Adyghe language

Adyghe
Adyghe
West Circassian
Адыгабзэ
Native to	Adygea; Krasnodar Krai
Ethnicity	Circassians, Cherkesogai
Native speakers	610,000 (2010–2020)
Language family	Northwest Caucasian Circassian Adyghe; ;
Early forms	Proto-Northwest Caucasian Proto-Circassian ;
Dialects	Abdzakh; Bzhedug; Hatuqwai; Mamkhegh; Natukhaj; Shapsug; Temirgoy (Standard dialect); Yegeruqwai; Hakuchi; Zhaney;
Writing system	Cyrillic; Latin; Arabic
Official status
Official language in	Russia Adygea;
Recognised minority; language in	Jordan; Syria; Israel Kfar Kama; Rehaniya; Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria
Language codes
ISO 639-2	ady
ISO 639-3	ady
Glottolog	adyg1241
	Distribution of the Adyghe language in Adygea, Russia (2002)[image reference needed]
	Adyghe is classified as Definitely Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger
	This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

Yinal speaking Adyghe.

Adyghe (/ˈædɪɡeɪ/ or /ˌɑːdɪˈɡeɪ/;^[3]^[a] also known as West Circassian) is a Northwest Caucasian language spoken by the western subgroups of Circassians.^[4] It is spoken mainly in Russia, as well as in Turkey, Jordan, Syria and Israel, where Circassians settled after the Circassian genocide (c. 1864–1870) by the Russian Empire. It is closely related to the Kabardian (East Circassian) language, though some reject the distinction between the two languages in favor of both being dialects of a unitary Circassian language.

The literary standard of Adyghe is based on its Temirgoy dialect. Adyghe and Russian are the two official languages of the Republic of Adygea in the Russian Federation.

In Russia, there are around 128,000 speakers of Adyghe, almost all of them native speakers. In total, some 300,000 speak it worldwide. The largest Adyghe-speaking community is in Turkey, spoken by the diaspora from the Russian–Circassian War (c. 1763–1864). In addition, the Adyghe language is spoken by the Cherkesogai in Krasnodar Krai.

Adyghe belongs to the family of Northwest Caucasian languages. Kabardian (also known as East Circassian) is a very close relative, treated by some as a dialect of Adyghe or of an overarching Circassian language. Ubykh, Abkhaz and Abaza are somewhat more distantly related to Adyghe.

^ Adyghe at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
^ "UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in danger". www.unesco.org. Archived from the original on 2 August 2018. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
^ "Adyghe". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
^ Aydın, Şamil Emre (2015), Çerkes Diyalektleri ISBN 9786056569111

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[e25-1] Adyghe at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)

[2] "UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in danger". www.unesco.org. Archived from the original on 2 August 2018. Retrieved 3 March 2021.

[3] "Adyghe". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)

[5] Aydın, Şamil Emre (2015), Çerkes Diyalektleri ISBN 9786056569111

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