The Adyghe alphabet is the writing system used to write the Adyghe language. Over the course of its existence, it has changed its graphic basis several times and has been repeatedly reformed. Currently, the Adyghe script functions on the basis of the Cyrillic alphabet
Modern alphabet
There are thirteen labialised consonants; however, in some dialects, there are three additional ones: , and .
Orthography rules
The letter is not written after a , or a labialised consonant. For example: унэ "house" instead of уынэ. In case the letter is the first letter of a word or when it is not related to any other consonant, it is pronounced as . For example: унэ instead of уынэ. When it is related to a consonant, it becomes a vowel and pronounced as . For example: чэту 'cat' instead of чэтыу. In case a labialised consonant is followed by a vowel , instead of the letter there is a . For example: гъогу 'road' instead of гъуэгу. In case a labialised consonant is followed by a vowel or , the labialised consonant letter is written fully. For example: цуакъэ 'shoes'. In case the letter is the first letter of a word or when it is not related to any other consonant, it is pronounced as [wɐ] . For example, о 'you' instead of уэ. In case the letter is the first letter of a word or when it is not related to any other consonant, it is pronounced as . For example: еӀо 'he says' instead of йэӀо. When it is related to a consonant, it becomes a vowel and pronounced as . For example: делэ 'fool' instead of дэйлэ. In case the letter is the first letter of a word or when is not related to any other consonant, it is pronounced as . For example: илъэс 'year' instead of йылъэс. When it is related to a consonant, it becomes a vowel and pronounced as . For example: сиӀ 'I have' instead of сыйӀ.
Use of Ъ and Ь Unlike in the Russian language, where (Hard Sign) and (Soft Sign) serve to separate syllables or modify the palatalization of a preceding consonant, in Adyghe they are used as integral parts of the alphabet to define entirely distinct phonemes. This adaptation was necessary because Adyghe has a much larger consonant inventory than standard Cyrillic can accommodate.
Ъ (Hardener): Generally indicates a moving the place of articulation back to the uvular or pharyngeal position (e.g., turning a velar into a uvular). Ь (Softener): Generally indicates a moving the place of articulation forward or palatalization.
The table below illustrates how these signs modify the base letters: Base+ Hardener (Ъ)+ Softener (Ь) (Velar fricative) (Uvular fricative)— (Postalveolar fricative) (Retroflex fricative) (Alveolo-palatal fricative) (Velar plosive) (Uvular plosive)— (Alveolar lateral) (Lateral fricative)— (Velar fricative) (Uvular fricative) (Pharyngeal fricative) (Postalveolar affricate) (Retroflex affricate)— (Postalveolar fricative) (Retroflex fricative)—
Vowels The vowels are written , and . Other letters represent diphthongs: represents , or , or , represent or , and represents or .
Other writing systems
History Widespread literacy in Adyghe did not exist until the modern era and literacy was limited to a few people. From the 6th–5th centuries BC until the first half of the 15th century, the Adyghe people used the Greek alphabet, initially introduced through ancient Greek colonies and later reinforced by the Byzantine Empire and the Christian church. Early forms of the Cyrillic alphabet were also used during this period due to Russian influence. During the 13th to 15th centuries, the development of relations with the Genoese Republic led to some use of the Italian (Latin) script. In the 14th century, along with Islam, the Arabic script was adopted for Adyghe. It was referred to as Ajam, a writing system for the native language based on the Perso-Arabic script. Since Adyghe has many more consonants than Arabic, the Ajam system required adding special diacritical marks or inventing new letters to represent sounds. Early attempts to write Adyghe in modern Cyrillic started as early as 1829 and were followed by similar attempts.
In 1853, the Adyghe educator Umar Bersey published the first "Primer of the Circassian Language" based on the Arabic script. Over the following decades, several authors attempted to further improve the Adyghe Arabic orthography. The most successful attempt was the alphabet created by Akhmetov Bekukh. In this version, letters were designated for vowel sounds, and the orthography was transformed from an "Impure abjads to a true alphabet. In 1918, on the initiative of the Kuban Revolutionary Committee, a primer was published in Yekaterinodar. This official endorsement resulted in a literary boom in Adyghe and the publication of various newspapers, textbooks and other literature, including the Adyghe Maq, the main Adyghe language newspaper established in 1923. During the abovementioned decades, parallel with this process, the Perso-Arabic orthography had also been standardized for the sister Circassian language of Kabardian. Although very similar in many aspects, there were minor variations, in which letters were included based on each respective phonology, and there were minor differences in presentation of a few consonants as well. The Arabic script was used until 1927, when as a part of the Soviet "Latinisation" campaign, a Latin-based alphabet was adopted. It was developed by the linguist N.F. Yakovlev and the Adyghe scholar Daud Ashkhamaf. In the late 1930s, the script was converted to Cyrillic to align with Russian.
In the diaspora, a new Latin alphabet based on the Turkish alphabet was designed to better facilitate Adyghe and Kabardian education in Turkey. +History of Modern Circassian Alphabets and Writing SystemsDateAuthor / CreatorScript BaseDescription & Historical Context17th CenturyEvliya ÇelebiArabic / OttomanRecorded Adyghe linguistic material in his travel notes.c. 1820s (Early 19th Century)Sheretluk Hadji-Notauk (Magomet Effendi)ArabicA Shapsug nobleman educated in the "Arab East", considered the founder of the Adyghe Enlightenment. He opened a school on the Bogundyr River and created one of the first Arabic-based Circassian grammars. However, he burned his manuscripts, either by force or out of his own will.1830sSultan Khan-GirayCyrillicAdapted the Cyrillic alphabet for his ethnographic work "Notes on Circassia" to record Circassian legends.1840–1843Shora Nogmov (Нэгъумэ Шорэ)Cyrillic / ArabicA Kabardian noble who initially developed a Cyrillic alphabet (1840) before switching to Arabic/Persian (1843).1846Leonty LyulyeCyrillicPublished a dictionary using a modified Russian alphabet. Criticized by Pyotr Uslar for failing to reflect phonetics.1853Umar BerseyArabicPublished the "Primer of the Circassian Language" in Tiflis on March 14, 1853. This date is celebrated as the "Day of the Adyghe Language and Writing."1860sKazi Atazhukin & Pyotr UslarCyrillicDeveloped a Kabardian alphabet based on Cyrillic, believing the Russian script was politically and practically suitable for Caucasian languages.1897Tharxet Ahmet Cavit PashaArabicCreated an alphabet later used in the newspaper Ghuaze (The Guide), published by the Circassian Union and Mutual Aid Society (1908–1923).1902–1912Various Diaspora AuthorsArabic / LatinVarious attempts in the Ottoman diaspora:
1902 Dr. Pçehatluk Mehmet Ali (Draft) 1905: Majid Fenziy (Cyrillic/Arabic) 1909: Neğuç Yusuf Suat & Tsağo Ahmet Nuri (*Adıge Alfabesi*) 1910: Huaj Kemal (Arabic) 1910s: Şemsettin Bey (Çerkez Hattı) 1910s: Yusuf İzzet Pasha (Mixed/Invented "Kuban" script) 1912: Dr. Pçehatluk Mehmet Ali (Latin, Adıge elifbe)1918Seferbiy Siyukhov (S. Siyukhov) / Ahmed BekukhArabicSiyukhov prepared an alphabet for the Adyghe (West) dialect, officially adopted for teaching and publishing. It remained in use until 1927.1918–1929Blanau BatokLatin / ArabicPublished a Latin primer (Çerkes Alfab) in Constantinople (1919) and an Arabic primer (Elifba El-Şerkesiyye) in Damascus (1929).1923N. F. YakovlevCyrillicA Cyrillic project proposed by Yakovlev prior to the shift toward Latinization.1927N. F. Yakovlev & D. A. AshkhamafLatin (Adyghe)Officially adopted for the West Circassian (Adyghe) language by the Regional Department of Public Education. It established the Chemguy dialect as the literary standard.1936T'ut'e BorikeyCyrillicEarly transition to Cyrillic for Kabardian.1937–1938N. F. Yakovlev & D. A. AshkhamafCyrillicDue to shifting Soviet nationality policies, scripts were converted to Cyrillic. The Adyghe alphabet followed the Kabardian one (1936) in 1938. It uses di- and trigraphs (e.g., 'къ', 'кI') and remains the basis for the modern script.1952K’ube ŞabanLatinA Latin alphabet prepared in the diaspora.1989Official StandardCyrillicLegislative consolidation of the alphabet (66 signs).
Phonetic definitions established: Гъ: Velar voiced spirant Дж: Alveolar palatalized voiced affricate Ӏ: Laryngeal plosive ejective2012R.I. Dawur (Даур Р. И)Tamga / SymbolsPrepared "Circassian Calligraphy" (*Черкесская Каллиграфия*), attempting to create a unique alphabet by converting ancient family symbols (Tamgas) into letters.2012Ali İhsan TarıLatinPrepared by the founder of the Adyghe Language Association in Konya.2018Nezhdet MeshvezCyrillic (Modified)An experimental textbook replacing most digraphs/trigraphs with diacritical marks to simplify learning.
Arabic alphabet
Below table shows the Adyghe Perso-Arabic alphabet as it was officially adopted between 1918 and 1927. FormsIPAAdyghe Cyrillic equivalentAdyghe Latin equivalent (1927–1938)UnicodeNotesIsolatedFinalMedialInitialU+0622 U+0627U+0626 This letter plays another role as well. It proceeds a vowel letter at the beginning of a word, with the exception of (equivalent to Cyrillic А а) - -U+0624 -1U+06D5 The sound equivalent to Cyrillic letter "" is represented by a digraph .U+06C1 and U+200D1 The main character consists of U+06C1 (ـہ / ہ), and is always written in medial form. Thus, the use of Zero-width joiner (U+200D) may be necessary based on context. Below are sample scenarios:
U+0628U+062AU+062BU+067EU+08A0 Equivalent to (U+066E) in Kabardian Arabic alphabet.U+0646U+062DU+062CU+062EU+07571U+0683 When the following letter is a (Equivalent to Cyrillic ), instead of the letter , the letter is used.U+0686 - 1 Letter does not exist in unicode yet. Can be created by typing the letter (U+062D) and the symbol combining caron below ◌̬ (U+032C), thus resulting in - 1 Letter does not exist in unicode yet. Can be created by typing the letter (U+062D) and the diacritic inverted damma below ◌ࣣ (U+08E3), thus resulting in - -U+062F - -U+0630 - -U+0631 - -U+0632 - -U+0698 - -U+0697 - -U+0692U+0633 - 1 Letter does not exist in unicode yet. Can be created by typing the letter (U+0633) and the diacritic combining diaeresis ◌̈ (U+0308), thus resulting in U+0634U+0635U+0636U+0637U+0638U+063A1U+075D When the following letter is a (Equivalent to Cyrillic ), instead of the letter , the letter is used.U+0641U+0642U+06A4 Equivalent to (U+06CB) in Kabardian Arabic alphabet.U+0643 ()1()U+06AF When the following letter is a (Equivalent to Cyrillic ), the letter is used. In all other cases, the letter is used for this specific homophone. ()1()U+08B0 When the following letter is a (Equivalent to Cyrillic ), the letter is used. In all other cases, the letter is used for this specific homophone./U+0644U+076AU+08A6U+0645 - U+0648 / / U+06CC - U+06C6
Latin alphabet
The Adyghe orthography was officially switched to the Latin alphabet in 1927. The Adyghe Latin alphabet was compiled and finalized a year prior, in 1926. This alphabet was the sole official script in the Soviet Union. The Adyghe Latin alphabet consisted of 50 letters, many of them newly created, some even borrowed from Cyrillic. Another interesting feature of this iteration of the Adyghe Latin alphabet was that there was no distinction between lower case and upper case letters. Each letter only had one single case.