Adyghe language

Adyghe language (адыгaбзэ, adygabze, adəgăbză), 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, Bzhedugh; Hatukuay, Kemirgoy, Makhosh; Natekuay, Shapsigh; 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 diaspora.

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 the Cyrillic alphabet. 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.

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

Note: In the table above the appearances of the letter "I" render the specific character, "palochka".

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.

UNESCO 2009 Map about the Endangered Languages

The Status of the Adyghe Language in 2009 According to the UNESCO 2009 map titled "UNESCO Map of the World's Languages in Danger", The Adyghe Language with all of it dialects (Adyghe-(Western Circassians Tribes)) and (Kabard-Cherkess-(Eastern Circassians Tribes) classified as a vulnerable language(not safe), hence the Adyghe nation in Circassia and Diaspora should concern in developing the language, and to emphasize the importance of it.,(20MB)"UNESCO Map of World's language in Danger". http://cms01.unesco.org/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/HQ/CLT/CLT/pdf/UNESCO-EndangeredLanguages-WorldMap-20090218.pdf. Retrieved 2009-06-24. 

Alphabet

Adyghe Arabic alphabet was used before 1927.

Adyghe Latinized alphabet 1927-1938.

Adyghe Latinized alphabet 1927-1938.

See also

• Hakuchi Adyghe

External links

• Adyghe alphabet
• Adyghe Alphabet and Cyrillic Board
• Adyghe Sample at Language Museum
• Ethnologue: Adyghe
• Learning Adyghe resource
• ~АДЫГЭБЗЭ~ADIGEBZE
• Rferl North Caucasus Radio
• Adyghe transliteration tool