The Hatuqay dialect is a dialect of Adyghe, spoken by the Hatuqay branch of the Circassian people. Linguistically, it is classified as one of the Steppe or Kuban river dialects, a subgroup of that also includes the Chemguy, Abzakh and Bzhedug dialects, although it also shares many grammatical and phonological features with the coastal dialect of Shapsug. Although a dialect of West Circassian (Adyghe), it is considered the closest among the Western dialects to East Circassian (Kabardian).
Hatuqay was historically spoken in Circassia, in the Hatuqay Principality. As a result of the Circassian genocide, there are no remaining speakers of the Hatuqay dialect in the Caucasus region; thus Hatuqay is spoken only in the diaspora, in Turkey. Consequently, Circassian dialectology studies rarely mention or analyze Hatuqay.Topçu, Murat. Çerkes Dillerine Genel Bakış: Kafkasya ve Türkiye (2006)
Phonology Sounds А а Б б В в Г г or Гу гу Гъ гъ Гъу гъу Д д Дж дж Дз дз Дзу дзу Е е Ё ё Ж ж Жъ жъ Жъу жъу Жь жь З з И и Й й К к Кʰ кʰ Ку ку Къ къ Къʰ къʰ Къу къу Кхъ кхъ КӀ кӀ КӀу кӀу Л л or Лъ лъ ЛӀ лӀ М м Н н О о П п Пʰ пʰ ПӀ пӀ ПӀу пӀу Р р С с СӀ сӀ (Archaic) Т т(Т: т:) Тʰ тʰ ТӀ тӀ ТӀу тӀу У у Ф ф Х х Хъ хъ Хъу хъу Хь хь ХӀ хӀ Ц ц Цʰ цʰ ЦӀ цӀ Ч ч Чʰ чʰ ЧI чI Чъ чъ Чъʰ чъʰ Чъу чъу Ш ш Шʰ шʰ Шъ шъ Шъу шъу or ШӀ шӀ ШӀу шӀу Щ щ Ъ ъ Ы ы Ь ь Э э Ю ю Я я Ӏ Ӏу
Sound shifts Proto-Circassian is reconstructed as having a four-way laryngeal contrast in its stop series: voiced, voiceless unaspirated, voiceless aspirated, and ejective. While most modern Circassian varieties have neutralized the distinction between voiceless unaspirated and voiceless aspirated stops, the Hatuqay dialect generally maintains the original four-way contrast. Hatuqay occupies a "middle ground" compared to other dialects: while Shapsug and Chemguy preserve a three-way posterior coronal contrast, and Besleney and Turkish Kabardian neutralize them to a single place, Hatuqay possesses two coronal places of articulation posterior to /s/. The specific realization of these two places varies by speaker, manifesting as contrasts such as /ʃ/ vs. /ɕ/, /ʃ/ vs. /ʂ/, or /ɕ/ vs. /ʂ/.
Standart цу ([tsʷ]) becomes чъу ([tɕʷ]) in Hatuqay:
+ English Adyghe (West Circassian) Kabardian (East Circassian) Literary Standard (West) Hatuqay Literary Standard (East) Shoe цуакъэ чъуакъэ вакъэ Ox цу чъу вы
The Hatuqay dialect displays specific sound shifts compared to the literary standard: + English Adyghe (West Circassian) Kabardian (East Circassian) Hatuqay Literary Standard (West) Literary Standard (East) Word гущаIэ гущыIэ псалъэ Where тэдэ тыдэ дэнэ Swing хъаерэн хъэрен хъыринэ Small жъий / жъый жъый жьей Young brother(Used in slang to address a young man) чынахьыкӀ шынахьыкӀ -
Hatuqay is known for vowel insertions in names:
+ Name Standard Pronunciation Hatuqay Pronunciation Nasran (A Nart hero) Нэсрэн НэсырэнIbrahim (Abraham)ИбрахьимИбырахьим
Aspirated consonants
Affrication of Fricatives
Grammar Instrumental case The Hatuqay dialect exhibits distinct phonetic shifts when compared to the West Circassian literary standard (based largely on the Chemguy dialect). In the instrumental case the noun has the suffix -джэ (unlike other dialects that has the suffix -кӀэ):
English Adyghe (West Circassian) Kabardian (East Circassian) Hatuqay Literary Standard (West) Shapsug Literary Standard (East) Besleney In Circassian Адыгабзэджэ АдыгабзэкIэ Адыгабзэгьэ АдыгэбзэкIэ Адыгэбзэгьэ With the book тхылъымджэ тхылъымкIэ тхылъымгьэ тхылъымкIэ тхылъымгьэ With feet лъакъомджэ лъакъомкIэ лъакъомгьэ лъакъуэмкӀэ лъакъуэмгьэ According to me сэрыджэ сэрыкIэ сэрыгьэ сэркӀэ сэргьэ
Future tense A primary morphological distinction of Hatuqay is the future tense suffix. While the West Literary and Abzakh dialects use the suffix -щт, the Hatuqay dialect uses -т. This feature is shared with the Bzhedug dialect and some subgroups of Shapsug: English Adyghe (West Circassian) Hatuqay & Bzhedug Shapsug (Variant) Literary Standard I will go сыкӀот сыкӀот сыкIощт You will go укӀот укӀот укIощт He/She will go кIот рэкӀот кIощт We will go тыкӀот тыкӀот тыкIощт You (pl.) will go шъукӀот шъукӀот шъукIощт They will go кIотых рэкӀотых кIощтых
Interrogative words The word "what" in Standard Adyghe is сыд while in Hatuqay it is шъыд and from it derives different terms. Word Adyghe (West Circassian) Hatuqay Literary Standard what шъыд сыд why шъыда сыда why да сыда why"for what" шъыд пае сыд пае when шъыдигъо сыдигъо so шъыдэу сыдэу with what шъыдджэ сыдкӀэ how шъыдэущтэу сыдэущтэу how much шъыд фэдиз сыд фэдиз always шъыдигъуи сыдигъуи Hatuqay has other words for "what":
шъыд дыра
Third-person plural possessive prefix In the West Literary standard, the third-person plural possessive prefix is а-. However, the Hatuqay dialect uses я-, a feature it shares with the Shapsug dialect and the Kabardian (East Circassian) language: English Adyghe (West Circassian) Kabardian (East Circassian) Hatuqay Literary Standard Literary Standard The strongest of them янахь лъэшыр анахь лъэшыр я нэхъ лъэщыр The most beautiful of them янахь дахэр анахь дахэр я нэхъ дахэр
Preverbs The preverb къы- functions freely across all dialects, sub-dialects, and the Adyghe literary language: къы-одэӀу —- "he/she listens to you." However, in standart Adyghe, when this preverb meets a personal marker, the vowel component of the preverb къы- drops out (elision) in rapid speech. However, in the Hatuqay dialect, the vowel is typically retained. For example: English Adyghe (West Circassian) Hatuqay Literary Standard He/She looked at you къы-о-плъыгъ къ-о-плъыгъ He/She is waiting for you къы-у-а-жэ къ-о-жэ In several instances, dialects and sub-dialects present different phonetic variants of the same preverbs: English Adyghe (West Circassian) Hatuqay Literary Standard To step on someone/something джъэхэ-хьан жэхэ-хьан To look at someone/something джъэхэ-плъэн жэхэ-плъэн
Presumptive and Obligatory Moods In the standart dialect, both presumptive mood expressing probability ("likely," "probably") and the obligatory mood expressing necessity ("must," "necessary") are the same. However, in Hatuqay, they are distinguished: Form Adyghe (West Circassian) Hatuqay Literary Standard Presumptive (Probability) кIуагъэн фае "Probably went" кIогъэн фае "Probably went" фэгъэсагъэн фае "Probably accustomed" жъогъэн фае "Probably plowed" Obligatory (Necessity) кIогъэн (кIуэгъэн) фае "Must go" кIогъэн фае "Must go" фэгъэсэгъэн фае "Necessary to accustom" жъогъэн фае "Need to plow" The morphological formants of the Hatuqay dialect largely coincide with those of the Bzhedug dialect. This is particularly evident in preverbs like къа-, фа-, and ха-, which utilize a different vowel sound than their Chemguy counterparts: English Adyghe (West Circassian) Hatuqay Literary Standard Comes here къа-кIо къэ-кIо Goes there фа-кIо фэ-кIо A specific phonetic difference observed in Hatuqay is the inversion of the vowels ы and э in reflexive and spatial preverbs: English Adyghe (West Circassian) Hatuqay Literary Standard To tie something to oneself зыхэ-шIэн зэхэ-шIэн To feel / To sense something зэхэ-шIэн зыхэ-шIэн
Present participles In standard Adyghe, present participles (often functioning equivalently to gerunds) decline using standard nominal case suffixes. However, the Shapsug, Bzhedugh, and Hatuqay dialects feature a distinct phonological elision in the absolutive case, where the final absolutive suffix -р (-r) is not pronounced.
Consequently, absolutive present participles in these dialects end simply in -рэ instead of the standard -рэр. For example, the standard Adyghe phrase кӀалэу кӀорэр ("the boy who is going") is realized in these dialects as кӀалэу кӀорэ.
+ Present Participle Declension (e.g., кӀон - "to go") Case Standard Adyghe Shapsug, Bzhedugh & Hatuqay Absolutive кӀорэр кӀорэ Ergative / Oblique кӀорэм кӀорэм Instrumental кӀорэмкӀэ кӀорэмкӀэ
Demonstratives Adyghe has three main demonstratives to indicate spatial proximity and visibility, which frequently act as determiners or prefixes attached to nouns, verbs, or adverbs: а- – That (invisible or out of the speaker's line of sight) мо- – That (visible to the speaker) мы- – This (close proximity to the speaker)
In the Shapsug, Bzhedugh, and Hatuqay dialects, the standard visible demonstrative мо- is replaced by a different prefix. Additionally, these dialects use a different locative suffix (-у or -уджэ) compared to the standard Adyghe -кӀэ.
Shapsug: The visible demonstrative prefix is pronounced as a labial glide [w]. In Cyrillic, this is represented by a vowel shift (e.g., forming оу). Bzhedugh & Hatuqay: The visible demonstrative shifted and is pronounced as a glottal fricative [h]. Because the standard Adyghe Cyrillic alphabet lacks an official letter for this specific "h" sound, the digraph хӀ (using the Cyrillic palochka) is used in the orthography to replace the standard мо-.
The following table illustrates the general locative forms derived from these demonstratives. Note that the locative suffix -у remains consistent across the dialects; only the visible demonstrative prefix changes:
Word Shapsug Bzhedugh & Hatuqay Standard Adyghe IPA Cyrillic IPA Cyrillic IPA Cyrillic here məw, məwd͡ʒa мыу, мыуджэ məw, məwd͡ʒa мыу, мыуджэ mət͡ʃʼa мыкӀэ there (visible) waw, wawd͡ʒa оу, оуджэ how, howd͡ʒa хӀоу, хӀоуджэ mot͡ʃʼa мокӀэ there (invisible) aːw, aːwd͡ʒa ау, ауджэ aːw, aːwd͡ʒa ау, ауджэ aːt͡ʃʼa акӀэ there (emphasis) d͡ʒaw, d͡ʒawd͡ʒa джэу, джэуджэ d͡ʒaw, d͡ʒawd͡ʒa джэу, джэуджэ d͡ʒət͡ʃʼa джэкӀэ where taw, tawd͡ʒa тэу, тэуджэ taw, tawd͡ʒa тэу, тэуджэ tət͡ʃʼa тэкӀэ
Usage with Nouns When modifying nouns, these demonstratives precede the noun to indicate its spatial relationship and visibility to the speaker. For example, using the noun кӀалэ (boy) in Bzhedugh and Hatuqay: а кӀалэ – that boy (invisible or out of sight) хӀо кӀалэ – that boy (visible); that boy over there мы кӀалэ – this boy
Usage as Prefixes To demonstrate how this visible demonstrative functions as a bound prefix, the base хӀо- attaches directly to various roots and suffixes in Bzhedugh and Hatuqay to form demonstrative pronouns, adverbs of time, and manner (acting as the direct equivalent to the standard мо-): хӀодэ – there хӀоры – that's it; there he is хӀоу – there хӀоущтэу – like that хӀощгъум – then
The following table illustrates these derivations across dialects:
Meaning Bzhedugh & Hatuqay Standard Adyghe Standard Kabardian Cyrillic IPA Cyrillic IPA Cyrillic IPA that (abs.) хӀор hawr мор mawr мор mawr that (erg.) хӀой hawj мощ mawɕ мобы mawbə using that хӀощджэ hawɕd͡ʒa мощкӀэ mawɕt͡ʃʼa - - like that хӀоущтэу hawɕtaw моущтэу mawɕtaw мопхуэдэу mawpxʷadaw that is it хӀоры hawrə моры mawrə мораш mawraːɕ there хӀодэ hawda модэ mawda модэ mawda there (locative) хӀоу haw моу maw - - the other хӀодрэ hawdra модрэ mawdra модрэ mawdra then хӀощгъум hawɕʁʷəm мощгъум mawɕʁʷəm - - like that (similar) хӀощфэд hawɕfad мощфэд mawɕfad мопхуэд mawpxʷad
Sentence Comparison The practical application of the хӀо vs. мо distinction can be seen in conversational contexts. Notice how Hatuqay also utilizes the vocabulary word гущаӀэ instead of the standard гущыӀэ for "speak", and the suffix -джэ where standard Adyghe uses -кӀэ. In addition, the native Къэфкъас is used instead of the Russianized spelling Кавказ used in the Caucasus.