The Shapsug dialect (; ) is a dialect of Adyghe. The Shapsug dialect is spoken by the Shapsugs, which are one of the largest Circassian population in the diaspora outside Republic of Adygea, alongside Abzakhs. The Shapsug dialect is very similar to the Natukhai dialect and together, they make the Black Sea coast dialects of Adyghe. The Shapsug dialect consists of three main sub dialects: Great Shapsug (North Shapsug), Small Shapsug (South Shapsug) and Hakuchi. The Shapsug dialect is best known as the dialect with palatalized velar stops.
Subdialects
The Black Sea coast dialects
Natukhai dialect () Shapsug dialect () North Shapsugs, Great Shapsugs, Kuban Shapsugs dialect (Шапсыгъэ шху). Kfar Kama dialect (Кфар Камэм ишапсыгъэбзэ): Shapsug dialect spoken by the villagers of Kfar Kama in Israel. South Shapsugs, Small Shapsugs, Coastal Shapsugs Black Sea Shapsugs (Шапсыгъэ-цӏыкӏу) dialect. Hakuchi dialect (ХьакӀуцубзэ, Къарацхаибзэ)
Shapsough alphabet
The alphabet used as the language of writing and literature in Shapsug National Rayon and Kfar Kama between 1924-1945 is as follows:
Phonology
Palatalized velar stops
In the Shapsug and Natukhai dialects there is a palatalized voiced velar stop , a palatalized voiceless velar stop and a palatalized velar ejective that were merged with дж , ч and кӏ in most Adyghe dialects. Note that the Shapsug dialect also has ч , дж and кӏ in words like чэмы "cow", джэмышх "spoon" and кӏалэ "boy".
Shapsug гь became дж in other dialects:
Shapsug кь became ч in other dialects:
Shapsug кӏь became кӏ in other dialects:
Retroflex affricates
The retroflex affricate consonants чъ and чӏ (that exist in Chemguy and Bzhedug dialects) merged with the palato-alveolar affricate consonants ч and кӏ in the Shapsug and Natukhai dialects.
Chemguy чъ became ч in Shapsug :
Chemguy чӏ became кӏ in Shapsug :
Dropped consonants
In the Great Shapsug dialect (Like Bzhedug dialect) in some cases the consonants н , м and р are dropped and are not pronounced.
The consonant м is dropped before bilabial stops б , п , пӏ :
The consonant н is dropped before postalveolar affricates дж , ч , кӏ and before alveolar stops д , т , тӏ :
The consonant р is dropped before a voiceless alveolar stop т :
Aspirated consonants
In the Shapsug dialect (Like the Bzhedug dialect) there exist a series of aspirated consonants (/pʰ/ /tʰ/ /ʃʰ/ /t͡sʰ/ /t͡ʃʰ/ /t͡ʂʰ/ /t͡ɕʰʷ/ /kʲʰ/ /kʰʷ/ /qʰ/ /qʰʷ/) that became plain consonants in other dialects:
Shapsug пʰ ↔ п in other dialects :
Shapsug тʰ ↔ т in other dialects :
Shapsug цʰ ↔ ц in other dialects :
Shapsug шʰ ↔ щ in other Adyghe dialects :
Shapsug кь ↔ ч in other dialects (чʰ in Bzhedug) :
Shapsug кʰу ↔ ку in other dialects :
Shapsug къʰ ↔ къ in other Adyghe dialects :
Shapsug къуʰ ↔ къу in other Adyghe dialects :
Shapsug чъʰу ↔ чу (spelled цу) in Temirgoy:
Others
In some Shapsug and Natukhai dialects there exist an alveolar ejective fricative that correspond to in other dialects such as Abzakh, Bzhedug, Temirgoy, and Kabardian.
Shapsug сӏ ↔ цӏ in other dialects:
The labialized retroflex consonants шъу and жъу in the Temirgoy dialect are alveolo-palatal щу and жьу in the Black Sea coast dialects of Adyghe (Shapsug dialect and Natukhai dialect).
Shapsug щу ↔ шъу in Standard:
Shapsug жьу ↔ жъу in Standard:
The Shapsug and Natukhai dialects has many different variants. The following differences apply to some of them.
Shapsug с ↔ ц in Standard:
Shapsug шъухъу [ʃʷχʷ] ↔ шхъу [ʃχʷ] in Standard:
Shapsug р ↔ н in Standard:
Shapsug ф ↔ м in Standard:
Shapsug ц ↔ с in Standard:
Grammar differences
Instrumental case
In the instrumental case the noun has the suffix -мгьэ (-mɡʲa) or -гьэ (-gʲa) unlike other dialects that has the suffix -мкӏэ (-mt͡ʃa) or -кӏэ (-t͡ʃa).
Shapsug: Кӏалэр Адыгэбзэгьэ мэгущаӏэ ↔ Standard: Кӏалэр Адыгэбзэкӏэ мэгущаӏэ - "The boy speaks (using) Adyghe language". Shapsug: Къэлэмымгьэ сэтхэ ↔ Standard: Къэлэмымкӏэ сэтхэ - "I write (using) with the pencil".
Desirement mood
In the Shapsug dialect, the suffix ~рагъу /raːʁʷ/ is added to verbs to indicate the desirement to do that verb. For example:
Туканым сыкӏорагъу - "I want to go to the shop". Есыпӏэм рэкӏорэгъуагъ - "(S)he wanted to go to the pool". Къэкӏорэгъот кӏалэр - "The boy would want to come". Тутын уешъорагъуа? - "Do you want to smoke cigarette?". Нэущы уздэгущаӏэрагъу - "I want to speak with you tomorrow". Сышхэрагъу игь - "I want to eat now".