阿布扎伊族介绍(英文).doc

THE ABAZIANS The self-designation is Abaza, which is how they are known by the neighbouring nations of the Cherkess, Adyghians and Kabardians. The Abkhaz know them as ashvy. Abaza belongs to the Abkhazo-Adyghian group of the Caucasian languages. It is close to Abkhaz, but contains also elements characteristic of Kabardian. Of all languages spoken in the former USSR, Abaza phonetics are considered the most difficult. The Abaza language is divided into two dialects corresponding to the two kinship communities Tapanta and Shkaraua. There are five subdialects: Abazakt, Apsua, Kubin-Elburgan, Kuvin and Psyzh-Krasnovostok. The habitat of the Abazians lies in the foothills of the main range of the Great Caucasian mountains on the upper reaches of the Big and Little Zelenchuk, Kuban and Kuma rivers. Most of the Abazian people live in 13 villages of the Karachay-Cherkess Autonomous Area, Stavropol District, but some of them live scattered in Kabardinian, Nogay and Adyghian villages. Two Abaza villages are situated near Kislovodsk. Population data exists only since the end of the 19th century: （自19世纪以来的人口数据表格） The data is indicative of a continuous growth in population and a rather high, although decreasing, number of mother tongue speakers. Anthropologically the Abazians belong to the Balkano-Caucasian race and bear the features of the Pontic and Caucasian type. They have relatively light skin, a round head and are of medium stature. The religion of the Abazians is Sunnite Islam, embraced in the 17th--18th centuries to replace Christianity. Yet both the earlier Christianity and the later Islam are heavily mixed with pagan customs and beliefs the influence of which can be observed even today. The ethnological development of the Abazian people resembles that of the Abkhaz people. Both peoples are descended from the proto-Abkhaz tribes who in the first millenium BC inhabited an area near the Black Sea (from the present-day Tuapse to Sukhumi). By the 8th century four diffe