Circassian

Circassian language is divided into two literary standards — Adyghe, spoken primarily by Circassians in Adygea and Krasnodar Krai, and Kabardian, in Karachay–Cherkessia and Kabardino-Balkaria in Russia. Despite differences, native speakers consider Adyghe and Kabardian to be parts of a common Circassian language - a native language of the North Caucasus.

The first Circassian alphabet was published on 14 March 1855 in Tbilisi by well-known Circassian educator Umar Bersey. The alphabet was Arabic-based. Nowadays, Circassian uses a modified Cyrillic alphabet.

According to Russia’s 2002 census, 633,000 people speak Circassian in Russia. The majority of them use the East Circassian literary standard — also known as Kabardian — which is one of the official languages of Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachayevo-Cherkessia. West Circassian, or Adyghe, is one of the official languages of Adygea. The language is also spoken by the Circassian diaspora across Turkey, Europe, and the Middle East.

According to UNESCO’s Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger, Circassian is a vulnerable language. With mandatory Circassian classes being cancelled and spoken only at home, Circassian is seen more and more as a second class language. If the native language is used only at a household level, this means that only simple expressions and sentences are used. And this is not enough to preserve the language.

Another major problem of the Circassian language, is unification of Adyghe and Kabardian literary standards and creation of a single alphabet. Some are in favor of using a Latin alphabet, some are for the Cyrillic alphabet, and some advocate a hieroglyphic alphabet based on ancient Circassian tamgas. Today, almost all written Circassian uses the Cyrillic alphabet.

Two people - both Circassians - meet somewhere on a road in North Caucasus. The latter is our contemporary, the former unlikely is…

This is a story about what would most likely happen if a contemporary Circassian would magically meet one of his ancestors - they would hardly understand each other. The ancestor will not be speaking Russian, and his descendant would rather use gestures or even remember some English to get help than to use his native language.

Only when all resources were exhausted in order to make himself understandable, the man remembers two words that finally start a conversation: “къыдэӀэпыкъу, кхъыIэ!” - “please help me!”.

Circassian (Adyghe and Kabardian) faces many serious challenges, including a lack of official support, a divided literary standard, a decreasing interest in learning it in educational institutions, and a diminishing presence at home.

There are very few magazines published in Circassian, and not a lot of TV programmes on Circassian themes. Very few young authors are published in their native language. And on the Internet, there is practically no information in Circassian.

Kabardian has one of the most complex phonological systems of all the languages in the world. In native words there are only two vowels and around fifty consonants (depending on the dialect).