The Abzakh dialect (; ) is one of the Adyghe language dialects.Abzakh dialect The Abzakh dialect is spoken by the Abzakh which are one of the largest Circassian population in the diaspora outside Republic of Adygea alongside Shapsugs.

Phonology

Historically, Proto-Circassian possessed a distinct series of stops and affricates. This inventory included palatalized velars and a contrast between retroflex and postalveolar affricates:

Postalveolar affricates:

Retroflex affricates:

Palatalized velars:

The evolution from Proto-Circassian to Modern Abzakh is defined by two distinct chronological phases:

Phase 1 (Spirantization): The original affricates weakened into fricatives or glottal stops. Phase 2 (Velar Palatalization): Historical palatalized velars shifted forward to fill the "gap" left by the changes in Phase 1.

The following sections detail how these shifts occurred and provide comparative examples.

Phase 1: Spirantization (Affricate to Fricative) The first major shift occurred in the Abzakh and Kabardian dialects, where the original affricate postalveolar consonants and affricate retroflex consonants underwent spirantization, becoming fricatives.

One exception was that the original postalveolar ejective affricate [tʃʼ] did not just become a fricative; in Abzakh, it often debuccalized to a palatalized glottal stop (or simply ).

The shifts were: → → → → / →

The following table demonstrates specific examples of this spirantization in Abzakh:

+ Phase 1 Examples: Spirantization Meaning Proto-Circassian Shift Modern Abzakh fox (with ) → (with ) village (with ) → (with ) knee (with ) → (with ) village (with ) → (with ) night (with ) → (with ) cow (with ) → (with ) to run (with ) → (with ) tree (with ) → (with ) boy/young man (with ) → (with ) to regret (with ) → (with ) new (with ) → (with ) summer (with ) → (with ) area (with ) → (with ) ground (with ) → (with )

The following table details the timeline of this evolution specifically within Abzakh, showing how words shifted from Proto-Circassian, to an intermediate Proto-Abzakh stage, and finally to Modern Abzakh.

Meaning Proto-Circassian Shift (Proto -> Abzakh) Proto-Abzakh Modern Abzakh to come out from under (contains & ) → (shift to ) to look from under (contains & ) → (shift to ) pretty cold (contains & ) → (shift to ) fast (contains & ) → (shift to )

Phase 2: Velar Palatalization Later on, after the original affricates had become fricatives or glottal stops, a gap was left in the postalveolar position. In the majority of Circassian dialects (including standard Adyghe and Kabardian), the historical velar consonants shifted forward to fill this gap.

The velars , and became the new palato-alveolar consonants , and respectively.

The following table demonstrates how these words are distinct in archaic dialects (like Shapsug) but have merged or shifted in Standard Adyghe and Kabardian.

+ Phase 2 Examples: Velar Palatalization Meaning Proto-Circassian Shift (Proto -> Modern) Standard Adyghe/Kabardian/Modern Abzakh rope (with ) → (with ) short (with ) → (with ) tail (with ) → (with )

Phonological Shifts

The Voiceless velar fricative [] becomes the aspirated Voiceless velar plosive [] (like English c in car, cup, cop, or curse) after the Voiceless postalveolar fricative []. In this environment, the velar fricative undergoes hardening to become a plosive. This change only occurred in some Abzakh sub-dialects and in Bzhedug dialects. This should not be confused with the palatalized (like English c in camera, cannon, or cow).https://pangloss.cnrs.fr/corpus/show?oai_primary=cocoon-397bf64a-0319-38b8-b6c8-3e4a4acddb17&corpus=Abzakh&lang=en&oai_secondary=cocoon-b316a847-9762-324e-9483-a386ee16bc92&filter=%7B%22form-s%22%3A%7B%22phono%22%3A1%7D%2C%22transl-s%22%3A%7B%22fr%22%3A1%7D%2C%22note-s%22%3A%7B%22fr%22%3A0%7D%2C%22transl-t%22%3A%7B%22fr%22%3A0%7D%2C%22form-t%22%3A%7B%22phono%22%3A0%7D%7D

Word Shift Adyghe Kabardian Abzakh / Bzhedug Standard IPA Cyrillic IPA Cyrillic IPA Cyrillic Rain ʃx → ʃkʰ waʃkʰ ошк waʃx ошх waʃx уэшх Rifle ʃxʷ → ʃkʷ ʃkʷant͡ʃʼ шконч ʃxʷant͡ʃʼ шхонч - - to eat ʃx → ʃkʰ ʃkʰan шкэн ʃxan шхэн ʃxan шхэн to laugh at ʃx → ʃkʰ daħa:ʃkʰən дэхьащкын daħa:ʃxən дэхьащхын daħa:ʃxən дэхьащхын enormous ʃx → ʃkʷ jənəʃkʷ инышку jənəʃxu инышху jənəʃxuə инышхуэ Almighty God ʃx → ʃkʷ tħa:ʃkʷ тхьашку tħa:ʃxu тхьашху tħəʃxuə тхьэшхуэ large room/house ʃx → ʃkʷ wənaʃkʷ унэшку wənaʃxu унэшху wənaʃxuə унэшхуэ festival ʃx → ʃkʷ mafaʃkʷ мэфэшку mafaʃxu мэфэшху ma:xʷaʃxuə мэхуэшхуэ

Unique words

Word Adyghe Standard Kabardian Standard Adyghe Abzakh IPA Cyrillic IPA Cyrillic IPA Cyrillic what səd сыд səd / sə сыд / сы сыт сыт why sədaː сыда ħaː хьа sət ɕħat͡ʃʼa сыт щхьэкӀэ he/she/it/that/this aɕ moɕ məɕ ащ мощ мыщ aj moj məj ай мой мый aːbə mobə məbə абы мобы мыбы like that/this aɕfad məʃfad ащфэд мыщдэд ajfad məjfad айфэд мыйфэд aːpxʷad məpxʷad апхуэд мыпхуэд near daʑ дэжь daj дэй dajʒ деж self jaʑ ежь jaj ей jazə езы burn stən стын sən сын сын сын

Grammar differences

Instrumental case In the Khakurinokhabl sub-dialect of Abzakh, the instrumental case has the suffix -мӀе (-mʔʲa) or -Ӏе (-ʔʲa) unlike other dialects that has the suffix -мкӀэ (-mt͡ʃa) or -кӀэ (-t͡ʃa).

Khakurinokhabl : Ӏялэр АдыгэбзэӀе мэгущаӀэ ↔ Standard: КӀалэр АдыгэбзэкӀэ мэгущаӀэ – "The boy speaks (using) Adyghe language". Khakurinokhabl : КъэлэмымӀе сэтхэ ↔ Standard: КъэлэмымкӀэ сэтхэ – "I write (using) with the pencil".

Backward Prefix In the Standard Adyghe, The prefix зэкӀэ- means backward. In the Abzakh dialect, it is зэӀе-.

Abzakh : Ӏялэр зэӀекӀо ↔ Standard: КӀалэр зэкӀэкӀо – "The boy walks backward". Abzakh : Ӏялэр зэӀеплъэ ↔ Standard: КӀалэр зэкӀаплъэ – "The boy looks backward".

Under Prefix In the Standard Adyghe, The prefix чӀэ- means under (toward under). In the Abzakh dialect, it is Ӏе-.

Abzakh : Шъыгым Ӏес Ӏялэр ↔ Standard: Чъыгым чӀэс кӀалэр – "The boy sits under the tree". Abzakh : Ӏанэм ыщӀэгъ Ӏеплъ ↔ Standard: Ӏанэм ычӀэгъ чӀаплъ – "Look under the table". Abzakh : ЛӀыр тучаным Ӏехьэ ↔ Standard: ЛӀыр тучаным чӀахьэ – "The man enters the shop".

Sample text

See also Hakuchi Adyghe dialect Hatuqay dialect Bzhedug Adyghe Dialect Shapsug Adyghe dialect Baslaney dialect

References

Source