CIRCASSIAN IS ONE OF THE THREE DIVISIONS OF THE NORTH WEST GROUP OF CAUCASIAN LANGUAGES, THE OTHER TWO BEING ABKHAZ-ABAZA AND UBYKH. IN DISCUSSING THE CIRCASSIAN LANGUAGE, THE WIDER SENSE OF THE TERM WILL BE ASSUMED AND MATERIAL ON THE TWO LATTER LANGUAGES WILL BE INCLUDED. TO LESSEN CONFUSION, CIRCASSIAN PROPER WILL BE REFERRED TO BY THE GENERIC NAME 'ADYGHABZA', WHICH IS THE GENERAL DESIGNATION USED BY THE SPEAKERS THEMSELVES.

ALTHOUGH RELATED, THE MEMBERS OF THIS LANGUAGE GROUP ARE MUTUALLY UNINTELLIGIBLE. IT IS HYPOTHESIZED THAT ABOUT SIX THOUSAND YEARS AGO ALL THREE CONVERGED ON A COMMON TONGUE, PROTO-CIRCASSIAN, BUT DUE TO GEOGRAPHICAL SEPARATION THE PARENT LANGUAGE DIFFERENTIATED INTO THREE DIVERGENT LANGUAGES AND MANY DIALECTS AND SUB-DIALECTS.

THE PHONOLOGICAL STRUCTURE OF THE NORTH WEST CAUCASIAN LANGUAGES IS UNIQUE AND IS CHARACTERIZED BY AN EXTREME ABUNDANCE OF CONSONANTS. LEXICAL MATERIAL IS ANALYZABLE INTO A SMALL NUMBER OF SHORT ROOTS AND GRAMMATICAL MORPHEMES SHOW SEMANTIC TRANSPARENCY.

THIS IS THE LANGUAGE USED BY THE ADYGHA. IT IS COMPOSED OF TWO BRANCHES: EASTERN AND WESTERN ADYGHABZA. THE FORMER IS DIVIDED INTO KABARDIAN AND BESLANAY, THE LATTER INTO A PLETHORA OF DIALECTS, SOME OF WHICH HAVE BECOME PRACTICALLY EXTINCT. EACH BRANCH IS REPRESENTED BY ONE LITERARY AND OFFICIAL LANGUAGE: KABARDIAN IN KABARDINO-BALKARIA AND THE KARACHAY-CHERKESS REPUBLIC, AND ADYGHE, WHICH IS BASED PRINCIPALLY ON TEMIRGOY, IN THE ADYGHEY REPUBLIC.

ALL ADYGHABZA DIALECTS ARE MUTUALLY INTELLIGIBLE. THE LITERARY LANGUAGES EMPLOY MODIFIED FORMS OF THE CYRILLIC ALPHABET, WHICH HAVE BEEN IN USE SINCE 1939.

THE FOLLOWING PAGES DISCUSS IN DETAIL THE LANGUAGES AND DIALECTS OF ADYGHABZA.(CLICK ON THE REQUIRED LANGUAGE TO GO TO THE APPROPRIATE SITE.)

EASTERN, OR UPPER, BRANCH:

1. KABARDIAN (OFFICIAL AND LITERARY LANGUAGE)

2. BESLANAY

WESTERN, OR LOWER, BRANCH (KIAXE):

1. ADYGHE , OR TEMIRGOY (OFFICIAL AND LITERARY LANGUAGE)

2. SHAPSUGH

3. ABZAKH, OR ABAZAXE

4. BZHADUGH

5. HATUQWAI

6. OTHER DIALECTS

ABKHAZ AND ABAZA ARE SPOKEN IN THE ABKHAZ REPUBLIC AND IN THE KARACHAI-CHERKESS REPUBLIC RESPECTIVELY. THERE ARE ALSO MANY SPEAKERS IN TURKEY AMONG THE IMMIGRANT COMMUNITY. ABKHAZ IS DIVIDED INTO THREE DIALECTS: BZYP, ABZHUI AND SAMURZAKAN. THE ABKHAZ LITERARY AND OFFICIAL LANGUAGE IS BASED ON THE SOUTHERN ABZHUI DIALECT. THE ABAZA IS MADE UP OF TWO DIALECTS: ASHKHARWA AND TAPANTA.

ABKHAZ

ABAZA

UBYKH IS NOW AN EXTINCT LANGUAGE. IT WAS PREVIOUSLY USED IN UBYKHIA BEFORE THE DISASTROUS MASS IMMIGRATION OF THE NATION FOLLOWING THE END OF THE RUSSO-CAUCASIAN WAR. THE UBYKH USED TO INHABIT THE SOUTH MID-WESTERN SECTION OF CIRCASSIA, BETWEEN THE RIVERS KHOSTA AND SHAKHE TO THE NORTH OF ABKHAZIA.

ALTHOUGH THE LANGUAGE IS NO MORE IN USE, THE DESCENDANTS OF THE UBYKH ARE STILL VERY MUCH ALIVE. THEY WERE LINGUISTICALLY ASSIMILATED BY THE ADYGHA AND ABKHAZ IN THE DIASPORA. IT REMAINS TO BE SEEN WHETHER THE SCIONS OF THE ONCE-MIGHTY UBYKH NATION WILL REVIVE THEIR LANGUAGE OR LET IT REST IN PEACE (OR OBLIVION).

UBYKH

RELATED SITES

GO BACK TO MAIN PAGE

GO TO MY INTERESTS PAGE