Abaza

Also known as Abaza language

language of the Caucasus mountains in the Russian Karachay–Cherkess Republic by the Abazins

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Abaza is a language spoken by the Abazin people in the Caucasus Mountains region of Russia's Karachay–Cherkess Republic. It represents an important part of the cultural and linguistic diversity of the Caucasus, a region known for its many distinct languages and ethnic groups.

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Wikidata facts

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number of speakers, writers, or signers: 37831
native label: абаза бызшва
exact match: publications.europa.eu/resource/authority/language/ABQ
Wikimedia language code: abq
short name: abazincə

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Abaza (абаза бызшва, abaza byzshwa; Adyghe: абазэбзэ) is a Northwest Caucasian language spoken by Abazins in Russia. The language has gone through several different orthographies based primarily on Latin and Cyrillic letters. Its consonant-to-vowel ratio is remarkably high; making it quite similar to many other languages from the same parent chain. The language evolved in popularity in the mid to late 1800s, but has become an endangered language.

Abaza is spoken by approximately 35,000 people in Russia, where it is written in a Cyrillic alphabet, as well as another 10,000 in Turkey, where the Latin script is used. It consists of two dialects, the Ashkherewa dialect and the T'ap'anta dialect, which is the literary standard. The language also consists of five subdialects known as Psyzh-Krasnovostok, Abazakt, Apsua, Kubin-Elburgan and Kuvin.