Yinal speaking Circassian

Published August 5, 2019

This video was recorded by John Kazaklis in Amman, Jordan. Belonging to the Northwest Caucasian language family, the Circassian language group is comprised of the West Circassian language (Adyghe) and the East Circassian language (Kabardian). Adyghe is spoken by approximately 575,000 people and Kabardian is spoken by around 1.6 million people. Yenal is fluent in five Northwest Caucasian languages and dialects, all of which he uses in this video: Shapsug (a Black Sea coast dialect of Adyghe), Bzhedug (a Kuban River dialect of Adyghe), Abkhaz (a Northwest Caucasian language related to Adyghe), Karbadian (homeland dialect), and Karbadian (diaspora dialect). There is a strong consensus among the linguistic community that Adyghe and Kabardian are typologically distinct languages; however, the local terms for these languages refer to them as dialects.

Featured Languages

Adyghe [ady] Kabardian [kbd]


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