Kabardian language


Kabardian, also known as Kabardino-Cherkess or, is a Northwest Caucasian language closely related to the Adyghe language. It is spoken mainly in parts of the North Caucasus republics of Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachay-Cherkessia, and in Turkey, Jordan and Syria. It has 47 or 48 consonant phonemes, of which 22 or 23 are fricatives, depending upon whether one counts as phonemic, but it has only 3 phonemic vowels. It is one of very few languages to possess a clear phonemic distinction between ejective affricates and ejective fricatives.
The Kabardian language has two major dialects: Kabardian and Besleney. Some linguists argue that Kabardian is only one dialect of an overarching Adyghe or Circassian language, which consists of all of the dialects of Adyghe and Kabardian together, and the Kabardians themselves most often refer to their language using the Kabardian term Adighabze. Several linguists, including Georges Dumézil, have used the terms "eastern Circassian" and "western Circassian" to avoid that confusion, but both "Circassian" and "Kabardian" may still be found in linguistic literature. There are several key phonetic and lexical differences that create a reasonably well-defined separation between the eastern and the western Circassian dialects, but the degree to which the two are mutually intelligible has not yet been determined. The matter is also complicated somewhat by the existence of Besleney, which is usually considered a dialect of Kabardian but also shares many features with certain dialects of Adyghe.
Kabardian is written in a form of Cyrillic and serves as the literary language for Circassians in both Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachay-Cherkessia.
Like all other Northwest Caucasian languages, Kabardian is ergative and has an extremely complex verbal system.
Since 2004, the Turkish state broadcasting corporation TRT has maintained a half-an-hour programme a week in the Terek dialect of Kabardian.

Dialects

The phoneme written Л л is pronounced as a voiced alveolar lateral fricative mostly by the Circassians of Kabardino and Cherkessia, but many Kabardians pronounce it as an alveolar lateral approximant in diaspora. The series of labialized alveolar sibilant affricates and fricatives that exist in Adyghe became labiodental consonants in Kabardian, for example the Kabardian words мафӏэ "fire", зэвы "narrow", фыз "wife" and вакъэ "shoe" are pronounced as машӏо, зэжъу, шъуз and цуакъэ in Adyghe. Kabardian has a labialized voiceless velar fricative which correspond to Adyghe, for example the Adyghe word "тфы" in Kabardian. In the Beslenei dialect, there exists an alveolar lateral ejective affricate which corresponds to in literary Kabardian. The Turkish Kabardians and Besleneys have a palatalized voiced velar stop and a palatalized velar ejective which corresponds to and in literary Kabardian.

Consonants

  1. In some Kabardian dialects, there is a palatalized voiced velar stop and a palatalized velar ejective that were merged with and in most Kabardian dialects. For example, the Baslaney words "гьанэ" "shirt" and "кӏьапсэ" "rope" are pronounced in other Kabardian dialects as "джанэ" and кӏапсэ.
  2. Consonants that exist only in borrowed words.
The glottalization of the ejective stops can be quite weak, and has been reported to often be creaky voice, that is, to have laryngealized voicing. Something similar seems to have happened historically in the Veinakh languages.

Vowels

Kabardian has a vertical vowel system. Although many surface vowels appear, they can be analyzed as consisting of at most the following three phonemic vowels:, and.
The following allophones of the short vowels, appear:
According to Kuipers,
Most of the long vowels appear as automatic variants of a sequence of short vowel and glide, when it occurs in a single syllable:
This leaves only the vowel. Kuipers claims that this can be analyzed as underlying when word-initial, and underlying elsewhere, based on the following facts:
Halle finds Kuipers' analysis "exemplary". Gordon and Applebaum note this analysis, but also note that some authors disagree, and as a result prefer to maintain a phoneme.
In a later section of his monograph, Kuipers also attempts to analyze the two vowels phonemes and out of existence. Halle, however, shows that this analysis is flawed, as it requires the introduction of multiple new phonemes to carry the information formerly encoded by the two vowel phonemes.
The vowel appears in some loan words; it is often pronounced.
The diphthong is pronounced in some dialects. may be realised as, as and as. This monophthongisation does not occur in all dialects.
The vowels can have the semi-vowel in front of it.

Orthography

А а
Э э
Б б
В в
Г г
Гу гу
Гъ гъ
Гъу гъу
Д д
Дж дж
or 		Дз дз
Е е
Ё ё
Ж ж
Жь жь
З з
И и
Й й
К к
Ку ку
Къ къ
Къу къу
Кхъ кхъ
Кхъу кхъу
Кӏ кӏ
or 		Кӏу кӏу
Л л
or 		Лъ лъ
Лӏ лӏ
М м
Н н
О о
П п
Пӏ пӏ
Р р
С с
Т т
Тӏ тӏ
У у
Ф ф
Фӏ фӏ
Х х
Ху ху
Хъ хъ
Хъу хъу
Хь хь
Ц ц
Цӏ цӏ
Ч ч
Чӏ чӏ
Ш ш
Щ щ
Щӏ Щӏ
Ъ ъ
Ы ы
Ь ь
Ю ю
Я я
ӏ
ӏу
----

Grammar

Kabardian, like all Northwest Caucasian languages, has a basic agent–object–verb typology, and is characterized by an ergative construction of the sentence.

Example

The following texts are excerpts from the official translations of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Adyghe and Kabardian, along with the original declaration in English.
EnglishAdygheKabardian
Universal Declaration of Human RightsЦlыф Фэшъуашэхэм Афэгъэхьыгъэ Дунэепстэу ДжэпсалъЦlыху Хуэфащэхэм Теухуа Дунейпсо Джэпсалъэ
Article 11-нэрэ пычыгъу1-нэ пычыгъуэ
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.ЦӀыф пстэури шъхьэфитэу, ялъытэныгъэрэ яфэшъуашэхэмрэкIэ зэфэдэу къалъфы. Акъылрэ зэхэшIыкI гъуазэрэ яIэшъы, зыр зым зэкъош зэхашІэ азфагу дэлъэу зэфыщытынхэ фае.ЦIыху псори щхьэхуиту, я щIыхьымрэ я хуэфащэхэмрэкIэ зэхуэдэу къалъхур. Акъылрэ зэхэщIыкI гъуазэрэ яIэщи, зыр зым зэкъуэш зэхащІэ яку дэлъу зэхущытын хуейхэщ.

Adyghe transliteration

C‡yf Fèšʺuašèhèm Afègʺèhʹygʺè Dunèepstèu Džèpsalʺ
1-nèrè pyčygʺu
C‡yf pstèuri šʺhʹèfitèu, âlʺytènygʺèrè âfèšʺuašèhèmrèk‡è zèfèdèu kʺalʺfy. Akʺylrè zèh蚇yk‡ gʺuazèrè â‡èšʺy, zyr zym zèkʺoš zèhaš‡è azfagu dèlʹèu zèfyŝytynhè fae.

Kabardian transliteration

C‡yhu Huèfaŝèhèm Teuhua Dunejpso Džèpsalʺè
1-nè pyčygʺuè
C‡yhu psori ŝhʹèhuitu, â ŝ‡yhʹymrè â huèfaŝèhèmrèk‡è zèhuèdèu kʺalʺhur. Akʺylrè zèhèŝʺykʺ gʺuazèrè â‡èŝi, zyr zym zèkʺuèš zèhaŝ‡è âku dèlʺu zèhuŝytyn huejhèŝ.