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Hamilton, Ontario, (Canada): Department of Anthropology, McMaster University, 1999. — 189 p.
The present texts are predominantly from the so-called "Nart Sagas." These are old myths of the North Caucasus which show fascinating parallels outside the region (Colarusso 1997; 1994, a; 1994, b; 1989, a; 1989, b; 1989, c; 1988; 1984, a; 1984, b).The languages are presented in a geographic order, starting with Kabardian East Circassian in the eastern extremity of the homeland,(see map, p. 2), and extending west to the Black Sea with Bzhedukh West Circassian, then southward along the coast to 5 Ubykh, then Abaza, just over the mountains, and finally, Abkhaz.Before each text I give the phonemic inventory of each language. Some texts are followed by grammatical comments.
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1 A North West Caucasian Reader: phonemicized ,glossed, and translated texts in East Circassian (Kabardian) West Circassian (Bzhedukh) Ubykh Abaza (Tapanta) Abzhwi Abkhaz* and Bzyb Abkhaz by John Colarusso *with the assistance of B. George Hewitt and Zaira Khiba-Hewitt Department of Anthropology, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada ©1999, John Colarusso Table of Contents - i 2 Introduction 1 I. Kabardian (East Circassian) phonemic inventory and grammatical remarks 2 “Tlepsh and Lady Tree,” transliterated text 4 phonemic rendering, glossing, and analysis 8 translation 19 notes 22 II. Bzhedukh (West Circassian) phonemic inventory 24 “Khimishuquo Pataraz,” transliterated text, with phonemic rendering, glossing, and analysis 25 translation 56 notes 62 III. Ubykh phonemic inventory 63 comments on stress in Ubykh, Abaza, and Abkhaz 64 text 1, “The Adventures of Marchan Shagy,” with phonemic rendering, glossing, and analysis 66 translation 72 notes 73 text 2, “Satanaya’s Lament for Yarichkhaw,” with phonemic rendering, glossing, and analysis 74 translation 76 text 3, “Chapsha or the Insomnia Song,” with phonemic rendering, 77 glossing, and analysis 77 ii 3 translation 79 IV. Abaza (T’ap’anta dialect) phonemic inventory and grammatical remark 81 “Sosruquo and Sotrash,” transliterated text with phonemic rendering, glossing, and analysis 82 translation 108 notes 112 V. Abkhaz (Abzhwi) phonemic inventory of Abzhwi 114 note on tense 115 “The Birth of Sasruquo,” transliterated Abzhwi text, with phonemic rendering, glossing, and analysis 116 translation 157 note 162 phonemic inventory of Bzyb 163 phonological comment 164 transliterated Bzyb text, “A Tale of the Nart Race” with phonemic rendering, glossing, and analysis 165 translation 176 note 177 References 178 Appendix, Orthographies and Original Texts 181 Kabardian East Circassian orthography (after Kuipers 1960) 182 original text 183 iii 4 Bzhedukh West Circassian orthography (after Rogava and Kerasheva 1966, chart 2 following p. 56) 186 original text (courtesy of Isa T’harquakhwa after Kube Shaban) 187 Abaza orthography (after Serdyuchenko 1956, pp. 598-9) 193 original text (from Meremkulov and Salakaja 1975, pp. 106-9) 194 Abkhaz orthog