Shapsug dialect


The Shapsug dialect is a dialect of Adyghe. The Shapsug dialect is spoken by the Shapsugs, which are one of the largest Circassian population in the diaspora outside Republic of Adygea, alongside Abzakhs. The Shapsug dialect is very similar to the Natukhai dialect and together, they make the Black Sea coast dialects of Adyghe. The Shapsug dialect consists of three main sub dialects: Great Shapsug, Small Shapsug and Hakuchi. The Shapsug dialect is best known as the dialect with palatalized velar stops.

Subdialects

  • The Black Sea coast dialects
  • *Natukhai dialect
  • *Shapsug dialect
  • **North Shapsugs, Great Shapsugs, Kuban Shapsugs dialect.
  • ***Kfar Kama dialect : Shapsug dialect spoken by the villagers of Kfar Kama in Israel.
  • **South Shapsugs, Small Shapsugs, Coastal Shapsugs Black Sea Shapsugs dialect.
  • *Hakuchi dialect

    Phonology

Note on Orthography: This article employs Cyrillic characters alongside IPA to assist readers familiar with the Circassian alphabet. However, standard Adyghe orthography contains inconsistencies; notably, the digraph кӏ represents the sound despite visually suggesting a velar ejective . To ensure phonetic precision, this article utilizes the following distinctions: чӏ for , чӏъ for , and кӏь for .

Palatalized velar stops

In the Shapsug and Natukhai dialects there is a palatalized voiced velar stop , a palatalized voiceless velar stop and a palatalized velar ejective that were merged with дж, ч and кӏ in most Adyghe dialects. The Shapsug dialect also has ч, дж and кӏ in words like чэмы "cow", джэмышх "spoon" and кӏалэ "boy".
  • Shapsug гь became дж in other dialects:
  • Shapsug кь became ч in other dialects:
  • Shapsug кӏь became кӏ in other dialects:

    Retroflex affricates

The retroflex affricate consonants чъ and чӏ merged with the palato-alveolar affricate consonants ч and кӏ in the Shapsug and Natukhai dialects.
  • Chemguy чъ became ч in Shapsug :
  • Chemguy чӏ became кӏ in Shapsug :

    Dropped consonants

In the Great Shapsug dialect in some cases the consonants н, м and р are dropped and are not pronounced.
Notes:
Notes:

Aspirated consonants

In the Shapsug dialect there exist a series of aspirated consonants that became plain consonants in other dialects:
  • Shapsug пʰ ↔ п in other dialects :
  • Shapsug тʰ ↔ т in other dialects :
  • Shapsug цʰ ↔ ц in other dialects :
  • Shapsug шʰ ↔ щ in other Adyghe dialects :
  • Shapsug кь ↔ ч in other dialects :
  • Shapsug кʰу ↔ ку in other dialects :
  • Shapsug къʰ ↔ къ in other Adyghe dialects :
  • Shapsug къуʰ ↔ къу in other Adyghe dialects :
  • Shapsug чъʰу ↔ чу in Temirgoy:

    Others

In some Shapsug and Natukhai dialects there exist an alveolar ejective fricative that correspond to in other dialects such as Abzakh, Bzhedug, Temirgoy, and Kabardian.
  • Shapsug сӏ ↔ цӏ in other dialects:
The labialized retroflex consonants шъу and жъу in the Temirgoy dialect are alveolo-palatal щу and жьу in the Black Sea coast dialects of Adyghe.
  • Shapsug щу ↔ шъу in Standard:
  • Shapsug жьу ↔ жъу in Standard:
The Shapsug and Natukhai dialects has many different variants. The following differences apply to some of them.
  • Shapsug с ↔ ц in Standard:
  • Shapsug шъухъу ↔ шхъу in Standard:
  • Shapsug р ↔ н in Standard:
  • Shapsug ф ↔ м in Standard:
  • Shapsug ц ↔ с in Standard:

    Affrication of Fricatives

In the Shapsug dialect, a specific hardening process occurs where palato-alveolar fricatives become affricates when preceded by specific sibilants.
The consonants , , and are affricated to , and respectively, when they follow the consonants or .
  • + / → +
  • + → +
  • + → +
MeaningStandard Adyghe
Shapsug
IPA
I carried him sɕaːʁ st͡ʃaːʁ
I boughtsɕafəʁ st͡ʃafəʁ
you boughtʃʷɕafəʁ ʃʷt͡ʃafəʁ
I forgotsɕəʁʷəpʃəʁ st͡ʃəʁʷəpʃəʁ
you forgotʃʷɕəʁʷəpʃəʁ ʃʷt͡ʃəʁʷəpʃəʁ
I knewsʃʼaːʁ st͡ʂʼaːʁ
I don't knowsʃʼarap st͡ʂʼarap
I thoughtsʃʷʼaʃʼəʁ st͡ʂʷʼaʃʼəʁ
you knewʃʷʃʼaːʁ ʃʷt͡ʂʼaːʁ

Grammar differences

Instrumental case

In the instrumental case the noun has the suffix -мгьэ or -гьэ unlike other dialects that has the suffix -мкӏэ or -кӏэ.
  • Shapsug: Кӏалэр Адыгэбзэгьэ мэгущаӏэ ↔ Standard: Кӏалэр Адыгэбзэкӏэ мэгущаӏэ - "The boy speaks Adyghe language".
  • Shapsug: Къэлэмымгьэ сэтхэ ↔ Standard: Къэлэмымкӏэ сэтхэ - "I write with the pencil".

    Desirement mood

In the Shapsug dialect, the suffix ~рагъу /raːʁʷ/ is added to verbs to indicate the desirement to do that verb. For example:
  • Туканым сыкӏорагъу - "I want to go to the shop".
  • Есыпӏэм рэкӏорэгъуагъ - "he wanted to go to the pool".
  • Къэкӏорэгъот кӏалэр - "The boy would want to come".
  • Тутын уешъорагъуа? - "Do you want to smoke cigarette?".
  • Нэущы уздэгущаӏэрагъу - "I want to speak with you tomorrow".
  • Сышхэрагъу игь - "I want to eat now".

    Upward prefix

In Standard Adyghe, to express that the verb's direction is upward, the prefix дэ- /da-/ and the suffix -е /-ja/ is added to the verb. In Shapsug dialect, the prefix чӏэ- /t͡ʃʼa-/ is added instead.

Demonstratives

Shapsug has six demonstratives: а /ʔaː/, гьэ /ɡʲa/, у /wə/, дыу /dəwə/, дымы /dəmə/ and мы /mə/.
а /ʔaː/
  1. that
  2. : а ӏанэ — that table
  3. : а пшъашъэ — that girl
  4. : а кӏалэм еӏо — that boy is saying
  • The determiner 'а' /ʔaː/ refer to a referent that is far away and invisible to both the speaker and the listener. It is similar to the English language determiner that, but with the condition that the referent has to be invisible or far away.
у /wə/
  1. that
  2. : у ӏанэ — that table
  3. : у пшъашъэ — that girl
  4. : у кӀалэм еӀо — that boy is saying
  • The determiner 'у' refer to a referent that is visible and in a known distance from both the speaker and the listener. It is similar to the English language determiner that, but with the condition that the referent has to be visible.
мы /mə/
  1. this
  2. : мы ӏанэ — this table
  3. : мы пшъашъэ — this girl
  4. : мы кӀалэм еӀо — this boy is saying
  5. : мы мэгъэ — this year
  • The determiner 'мы' refer to a referent that is close to both the speaker and the listener. It is exactly like the English language determiner this.
дыу /dəwə/
  1. that
  2. : дыу ӏанэ — that table over there
  3. : дыу пшъашъэ — that girl over there
  4. : дыу кӀалэм еӀо — that boy over there is saying
  5. : дыу цӀыфэр улъэгъуа? — Do you see that person over there?
  • The determiner 'дыу' refer to a referent that is visible. This determiner is used when the speaker wants to emphasizes that the object is in his sight, so that the listener will expect the referent to be the thing he looks at. It is usually used to introduce a new referent, for example it can be used to refer to a stranger on the street or to refer to a certain object on the field that is visible. This determiner might be used while pointing one's finger at the people or objects in question.
дымы /dəmə/
  1. this
  2. : дымы ӏанэ — this table over here
  3. : дымы пшъашъэ — this girl over here
  4. : дымы кӀалэм еӀо — this boy over here is saying
  5. : дымы цӀыфэр улъэгъуа? — Do you see this person over here?
  • The determiner 'дымы' refer to a referent that is visible. This determiner is similar to the determiner дымо. This is used instead of дымо when the referent is very near. Like the determiner дымо, it might be used while pointing one's finger at the referent in question. Even without pointing fingers the listener will expect the referent to be the thing the speaker looks at. It can be used to point on objects in a room for example.
гьэ /gʲa/
  1. that
  2. : гьэ ӏанэ — that table
  3. : гьэ пшъашъэ — that girl
  4. : гьэ кӏалэм еӏо — that boy is saying
  • The determiner 'гьэ' refer to a referent which is usually invisible. This determiner is used when the referent in the conversation is clear to both the speaker and the listener. Someone would use this determiner in order to emphasizes that both he and the listener have the same referent in mind.

    У vs. Мо

Sample
EnglishShapsugStandard Adyghe
Did you heard how that boy speaks? the one standing there, that is the dialect I referred to. We don't talk like that, the way that person is speaking is like how they speak in Caucasus.у кӏалэр зэрэгущаӏэрэр оӏугъа? удэ ӏутыр, уары диалектэу зыфэсӏуагъагъэр. Тэ ущтэу тыгущаӏэрэп, ур зэрэгущаӏэрэр къэфкъазымгьэ зэрэгущаӏэхэрэмэ яфэд.мо кӏалэр зэрэгущыӏэрэр оӏугъа? модэ ӏутыр, моры диалектэу зыфэсӏуагъагъэр. Тэ мощтэу тыгущыӏэрэп, мор зэрэгущыӏэрэр къэфкъазымкӏэ зэрэгущаӏэхэрэмэ афэд.

Future tense

In the Great Shapsug sub dialect the future tense suffix is ~эт and in some cases ~ыт unlike the Small Shapsug sub dialect that has the Suffix ~щт ).

Interrogative words

The word "what" in Standard Adyghe is сыд while in Shapsug it is шъыд and from it derives different terms.
Shapsug has two words for "what":
  • шъыд.
  • лӏэу.
The word "лӏэу" was lost in other Adyghe dialects. In Shapsug, from it derives different terms :
Shapsugs also have different interrogative words from the word тэ "which":