language spoken primarily in the western part of the Caucasus Mountains and in northeastern Turkey. Abaza is related to Abkhaz, Adyghian, Kabardian (Circassian), and Ubykh, which constitute the Abkhazo-Adyghian, or Northwest Caucasian, language group. These languages are noted for the great number of distinctive consonants and the limited number of distinctive vowels in their sound systems. Abaza, like Abkhaz, has no grammatical cases. Abaza is written as well as spoken.