The political situation around the Republic of Abkhazia in the world is rather complicated. It is not recognized by the absolute majority of foreign states and is still considered the territory of Georgia in UN documents. But with the state language in Abkhazia, everything is simple - it is considered Abkhaz. The Russian language is recognized in the republic as the official language for state and other institutions. In addition, the state guarantees national and ethnic minorities the right to freely flow their own native dialects and dialects.
Some statistics and facts
- The Abkhaz language belongs to the Abkhaz-Adyg group and, according to the Constitution, has been the state language of Abkhazia since 1994.
- More than half of the republic's inhabitants, or about 120 thousand people, consider him to be his native.
- Abkhaz is also spoken by almost 7 thousand residents of Russia and a little more than 4 thousand citizens of Turkey.
- Only three dialects of the Abkhaz language remain in the Caucasus today. One of them, Abzhui, is the basis of the literary state language of Abkhazia.
- The writing of the Abkhaz in 1954 was translated into Cyrillic. Before that, it existed in the Georgian script, and earlier - in the Latin alphabet.
Stages of a long journey
Until the middle of the century before last, the Abkhaz language did not even have its own written language. It appeared only in 1862, when the Cyrillic alphabet became the graphic basis of Abkhaz. Seventy years later, the writing system shifted to the Latin alphabet, then to the Georgian, until it returned again to the original version.
The first records from Abkhaz date back to the middle of the 17th century, when the Turkish traveler Chelebi tried to write down some Abkhaz words and expressions in Arabic. Before him, the literate population used the Greek and Georgian scripts.
Today the government of Abkhazia pays great attention to the development of the native language. In the state budget there is an article on targeted financing of the state program for its development, according to which funds are allocated annually for new textbooks, improving the school curriculum, publishing dictionaries and phrasebooks and various cultural events.
Tourist notes
Going on a summer vacation to Abkhazia, be sure that you will neither need currency, nor a passport, nor knowledge of foreign languages. Abkhazians speak Russian perfectly, and therefore the difficulties of translation and understanding will definitely not affect you.
