Circassian pronouns

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In the Circassian language, pronouns belong to the following groups: personal, demonstrative, possessive, interrogative, reflexive, determinative, and indefinite.

In Circassian, personal pronouns are strictly expressed only in the first person and second person in singular and plural forms.

Circassian does not have gender-distinguishing pronouns. Unlike most languages, it does not have "traditional" third-person pronouns (he, she, it, they). The concept of the third person is expressed using demonstrative pronouns.

Examples:

Circassian uses demonstrative pronouns to fulfill the role of the third person. Unlike English "he", "she", or "it", which are abstract references, Circassian pronouns are spatial—they point to "that one" or "this one".

There are three main demonstratives, distinguished by distance and visibility:

• а (Neutral/Invisible): Refers to someone/something not visible, abstract, or mentioned previously.
• мы (Proximal): Refers to someone/something visible and close to the speaker ("this one").
• мо (Distal): Refers to someone/something visible but far away ("that one over there").

A major difference between West and East Circassian appears in the Oblique/Ergative case: West uses -щ (-ɕ), while East uses -бы (-bə).

Examples:

Circassian has specific reflexive pronouns used when the subject and object are the same person (e.g., "He hurt himself"). These are primarily used for the third person.

Example:

Possessive pronouns indicate ownership ("mine", "yours"). In Circassian, these are distinct from the possessive prefixes attached to nouns.

Examples:

Possession is a key grammatical feature in Adyghe. Unlike independent possessive pronouns ("mine"), these are prefixes attached directly to the noun. Nouns are divided into two categories based on the relationship between the possessor and the possessed:

• Inalienable (Organic) possession: Used for things that cannot be separated from the possessor (body parts, family, intrinsic positions).
• Alienable (Proprietary) possession: Used for transferable property, objects, and concepts.

Note: This distinction is strictly maintained in West Adyghe. In Eastern Circassian (Kabardian), this distinction has largely disappeared, and the "Alienable" prefixes are used for almost all nouns.

In West Adyghe, inalienable possession is marked by short prefixes attached to the noun stem. This category includes:

• Body parts: e.g., head, heart, leg.
• Kinship terms: e.g., mother, brother, daughter.
• Name: ыцӏэ
• Part-whole relations: ычӏэгъ (its under), ыкӏоцӏ (its inside), ыпэ (its front/nose).

Alienable possession is used for separable items, such as property, animals, concepts, and material objects. In West Adyghe, these prefixes involve the additional vowel -и- (-i-). In Kabardian, these same prefixes are used for almost all situations.

Interrogative pronouns correspond to English Wh-words.

Examples:

The main indefinite pronoun is someone/something.

Examples:

Indicatory pronouns are predicative forms used to say "It is X".

Examples:

The Shapsug dialect of West Adyghe preserves specific demonstrative forms that differ from the standard literary language. These include the specific proximal дымы ("this one right here") and the specific distal дымо ("that one way over there").

Dialectal Examples:

Dialectal Indicatory Forms:

• Аркадьев, П. М.; Ландер, Ю. А.; Летучий, А. Б.; Сумбатова, Н. Р.; Тестелец, Я. Г. Введение. Основные сведения об адыгейском языке в кн.: "Аспекты полисинтетизма: очерки по грамматике адыгейского языка" под ред.: П. М. Аркадьев, А. Б. Летучий, Н. Р. Сумбатова, Я. Г. Тестелец. Москва: РГГУ, 2009 (Arkadiev, P. M.; Lander, Yu. A.; Letuchiy, A. B.; Sumbatova, N. R.; Testelets, Ya. G.
• Introduction. Basic information about Adyghe language in "Aspects of polysyntheticity: studies on Adyghe grammar" edited by: P. M. Arkadiev, A. B. Letuchiy, N. R. Sumbatova, Ya. G. Testelets. Moscow, RGGU, 2009) (in Russian) ISBN 978-5-7281-1075-0