The Abkhaz language is a Northwest Caucasian language primarily spoken in Abkhazia, a region on the Black Sea coast. It is the official language of Abkhazia and is recognized for its complex phonetic system, which includes a large number of consonants and relatively few vowels. Abkhaz is written using the Cyrillic alphabet, which was adopted in the 1930s. The language has several dialects, with the most prominent being Abzhywa and Bzyp. Despite its rich linguistic heritage, the number of native speakers has declined due to political and social changes in the region.