Circassian language

Spoken in

Northwest Caucasian Languages

• Circassian

Karachay -Cherkessia   Adygea

Kbd; ady

The group of Circassian languages ​​comprised of two different languages ​​, the West Circassian ( Adyghe ) and the East Circassian ( Kabardian ).

Together with the Abkhaz, Abasinischen and the Ubychischen they belong to the Northwest Caucasian language family.

It is believed that the East Circassian in the 13th - 14th Century has separated from the common Circassian language.

Linguistic situation

The West Circassian is the official language of the Autonomous Republic of Adygea, the East Circassian turn in Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachay -Cherkessia (all three are autonomous republics within the Russian Federation). In Turkey and some other countries is spoken Circassian (a total of about 1.5 million speakers).

Since the East Circassian has fewer sounds than the West Circassian, it is difficult for the East Circassian speakers to understand West Circassian, but conversely it is easier.

After her speech asked to give all the answer, Adyghe ( адыгэбзэ [ adəgăbză ] ) to speak. Therefore, it often seems misleading to divide the Circassian languages ​​Adyghe and Kabardian in. The subdivision in West Circassian ( Adyghe ) and East Circassian ( Kabardian ) makes more sense, but is not made ​​by the Circassians themselves.

Font

The Circassians do not own script. Since the Islamization of their written language was Arabic. Beginning of the 20th century, use was made of the Latin alphabet. Since 1937/38, the Cyrillic alphabet is used with some modifications. To date, there is no single alphabet of the Circassians, each of the two languages ​​makes use of its own alphabet. The westtscherkessische is mainly on the temirgoischen dialect.

Linguistic characteristics

The Circassian languages ​​are agglutinative languages.