адэм’s Reviews > The Circassians: A Handbook > Status Update

Both Eastern and Western dialects although containing their own peculiarities, are mutually intelligible given enough exposure and awkward exchanges with one another. The language is perhaps most infamous for phonological structure consisting of a plethora of consonant sounds contrasted with a scarcity of vowels. For most of the Circassian's history, they were an oral people relying on traditions being preserved by both practice and word of mouth with the help of thousands of lines of poetry and music detailing mythology, significant events, and tragic tales ('ghibze' or laments). It is only during the 19th century that we see attempts being made to standardize the language, with significant developments occurring in its literary standardization. One of the earliest and most consistently used scripts was Arabic script, being replaced by modified versions of Latin then cementing it's usage of Cyrillic. Extensive literature has been produced by academic linguists including works of phonology, grammar, dictionaries, syntax, morphology, and language pedagogy inspite of efforts throughout the 20th century by Tsarist, Soviet, and modern day Russia's policies of Russification in the Caucasus republics.