The Adygeyan language reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Jul-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

Adygeyan language

Adyge, or Адыгэ, is a language of the 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 Adyghe.

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

It belongs to the Northwest Caucasian languages, and is closely related to the Kabardian language. The Abkhaz and Abaza languages are also close relatives thereof.

Adyge has a subject-object-verb typology.

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

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

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