Hatuqay dialect

The Hatuqay dialect is a dialect of Adyghe, spoken by the Hatuqay branch of the Circassian people. Linguistically, it is classified as one of the "Steppe dialects", a subgroup of that also includes the Temirgoy, Abzakh and Bzhedug dialects, although it also shares many grammatical and phonological features with the "Coastal dialects" of Shapsug and Natukhaj. Although a dialect of Western Circassian, it is considered the closest among the Western dialects to Eastern Circassian.
Hatuqay is spoken only in the diaspora, especially in Turkey; as a consequence of the Circassian genocide, there are no remaining speakers of the Hatuqay dialect in the Caucasus region. Consequently, Circassian dialectology studies rarely mention or analyze Hatuqay.

Etymology

The Hatuqay dialect takes its name from the Hatuqay tribe, which is believed to derive from Prince Hatuqo, who, according to traditional Circassian geneologies, was the founder of the Hatuqay principality, and a prince descended from King Inal.
The name has been the subject of a folk etymology, which explains it as referring to the Hittites. A study about Circassians in Kayseri found that local Circassians frequently claimed descent from the Hittites. The etymology of Hattusa, capital of the Hittite Empire, is explained with Circassian хьэтӏу + щхьэ, which supposedly refers to the two sphinx statues guarding the gate of Hattusa. Some connected the Circassians with the Hattians rather than Hittites; and some authors explained the etymology of "Hatuqay" as "Hatti-Son". The Adyghe Encyclopedia published in Russia compares Hattian mythology and Nart sagas, including stories found in the Hatuqay Nart corpus. The Hittites spoke an Indo-European language, however the possibility of Hattians speaking a Northwest Caucasian language related to Circassian has been considered by linguists, although this is unconfirmed.

Classification

Circassian languages are divided into two groups: "West Circassian", known in English as "Adyghe", and "East Circassian", known in English as "Kabardian". The two are closely related and mutually intelligible to some degree. Both Adyghe and Kabardian speakers refer to their language as "Adyghe" and consider the eastern and western language variants to be dialects of one Circassian Adyghe language, rather than two related languages.
Hatuqay is classified as a dialect of West Circassian, or Adyghe. Within the western group, Hatuqay is classified as one of the "Steppe dialects", a subgroup of that also includes the Temirgoy, Abzakh and Bzhedug dialects, although it also shares many grammatical and phonological features with the "Coastal Dialects" of Shapsug and Natukhaj. Thus, it can be considered an "in-between" dialect. Although a dialect of Western Circassian, it is considered the closest among the Western dialects to Eastern Circassian. This may be due to frequent interaction with Kabardians in Kayseri, as Hatuqays are a minority among the majority Kabardians.

Phonology and Grammar

is reconstructed as having a four-way laryngeal contrast in its stop series: voiced, voiceless unaspirated, voiceless aspirated, and ejective. While most modern Circassian varieties have neutralized the distinction between voiceless unaspirated and voiceless aspirated stops, the Hatuqay dialect generally maintains the original four-way contrast. Hatuqay occupies a "middle ground" compared to other dialects: while Shapsug and Temirgoy preserve a three-way posterior coronal contrast, and Besleney and Turkish Kabardian neutralize them to a single place, Hatuqay possesses two coronal places of articulation posterior to /s/. The specific realization of these two places varies by speaker, manifesting as contrasts such as /ʃ/ vs. /ɕ/, /ʃ/ vs. /ʂ/, or /ɕ/ vs. /ʂ/.
The dialect features gerund forms ending in -рэ, such as кӏорэ or чъэрэ.
The Hatuqay dialect exhibits distinct phonetic shifts when compared to the West Circassian literary standard. In the instrumental case the noun has the suffix -джэ becomes чъу in Hatuqay:

English	Standard Adyghe	Hatuqay Adyghe	Literary Kabardian
Shoe	цуакъэ	чъуакъэ	вакъэ
Ox	цу	чъу	вы

The Hatuqay dialect displays specific sound shifts compared to the literary standard:

English	Hatuqay Adyghe	Literary Adyghe	Literary Kabardian
Word	гущаIэ	гущыIэ	псалъэ
Where	тэдэ	тыдэ	дэнэ
Swing	хъаер'эн	хъэ'рен	хъыринэ
Small	жъий / жъый	жъый	жьей
Young brother	чынахьыкӏ	шынахьыкӏ	-

Hatuqay is known for vowel insertions in names:

Name	Standard Pronunciation	Hatuqay Pronunciation
Nasran	Нэсрэн	Нэсырэн
Ibrahim	Ибрахьим	Ибырахьим

A primary morphological distinction of Hatuqay is the future tense suffix. While the West Literary and Abzakh dialects use the suffix -щт, the Hatuqay dialect uses -т. This feature is shared with the Bzhedug dialect and some subgroups of Shapsug:

English	Hatuqay Adyghe	Bzhedug Adyghe	Shapsug Adyghe	Literary Adyghe
I will go	сыкӏот	сыкӏот	сыкӏот	сыкIощт
You will go	укӏот	укӏот	укӏот	укIощт
He/She will go	кIот	кIот	рэкӏот	кIощт
We will go	тыкӏот	тыкӏот	тыкӏот	тыкIощт
You will go	шъукӏот	шъукӏот	шъукӏот	шъукIощт
They will go	кIотых	кIотых	рэкӏотых	кIощтых

In the West Literary standard, the third-person plural possessive prefix is а-. However, the Hatuqay dialect uses я-, a feature it shares with the Shapsug dialect and the Kabardian language:

English	Hatuqay Adyghe	Literary Adyghe	Literary Kabardian
The strongest of them	янахь лъэшыр	анахь лъэшыр	я нэхъ лъэщыр
The most beautiful of them	янахь дахэр	анахь дахэр	я нэхъ дахэр

The preverb къы- functions freely across all dialects, sub-dialects, and the Adyghe literary language: къы-одэӏу —- "he/she listens to you." However, in standart Adyghe, when this preverb meets a personal marker, the vowel component of the preverb къы- drops out in rapid speech. However, in the Hatuqay dialect, the vowel is typically retained. For example:

English	Hatuqay Adyghe	Literary Adyghe
He/She looked at you	къы-о-плъыгъ	къ-о-плъыгъ
He/She is waiting for you	къы-у-а-жэ	къ-о-жэ

In several instances, dialects and sub-dialects present different phonetic variants of the same preverbs:

English	Hatuqay Adyghe	Literary Adyghe
To step on someone/something	джъэхэ-хьан	жэхэ-хьан
To look at someone/something	джъэхэ-плъэн	жэхэ-плъэн

In the standart dialect, both presumptive mood expressing probability and the obligatory mood expressing necessity are the same. However in Hatuqay, they are distinguished:

Dialect Group	Presumptive	Obligatory
Literary Adyghe	кIогъэн фае "Probably went"	кIогъэн фае "Must go"
Literary Adyghe	жъогъэн фае "Probably plowed"	жъогъэн фае "Need to plow"
Hatuqay	кIуагъэн фае "Probably went"	кIогъэн фае "Must go"
Hatuqay	фэгъэсагъэн фае "Probably accustomed"	фэгъэсэгъэн фае "Necessary to accustom"

The morphological formants of the Hatuqay dialect largely coincide with those of the Bzhedug dialect. This is particularly evident in preverbs like къа-, фа-, and ха-, which utilize a different vowel sound than their Temirgoy counterparts:

English	Hatuqay Adyghe	Literary Adyghe
Comes here	къа-кIо	къэ-кIо
Goes there	фа-кIо	фэ-кIо

A specific phonetic difference observed in Hatuqay is the inversion of the vowels ы and э in reflexive and spatial preverbs:

English	Hatuqay Adyghe	Literary Adyghe
To tie something to oneself	зыхэ-шIэн	зэхэ-шIэн
To feel / To sense something	зэхэ-шIэн	зыхэ-шIэн

Vocabulary

The Hatuqay dialect shares a lot of its vocabulary with Bzhedug and Temirgoy, and also employs some unique words:

English	Hatuqay Adyghe	Literary Adyghe	Literary Kabardian
To fall	ебэджын	ефэхын	ехуэхын
Mat	пIуаблэ	арджан	арджэн
Wide	шъуабгъо	шъуамбгъо	фабгъуэ
What	шъыд / дыра / да	сыд	сыт
There	хаддэ / ходдэ	адэ	модэ
Ball	Iэгуау	пIырагу	топ
Princess	гощэ	гуащэ	гуащэ
Tea	псыплъыжь	чай	шей
Coffee	псышӏуцӏэ	къэхьыо	къэхьэуэ
Potato	къантIуф	картоф	кӏэртӏоф
Money	нэгъэцӏыу	ахъщ	ахъшэ
Grandmother	нэожъ	нэнэжъ	нанэ

Despite being a Western dialect, it also shares some vocabulary with Kabardian:

English	Hatuqay Adyghe	Literary Adyghe	Literary Kabardian
Pig	кхъо	къо	кхъуэ
Chair	щэнт	пхъэнтӏэкӏу	шэнт
Village	къуаджэ	кой	къуажэ
Bread	кӏакъу	хьалыгъу	щӏакхъуэ
Twin	тIолъфэныкъу	тIуазэ	тӏолъхуэныкъуэ

Since the Hatuqay dialect is not spoken in the Caucasus and spoken mostly in Turkey, there are Turkish loanwords that do not exist in literary Adyghe, which are occasionally used alongside native equivalents:

English	Hatuqay Adyghe	Turkish
Alphabet	алфабэ	alfabe
But	ӏамэ	ama
Construction	иншыхьэт	inşaat
Goodbye	Алыхьсмэлэдыкъ	Allah'a ısmarladık
Government	хьукумэт	hükümet
Hello	эфэндим	efendim
More	дэхьэ	daha
Province	вилает	vilayet
School	мэкътэб	mektep
State	дэвлэт	devlet
That is	яни	yani
Young man	дэлекъаны	delikanlı

Internationalisms in the Hatuqay dialect have been borrowed via Turkish, thus differ slightly from literary Adyghe which borrowed them from Russian:

English	Hatuqay Adyghe	Turkish	Literary Adyghe	Russian
American	Амэрикэн	Amerikan	Американ	Американец
Europe	Аурупэ	Avrupa	Европэ	Европа
Cigarette	джыкъарэ	sigara	сигаретэ	сигарета
Lawyer	аукат	avukat	адвокат	адвокат
Japan	Жапон	Japonya	Японие	Япония
High school	лисэ	lise	лицей	лицей
Furniture	мобилие	mobilya	мебель	мебель
Bus	отобюс	otobüs	автобус	автобус
Television	телевизион	televizyon	телевизор	телевизор