On March 14, 2018 at the initiative of the Peace Languages Museum and the Leibniz Center for General Linguistics a lecture "The Abkhazian language as a mirror of the history and culture of Abkhazia" was held in Berlin. It was read by Hibla Amichba, Ph.D. in Philology, the Plenipotentiary Representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Abkhazia in Germany.
"Once a month this center provides an opportunity for linguists to deliver lectures in various fields of linguistics. I am grateful to the organizers for their interest in the Abkhaz language and most of all for our history and in general in Abkhazia. We showed a film about Abkhazia in German, told about how one of the oldest, phonetically complex languages of the world - together with related West Caucasian ones – had being developed, sounded and delivered valuable information about the whole nation to this day. The leitmotif we chose the famous phrase of Jacob Grimm "Our language is also our history".
An interesting excursion was given into the history of its study - including German scientists - Guldenstedt, Rosen, Dirr, and others. It is interesting and it is little known that on the instructions of Catherine the Great the German scientist Peter Simon Pallas in 1787 compiled a comparative dictionary all languages and adverbs known at that time. The vocabulary began with the Abkhaz language and the word Ancha - the "God."
We tried to tell, as far as possible within the framework of the lecture about the European scientists-travelers, the links of Abkhazia with Europe, the Abkhaz and Circassian diaspora and its famous personalities, and how history and culture are reflected in the language. The samples of Abkhazian music were listened in the recording and in our instrumental performance (the organizers offered and provided the necessary technical support).
Sariya Kapba, a student of the 4th class of the Rinana school read poems in the Abkhaz language in Berlin. Also, the translation of Goethe's poem into the Abkhaz language by Bagrat Shinkuba and an excerpt from the novel "The Last of the Departed" in German translation was read.
After the lecture and presentation were over, the listeners - both specialists and just Berliners - asked questions for another hour and a half. It was amazing and very gratifying to see how great is interest in Abkhazia,in the Caucasus to such close and yet unknown the Abkhaz language. We were asked whether it was possible to go there, how to get closer to our language, where to find the grammar and dictionaries, etc.
The most important result, along with this, we see is that the materials about Abkhazia and our native language will be included in the library of the Leibniz Center for General Linguistics and in the Museum of World Languages, which will be created in Berlin. "
"Once a month this center provides an opportunity for linguists to deliver lectures in various fields of linguistics. I am grateful to the organizers for their interest in the Abkhaz language and most of all for our history and in general in Abkhazia. We showed a film about Abkhazia in German, told about how one of the oldest, phonetically complex languages of the world - together with related West Caucasian ones – had being developed, sounded and delivered valuable information about the whole nation to this day. The leitmotif we chose the famous phrase of Jacob Grimm "Our language is also our history".
An interesting excursion was given into the history of its study - including German scientists - Guldenstedt, Rosen, Dirr, and others. It is interesting and it is little known that on the instructions of Catherine the Great the German scientist Peter Simon Pallas in 1787 compiled a comparative dictionary all languages and adverbs known at that time. The vocabulary began with the Abkhaz language and the word Ancha - the "God."
We tried to tell, as far as possible within the framework of the lecture about the European scientists-travelers, the links of Abkhazia with Europe, the Abkhaz and Circassian diaspora and its famous personalities, and how history and culture are reflected in the language. The samples of Abkhazian music were listened in the recording and in our instrumental performance (the organizers offered and provided the necessary technical support).
Sariya Kapba, a student of the 4th class of the Rinana school read poems in the Abkhaz language in Berlin. Also, the translation of Goethe's poem into the Abkhaz language by Bagrat Shinkuba and an excerpt from the novel "The Last of the Departed" in German translation was read.
After the lecture and presentation were over, the listeners - both specialists and just Berliners - asked questions for another hour and a half. It was amazing and very gratifying to see how great is interest in Abkhazia,in the Caucasus to such close and yet unknown the Abkhaz language. We were asked whether it was possible to go there, how to get closer to our language, where to find the grammar and dictionaries, etc.
The most important result, along with this, we see is that the materials about Abkhazia and our native language will be included in the library of the Leibniz Center for General Linguistics and in the Museum of World Languages, which will be created in Berlin. "