Back Аҟабарда бызшәа Abkhazian Къэбэртэябзэ ADY Kabardies Afrikaans Kabardinische Sprache ALS اللغة القبردينية Arabic القبردينيه ARZ Cabardianu AST Kabarda-çərkəz dili Azerbaijani کاباردا-چرکز دیلی AZB Кабардзінская мова Byelorussian
| Kabardian | |
|---|---|
| Kabardino-Cherkess East Circassian | |
| адыгэбзэ (къэбэрдейбзэ) Adıǵebze (Keberdéybze) آدہگەییبزە (قەبەردەییبزە) | |
| Pronunciation | [qɜbɜrˈdeːbzɜ] |
| Native to | North Caucasus (in parts of Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachay-Cherkessia) |
| Region | North Caucasus (Circassia) |
| Ethnicity | Circassians, Cherkesogai |
Native speakers | 1.9 million (2020)[1] |
Northwest Caucasian
| |
| Cyrillic script Latin script Arabic script | |
| Official status | |
Official language in |  Russia
|
Recognised minority language in | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-2 | kbd |
| ISO 639-3 | kbd |
| Glottolog | kaba1278 |
 | |
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Kabardian (/kəˈbɑːrdiən/),[3][a] also known as East Circassian, is a Northwest Caucasian language, that is considered to be the east dialect of Adyghe language. While some Soviet linguists have treated the two as distinct languages, the Circassians (including Kabardian people) consider the eastern and western language variants to be dialects of one Circassian language.[4]
It is spoken mainly in parts of the North Caucasus republics of Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachay-Cherkessia (Eastern Circassia), and in Turkey, Jordan and Syria (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 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.
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 Circassian term Adighabze ("Adyghe language"). Several linguists, including Georges Dumézil, have used the terms "eastern Circassian" (Kabardian) and "western Circassian" (Adyghe) 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 [by whom?] a dialect of Kabardian but also shares many features with certain[which?] dialects of Adyghe.
Kabardian is written in a form of Cyrillic and serves as the literary language for Circassians in both Kabardino-Balkaria (where it is usually called the "Kabardian language") and Karachay-Cherkessia (where it is called the "Cherkess language").
Like all other Northwest Caucasian languages, Kabardian is ergative and has an extremely complex verbal system.
Since 2004, the Turkish broadcasting corporation TRT has maintained a half-an-hour programme a week in the Terek dialect of Kabardian.
- ^ Kabardian at Ethnologue (27th ed., 2024)
- ^ "Kabardian in Russian Federation". UNESCO WAL. Retrieved 22 June 2024.
- ^ Laurie Bauer, 2007, The Linguistics Student's Handbook, Edinburgh
- ^ "Kabardian | people | Britannica".
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