Abaza language

Template:Short descriptionTemplate:Expand language Template:More citations needed Template:Template otherTemplate:Main other Abaza (, ; Template:Langx) 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 popularityTemplate:Clarify in the mid to late 1800s, but has become an endangered language.

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.

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.

It has a large consonantal inventory (63 phonemes) coupled with a minimal vowel inventory (two vowels). It is very closely related to Abkhaz, 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.

History

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.

Geographic distribution

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.

Phonology

Consonant phonemes of Abaza

		Labial	Alveolar		Postalveolar			Velar			Uvular			Pharyngeal		Glottal
			plain	sib.	plain	pal.	lab.	plain	pal.	lab.	plain	pal.	lab.	plain	lab.
Nasal		Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink
Plosive/ Affricate	voiceless	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink		Template:IPAlink			Template:IPAlink
	ejective	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink
	voiced	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink
Fricative	voiceless	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink				Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink
	ejective	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink
	voiced	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink				Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink
Approximant			Template:IPAlink						Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink
Trill			Template:IPAlink

The vowels may have a Template:IPAslink in front of it. The vowels Template:IPAblink and Template:IPAblink are allophones of Template:IPAslink and Template:IPAslink (respectively) before palatalized consonants, while the vowels Template:IPAblink and Template:IPAblink are allophones of Template:IPAslink and Template:IPAslink (respectively) before labialized consonants. The vowels Template:IPAblink, Template:IPAblink, Template:IPAblink, and Template:IPAblink can also occur as variants of the sequences //, //, // and //.

	Front	Central	Back
Close	(Template:IPAlink)		(Template:IPAlink)
Mid	(Template:IPAlink)	Template:IPAlink	(Template:IPAlink)
Open		Template:IPAlink

Orthography

Arabic script

Around the late 19th to early 20th centuries, there were attempts to write Abaza with the Arabic script, but none of these attempts took hold.

Latin script (1932–1938)

File:Abaza latin alphabet.jpg

Abaza Latin alphabet

In 1932, the first widely used Abaza alphabet was created using the Latin script. It was used until 1938.

A a	B ʙ	C c	Ç ç	D d	E e	F f	ꟻ File:Latin small letter reflected F.svg
G g	Ɡ File:Latin small letter script G with ascender.svg	File:Latin capital letter rounded H with left hook.svg File:Latin small letter H with left hook.svg	H ɦ	Ɥ ɥ	File:Latin capital letter turned wide H with stroke.svg File:Latin small letter turned H with stroke.svg	I i	J j
K k	Ⱪ ⱪ	L l	L̦ l̦	M m	N n	O o	P p
File:Latin capital letter ejective P.svg File:Latin small letter ejective P.svg	Q q	Ꝗ ꝗ	Ƣ ƣ	R r	S s	Ş ş	File:Latin capital letter caucasian long S.svg File:Cyrillic small letter long Es.svg
T t	Ț ț	U u	V v	X x	File:Latin capital letter X with two high hooks.svg File:Latin small letter X with two high hooks.svg	XFile:Latin capital letter rounded H with left hook.svg xFile:Latin small letter H with left hook.svg	File:Latin capital letter enlarged small Y.svg y
Z z	Z̧ z̧	Ƶ ƶ	Ʒ ʒ	File:Latin capital letter reversed Ghe.svg File:Latin small letter reversed Ghe with long leg.svg	File:Latin capital letter reversed Ghe with stroke.svg File:Latin small letter reversed Ghe with stroke.svg /tɕʼʷ/	File:Latin capital letter reversed Ghe with low left hook.svg File:Latin small letter reversed Ghe with low left hook.svg /tɕʷ/	File:Latin capital letter abkhasian Che.svg File:Latin small letter abkhasian Che.svg
File:Latin capital letter abkhasian Che with descender.svg File:Latin small letter abkhasian Che with descender.svg	Ь ь	I ı

Cyrillic script (1938–present)

Since 1938, Abaza has been written with the version of the Cyrillic alphabet shown below.

А а	Б б	В в	Г г	Гв гв	Гъ гъ	Гъв гъв	Гъь гъь
Гь гь	Гӏ гӏ	Гӏв гӏв	Д д	Дж дж	Джв джв	Джь джь	Дз дз
Е е	Ё ё	Ж ж	Жв жв	Жь жь	З з	И и	Й й
К к	Кв кв	Къ къ	Къв къв	Къь къь	Кь кь	Кӏ кӏ	Кӏв кӏв
Кӏь кӏь	Л л	Ль ль	Лӏ лӏ	М м	Н н	О о	П п
Пӏ пӏ	Р р	С с	Т т	Тл тл	Тш тш	Тӏ тӏ	У у
Ф ф	Фӏ фӏ	Х х	Хв хв	Хъ хъ	Хъв хъв	Хь хь	Хӏ хӏ
Хӏв хӏв	Ц ц	Цӏ цӏ	Ч ч	Чв чв	Чӏ чӏ	Чӏв чӏв	Ш ш
Шв шв	Шӏ шӏ	Щ щ	Ъ ъ	Ы ы	Э э	Ю ю	Я я

The digraphs Лӏ and Фӏ are dialectal, and are therefore absent from the literary language and the official alphabet.

Media

Template:Ill, a singer-songwriter famous in Russia, writes and performs songs in the Abaza language, including "Абыгъь гӏважьква" and "БаъапI бара." He has written an additional song in Russian entitled "Мы абазины" ('We are Abazins') about Abazinia.

Further reading

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• Allen, W.S. Structure and system in the Abaza verbal complex. In: Transactions of the Philological Society (Hertford), Oxford, 1956, p. 127-176.
• Template:In lang
• O’Herin, B. Case and agreement in Abaza. Summer Institute of Linguistics, September 2002.

External links

• The first in the world Abaza–Russian and Russian–Abaza online dictionaries
• Abaza basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database
• Recordings in Abaza language
• World Atlas of Language Structures information on Abaza
• Speak Abaza: past, present and future of the Abaza language - World Abaza Congress

Template:Northwest Caucasian languages Template:Languages of the Caucasus Template:Languages of Russia