*** Welcome to piglix ***

East Circassian

Kabardian
Kabardino-Cherkess, East Circassian
Адыгэбзэ (Къэбэрдейбзэ)
Native to Circassia (in parts of Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachay-Cherkessia), Turkey, Jordan, Syria, Iraq
Region North Caucasus
Ethnicity Kabardians
Native speakers
ca. 1.6 million (2005–2010)
Cyrillic script
Latin script
Arabic script
Official status
Official language in
Kabardino-Balkaria (Russia)
Karachay-Cherkessia (Russia)
Language codes
ISO 639-2
ISO 639-3
Glottolog kaba1278
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters.

Kabardian (/kəˈbɑːrdiən/; Kabardian: адыгэбзэ or къэбэрдей адыгэбзэ or къэбэрдейбзэ About this sound qabardejbza ; Adyghe: адыгэбзэ or къэбэртай адыгабзэ or къэбэртайбзэ), also known as Kabardino-Cherkess (къэбэрдей-черкесыбзэ) or East Circassian, 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 (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 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.


...
Wikipedia

...