This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2010)

Kabardian language edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kabardian
къэбэрдеибзэ
Spoken in	Russia  Turkey  Jordan  Iraq[1]  Syria  Israel  United States
Region	Russia: Kabardino-Balkaria, Karachay–Cherkessia Turkey: Northeastern Turkey
Ethnicity	Kabarday
Native speakers	ca. 1½ million  (2002–2005)
Language family	Northwest Caucasian Circassian Kabardian
Writing system	Cyrillic
Official status
Official language in	Kabardino-Balkaria  Karachay-Cherkessia
Language codes
ISO 639-2	kbd
ISO 639-3	kbd
This page contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters.

The Kabardian language (адыгэбзэ, adəgăbză; Adyghe: къэбэрдеибзэ ( [qabardejbza] (help·info)), also known as East Circassian (see: Circassian language), is a Northwest Caucasian language, closely related to the Adyghe language. It is spoken mainly in the Russian republics of Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachay–Cherkessia (the native territories) and in Turkey and the Middle East (the extensive post-war diaspora). It has 47 or 48 consonant phonemes of which 22 or 23 are fricatives, depending upon whether one counts [h] as phonemic, but this is contrasted with just three 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 a dialect of an overarching Adyghe or Circassian language that 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 ("Adyghe language"). Several linguists, including Georges Dumézil, have used the terms eastern Circassian (Kabardian) and western Circassian (Adyghe) in order to avoid this 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 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 which also shares a large number of features with certain dialects of Adyghe.

Kabardian is written in a form of Cyrillic, and like all Northwest Caucasian languages, has an extremely complex verbal system. Kabardian is ergative.

Since 2004, the Turkish state broadcasting corporation TRT has maintained a half-an-hour programme a week in the Terek dialect of Kabardian.

Phonology [link]

Most Adyghe and Kabardian speakers pronounce the ejective consonants as velarized ejective consonants ([pˠʼ], [tˠʼ], [sˠʼ], [ɬˠʼ]).

Consonants [link]

The glottalization of the ejective plosives (but not fricatives) 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 [link]

The vowel system of Kabardian is very simple (there are only three phonemic vowels). The three vowels are /ə/, /a/ and /aː/.

There are also three semi-vowels: /j/ (<й>), /w/ (<у>) and /ɥ/^{[citation needed]}.

The vowel /o/ appears in some loan words; it is often pronounced /aw/.

The diphthong /aw/ is pronounced /oː/ in some dialects. /jə/ may be realised as /iː/, /wə/ as /uː/ and /aj/ as /eː/. This monothongisation does not occur in all dialects.

The vowel /aː/ is the only vowel which occurs initially in native words.

The vowels /a, aː/ can have the semi-vowel /j/ in front of it.

Orthography [link]

Kabardian was written with an Arabic alphabet until 1924, and a Latin alphabet from 1924 to 1936. It now uses a Cyrillic alphabet, like many other languages spoken in Russian territory (see Russification).

Vowels [link]

The vowels are written as <ы> /ə/, <э> /a/ and <а> /aː/.

Other letters represent diphthongs: <я> represents /jaː/, <и> /jə/, <о> /aw/ or /wa/, <ю> /ɥə/ and <е> represents <aj> or <ja>.

Grammar [link]

Nouns [link]

The noun system of Kabardian is quite simple compared to other Caucasian languages.

Number [link]

There are two numbers: singular and plural. The plural is formed by adding -хэ (-xa) to the verb. The plural ending is optional (i.e. only used when the speaker wishes to emphasise the fact that the noun is plural).

Many common nouns are singular or plural (i.e. they have one form which is singular or plural). Examples of these include сабњй (sābəy) child/children and ѕӀыху (ts’әxʷ) woman/women. The plural form of the verb is always used when a noun is plural, even if the noun does not take a plural ending.

Names can be 'pluralised' by placing the postposition сымэ (səma) after the name (e.g. Тымэс сымэ) Thomas and others. This is called the associative plural.

Like in English, there are uncountable nouns. In Kabardian, they take the singular form of the verb. шэ (ça), milk, is an example of an uncountable noun.

Case [link]

There are four cases: ergative, nominative, instrumental and adverbial. They are formed:

Absolutive [link]

The absolutive case marks the subject of an intransitive verb and the object of a transitive verb (see ergative languages).

Ergative [link]

The ergative case is used to mark everything which the other cases do not mark, such as the subject of a transitive verb, the form of the noun which is used with prepositions/postpositions etc.

Adverbial [link]

This case is used to describe a verb or how a verb was done:

Жыгхэр сатыруы хэсаф. (ʝəγxar sātərwə xasāʃ.)

tree-pl.-NOM row-ADV to plant-pret.-affirmitive

They planted the trees in rows.

Verbs [link]

The verbal system of Kabardian is very complex. The verb usually goes at the end of the sentence.

Infinitives [link]

The infinitive ends in -н (-n).

Positions [link]

Changes in the verb take the role of prepositions.

Conjugation [link]

Here is the positional conjugation of some verbs, showing how the root changes indicate position:

Examples:

щыт - [someone or something] stands (as a pose);

Iут - [someone or something] stands (behind);

чIэт - [someone or something] stands (under)

тет - [someone or something] stands (above)

дэт - [someone or something] stands (between), etc.

Dialects [link]

• Kabardian
  • West Kabardian
    • Kuban
    • Kuban-Zelenchuk (Cherkess)
  • Central Kabardian
    • Baksan (basis for the literary language)
    • Malka
  • Eastern Kabardian
    • Terek
    • Mozdok
  • North Kabardian
    • Mulka
    • Zabardiqa (1925 until 1991 Soviet Zaparika)
• Beslenei

References [link]

Sources [link]

This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (January 2010)

Gordon, Matthew and Applebaum, Ayla. "Phonetic structures of Turkish Kabardian", 2006, Journal of the International Phonetic Association 36(2), 159-186

External links [link]

• Ranko Matasović (2008). "A Short Grammar of Kabardian". https://www.ffzg.hr/~rmatasov/KabardianGrammar.pdf. 
• Adyga.org - Popular Circassian internet forum
• Audio.Adyga.org - Vertual Circassian Dictionary
• A guide to North Caucasian languages
• Ethnologue: Kabardian
• Kabardian (къэбэрдеибзэ) alphabet
• Circassian language online lessons