Adyghe language

Adyghe
адыгaбзэ adygabze, адыгэбзэ adəgăbză adâgăbză
Spoken in	Russia Turkey Jordan Syria Israel United States Macedonia Iraq
Region	Russia: Republic of Adygea
Ethnicity	Adyghe people, Shapsugs
Native speakers	500,000  (1993–2000)
Language family	Northwest Caucasian Circassian Adyghe
Official status
Official language in	Republic of Adygea
Regulated by	No official regulation
Language codes
ISO 639-2	ady
ISO 639-3	ady

Adyghe alphabet

Adyghe language (адыгaбзэ, adygabze, адыгэбзэ, adəgăbză adâgăbză), also known as West Circassian (see: Circassian language), 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, Bzhedug; Hatukuay, Kemirgoy, Makhosh; Natekuay, Shapsug; Zhane, Yegerikuay, each with its own dialect. The language is referred to by its speakers as Adygebze or Adəgăbză, and alternatively spelled in English as Adygean, Adygeyan or Adygei.

There are apparently around 128,000 speakers of the language on the native territory in Russia, almost all of them are native speakers. In the whole world, some 300,000 speak the language. The largest Adyghe-speaking community is in Turkey, spoken by the post Russian–Circassian War (c. 1763–1864) diaspora, in addition to that the Adyghe language is spoken by the Cherkesogai in Krasnodar Krai.

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 Cyrillic. 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 labialized glottal stops. A very unusual minimal contrast, and possibly unique to the Abdzakh dialect of Adyghe, is a three-way contrast between plain, labialized and palatalized glottal stops (although a palatalized 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.

		Labial		Alveolar			Post­alveolar		Alveolo- palatal	Retro­flex		Velar		Uvular		Pharyngeal	Glottal
		plain	lab.	plain	lab.	lat.	plain	lab.		plain	lab.	plain	lab.	plain	lab.		plain	lab.
Plosive	voiceless	p		t								k	kʷ	q	qʷ		ʔ	ʔʷ
	voiced	b		d								ɡ	ɡʷ
	ejective	pʼ	pʷʼ	tʼ	tʷʼ							kʼ	kʷʼ
Affricate	voiceless			t͡s	t͡sʷ		t͡ʃ
	voiced			d͡z	d͡zʷ		d͡ʒ
	ejective			t͡sʼ	t͡sʷʼ		t͡ʃʼ
Fricative	voiceless	f		s		ɬ	ʃ	ʃʷ	ɕ	ʂ		x	xʷ	χ	χʷ	ħ
	voiced	v		z			ʒ		ʑ	ʐ	ʐʷ			ʁ	ʁʷ
	ejective	fʼ				ɬʼ	ʃʼ	ʃʷʼ
Nasal		m		n
Approximant						l			j
Trill				r

Below is a table of the standard vowels of Adyghe. All vowels except for /i/ can have a /j/ before it.

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Mid	e	ə	o
Open	a

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

Modern Adyghe uses a Cyrillic alphabet with the addition of the letter Ӏ (palochka). Previously Arabic (before 1927) and Latin (1927–38) alphabets had been used.

Cyrillic	IPA	Latin	Notes
А а	[a]	ᴀ
Б б	[b]	ʙ
В в	[v]	w
Г г	[ɡ]	ɡ
Гу гу	[ɡʷ]	ɡv
Гъ гъ	[ʁ]	г
Гъу гъу	[ʁʷ]	гv
Д д	[d]	d
Дж дж	[dʒ]	ǥ (ɡ̠)	Some fonts might show a two-loop g for this Latin letter; this should be a barred script g (ɡ)
Дз дз	[dz]	з or ᴣ
Дзу дзу	[dzʷ]	зv or ᴣv
Е е	[je]	e
(Ё ё)	[jo]	—
Ж ж	[ʒ]	J
Жь жь	[ʑ]	Ԏ	This Latin letter does not appear in Unicode, so a similar Cyrillic letter has been used here. It should resemble a J, with a turned lower half.
Жъ жъ	[ʐ]	ȥ	The downtick should be straight.
Жъу жъу	[ʐʷ]	ȥv
З з	[z]	z
И и	[i]	i
Й й	[j]	y
К к	[k]	k
Ку ку	[kʷ]	kv
Къ къ	[q]	q
Къу къу	[qʷ]	qv
КӀ кӀ	[kʼ]	ⱪ or қ or ʀ	The ks and the r may not represent the same sound
КӀу кӀу	[kʷʼ]	ⱪv or қv or ʀv
КъӀ къӀ	[qʼ]	?
КъӀу къӀу	[qʷʼ]	?
Л л	[l]	l
Лъ лъ	[ɬ]	L	This Latin letter does not appear in Unicode. It resembles an l with an uptick to the right.
ЛӀ лӀ	[ɬʼ]	ᶅ	The downtick should be straight.
М м	[m]	m
Н н	[n]	n
О о	[o]	o
П п	[p]	p
ПӀ пӀ	[pʼ]	ƍ	This Latin letter does not appear in Unicode, so a similar-looking letter has been used. It should be a p with a left-curl to the tail like a j: a reversed .
ПӀу пӀу	[pʷʼ]	ƍv	As above.
Р р	[r]	r
С с	[s]	s
СӀ сӀ	[sʼ]	?
Т т	[t]	t
ТӀ тӀ	[tʼ]	ƀ	May be a t with the tail curled up into a bowl, rather than a barred b
ТӀу тӀу	[tʷʼ]	ƀv
У у	[u]	u
Ф ф	[f]	f
ФӀ фӀ	[fʼ]	ʇ	This Latin letter does not appear in Unicode, so a similar form has been used here. It should be reversed f rather than a turned t.
Х х	[x]	x
Ху ху	[xʷ]	xv
Хъ хъ	[χ]	ɤ or х	This Latin letter does not appear in Unicode, so a similar letter has been used here. It should resemble an X with curled horns on the upper ends, without a connecting bar at the base. The second variant looks like a script Cyrillic х (curls on all four legs), but upright.
Хъу хъу	[χʷ]	ɤv or хv	As above.
Хь хь	[ħ]	ɦ
Ц ц	[ts]	c
Цу цу	[tsʷ]	cv
ЦӀ цӀ	[tsʼ]	ç	Other accounts have a straight downtick, like a small ↅ
Ч ч	[tʃ]	ҟ
ЧӀ чӀ	[tʃʼ]	ᶁ	The downtick should be straight.
Чъ чъ	[tɕ]	đ
Ш ш	[ʃ]	ħ
Шъ шъ	[ʂ]	š
Шъу шъу	[ʂʷ]	šv
ШӀ шӀ	[ʃʼ]	ꜧ or ʖ	If this does not display, it's an h with the tail of a ŋ. The alternate form is like a 5 without a top stroke.
ШӀу шӀу	[ʃʷʼ]	ꜧv or ʖv
Щ щ	[ɕ]	ʃ
(Ъ ъ)	″	—
Ы ы	[ə]	ə
(Ь ь)	′	—
Э э	[e]	e
(Ю ю)	[ju]	yu
Я я	[ja]	ya
Ӏ	[ʔ]	h
Ӏу	[ʔʷ]	hv

• 

  Adyghe Arabic alphabet was used before 1927

• 

  Adyghe Latin alphabet 1927–38

• 

  Adyghe Latin alphabet 1927–38

• 

  Latin and Cyrillic alphabets compared

Adyghe outside Circassia

Adyghe is taught outside Circassia in a Jordanian School for the Jordanian Adyghes, Prince Hamza Ibn Al-Hussein Secondary School in Amman. This school, which was established by the Adyghe Jordanians with support from His Majesty the late King Hussein of Jordan, is one of the first schools for the Adyghe communities outside Circassia. It has around 750 Jordanian Adyghe students, and one of its major goals is to preserve Adyghe among newer Adyghe generations, while also emphasizing the traditions of the Adyghes.

Adyghe is spoken by Circassians in Israel and taught in schools in their villages.

UNESCO 2009 map of endangered languages

According to the UNESCO 2009 map entitled "UNESCO Map of the World's Languages in Danger", the status of the Adyghe language in 2009, along with all its dialects (Adyghe, Western Circassian tribes)) and (Kabard-Cherkess, Eastern Circassian tribes), is classified as vulnerable.

See also

• Hakuchi Adyghe dialect

External links

• Adyghe alphabet on Omniglot
• Adyghe transliteration schemesPDF
• Adyghe Alphabet and Cyrillic Board
• Adyghe sample at Language Museum
• Adyghe on Ethnologue
• Learning Adyghe resource
• Rferl North Caucasus Radio
• Adyghe transliteration tool