized after the
October Revolution. Since
1938, Adyghe has used the
Cyrillic alphabet. Before that, an Arabic-based alphabet was used together with the
Latin.
Phonology
Adyghe exhibits a large number of consonants: between fifty and sixty consonants in the various Adyghe dialects. All dialects possess a contrast between plain and labialised glottal stops; a very unusual minimal contrast, and possibly unique to the Abdzakh dialect of Adyghe, is a three-way contrast between plain, labialised and palatalised glottal stops (although palatalised glottal stop is also found in
Hausa). The
Black Sea dialect of Adyghe contains a highly unusual sound: a
bidental fricative [h̪͆] which corresponds to the
voiceless velar fricative [x] found in other varieties of Adyghe.
Grammar
Adyghe, like all Northwest Caucasian languages, has a basic
Subject Object Verb typology, and is characterized by an
ergative construction of the sentence.
Orthography
| А а |
Б б |
В в |
Г г |
Гу гу |
Гъ гъ |
Гъу гъу |
Д д |
| Дж дж |
Джъ джъ |
Дз дз |
Дзу дзу |
Е е |
Ё ё |
Ж ж |
Жъ жъ |
| Жъу жъу |
Жь жь |
З з |
И и |
Й й |
К к |
Ку ку |
Къ къ |
| Къу къу |
КI кI |
КIу кIу |
Л л |
Лъ лъ |
ЛI лI |
М м |
Н н |
| О о |
П п |
ПI пI |
ПIу пIу |
Р р |
С с |
Т т |
ТI тI |
| ТIу тIу |
У у |
Ф ф |
Х х |
Хъ хъ |
Хъу хъу |
Хь хь |
Ц ц |
| ЦI цI |
Ч ч |
ЧI чI |
Ш ш |
Щ щ |
Ъ ъ |
Ы ы |
Ь ь |
| Э э |
Ю ю |
Я я |
I |
Further Information
Get more info on 'Adyghe Language'.
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