abkhasian
Alternative name(s): Abchasisch (nl), abchasiska (sv)
Language family: Caucasian
Language Group: West Caucasian
Geaographical use: Abkhazia (West Georgia)
Information: Abkhazian has only two vowels
- no other language has less vowels. During Stalin's rule Abkhazia was
incorporated into Georgia and education in the Abkhazian language was
forbidden. The Georgian language was
introduced instead. After the Soviet collapse, the Abkhazians pronounced
themselves independent from Georgia, a fact confirmed by the defeat of
Georgian troops in September 1993.
Abkhazian is written in a modified Cyrillic
alphabet (developed in 1862) and is currently spoken by around 90,000
people.
