Bzyb dialect

Bzyb
бзыԥ, бзыԥтәи/бзыԥ ацәажәашьа
Native to	Turkey, Abkhazia
Region	Bzyb River
Native speakers	(30,000 cited 1964)
Language family	Northwest Caucasian Abazgi Abkhaz Bzyb
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
Glottolog	bzyb1238
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Bzyb (also spelled Bzyp) is a major dialect of Abkhaz, native to the Bzyb River region of Caucasus. ^[1] It was once the literary variety of Abkhaz, but students are now taught in the Abzhuy dialect. ^[2]

Phonology

It differs from standard Abkhaz mainly in terms of phonology. It has 69 consonant phonemes. ^[3] It shares the [ɕʷ] and [ʑʷ] sounds with the Sadz dialect, and the [t͡ɕ], [d͡ʑ], [t͡ɕʼ], [ɕ], [ʑ], [χˤ], and [χˤʷ] sounds are unique to Bzyb. Standard Abkhaz (which is based on the Abzhywa dialect) lacks these sounds.

The phoneme [ ɥ ]⟨Ҩ ҩ⟩ was originally a labialized pharyngeal fricative [ ʕʷ ]. ^[3]

The Bzyb consonant inventory appears to have been the fundamental inventory of Proto-Abkhaz, with the inventories of Abzhywa and Sadz being reduced from this total, rather than the Bzyb series being innovative. ^[2]

Orthography

Bzyb was first written in 1862, when Peter von Uslar introduced a Cyrillic-based orthography for it, partially inspired by Anders Johan Sjögren's 1844 Ossetian alphabet. ^[4] The alphabet is as follows:

а	б	ҩ	г	ӷ	д	ꚁ	е
ж	ђ	ꚅ	ꚅ̆	з	ӡ	ꚃ	һ
ꚕ	і	ј	к	қ	л	м	н
о	п	ԥ	ԛ	р	с	т	ҭ
ꚍ	ꚍ̆	у	ф	х	ц		ꚏ
ꚏ̆			ч		ҽ	ҽ̆	ш
ш̆	ꚗ	ꚗ̆	ѵ

With the modern orthography, Viacheslav Chirikba transcribes the phonemes unique to Bzyb, or to Bzyb and Sadz, with digraphs : зь /ʑ/, ӡь /d͡ʑ/, сь /ɕ/, х' /χ/, ць /t͡ɕʰ/, ҵь /t͡ɕʼ/ ^[3] .

See also

• Abkhaz phonology

References

1. Hoiberg, Dale H., ed. (2010). "Abkhaz" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. I: A-ak Bayes (15th ed.). Chicago, Illinois: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc. pp.  33. ISBN   978-1-59339-837-8.
2. Бгажба, Хухут Соломонович (1964). Бзыбский диалект абхазского языка: Исследования и тексты [Bzyb dialect of the Abkhaz language] (in Russian). Тбилиси: Издательство Академии Наук Грузинской ССР.
3. Chirikba, Viacheslav. "The Bzyp dialect of Abkhaz (A Short sketch). Бзыпский диалект абхазского языка (Краткий очерк) // ВЕСТНИК АКАДЕМИИ НАУК АБХАЗИИ. № 12. Серия «Гуманитарные науки». Сухум: Academia, 2022, с. 19-25". АԤСНЫ АҬҴААРАДЫРРАҚӘА РАКАДЕМИА АДЫРРАҬАРА.
4. Х. С. Бгажба (1967). Из истории письменности в Абхазии (1000 ed.). Тбилиси: «Мецниереба». p. 72.