Adyghe (Circassian): Bjedug Dialect

Bjedug: a brief note

Resources :

Nart Sagas

The Narts are legendary heros of the Caucasus. The three stories presented were recorded in 1973 by the eminent Adyghe scholar Asker Hadaghatl'a (in Russian, Gadagatl'). They had previously been collected and published in volume 7 of his vast anthology of Nart sagas (as they have come to be called in English) in a variety of Adyghe languages:
Gadagatl', Asker. 1968-1971. Nartxer [The Narts]. Maikop. 7 vols.

The sagas have the following titles: :

The Hill of Nart Baoutch (Gadagatl' 1971 v. 7 no. 596, p. 65)
The Marriage of Nart Ghoutch'epl (Gadagatl' 1971 v. 7 no. 641, p. 158)
The Nart who Brought Fire (Gadagatl' 1971 v. 7 no. 693, p. 268)

The transcriptions, in the Cyrillic alphabet, are taken from the work cited. They were computerized (with the author's permission), synchronized with the recordings, and translated into French by Mme Dina Dabjen-Bailly in 2003-2004.

Word Lists

Two word lists are presented, illustrating different varieties of Bjedug.

The first word list was prepared by Catherine Paris and recorded in Tblisi in 1974, as spoken by Mr Teotchej Kat, a speaker from the Caucasus. It shows the opposition of aspiration, which is considered to be characteristic of the dialect. The elicitation by the linguist (in Russian) is included in the recording, but it has not been transcribed, and it has been excluded from the time alignment. To hear it, the recording must be played in its entirety, not segment by segment.
The second was prepared and spoken by Mme Dina Dabjen-Bailly, a speaker from the Circassian diaspora in Syria. It was recorded, together with electroglottograph data, at the LIMSI by Mr. Alexis Michaud in 2003, and transcribed by Mme Dabjen-Bailly. The opposition of aspiration is absent.

The Tblisi recording script was accompanied by a phonological chart presenting the principles and the particularities of the transcription. Mme Dabjen-Bailly uses essentially the same transcription, without gemination.