The Adyghe Language  is a written language (since 1928) of the Abkhaz-Adyghe group of the Iberian-Caucasian languages. It is spread in Adygeia and Tuapse and Lazarevskaya area of Krasnodar Territory. There are about 96,500  Adyghe speakers (1970). There are four dialects in Adyghe: Chemguian, Abdzakh, Bzhedukh and Shapsugh. The base of literary language is the Chemguian dialect, which is characterised by relative simple phonetic system.

The vocal system of Adyghe is simple. They distinguish three vowels: ა (a), ა̆ ( ă)   and (ə). These vowels together with  ჲ (y)  and უ̂ (w) sonants create diphthongs. The consonant system is complex. The occlusives are represented by triple system. Older:  quadruple system retained in Bzhedukh and Shapsugh sub dialects. One distinguishes tense and lax phonemes among hissing sibilants. Specific phonemes are: sibilant-hissing spirants, labialised consonants, palatal spirants, laterals, pharyngeal and laryngeal consonants.

In the vocabulary are noticeably early-borrowed words from Georgian, Ossetian, Turkish and Arabian languages. Nowadays the vocabulary is enriched by the words from Russian. In 1918 the Adyghe alphabet was created  on the base of Arabic graphics; since 1927 Latin alphabet was spread; since1938 the written language has been based on Russian graphics [G. Rogava, KSE, vol. 1, p. 96, Tbilisi, 1975].

[Catherine Paris, West Circassian (Adyghe: Abzakh dialect),  pp. 157-260.  In: The Indigenous Languages of the Caucasus. Vol. 2. The North West Caucasian Languages. Ed. by B. George Hewitt. Caravan Books. Delmar, New York, 1989. ]