Bzyb (also spelled Bzyp) is a major dialect of
Abkhaz, native to the
Bzyb River region of
Caucasus
The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range, have historically ...
.
It differs from standard Abkhaz mainly in terms of
phonology
Phonology is the branch of linguistics that studies how languages or dialects systematically organize their sounds or, for sign languages, their constituent parts of signs. The term can also refer specifically to the sound or sign system of a ...
. It shares the and sounds with the
Sadz dialect
Abkhaz ( ; ), sometimes spelled Abxaz and also known as Abkhazian, is a Northwest Caucasian language most closely related to Abaza. It is spoken mostly by the Abkhaz people. It is one of the official languages of Abkhazia, where around 100,0 ...
, and the , , , , , , and sounds are unique to Bzyb. Standard Abkhaz (which is based on the
Abzhywa dialect) lacks these sounds.
The Bzyb
consonant
In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract. Examples are and pronounced with the lips; and pronounced with the front of the tongue; and pronounced wit ...
inventory appears to have been the fundamental inventory of
Proto-Abkhaz, with the inventories of Abzhywa and Sadz being reduced from this total, rather than the Bzyb series being innovative.
See also
*
Abkhaz phonology
Abkhaz is a language of the Northwest Caucasian family which, like the other Northwest Caucasian languages, is very rich in consonants. Abkhaz has a large consonantal inventory that contrasts 58 consonants in the literary Abzhywa dialect, coupl ...
References
Abkhaz language
{{NorthwestCaucasian-lang-stub