| Abaza | |
| Nativename: | абаза бызшва |
| States: | North Caucasus |
| Region: | Karachay-Cherkessia |
| Ethnicity: | Abazins |
| Speakers: | 49,800 |
| Date: | 2010–2014 |
| Ref: | e19 |
| Familycolor: | Caucasian |
| Fam1: | Northwest Caucasian |
| Fam2: | Abazgi |
| Nation: | |
| Iso3: | abq |
| Glotto: | abaz1241 |
| Glottorefname: | Abaza |
| Notice: | IPA |
| Script: | Cyrillic, Latin |
| Map: | Lang Status 60-DE.svg |
| Dia1: | Ashkherewa |
| Dia2: | T'ap'anta |
Abaza (абаза бызшва, abaza byzshwa; Adyghe; Adygei: абазэбзэ) is a Northwest Caucasian language spoken by Abazins in Russia. The language has gone through several different orthographies based primarily on Latin and Cyrillic letters. Its consonant-to-vowel ratio is remarkably high; making it quite similar to many other languages from the same parent chain. The language evolved in popularity in the mid to late 1800s, but has become an endangered language.[1]
Abaza is spoken by approximately 35,000 people in Russia, where it is written in a Cyrillic alphabet, as well as another 10,000 in Turkey, where the Latin script is used.It consists of two dialects, the Ashkherewa dialect and the T'ap'anta dialect, which is the literary standard. The language also consists of five subdialects known as Psyzh-Krasnovostok, Abazakt, Apsua, Kubin-Elburgan and Kuvin.[2]
Abaza, like its relatives in the family of Northwest Caucasian languages, is a highly agglutinative language. For example, the verb in the English sentence "He couldn't make them give it back to her" contains four arguments (a term used in valency grammar): he, them, it, to her. Abaza marks arguments morphologically, and incorporates all four arguments as pronominal prefixes on the verb.[3]
It has a large consonantal inventory (63 phonemes) coupled with a minimal vowel inventory (two vowels). It is very closely related to Abkhaz,[4] but it preserves a few phonemes which Abkhaz lacks, such as a voiced pharyngeal fricative. Work on Abaza has been carried out by W. S. Allen, Brian O'Herin, and John Colarusso.
Different forms of cultural assimilation contributed to its fall in use in areas of Russia, and over time its overall endangerment. The language can be broken into five different dialects and has several unique grammatical approaches to languages. The Abaza language was at its peak usage in the mid to late 19th century.
Abaza speakers along the Greater and Lesser Laba, Urup, and Greater and Lesser Zelenchuk rivers are from a wave of migrants in the 17th to 18th centuries who represent the Abaza speakers of today. The end of the Great Caucasian War in 1864 provided Russia with power and control of the local regions and contributed to the decrease in the popularity of pre-existing local languages prior to the war.
The Abaza language was not a written language until the Latin alphabet was adopted in 1932–1933 to write it. The Cyrillic script was later utilized to write the language in 1938. A small amount of books, pamphlets, and a newspaper were published in the Abaza language afterwards.[5]
The Abaza language is spoken in Russia and Turkey. Although it is endangered, it is still spoken in several regions in Russia. These include Kara-Pago, Kubina, Psyzh, El'burgan, Inzhich-Chukun, Koi-dan, Abaza-Khabl', Malo-Abazinka, Tapanta, Krasnovostochni, Novokuvinski, Starokuvinski, Abazakt and Ap-sua.[6]
| Labial | Alveolar | Postalveolar | Velar | Uvular | Pharyngeal | Glottal | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plain | sib. | plain | pal. | lab. | plain | pal. | lab. | plain | pal. | lab. | plain | lab. | |||||
| Nasal | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | |||||||||||||||
| Plosive/ Affricate | voiceless | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | ||||
| ejective | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | |||||
| voiced | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | ||||||||
| Fricative | voiceless | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | |||||
| ejective | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | |||||||||||||||
| voiced | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | ||||||
| Approximant | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | ||||||||||||||
| Trill | pronounced as /ink/ | ||||||||||||||||
The vowels pronounced as /[o, a, u]/ may have a pronounced as /link/ in front of it. The vowels pronounced as /link/ and pronounced as /link/ are allophones of pronounced as /link/ and pronounced as /link/ (respectively) before palatalized consonants, while the vowels pronounced as /link/ and pronounced as /link/ are allophones of pronounced as /link/ and pronounced as /link/ (respectively) before labialized consonants. The vowels pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/, and pronounced as /link/ can also occur as variants of the sequences /pronounced as /aj//, /pronounced as /aw//, /pronounced as /əj// and /pronounced as /əw//.
| Back | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close | (pronounced as /ink/) | (pronounced as /ink/) | ||
| Mid | (pronounced as /ink/) | pronounced as /ink/ | (pronounced as /ink/) | |
| Open | pronounced as /ink/ |
Since 1938, Abaza has been written with the version of the Cyrillic alphabet shown below.[9] [10]
| А а pronounced as /[a]/ | Б б pronounced as //b// | В в pronounced as //v// | Г г pronounced as //ɡ// | Гв гв pronounced as //ɡʷ// | Гъ гъ pronounced as //ɣ// | Гъв гъв pronounced as //ɣʷ// | Гъь гъь pronounced as //ɣʲ// | |
| Гь гь pronounced as //ɡʲ// | Гӏ гӏ pronounced as //ʕ// | Гӏв гӏв pronounced as //ʕʷ// | Д д pronounced as //d// | Дж дж pronounced as //d͡ʒ// | Джв джв pronounced as //d͡ʒʷ// | Джь джь pronounced as //d͡ʑ// | Дз дз pronounced as //d͡z// | |
| Е е pronounced as /[e]/ | Ё ё pronounced as /[jo]/ | Ж ж pronounced as //ʒ// | Жв жв pronounced as //ʒʷ// | Жь жь pronounced as //ʑ// | З з pronounced as //z// | И и pronounced as /[i]/ | Й й pronounced as //j// | |
| К к pronounced as //k// | Кв кв pronounced as //kʷ// | Къ къ pronounced as //qʼ// | Къв къв pronounced as //qʷʼ// | Къь къь pronounced as //qʲʼ// | Кь кь pronounced as //kʲ// | Кӏ кӏ pronounced as //kʼ// | Кӏв кӏв pronounced as //kʷʼ// | |
| Кӏь кӏь pronounced as //kʲʼ// | Л л pronounced as //l// | Ль ль pronounced as //ɮ// | Лӏ лӏ pronounced as //ɬʼ// | М м pronounced as //m// | Н н pronounced as //n// | О о pronounced as /[o]/ | П п pronounced as //p// | |
| Пӏ пӏ pronounced as //pʼ// | Р р pronounced as //r// | С с pronounced as //s// | Т т pronounced as //t// | Тл тл pronounced as //ɬ// | Тш тш pronounced as //t͡ʃ// | Тӏ тӏ pronounced as //tʼ// | У у pronounced as //w/, [u]/ | |
| Ф ф pronounced as //f// | Фӏ фӏ pronounced as //fʼ// | Х х pronounced as //x// | Хв хв pronounced as //xʷ// | Хъ хъ pronounced as //q// | Хъв хъв pronounced as //qʷ// | Хь хь pronounced as //xʲ// | Хӏ хӏ pronounced as //ħ// | |
| Хӏв хӏв pronounced as //ħʷ// | Ц ц pronounced as //t͡s// | Цӏ цӏ pronounced as //t͡sʼ// | Ч ч pronounced as //t͡ɕ// | Чв чв pronounced as //t͡ʃʷ// | Чӏ чӏ pronounced as //t͡ɕʼ// | Чӏв чӏв pronounced as //t͡ʃʷʼ// | Ш ш pronounced as //ʃ// | |
| Шв шв pronounced as //ʃʷ// | Шӏ шӏ pronounced as //t͡ʃʼ// | Щ щ pronounced as //ɕ// | Ъ ъ pronounced as //ʔ// | Ы ы pronounced as /[ə]/ | Э э pronounced as /[e]/ | Ю ю pronounced as /[ju]/ | Я я pronounced as /[ja]/ |
The digraphs Лӏ and Фӏ are dialectal, and are therefore absent from the literary language and the official alphabet.[11]