Circassian languages

Circassian (; ), also known as Cherkess ( ), is a subdivision of the Northwest Caucasian language family, spoken by the Circassian people. There are two main variants of the Circassian language, defined by their literary standards, Adyghe (; also known as West Circassian) and Kabardian (; also known as East Circassian). The languages are highly mutually intelligible with one another, but differ to a degree where they would be considered clear-cut dialects. The earliest extant written records of the Circassian language are in the Arabic script, recorded by the Turkish traveller Evliya Çelebi in the 17th century,Papşu, Murat (2006)
Çerkes-Adığe yazısının tarihçesi
". ''Nart, İki Aylık Düşün ve Kültür Dergisi'', Sayı 51, Eylül-Ekim 2006. although the Greek and Georgian alphabets were adapted for them in ancient and medieval times.

There is consensus among the linguistic community about the fact that Adyghe and Kabardian are typologically distinct languages. However, the local terms for these languages refer to them as dialects. The Circassian people call themselves (; English: Adyghe) in their native language. In the southwestern part of European Russia, there is also a Federal Subject called Adygea (, ), enclaved within Krasnodar Krai, which is named after the Circassian endonym. In the Russian language, the Circassian subdivision is treated as a group of languages and called (, meaning the Adyghe languages), whereas the Adyghe language is called (, meaning the language of those in he Republic ofAdygea). The terms ''Circassian'' and ''Cherkess'' are sometimes used in several languages as synonyms for the Northwest Caucasian languages in general or the Adyghe language in particular.

Circassian languages

*Circassian languages
**Adyghe language
***The Black Sea coast dialects
**** Zhaney dialect
**** Natukhai dialect (; )
**** Shapsug dialect (; )
*****North Shapsugs, Great Shapsugs, Kuban Shapsugs dialect (; )
*****Temirgoy-Shapsugs, Pseuşko accent (; )
*****South Shapsugs, Small Shapsugs, Coastal Shapsugs Black Sea Shapsugs (; ) dialect.
***** Kfar Kama dialect (; ): Shapsug dialect spoken by the villagers of Kfar Kama in Israel.
***** Hakuchi dialect (; )
***The Kuban river dialects
**** Bzhedug dialect (; ) : Spoken by the Circassians in Republic of Adygea and Biga.
**** Temirgoy (; ) : Literary Adyghe. Also spoken by the Circassians in Republic of Adygea.
**** Abzakh dialect (; ) : Spoken by the Circassians in Rehaniya in Israel and the Circassians in Syria from Golan Heights.
**** Mamkhegh dialect
**** Yegeruqway dialect
**** Hatuqwai dialect
**** Makhosh dialect
**Kabardian language
***Kabardian
****West Kabardian
*****Kuban
*****Kuban-Zelenchuk ( Cherkess)
**** Central Kabardian
*****Baksan (Basis for the literary language)
*****Malka
**** Eastern Kabardian
*****Terek
*****Mozdok
**** North Kabardian
*****Mulka
*****Zabardiqa (1925 until 1991 ''Soviet Zaparika'')
*** Baslaney dialect (; )

Alphabets

* Adyghe language (also known as West Circassian, ; , ) — The language of the west Circassian tribes: Shapsug, Abzakh, Natukhai, Bzhedug, Temirgoy. The Alphabet is based on the Temirgoy dialect. The Circassian alphabet was created in 1918 by the Kabardian linguist Naguma Shora.

* Kabardian language (also known as East Circassian, ; , ) — The language of the east Circassian tribes : Kabarday and Baslaney. The Alphabet is based on the Kabardian dialect.

Sound changes

Sound changes between Adyghe (Temirgoy) and Kabardian:Aydın, Şamil Emre (2015), Çerkes Diyalektleri

*Adyghe a ↔ э Kabardian: '' ↔ '' (Adyghe); '' ↔ '' (rich); '' ↔ '' (lion); '' ↔ '' (tiger); '' ↔ '' (world); '' ↔ '' (ear); '' ↔ '' (letter); '' ↔ '' (pigeon); '' ↔ '' (ugly); '' ↔ '' (worm); '' ↔ '' (no)
*Adyghe ы ↔ э Kabardian: '' ↔ '' (mother)
*Adyghe э ↔ ы Kabardian: '' ↔ '' (lilac)
*Adyghe а ↔ ы Kabardian: '' ↔ '' (cloth)
*Adyghe и ↔ ы Kabardian: '' ↔ '' (angel)
*Adyghe ы ↔ и Kabardian: '' ↔ '' (child)
*Adyghe ы ↔ е Kabardian: '' ↔ '' (kidney); '' ↔ '' (hazelnut)
*Adyghe ц ↔ дз Kabardian: '' ↔ '' (tooth); '' ↔ '' (mouse); '' ↔ '' (fish); '' ↔ '' (grass)
*Adyghe цу ↔ в Kabardian: '' ↔ '' (ox); '' ↔ '' (shoe); '' ↔ '' (raven); '' ↔ '' (raven); '' ↔ '' (ploughshare)
*Adyghe ч ↔ ж Kabardian: '' ↔ '' (cow); '' ↔ '' (tree); '' ↔ '' (night); '' ↔ '' (village, settlement); '' ↔ '' (to count); '' ↔ '' (to run)
*Adyghe ч ↔ дж Kabardian: '' ↔ '' (cat); '' ↔ '' (chicken); '' ↔ '' (glass)
*Adyghe ч ↔ щ Kabardian: '' ↔ '' (king); '' ↔ '' (iron); '' ↔ '' (question); '' ↔ '' (button); '' ↔ '' (cold); '' ↔ '' (morning)
*Adyghe дз ↔ з Kabardian: '' ↔ '' (watermelon)
*Adyghe дж ↔ ж Kabardian: '' ↔ '' (fox); '' ↔ '' (arch, bridge); '' ↔ '' (death); '' ↔ '' (flour); '' ↔ '' (knee); '' ↔ '' (village)
*Adyghe жь ↔ з Kabardian: '' ↔ '' (him, itself)
*Adyghe жъ ↔ жь Kabardian: '' ↔ '' (old); '' ↔ '' (bowl, horn, slander); '' ↔ '' (to fry, to grill)
*Adyghe ж ↔ жь Kabardian: '' ↔ '' (autumn); '' ↔ '' (beard); '' ↔ '' (flea); '' ↔ '' (mouth)
*Adyghe жъу ↔ в Kabardian: '' ↔ '' (star); '' ↔ '' (narrow); '' ↔ '' (wide); '' ↔ '' (to boil)
*Adyghe ш ↔ щ Kabardian: '' ↔ '' (melon)
*Adyghe щ ↔ ш Kabardian: '' ↔ '' (milk); '' ↔ '' (tea); '' ↔ '' (salt); '' ↔ '' (fund, money); '' ↔ '' (arrow); '' ↔ '' (donkey); '' ↔ '' (fear); '' ↔ '' (black pepper); '' ↔ '' (noon)
*Adyghe шъ ↔ щ Kabardian: '' ↔ ''; '' ↔ '' (head); '' ↔ '' (lamp); '' ↔ '' (gold); '' ↔ '' (girl); '' ↔ '' (bear); '' ↔ '' (animal); '' ↔ '' (100)
*Adyghe шӀ ↔ щӀ Kabardian: '' ↔ '' (to do); '' ↔ '' (to know); '' ↔ '' (life); '' ↔ '' (ten)
*Adyghe кӀ ↔ щӀ Kabardian: '' ↔ '' (new); '' ↔ '' (young-man); '' ↔ '' (to launder, to wash); '' ↔ '' (to go off on); '' ↔ '' (above); '' ↔ '' (few); '' ↔ '' (guest); '' ↔ '' (key)
*Adyghe шъу ↔ ф Kabardian: '' ↔ '' (honey); '' ↔ '' (wife); '' ↔ '' (to drink); '' ↔ '' (sky); '' ↔ '' (green); '' ↔ '' (dance); '' ↔ '' (color, skin, you (plural)); '' ↔ '' (color, skin, you (plural)); '' ↔ '' (blind)
*Adyghe шӀу ↔ фӀ Kabardian: '' ↔ '' (well, good); '' ↔ '' (fire); '' ↔ '' (black); '' ↔ '' (coal); '' ↔ '' (weather); '' ↔ '' (sweet); '' ↔ '' (sweet)
*Adyghe ф ↔ ху Kabardian: '' ↔ '' (white); '' ↔ '' (work, job); '' ↔ '' (day); '' ↔ '' (summer); '' ↔ '' (person); '' ↔ '' (hot); '' ↔ '' (want, need); '' ↔ '' (like); '' ↔ '' (light); '' ↔ '' (maize); '' ↔ '' (to forgive); '' ↔ '' (to forgive); '' ↔ '' (garlic); '' ↔ '' (woman)
*Adyghe хь ↔ хъ Kabardian: '' ↔ '' (more); '' ↔ '' (younger brother); '' ↔ '' (older brother)
*Adyghe къ ↔ кхъ Kabardian: '' ↔ '' (grave)
*Adyghe къу ↔ кхъу Kabardian: '' ↔ '' (cheese); '' ↔ '' (pear); '' ↔ '' (ship)
*Adyghe т ↔ д Kabardian: '' ↔ '' (we); '' ↔ '' (shoulder); '' ↔ '' (stamp, letter); '' ↔ '' (wolf); '' ↔ '' (yesterday); '' ↔ '' (father); '' ↔ '' (silver); '' ↔ '' (minute); '' ↔ '' (rooster, cock); '' ↔ '' (garden); '' ↔ '' (duck); '' ↔ '' (leader, boss)
*Adyghe п ↔ б Kabardian: '' ↔ '' (thorn); '' ↔ '' (hard); '' ↔ '' (goat); '' ↔ '' (enemy); '' ↔ '' (today); '' ↔ '' (to count)
*Adyghe м ↔ н Kabardian: '' ↔ '' (monkey)
*Adyghe н ↔ Ø Kabardian: '' ↔ '' (mirror)
*Adyghe -Ø ↔ -р Kabardian: '' ↔ ''; '' ↔ ''; '' ↔ ''
*Adyghe -Ø ↔ -щ Kabardian: '' ↔ ''
*Adyghe Ø- ↔ и- Kabardian: '' ↔ '' (yet)

Ergative–absolutive

In the following example, we demonstrate an ergative–absolutive case marking system while using the same verb "break" in both intransitive and transitive forms:

Here, "table" has the absolutive case mark -р /-r/ while "man" has the ergative case mark -м /-m/. We also have the verb "break" in intransitive form "мэкъутэ" and transitive form "екъутэ". In the example above, we specifically used SOV order, but Circassian allows any order.

Loanwords

Circassian languages contain "many loan-words from Arabic, Turkish, Persian (particularly in the area of religion) and Russian".

See also

* Circassia

References

Sources

*

Literature

A Dictionary of the Circassian Language, in Two Parts
By Dr. L. Loewe.
* Кумахов М. А. Адыгские языки // Языки мира. Кавказские языки. М., 1999. (in Russian)

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Northwest Caucasian languages
Circassian culture