Adyghe ( or ; ady, Адыгабзэ, Adygabzə, ), also known as West Circassian ( ady, link=no, кӏахыбзэ, khaxybzə), is a Northwest Caucasian language spoken by the western subgroups of

Circassians The Circassians (also referred to as Cherkess or Adyghe; Adyghe and Kabardian: Адыгэхэр, romanized: ''Adıgəxər'') are an indigenous Northwest Caucasian ethnic group and nation native to the historical country-region of Circassia ...

. It is spoken mainly in

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

, as well as in

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

and

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

, where they settled after the Circassian genocide. It is closely related to the Kabardian (East Circassian) language, though some reject the distinction between the two languages in favor of both being dialects of a unitary Circassian language. The literary language is based on the Temirgoy dialect. Adyghe and Russian are the two official languages of the Republic of Adygea in the

Russian Federation Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

. There are around 128,000 speakers of Adyghe in Russia, almost all of them native speakers. In total, some 300,000 speak it worldwide. The largest Adyghe-speaking community is in

, spoken by the

diaspora A diaspora ( ) is a population that is scattered across regions which are separate from its geographic place of origin. Historically, the word was used first in reference to the dispersion of Greeks in the Hellenic world, and later Jews after ...

from the

Russian–Circassian War The Russo-Circassian War ( ady, Урыс-адыгэ зауэ, translit=Wurıs-adığə zawə; ; 1763–1864; also known as the Russian Invasion of Circassia) was the invasion of Circassia by Russia, starting in July 17, 1763 ( O.S) with the Ru ...

(–1864). In addition, the Adyghe language is spoken by the Cherkesogai in

Krasnodar Krai Krasnodar Krai (russian: Краснода́рский край, r=Krasnodarsky kray, p=krəsnɐˈdarskʲɪj kraj) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (a krai), located in the North Caucasus region in Southern Russia and ...

. Adyghe belongs to the family of Northwest Caucasian languages. Kabardian (also known as East Circassian) is a very close relative, treated by some as a dialect of Adyghe or of an overarching Circassian language. Ubykh, Abkhaz and Abaza are somewhat more distantly related to Adyghe.

Dialects

*The

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Rom ...

coast dialects: ** Shapsug dialect ( ady, Шапсыгъабзэ) ***North Shapsugs, Great Shapsugs, Kuban Shapsugs (Шапсыгъэ шху) dialect **** Kfar Kama dialect (Кфар Камэм ишапсыгъэбзэ) ***Temirgoy-Shapsugs, Pseuşko accent (Кӏэмгуе-шапсыгъ) ***South Shapsugs, Small Shapsugs, Coastal Shapsugs, Black Sea Shapsugs (Шапсыгъэ-цӏыкӏу) dialect *** Hakuchi dialect (Хьакӏуцубзэ, Къарацхаибзэ) ** Natukhai dialect ( ady, Нэтӏхъуаджэбзэ) ** Zhaney dialect *The Kuban River dialects: ** Bzhedug dialect ( ady, Бжъэдыгъубзэ): spoken by Circassians in the Republic of Adygea and the Biga district of the city of Çanakkale in

** Temirgoy ( ady, Кӏэмыгуябзэ, Кӏэмгуибзэ):

literary Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to includ ...

standard of Adyghe. Also spoken by Circassians in the Republic of Adygea ** Abzakh dialect ( ady, Aбдзэхабзэ): spoken by Circassians in the village of

Rehaniya Rehaniya ( he, רִיחָנִיָּה, ar, الريحانية, ady, Рихьаные ) is a Circassian town in northern Israel. It is one of the only two Circassian towns in Israel, the other being Kfar Kama. Located about 8 km north of ...

and Circassians in Syria from the

Golan Heights The Golan Heights ( ar, هَضْبَةُ الْجَوْلَانِ, Haḍbatu l-Jawlān or ; he, רמת הגולן, ), or simply the Golan, is a region in the Levant spanning about . The region defined as the Golan Heights differs between di ...

** Mamkhegh dialect ** Yegeruqay dialect **

Hatuqwai The Hatuqway ( ady, Хьатыкъуай, translit=Hatıqway; tr, Hatukay; ar, حتوقاي, links=, translit=Hatuqway; ; russian: Хатукай, translit=Khatukai) are one of the twelve major Circassian tribes, representing one of the twelv ...

dialect ** Mequash dialect

Phonology

Adyghe exhibits a large number of consonants: between 50 and 60 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 Abzakh 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 and a labialized one is found in Tlingit). The

dialect of Adyghe contains a very uncommon sound: a

bidental ] In Religion in ancient Rome, ancient Roman religion, a Bidental was a sacred shrine erected on the spot where lightning had struck. Creation Any remains and scorched earth at the spot were to be burned in a hole at the location by priests cal ...

Voiceless bidental fricative, fricative , which corresponds to the

voiceless velar fricative The voiceless velar fricative is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. It was part of the consonant inventory of Old English and can still be found in some dialects of English, most notably in Scottish English, e.g. in ''loc ...

found in other varieties of Adyghe. # Consonants that exist only in borrowed words. # Note: Adyghe has many consonants that appear in dialects, and has a complex system of consonant allophony. More information on those can be found at Adyghe phonology. In contrast to its large consonant inventory, Adyghe has only three phonemic vowels in a

vertical vowel system A vertical vowel system is the system of vowels in a language that requires only vowel height to phonemically distinguish vowels. Theoretically, rounding, frontness and backness could also be used in one-dimensional vowel systems; however, ' ...

Grammar

Adyghe, like all Northwest Caucasian languages, has a basic agent–object–verb typology and is characterised by an ergative construction of the sentence.

Orthography

The official alphabet for Adyghe is the

Cyrillic script The Cyrillic script ( ), Slavonic script or the Slavic script, is a writing system used for various languages across Eurasia. It is the designated national script in various Slavic, Turkic, Mongolic, Uralic, Caucasian and Iranic-speaking c ...

, which has been used since 1936. Before that, the

Arabic script The Arabic script is the writing system used for Arabic and several other languages of Asia and Africa. It is the second-most widely used writing system in the world by number of countries using it or a script directly derived from it, and th ...

was used. In recent years, a new

Latin script The Latin script, also known as Roman script, is an alphabetic writing system based on the letters of the classical Latin alphabet, derived from a form of the Greek alphabet which was in use in the ancient Greek city of Cumae, in southern ...

has been devised that seeks to include

phoneme In phonology and linguistics, a phoneme () is a unit of sound that can distinguish one word from another in a particular language. For example, in most dialects of English, with the notable exception of the West Midlands and the north-wes ...

s from all the Adyghe and Kabardian dialects, as well as other North Caucasian languages. * There are thirteen labialised consonants; however, in some dialects, there are three additional ones: Кхъу , Ху , Чъу .

Orthography rules

* The letter is not written after a , or a labialised consonant. For example: унэ "house" instead of уынэ, илъэс "year" instead of йылъэс, шӏу "well" instead of шӏуы, цумпэ "strawberry" instead of цуымпэ. * In case the letter is the first letter of a word or when it is not related to any other consonant, it is pronounced as . For example: унэ instead of уынэ, урыс "Russian" instead of уырыс, куу "deep" instead of кууы. When it is related to a consonant, it becomes a vowel and pronounced as . For example: чэту "cat" instead of чэтыу, бзу "bird" instead of бзыу, дунай "world" instead of дыуней. * In case a labialised consonant is followed by a vowel , instead of the letter there is a . For example: гъогу "road" instead of гъуэгу, машӏо "fire" instead of машӏуэ, шъо "you (pl.)" instead of шъуэ. * In case a labialised consonant is followed by a vowel or , the labialised consonant letter is written fully. For example: цуакъэ "shoes", гуащэ "princes", шъуи "yours" (pl.). * In case the letter is the first letter of a word or when it is not related to any other consonant, it is pronounced as ɐ. For example, о "you" instead of уэ, орэд "song" instead of уэрэд, онтэгъу "heavy" instead of уэнтэгъу, зао "war" instead of зауэ, ныо "old lady" instead of ныуэ. * In case the letter is the first letter of a word or when it is not related to any other consonant, it is pronounced as . For example: еӏо "he says" instead of йэӏо, еплъы "he sees" instead of йэплъы, мые "apple" instead of мыйэ, бае "rich" instead of байэ, шъэжъые "knife" instead of шъэжъыйэ. When it's related to a consonant, it becomes a vowel and pronounced as . For example: делэ "fool" instead of дэйлэ, къедж "read" instead of къэйдж, непэ "today" instead of нэйпэ. * In case the letter is the first letter of a word or when is not related to any other consonant, it is pronounced as . For example: илъэс "year" instead of йылъэс, иунэ "his house" instead of йыуын, шӏои "dirty" instead of шӏойы, дэи "bad" instead of дэйы. When it's related to a consonant, it becomes a vowel and pronounced as . For example: сиӏ "I have" instead of сыйӏ, уиунэ "your house" instead of уыйуынэ, къины "hard" instead of къыйны.

Vowels

The vowels are written , and . Other letters represent diphthongs: represents , or , or , represent or , and represents or .

Other writing systems

The language of Adyghe is officially written in the Cyrillic script but is also unofficially written in the Latin script, in a version of the

before 1927, and then a version of the Latin alphabet implemented by the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

until 1938. File:Adyghe arabic alphabet.JPG, Adyghe Arabic alphabet used before 1927 File:Adyge alphabet 1927 (1).JPG, Adyghe

Latin alphabet The Latin alphabet or Roman alphabet is the collection of letters originally used by the ancient Romans to write the Latin language. Largely unaltered with the exception of extensions (such as diacritics), it used to write English and the ...

used from 1927 to 1938 File:Adyge alphabet 1927 (2).JPG, Adyghe Latin alphabet used from 1927 to 1938 File:Adyghe alphabet cyrillic-latin.JPG, Adyghe Latin and Adyghe Cyrillic alphabets compared File:Adig alph 27-38.jpg, Adyghe Latin alphabet letters File:Adige arab alphabet.JPG, Adyghe Arabic alphabet letters

Examples of literary Adyghe

Native vocabulary

Loanwords

Adyghe outside Circassia

Adyghe is taught outside Circassia in a

ian school for the Jordanian Adyghes, Prince Hamza Ibn Al-Hussein Secondary School in the capital Amman. This school, which was established by the Adyghe Jordanians with support from the late

king King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen regnant, queen, which title is also given to the queen consort, consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contempora ...

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 emphasising the traditions of the Adyghes. Adyghe is spoken by Circassians in Iraq and by

Circassians in Israel Circassians in Israel (; he, הצ'רקסים בישראל) are Israelis who are ethnic Circassians. They are a branch of the Circassian diaspora, which was formed as a consequence of the 19th-century Circassian genocide that was carried out ...

, where it is taught in schools in their villages. It is also spoken by many Circassians in Syria, although the majority of Syrian Circassians speak Kabardian.

Publications

There are many books written in or translated into Adyghe. An Adyghe translation of the Quran by Ishak Mashbash is available. The New Testament and many books of the Old Testament have been published in Adyghe by the Institute for Bible Translation in Moscow.

UNESCO 2009 map of endangered languages

According to the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international coope ...

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.

Sample text

Notes

References

External links

Grammar of the Circassian Language
Useful site to learn the Adyghe grammar. *

Omniglot. * .
Adyghe sample
Language Museum.

Learn Circassian
International Centre for Circassian Studies (ICCS).

Adyghe transliteration tool

Ancient Adyghe Abkhaz–Abaza Ubykh alphabet

How to count in Adyghe language

Adyghe language dictionary

{{Authority control Northwest Caucasian languages Languages of Iraq Languages of Jordan Languages of Russia Languages of Syria Languages of Turkey Agglutinative languages Endangered Caucasian languages Adygea Krasnodar Krai Vertical vowel systems Languages written in Cyrillic script