Proto Circassian language

Updated on Dec 01, 2023

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Proto-Circassian (or Proto-Adyghe) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Circassian language which has two written dialects, Lowland Adyghe (Circassian: КӀах адыгабзэ) and Kabardian Adyghe (Circassian: Къэбэрдей адыгэбзэ).

Vocalism and accent

In bisyllabic roots, two possible places of accent are reconstructed, with the following development of structures in descendant languages:

In other words, Lowland Adyghe retains the distinction between *a and *ǝ in the 2nd syllable, if it was originally stressed; the 2nd syllable vowel is dropped in originally unstressed syllables. Kabardian Adyghe retains the distinction uniformly, by dropping *ǝ but not *a. Both groups retain the quality distinction in the first syllable, and additionally display a long vowel in roots of the original shape *CaCa (regardless of stress).

Consonants

The consonant system is reconstructed with a four-way phonation contrast in stops and affricates, and a two-way contrast in fricatives.

Bilabial stops пʰ, п, б and пӏ

Proto-Circassian aspirated пʰ [pʰ] survived in the Bzhedug dialect and in other Circassian dialects it became plain п [p].

Proto-Circassian plain voiceless bilabial stop п [p] become voiced б [b] in the Kabardian Adyghe dialect.

Alveolar stops тʰ, т, д and тӏ

Proto-Circassian aspirated тʰ [tʰ] survived in the Bzhedug dialect and Shapsug, while in other Circassian dialects it became plain т [t].

Proto-Circassian plain voiceless alveolar stop т [t] become voiced д [d] in the Kabardian Adyghe dialect.

Alveolar affricates цʰ, ц, дз and цӏ

Proto-Circassian aspirated цʰ [t͡sʰ] survived in the Bzhedug dialect and in other Circassian dialects it became plain ц [t͡s].

Proto-Circassian plain voiceless alveolar affricate ц [t͡s] become voiced дз [d͡z] in the Kabardian Adyghe dialect.

Alveolo-palatal affricates чьʰ, чь and чӏь

Proto-Circassian aspirated voiceless alveolo-palatal affricate ч [t͡ɕʰ] become plain чъ [t͡ʂ] in Temirgoy and aspirated чъʰ [t͡ʂʰ] in Bzhedug, ш [ʃ] in Abzakh and щӏ [ɕʼ] in the Kabardian Adyghe dialect.

Proto-Circassian plain voiceless alveolo-palatal affricate чь [t͡ɕ] also become чъ [t͡ʂ] in the Temirgoy and Bzhedug sub-dialects, ш [ʃ] in the Abzakh sub-dialect but ж [ʒ] in the Kabardian Adyghe dialect.

Palato-alveolar affricates чʰ, ч, дж and кӏ

Proto-Circassian aspirated чʰ [t͡ʃʰ] become ш [ʃ] in most Lowland Adyghe and Kabardian Adyghe sub-dialects but become aspirated шʰ [ʃʰ] in Bzhedug and чь [t͡ɕ] in Besleney.

Proto-Circassian voiceless palato-alveolar affricate ч [t͡ʃ] become щ [ɕ] in the Abzakh sub-dialect and ж [ʒ] in the Kabardian Adyghe dialect.

Proto-Circassian дж [d͡ʒ] survived in the Lowland Adyghe dialect, but became ж [ʒ] in the Kabardian Adyghe dialect. The дж [d͡ʒ] in Kabardian Adyghe derives from Proto-Circassian plain кь [kʲ] and гь [ɡʲ].

Proto-Circassian palato-alveolar ejective affricate кӏ [tʃʼ] become a palatalized glottal stop ӏь [ʔʲ] or an alveolo-palatal ejective fricative щӏ [ɕʼ] in the Abzakh sub-dialect and an alveolo-palatal ejective fricative щӏ [ɕʼ] in the Kabardian Adyghe dialect.

Retroflex affricates чъʰ, чъ, джъ and чӏ

Proto-Circassian plain voiceless retroflex affricate чъ [ʈ͡ʂ] become ч [t͡ʃ] in Shapsug, ш [ʃ] in Abzakh, ж [ʒ] in the Kabardian and дж [d͡ʒ] in the Besleney sub-dialect.

Proto-Circassian джъ [ɖʐ] became дж [d͡ʒ] in Lowland Adyghe and жь [ʑ] in Kabardian Adyghe.

Proto-Circassian retroflex ejective affricate чӏ [ʈ͡ʂʼ] become a palatalized glottal stop ӏь [ʔʲ] or an alveolo-palatal ejective fricative щӏ [ɕʼ] in the Abzakh sub-dialect, a palato-alveolar ejective affricate кӏ [t͡ʃʼ] in Shapsug and alveolo-palatal ejective fricative щӏ [ɕʼ] in the Kabardian Adyghe dialect.

Palato-alveolar stops кьʰ, кь, гь and кӏь

In the Proto-Circassian language there exist a palatalized voiced velar stop [ɡʲ] ⟨гь⟩, a palatalized aspirated voiceless velar stop [kʰʲ], a palatalized voiceless velar stop [kʲ] ⟨кь⟩ and a palatalized velar ejective [kʲʼ] ⟨кӏь⟩. The consonants гь [ɡʲ], кь [kʲ] and кӏь [kʲʼ] survive in the Shapsug dialect (e.g. Kfar Kama dialect), in the Besleney sub-dialect and in the Uzunyayla sub-dialect. In other Circassian dialects they were merged with the palato-alveolar consonants дж [d͡ʒ], ч [t͡ʃ] and кӏ [t͡ʃʼ] respectively. Proto-Circassain unaspirated кь [kʲ] become гь [ɡʲ] in Besleney sub-dialect and Uzunyayla sub-dialect and it become дж [d͡ʒ] in the other Kabardian Adyghe sub-dialects (кь [kʲ] → гь [ɡʲ] → дж [d͡ʒ]).

Proto-Circassian aspirated кьʰ [kʰʲ] became aspirated чʰ [t͡ʃʰ] in Bzhedug, plain кь [kʲ] in Shapsug and in other dialects plain ч [t͡ʃ]:

Proto-Circassian кь [kʲ] survived in Shapsug. In other Lowland Adyghe sub-dialects it became ч [t͡ʃ] and in Kabardian Adyghe it became дж [d͡ʒ]:

Proto-Circassian кӏь [kʲʼ] survived in Shapsug. In other Circassian dialects it became кӏ [t͡ʃʼ]:

Proto-Circassian гь [ɡʲ] survived in Shapsug. In other Circassian dialects it became дж [d͡ʒ]:

Palato-alveolar fricative шʰ, ш, ж and шӏ

Proto-Circassian aspirated шʰ [ʃʰ] survived in the Bzhedug dialect. In other Lowland Adyghe sub-dialects it became plain щ [ɕ] while in the Kabardian Adyghe dialect it became plain ш [ʃ].

Labialized palato-alveolar цу, су, зу and сӏу

The Proto-Circassian language did not had labiodental consonants (ф [f] and в [v]). There existed a series of labialized alveolar sibilant affricates and fricatives: *[tsʷ] ⟨цу⟩, *[sʷʼ] ⟨сӏу⟩, *[sʷ] ⟨су⟩, *[zʷ] ⟨зу⟩. In Adyghe Temirgoy dialect they became *[tsʷ] ⟨цу⟩, *[ʃʼʷ] ⟨шӏу⟩, *[ʃʷ] ⟨шъу⟩, *[ʒʷ] ⟨жъу⟩. In Shapsug, Bzhedug and Abzakh dialects of Adyghe they become labiopalatalized *[tɕʷ] ⟨чъу⟩, *[ʃʼʷ] ⟨шӏу⟩, *[ʃʷ] ⟨шъу⟩, *[ʒʷ] ⟨жъу⟩, and in Kabardian they become labiodental consonants *[v] ⟨в⟩, *[fʼ] ⟨фӏ⟩, *[f] ⟨ф⟩, *[v] ⟨в⟩.

Proto-Circassian aspirated цʰу [t͡sʰʷ] became чъʰу [t͡ɕʰʷ] in Bzhedug, цу [t͡sʷ] in Temirgoy, чъу [t͡ɕʷ] in Shapsug and Abzakh and ф [f] in Kabardian.

Proto-Circassian су [sʷ] became шъу [ʃʷ] in the Lowland Adyghe dialect and ф [f] in the Kabardian Adyghe dialect:

Proto-Circassian зу [zʷ] became жъу [ʒʷ] in the Lowland Adyghe dialect and в [v] in the Kabardian Adyghe dialect:

Proto-Circassian сӏу [sʷʼ] or цӏу [t͡sʷʼ] became шӏу [ʃʷʼ] in the Lowland Adyghe dialect and фӏ [fʼ] in the Kabardian Adyghe dialect:

Proto-Circassian цу [t͡sʷ] survived in Temirgoy. In most Lowland Adyghe sub-dialect (e.g. Abzakh, Shapsug and Bzhedug) it became чъу [t͡ɕʷ] and in the Kabardian Adyghe dialect it became в [v]:

Labiodental [f] ⟨ф⟩ is found also in Adyghe, but there it derives from the Proto-Circassian labialized voiceless velar fricative [xʷ] ⟨ху⟩, which survived in the East Circassian dialects (e.g. Kabardian and Besleney).

Labialized velar fricatives кʰу, ку, гу and кӏу

Proto-Circassian aspirated кʰу [kʰʷ] survived in Bzhedug and in other Circassian dialects it became plain ку [kʷ].

Proto-Circassian plain ку [kʷ] became voiced гу [ɡʷ] in the Kabardian Adyghe dialect:

Uvular affricates

The consonant aspirated voiceless uvular stop [qʰ] ⟨къʰ⟩ and its labialized counterpart [qʰʷ] ⟨къʰу⟩ survived in Bzhedug. In the Temirgoy sub-dialect they become къ [q] and къу [qʷ] while in some Shapsug sub-dialects they become хъ [χ] and хъу [χʷ]. In Kabardian Adyghe they became affricate voiceless uvular affricate [q͡χ] ⟨кхъ⟩ and labialized voiceless uvular affricate [q͡χʷ] ⟨кхъу⟩.

Lateral affricates

In the Proto-Circassian there existed an alveolar lateral ejective affricate *[t͡ɬʼ]. This consonant survived in the Besleney sub-dialect of the Kabardian Adyghe dialect. In most Circassian dialects it become an alveolar lateral ejective fricative [ɬʼ].

There also existed voiced alveolar lateral affricate *[d͡ɮ] that become [ɣ] in Adyghe and [ʒ] in Kabardian and a palatalized voiced velar fricative *[ɣʲ] that become [ɣ] in Lowland Adyghe and [ʑ] in Kabardian Adyghe.

Glottal stops

The consonants glottal stop [ʔ] and labialized glottal stop [ʔʷ] in Proto-Circassian may have come from uvular ejective [qʼ] and labialized uvular ejective [qʷʼ]. In the Hakuchi sub-dialect it is pronounced as [qʼ] and [qʷʼ].

Palatalized velar fricative

Proto-Circassian palatalized voiceless uvular fricative хъь [χʲ] become хь [ħ] in most Lowland Adyghe sub-dialects and in some Kabardian Adyghe sub-dialects it became to хъ [χ].

References

Proto-Circassian language Wikipedia

(Text) CC BY-SA

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