Editing Abkhaz language (section)

== Dialects ==
=== Classification ===
Abkhaz is generally viewed as having three major dialects:<ref>Bert Vaux, 1997. The Phonetics and Phonology of Secondary Articulations in Abkhaz.</ref>
* '''Abzhywa''', spoken in the Caucasus, and named after the historical area of [[Abzhywa]] (Абжьыуа), sometimes referred to as '''Abzhui''', the [[Russian language|Russified]] form of the name (''Abzhuiski dialekt'', derived from the Russian form of the name for the area, {{lang|ru|Абжуа}}).
* '''[[Bzyb dialect|Bzyb]]''' or Bzyp, spoken in the Caucasus and in Turkey, and named after the [[Bzyb (region)|Bzyb]] ({{langx|ab|Бзыԥ|links=no}}) area.
* '''Sadz''', nowadays spoken only in Turkey, formerly also spoken between the rivers [[Bzyb River|Bzyp]] and Khosta.

The [[literary language]] is based on the Abzhywa dialect.<ref>{{Cite web|title=АБХАЗСКИЙ ЯЗЫК • Большая российская энциклопедия - электронная версия|url=https://bigenc.ru/linguistics/text/5199578|access-date=28 August 2021|website=bigenc.ru}}</ref>

Below is a classification of Abkhaz dialects according to [[Viacheslav Chirikba|Chirikba]] (1996):<ref>{{harvp|Chirikba|1996}}</ref>{{rp|xv}}

*Common Abkhaz (Proto-Abkhaz)
**North Abkhaz
***''Tapanta''
**''Ashkharywa''
**South Abkhaz
***Southwestern
****''Sadz''
***Southeastern
****''Ahchypsy'', ''Bzyp''
****''Tsabal'', ''Abzhywa''

=== General characteristics ===
In some form or the other, all dialects are richer in phonemes than the standard Abzhywa dialect.<ref>V.A. Chirkba 2003. Page 12</ref> The only dialects spoken in Abkhazia are Abzhywa and Bzyp. Northern dialects which are the basis for literary Abaza are spoken in [[Karachay-Cherkessia]], while the other dialects such as Sadz are spoken in [[Turkey]] due to [[Russo-Circassian War|Russian invasions]] in the 19th century.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Hewitt|first=George|title=The Abkhazians|publisher=SMP|year=1998|location=United States|pages=167}}</ref><ref>V.A. Chirikba 1996. Sadz, an Abkhaz Dialect in Turkey.</ref><ref>V.A. Chirikba 1996. A dictionary of common Abkhaz. Page II</ref> While most differences are phonetic, differences in the lexicon are present, although mostly due to exterior contact.<ref>{{Cite book|last=V.A|first=Chirikba|title=Abkhaz|year=2003|pages=11–14}}</ref> Bzyp contains the most preserved lexicon, with few borrowings. Abzhywa has adopted many loans from [[Kartvelian languages|Kartvelian]], specially [[Mingrelian language|Mingrelian]]; Sadz on the other hand has more words from [[Circassian languages|Circassian]]. Northern dialects in general have more loanwords from Persian, Arabic, Turkish and Circassian.