Abaza language

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Abaza
Абаза Бызшва, Abaza Byzšwa
Spoken in Russia, Turkey
Region Karachay–Cherkess Republic of Russia
Ethnicity Abazins
Native speakers 48,000  (1995–2002)
Language family
Official status
Official language in Russian autonomous republic of Karachay–Cherkess
Regulated by No official regulation
Language codes
ISO 639-3 abq

The Abaza language (Абаза Бызшва, Abaza Byzšwa) is a language of the Caucasus mountains in the Russian Karachay–Cherkess Republic by the Abazins. It consists of two dialects, the Ashkherewa dialect and the T'ap'anta dialect, which is the literary standard.

Abaza is spoken by approximately 35,000 people in Russia, where it is written in a Cyrillic alphabet, as well as another 10,000 in Turkey, where the Latin script is used.

Abaza, like its relatives in the family of Northwest Caucasian languages, is highly agglutinative and has a large consonantal inventory (63 phonemes) coupled with a minimal vowel inventory (two vowels). It is very closely related to Abkhaz, but it preserves a few phonemes which Abkhaz lacks, such as a voiced pharyngeal fricative. Work on Abaza has been carried out by W. S. Allen, Brian O'Herin, and John Colarusso.

Contents

[edit] Phonology

Labial Alveolar Post-
alveolar
Velar Uvular Pharyngeal Glottal
central lateral plain pal. lab. plain pal. lab. plain pal. lab. plain lab.
Plosive voiceless p t k q ʔ
voiced b d ɡ ɡʲ ɡʷ
ejective kʲʼ kʷʼ qʲʼ qʷʼ
Affricate voiceless t͡s t͡ʃ t͡ʃʲ t͡ʃʷ
voiced d͡z d͡ʒ d͡ʒʲ d͡ʒʷ
ejective t͡s t͡ʃʼ t͡ʃʲʼ t͡ʃʷʼ
Fricative voiceless f s ɬ ʃ ʃʲ ʃʷ x ħ ħʷ
voiced v z ɮ ʒ ʒʲ ʒʷ ɣ ɣʲ ɣʷ ʕ ʕʷ
ejective ɬʼ
Nasal m n
Approximant l j
Trill r

The vowels /o, a, u/ may have a /j/ in front of it.

Front Central Back
Close u
Mid e ə o
Open a

[edit] Orthography

А а Б б В в Г г Гв гв Гъ гъ Гъв гъв Гъь гъь
Гь гь ГӀ гӀ ГӀв гӀв Д д Дж дж Джв джв Джь джь Дз дз
Е е Ё ё Ж ж Жв жв Жь жь З з И и Й й
К к Кв кв Къ къ Къв къв Къь къь Кь кь КӀ кӀ КӀв кӀв
КӀь кӀь Л л Ль ль М м Н н О о П п ПӀ пӀ
Р р С с Т т Тл тл Тш тш ТӀ тӀ У у Ф ф
Х х Хв хв Хь хь ХӀ хӀ ХӀв хӀв Ц ц ЦӀ цӀ Ч ч
Чв чв ЧӀ чӀ ЧӀв чӀв Ш ш ШӀ шӀ Шв шв Щ щ Ъ ъ
Ы ы Ь ь Э э Ю ю Я я

[edit] References


[edit] External links


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