Editing Abkhaz language (section)

== Geographical distribution ==
[[File:CircassianinRu.png|thumb|Distribution of Abkhaz in the Caucasus.]]
There is not an agreed number of speakers of Abkhaz, and there are widely different numbers. It is agreed that today most of the Abkhaz people do not live in Abkhazia. In the census conducted by the Republic of Abkhazia in 2011, Abkhazians comprised 50.8% of the population, around 122,175 people; of these 92,838 spoke it natively.<ref>{{Cite web|title=население абхазии|url=http://www.ethno-kavkaz.narod.ru/rnabkhazia.html|access-date=28 August 2021|website=www.ethno-kavkaz.narod.ru}}</ref><ref name=:13/> Only two of the original dialects are still spoken in Abkhazia. The Bzyp dialect is still spoken in its homeland northwest of [[Sukhumi]], stretching from the [[Bzyp River]] to the western environs of Sukhumi and the Psyrtskha valley, whereas the Abzhywa dialect is spoken south-east of Sukhumi.<ref name=:13/><ref>V.A. Chirikba 2003. Page 7</ref><ref name="ReferenceB">George Hewitt 1998. The Abkhazians. Page 167</ref> The rest of the Abkhaz speaking population inhabits other neighbouring areas.

The exact number of Abkhazians and Abkhaz speakers in Turkey is not clear. The Turkish census denotes 13,951, but the figures are dubious, since the numbers of Abkhazians that came from the beginning of the 19th century to the middle of the 20th have been documented at around 30 thousand.<ref>{{Cite web|date=8 March 2019|title=TÜRKİYE'DE BAĞLI OLDUĞU İLLERE GÖRE ABAZA (AŞUWA-ŞKARAWA VE TAPANTA) KÖYLERİ|url=http://circassiancenter.com/tr/turkiyede-bagli-oldugu-illere-gore-abaza-asuwa-skarawa-ve-tapanta-koyleri/|access-date=28 August 2021|website=Gerçek sizi özgür kılar! ⚜️ The truth will set you free!|language=tr}}</ref> ''Ethnologue'' gives 150,000 Abkhazians living in Turkey, of these 50,000 still speak the language.<ref name=e25/> The head of the Abkhaz federation says there are in between 500 and 700 thousand Abkhazians in Turkey.<ref>{{Cite web|date=5 February 2014|title=Özel Haber) Türkiye'de Abhazlar|url=https://www.haberler.com/ozel-haber-turkiye-de-abhazlar-5628842-haberi/|access-date=28 August 2021|website=Haberler.com|language=tr}}</ref> In general, Abkhaz seems to have been lost by most of the descendants, and bilingualism being low except in some specific areas, although there seems to be an effort for the new generation to learn the language with public schools being able to teach Abkhaz and together with 7,836 second language speakers.<ref name="ReferenceB"/><ref>{{Cite web|title=In one of the public educational schools in Turkey they have begun to study the Abkhaz language|url=https://abkhazworld.com/aw/diaspora/1282-public-educational-schools-in-turkey-they-have-begun-to-study-the-abkhaz|access-date=28 August 2021|website=Abkhaz World |date=21 October 2014 |language=en-gb}}</ref><ref name=:13/> Abkhazian villages are concentrated around the cities of [[Adapazarı]], [[Düzce]], [[Sinop, Turkey|Sinop]], [[Hendek]] and [[Samsun]] in the northern part, and in the west around cities such as [[Bilecik]], [[Inegöl]] and [[Eskişehir]]; they are mainly found in the provinces of [[Sakarya Province|Sakarya]] and [[Bolu Province|Bolu]] in the western part, and near the [[Çoruh]] river in the north-east.<ref>V.A. Chirikba 2003. Page 6</ref><ref name=:13/><ref name=e25/>

Historically the dialects of Sadz, Ahchypsy and Tsabal were located in Abkhazia; Sadz being spoken from the Bzyp river to the [[Matsesta River]], and further to the north-west bordering the [[Sochypsta River]].<ref>V.A. Chirikba 1996. Sadz, an Abkhaz dialect in Turkey.</ref> Today they are exclusively spoken in the northwestern part of Turkey, specially in the Sakarya province, it being spoken in 14 villages.

The other major place where Abkhaz is spoken is in [[Karachay-Cherkessia]], where the Northern dialects are spoken, although there they are considered as a separate language and form the literary [[Abaza language]].<ref>V.A. Chirikba 2003. Page 11</ref><ref name="ReferenceB"/> They are spoken by 37,831 people in Russia,<ref name="RC2010" /> mostly in the south of [[Stavropol Krai]] in the area around [[Kislovodsk]], and in the upper [[Kuma (Russia)|Kuma river]] area.<ref name=:13/>

Abkhaz is also spoken as a minority language around the world. There is a considerable number of Abkhaz speakers in [[Adjara]] in southern Georgia, with the diaspora concentrating itself around the capital [[Batumi]],<ref>V.A. Chirikba 2003. Pages 6-7</ref> with about 982 people considering Abkhaz their first language.<ref name="ReferenceB"/> In the Russian census of 2010, 6,786 speakers of Abkhaz were reported in [[Russia]].<ref name="RC2010" /> In Ukraine there are around 1,458 according to the 2001 census, but of these only 317 speak Abkhazian.<ref>{{Cite web|date=11 March 2007|title=Всеукраїнський перепис населення 2001 {{!}} The distribution of the population by nationality and mother tongue |url=http://www.ukrcensus.gov.ua/eng/results/nationality_population/nationality_1/s5/?box=5.1W&out_type=&id=&rz=1_1&rz_b=2_1&k_t=00&id=&botton=cens_db|access-date=28 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070311004657/http://www.ukrcensus.gov.ua/eng/results/nationality_population/nationality_1/s5/?box=5.1W&out_type=&id=&rz=1_1&rz_b=2_1&k_t=00&id=&botton=cens_db|archive-date=11 March 2007}}</ref> There were also communities in [[Syria]], [[Jordan]] and [[Iraq]] with around 5,000 Abkhazians,<ref name="V.A. Chirikba 2003. Page 8">V.A. Chirikba 2003. Page 8</ref><ref name=:13/> although this number could reach 10,000 according to the Abkhazia's Foreign Ministry.<ref>{{Cite web|date=11 May 2012|title=Abkhaz Syrians return home: Voice of Russia|url=http://english.ruvr.ru/2012_05_05/73887817/|access-date=28 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120511132359/http://english.ruvr.ru/2012_05_05/73887817/|archive-date=11 May 2012}}</ref> The biggest western diaspora is in [[Germany]], with around 5,000 speakers,<ref name="V.A. Chirikba 2003. Page 8"/> but other communities are found in countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, Austria, France, Belgium and so on.