Lexical and semantic features of the speech of the Circassians in Uzun-Yayla (Turkey, Kayseri province)

Abstract:

The attention of linguists is always attracted by the speech of a group of people living from the bulk of the people. Depending on various sociolinguistic situations, the language of the inhabitants of the diaspora is subjected to various influences, which leads to significant changes in their speech.  Moreover, in this sociolinguistic situation, two opposing processes are observed: on the one hand, the desire of native speakers to preserve the language in the form that they brought from their historical homeland; on the other hand, the active assimilative influence of surrounding languages.

The focus of our research attention is on the speech of the Circassian diaspora in Turkey, in particular, residents of the Uzun-Yail region of the Vilayet Kayseri, speaking the Kabardian version of the Circassian language.

The problem of the functioning of the Circassian language in Turkey was given attention by previous researchers, however, their observations were of a general nature or, conversely, were devoted to individual problems of the functioning of this language.

The lexical-semantic features of the speech of the Circassians in Uzun-Yayla were not the subject of special study in linguistic Adygology. Meanwhile, observations of the speech of the Circassians living in the indicated area and in the city of Kayseri reveal significant changes that distinguish this speech from the speech of the Circassians living in Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachay-Cherkessia.

First of all, there is the use of certain words and expressions with altered semantics.  For example, the word Ietizhyn is pan-Adyghe and has the meaning of “lift up (something has fallen)”, and in the speech of the Circassians of Uzun-Yailin people has the meaning of “cancel”: Khabzar gashash1em kyek1uzhim zha1eri yaetyzhas “This custom does not correspond to modern life was said and canceled”.

The semantic transformation is also observed when using the common Adyghe word kutezhyn, meaning “to break, break something”: Nehu shchygyuem nemysypeu jagur yakutezhas “Until dawn came, the dances stopped (lit.: broke)”.

The changes received expressions regarding modern means of communication, in particular cell phones. The very name of these phones is a telephone borrowed from the Turkish language and translates as “pocket phone”. The meaning “answer the call” is conveyed by the expression telephoner ze1uhyn letters: “open the phone”, and instead of the phrase “call by phone” the verbal word kel’yyuhuen “search” is used (nobe Aydin t1eu kel’yyyhuas “today Aydin called twice”).

In the work of A.A.Abazova, devoted to the speech of Turkish Circassians, cites the word guein as a word with semantic transformation, since in the literary Kabardino-Circassian language it is used in the meaning of “bleat (about sheep, goats)”, and among the Circassians of Turkey it is used in the meaning of “cry”.  In this case, we are not observing a semantic transformation of the same word, but a phonetic version of the word Guegyn “cry”. The fact is that the speech of the Turkish Circassians retained the original back-lingual palatalized sound g’, which turned into the modern Kabardino-Circassian language in g, and then into the affricate J.  Cf .: lit.  djane, diasp.  g’ane “shirt”, lit.  jagu, diasp.  g’egu “dancing party.” In the word guein, there was a transition of г to g’, and then to a sound close to th: guegyn went to gueyin, then to gueyin, in all forms it means “cry”.

It is known that residents of the diaspora, as a rule, conserve both the language and the sociocultural realities that took place in their lives in their historical homeland.  This example illustrates just such a phenomenon.

This work is the beginning of a fundamental study of the speech of Circassians living compactly in Turkey, which will highlight the features of their speech at all levels of the Circassian language.

Keywords: diaspora, semantic transformation, Circassian language, vocabulary