Adyghe ( or ; also known as West Circassian, Адыгабзэ /aːdɘɣaːbzɜ/) is a Northwest Caucasian language spoken by the western subgroups of Circassians. It is spoken mainly in Russia, as well as in Turkey, Jordan, Syria and Israel, where Circassians settled after the Circassian genocide (–1870). 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 standard of Adyghe is based on its Temirgoy dialect. Adyghe and Russian are the two official languages of the Republic of Adygea in the Russian Federation.
In Russia, there are around 128,000 speakers of Adyghe, almost all of them native speakers. In total, some 300,000 speak it worldwide. The largest Adyghe-speaking community is in Turkey, spoken by the diaspora from the Russian–Circassian War (–1864). In addition, the Adyghe language is spoken by the Cherkesogai in Krasnodar Krai.
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 coast dialects
Shapsug dialect () 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 () Zhaney dialect
The Kuban River dialects
Bzhedug dialect (): spoken by Circassians in the Republic of Adygea and the Biga district of the city of Çanakkale in Turkey Temirgoy (): literary standard of Adyghe. Also spoken by Circassians in the Republic of Adygea Abzakh dialect (): spoken by Circassians in the village of Rehaniya in Israel and Circassians in Syria from the Golan Heights Mamkhegh dialect Yegeruqay dialect Hatuqwai dialect Mequash dialect
Phonology
Adyghe exhibits between 50 and 60 consonants depending on the dialect. 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 in Tlingit). The Black Sea dialect of Adyghe contains a very uncommon sound: a bidental fricative , which corresponds to the voiceless velar fricative found in other varieties of Adyghe. This sound is only known to be used in the Black Sea dialect.
These consonants exist only in borrowed words. Note: Adyghe has many consonants that appear across its dialects, and thus has a complex system of consonant allophony. More information on those can be found at Adyghe phonology.
In contrast to its large inventory of consonants, Adyghe has only three phonemic vowels in a vertical vowel system.
Grammar
Adyghe, like all Northwest Caucasian languages, has a basic agent–object–verb typology and is characterised by the ergative construction of sentences.
Orthography
The official alphabet for Adyghe is the Cyrillic script, which has been used since 1936. Before that, the Arabic script was used. In recent years, a new Latin script has been devised that seeks to include phonemes from all the Adyghe and Kabardian dialects, as well as other North Caucasian languages.