Note: Adyghe has many consonants that appear across its dialects, and thus has a complex system of consonantallophony. More information on those can be found atAdyghe phonology.
In contrast to its large inventory of consonants, Adyghe has only three phonemic vowels in avertical vowel system.[5]
The official alphabet for Adyghe is theCyrillic script, which has been used since 1936. Before that, thePerso-Arabic script was used. A new Latin alphabet based on theTurkish alphabet was designed in Turkey with the motivation to make Adyghe and Kabardian education in Turkey easier.[6]
The letter⟨ы⟩[ə] is not written after a⟨у⟩[w],⟨й⟩[j] or a labialised consonant. For example: унэ[wənɐ] "house" instead of уынэ.
In case the letter⟨у⟩ is the first letter of a word or when it is not related to any other consonant, it is pronounced as[wə]⟨уы⟩. For example: унэ instead of уынэ. When it is related to a consonant, it becomes a vowel and pronounced as[əw~u]⟨ыу⟩. For example: чэту[t͡ʃɐtəw] "cat" instead of чэтыу.
In case a labialised consonant is followed by a vowel⟨э⟩[ɐ], instead of the letter⟨у⟩ there is a⟨о⟩. For example: гъогу[ʁʷɐɡʷ] "road" instead of гъуэгу.
In case a labialised consonant is followed by a vowel⟨а⟩[aː] or⟨и⟩[əj~i], the labialised consonant letter is written fully. For example: цуакъэ[t͡sʷaːqɐ] "shoes".
In case the letter⟨о⟩ is the first letter of a word or when it is not related to any other consonant, it is pronounced as [wɐ]⟨уэ⟩. For example, о[wɐ] "you" instead of уэ.
In case the letter⟨е⟩ is the first letter of a word or when it is not related to any other consonant, it is pronounced as[jɐ]⟨йэ⟩. For example:еӏо[jɐʔʷɐ] "he says" instead ofйэӏо. When it is related to a consonant, it becomes a vowel and pronounced as[ɐj~e]⟨эй⟩. For example: делэ[dɐjlɐ] "fool" instead of дэйлэ.
In case the letter⟨и⟩ is the first letter of a word or when is not related to any other consonant, it is pronounced as[jə]⟨йы⟩. For example:илъэс[jəɬɐs] "year" instead ofйылъэс. When it is related to a consonant, it becomes a vowel and pronounced as[əj~i]⟨ый⟩. For example: сиӏ[səjʔ] "I have" instead of сыйӏ.
The language of Adyghe is officially written in the Cyrillic script, and is also unofficially written in the Latin script. Before 1927, Adyghe was written in a version of thePerso-Arabic script; after theSoviet Latinisation campaign, an older variant of the Latin alphabet had been in use in theSoviet Union until 1938, when all Soviet languages transitioned into the Cyrillic alphabet.
Prior to the mid-19th century, Adyghe had no writing system. Starting from 1853, the process of creating an orthography for Adyghe was started. InTbilisi in 1853, a document titled "Primer of the Circassian Language" (Archive) was published, in which an Perso-Arabic-based orthography influenced by theOttoman Turkish alphabet was developed. This document became the first ever publication in Adyghe. In this document, several new letters were introduced to represent the consonants that exist in Adyghe language. This proposed orthography, although with many shortcomings, received widespread approval and usage. And thus, Perso-Arabic script became the accepted orthography for Adyghe.[8]
Over the following decades, several authors attempted to further improve the Adyghe Arabic orthography. The most successful attempt was the alphabet created byAkhmetov Bekukh. In this version, letters were designated for vowel sounds, and the orthography was transformed from an "Impure abjads to atrue alphabet. In 1918, on the initiative of theKuban Revolutionary Committee, a primer was published inYekaterinodar. This official endorsement resulted in a literary boom in Adyghe and the publication of various newspapers, textbooks and other literature, including theAdyghe Maq, the main Adyghe language newspaper established in 1923.[8]
During the abovementioned decades, parallel with this process, the Perso-Arabic orthography had also been standardized for the sister Circassian language ofKabardian. Although very similar in many aspects, there were minor variations, in which letters were included based on each respective phonology, and there were minor differences in presentation of a few consonants as well.[8][9]
The main character consists ofU+06C1 (ـہ / ہ), and is always written in medial form. Thus, the use ofZero-width joiner (U+200D) may be necessary based on context. Below are sample scenarios:
Letter does not exist in unicode yet. Can be created by typing the letterح (U+062D) and the diacriticinverted damma below ◌ࣣ (U+08E3), thus resulting in
Letter does not exist in unicode yet. Can be created by typing the letterس (U+0633) and the diacriticcombining diaeresis ◌̈ (U+0308), thus resulting in
When the following letter is aو (Equivalent to CyrillicГу гу), the letterگ is used. In all other cases, the letterݝ is used for this specifichomophone.
When the following letter is aو (Equivalent to CyrillicКӏу кӏу), the letterࢰ is used. In all other cases, the letterڃ is used for this specifichomophone.
The Adyghe orthography was officially switched to the Latin alphabet in 1927. The Adyghe Latin alphabet was compiled and finalized a year prior, in 1926. This alphabet was the sole official script in theSoviet Union. The Adyghe Latin alphabet consisted of 50 letters, many of them newly created, some even borrowed from Cyrillic. Another interesting feature of this iteration of the Adyghe Latin alphabet was that there was no distinction between lower case and upper case letters. Each letter only had one single case.[8]
Below table shows Adyghe Latin alphabet as it was officially adopted between 1927 and 1938.[8]
In 2012, the Circassian Language Association (Adyghe:Адыге Бзэ Хасэ or Adıǵe Bze Xase, abbreviated as ABX;Turkish:Adıge Dil Derneği;danef.com) in Turkey has issued a call for the Circassian people for the creation of a standard Latin script to be used by all Circassian people on the globe.[6] Their main motivation for the creation of this alphabet was that the majority of Circassian people live in Turkey and use the Latin alphabet in their daily life because they know Turkish. However, when trying to teach the language to the younger generation, teaching them a new alphabet takes time and makes the process more laborsome. ABX has created a Latin script based on the Turkish alphabet and chose the Abzakh dialect as their base because it is the dialect with the most speakers in Turkey. However, the alphabet employed by the Circassian Language Association has been criticized by others. Some suggested that they created the alphabet without a good understanding of the Circassian phonology and have not even considered former Latin alphabets used to write Circassian[11] and that the use of the Latin script would sever the ties with the homeland.[12] Despite the criticism, the CLA has obtained a €40,000 funding from theEuropean Union for the recording of the Circassian language with a Latin script and the preparation of multi-media learning materials for the language,[13] and the materials created by ABX were accepted by the Ministry of National Education to be taught in Secondary Schools.[14] This decision was protested and legally objected by the Federation of Caucasian Associations (Turkish:Kafkas Dernekleri Federasyonu; KAFFED) who created the materials for Circassian and Abaza languages with the Cyrillic script;[15] however, the court ruled in favour of the Latin alphabet created by the CLA and continued the use of their alphabet in Circassian courses.[16] Some glyphs in the Temirgoy-based Cyrillic alphabet have no equivalent in the Abzakh-based Latin alphabet because of dialectal differences. The most notable of these differences is the lack of differentiation between post-alveolar, alveolo-palatal and retroflex sounds. Though there are some additional letters in the alphabet for Kabardian, the materials in the CLA website are primarily in Adyghe.[17]
1) Ć is the equivalent of both Кӏ and Чӏ and shows the ejective potalveolar affricate. Qq, on the other hand, only corresponds to Кӏ and shows an ejective velar plosive.
2) Ç normally stands for Ч but when it is followed by Ü and Ö, it is equivalent to Цу in the Cyrillic script.
3) É and İ are not direct equivalents of Е and И. The Cyrillic letters denote the [jɜ] and [jə] sounds at the beginning of syllables and [e] and [i] sounds at the end. The Latin letters are only used for the sounds [e] and [i]. The diphthongs are written as "Ye" and "Yi", respectively.
4) Circassian languages do not have phonemic rounded vowels but the labialized consonants affect the vowels around them to create allophonic rounded vowels.[18] The letters O, Ö, U and Ü are used to show these allophonic rounded vowels. O/Ö and U/Ü works similar to the vowel use О and У in the Adyghe Cyrillic alphabet with O/Ö showing labialized consonant+[ɜ] combinations and U/Ü the labialized consonant+[ə] combinations. However, Ö and Ü are used when these combinations occur next to postalveolar sounds (Ş, J, Ç). The diphthongal uses of О and У, i.e. [wɜ] and [wə], are written as "We" and "Wı". Another use of Ö and Ü is writing Turkish loanwords containing these letters.
5) Wıçüpe (уцупэ; the place of stopping) is written with a ` (accent grave) or ' (apostrophe) and has a complicated use. It is equivalent to Ӏ (palochka) in its use an ejective marker but not as the glottal stop. The glottal stop is not written as a letter but is implied through the use of consecutive vowels like in "mıerıs" (мыӀэрыс; apple). As many ejective sounds have their own letters (Ć, Ṕ, Q, Š, Ṫ), only some ejective sounds are written with the wıçüpe (ş`, ĺ`). Another use of wıçüpe is to show that an U at the end of a word represents a labialized consonant and not a labialized consonant + [ə] combination. For example, джэгу in Cyrillic is written cegu` to make sure that it is pronounced [d͡ʒɜgʷ] as a single syllable but wıçüpe is removed when the word takes a suffix and the allophonic [u] is audible, as in cegum [d͡ʒɜgum].
Adyghe is taught outsideCircassia in Prince Hamza Ibn Al-Hussein Secondary School, a school for Jordanian Adyghes inJordan's capital city ofAmman. This school, established by the Jordanian Adyghes with support from the latekingHussein of Jordan, is one of the first schools for the Adyghe communities outside Circassia. It has around 750 Jordanian Adyghe students, and aims to preserve the Adyghe language and traditions among future generations.[19]
There are many books written in or translated into Adyghe. An Adyghe translation of the Quran byIshak Mashbash is available.[20] The New Testament and many books of the Old Testament have been published in Adyghe by theInstitute for Bible Translation in Moscow.
According to theUNESCO 2009 map entitled "UNESCO Map of the World's Languages in Danger", the status of the Adyghe language in 2009, along with all its dialects (Adyghe, Western Circassian tribes; and Kabard-Cherkess, Eastern Circassian tribes), is classified asvulnerable.[21]
1. In the name of Allāh, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful! 2. [All] praise is [due] to Allāh, Lord of the worlds, 3. The Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful, 4. Sovereign of the Day of Recompense! 5. It is You we worship and You we ask for help! 6. Guide us to the straight path, 7. The path of those upon whom You have bestowed favor, not of those who have earned [Your] anger or of those who are astray.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god. This one was in the beginning With God. All things came into existence through him, and apart from him not even one thing came into existence. What has come into existence by means of him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light is shining in the darkness, but the darkness has not overpowered it.
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
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