Adyghe (Адыгэ) is one of the two official languages of the Federal Republic of Adygeya in the Russian Federation. The language is referred to by its speakers as Adyghadze or Adyghabza, and alternatively spelled in English as Adygean, Adygeyan or Adygei. The Adyghe language is also known as the Circassian language, and is spoken by the various tribes of the Adyghe nation: Shapsugh, Bzedugh, Abzekh, Kemirgoy, Hakuchi, and some others.

There are apparently around 125,000 speakers of the language in Russia, almost all of them mother-tongue speakers. In the whole world, some 300,000 speak the language. The largest Adyghe-speaking community lives in Turkey.

Adyghe belongs to the family of Northwest Caucasian languages. Kabardian is a very close relative, treated by some as a dialect of Adyghe or of an overarching Circassian language. The Ubykh, Abkhaz, and Abaza languages are also close relatives thereof.

Adyghe, like all Northwest Caucasian languages, has a basic subject-object-verb typology, and exhibits a large number of consonants. There are between fifty and sixty consonants in the various Adyghe dialects; all dialects possess a contrast between plain and labialised glottal stops, a very unusual minimal contrast, and possibly unique to the Abdzakh dialect of Adyghe is an additional palatalised glottal stop.

The language was standardized after the October Revolution. Since 1938, Adyghe has used the Cyrillic alphabet. Before that, an Arabic-based alphabet was used together with the Latin.

It has official status, along with Russian, in the Republic of Adygeya.

External links

• Adyghe Sample at Language Museum
• Ethnologue: Adyghe