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Abkhaz is often claimed to be simply a divergent dialect of a larger language, Abkhaz-Abaza . It makes better linguistic sense, however, to separate Abkhaz and Abaza into two separate languages. Abkhaz is generally viewed as having three major dialects, Abzhuy , Bzyp (the Caucasian dialects) and Sadz (in Turkey).
Abkhaz is characterised by unusual consonant clusters and a small vowel inventory. It has only two distinctive vowels: an open vowel /a/ and a close vowel /i, ǝ/. Depending on the environment both of the vowels can be realized as [e,i,o,u]. Abzhuy Abkhaz has 58 consonants, whereas Bzyp has 67.
The first fragments of Abkhazian language that we have were taken down in the Arabic alphabet by the Turkish traveller Evliya Celebi in the 11th century. Abkhaz has only been a full literary language for about 100 years, and during the Stalinist Russian years Abkhaz was banned as a literary language.
Abkhaz has its own alphabet since 1862. The first alphabet was a 37 character Cyrillic alphabet invented by Baron Peter von Uslar. In 1909Events January 5 Colombia recognizes the independence of Panama. January 16 Ernest Shackleton's expedition finds the magnetic South Pole. January 28 United States troops leave Cuba after being there since the Spanish-American War. February 12 The National a 55 letter Cyrillic alphabet was used. A 75-letter Latin script devised by Nikolai Marr lasted from 1926Centuries: 19th century 20th century 21st century Decades: 1870s 1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s Years: 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 See also 1926 in aviation 1926 in film 1926 in literature 1926 in mu to 1928Centuries: 19th century 20th century 21st century Decades: 1870s 1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s Years: 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 See also 1928 in aviation 1928 in film 1928 in literature 1928 in mu, when another Latin script was used. The Georgian script was imposed in 1937Events January January 1 Anastasio Somoza becomes President of Nicaragua January 11 The first issue of Look magazine goes on sale in the United States. January 19 Howard Hughes sets a new air record by flying from Los Angeles to New York City in 7 hours,, but an Abkhaz desire to remain separate from Georgians led to the development of the current Cyrillic alphabet in 1954Events January events January 14 The Hudson Motor Car Company merges with Nash-Kelvinator forming the American Motors Corporation January 14 Marilyn Monroe weds Joe DiMaggio. January 15 Mau Mau leader Waruhiu Itote is captured in Kenya January 20 The Nati.
Like the other Northwest Caucasian languages, Abkhaz is very rich in consonants, but has only a few vowels. Below is the Abkhaz X-SAMPA phoneme chart, for the standard dialect; the Bzyb dialect has even more consonants.