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Proto-Georgian–Zan Language
Proto-Georgian–Zan (also referred to as Proto-Karto-Zan) is a reconstructed language which is the common ancestor of Karto-Zan languages. It is hypothesized to have diverged from Proto-Kartvelian during the 19th century BC and to have split into the ancestor of the Zan languages The Zan languages, or Zanuri ( ka, ზანური ენები) or Colchidian, are a branch of the Kartvelian languages constituted by the Mingrelian and Laz languages. The grouping is disputed as some Georgian linguists consider the two ... and the Georgic languages (ancestor of Judaeo-Georgian and Georgian and dialects) around the 8th century BC or 7th century BC. The phonology of Proto-Georgian–Zan is essentially identical to Proto-Kartvelian in both vowel sounds and consonant sounds, although the lexicon has slightly diverged, as evidenced by the lack of certain words related to metallurgy and agriculture present in Svan. References Agglutinative languages Kartvelian langu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Proto-Kartvelian
The Proto-Kartvelian language, or Common Kartvelian ( ka, წინარექართველური ენა, tr, ka, პროტოქართველური ენა, tr), is the linguistic reconstruction of the common ancestor of the Kartvelian languages, which was spoken by the ancestors of the modern Kartvelian peoples. The existence of such a language is widely accepted by specialists in linguistics, who have reconstructed a broad outline of the language by comparing the existing Kartvelian languages against each other. Several linguists, namely Gerhard Deeters and Georgy Klimov have also reconstructed a lower-level proto-language called Proto-Karto-Zan or Proto-Georgian-Zan, which is the ancestor of Karto-Zan languages (includes Georgian and Zan). The Bashplemi lake tablet is thought to possibly be Proto-Kartvelian. Influences The ablaut patterns of Proto-Kartvelian are highly similar to those of the Indo-European languages, and so it is thought tha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Karto-Zan Languages
The Karto-Zan languages, also known as Georgian–Zan, are a branch of the Kartvelian language family that contains the Georgian and Zan languages. The Svan language forms the other branch of the Kartvelian family, showing characteristic differences from the Karto-Zan group. It has been hypothesized that the divergence between Svan and Proto-Kartvelian goes back as far as the 19th century BC. Georgian and Zan on the other hand diversified from Proto-Georgian–Zan during the 7th century BC. Both languages share common archaic words related to metallurgy and agriculture absent in Svan. Classification The Karto-Zan languages constitute a branch of the Kartvelian language family. Glottolog internally divides the Karto-Zan group into the Georgic languages, which contain Georgian and its dialects, and Old Georgian, and the Zan languages The Zan languages, or Zanuri ( ka, ზანური ენები) or Colchidian, are a branch of the Kartvelian languages constituted b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reconstructed Language
Linguistic reconstruction is the practice of establishing the features of an unattested ancestor language of one or more given languages. There are two kinds of reconstruction: * Internal reconstruction uses irregularities in a single language to make inferences about an earlier stage of that language – that is, it is based on evidence from that language alone. * Comparative reconstruction, usually referred to just as reconstruction, establishes features of the ancestor of two or more related languages, belonging to the same language family, by means of the comparative method. A language reconstructed in this way is often referred to as a proto-language (the common ancestor of all the languages in a given family). Texts discussing linguistic reconstruction commonly preface reconstructed forms with an asterisk (*) to distinguish them from attested forms. An attested word from which a root in the proto-language is reconstructed is a . More generally, a reflex is the known deriv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Proto-Kartvelian Language
The Proto-Kartvelian language, or Common Kartvelian ( ka, წინარექართველური ენა, tr, ka, პროტოქართველური ენა, tr), is the linguistic reconstruction of the common ancestor of the Kartvelian languages, which was spoken by the ancestors of the modern Kartvelian peoples. The existence of such a language is widely accepted by specialists in linguistics, who have reconstructed a broad outline of the language by comparing the existing Kartvelian languages against each other. Several linguists, namely Gerhard Deeters and Georgy Klimov have also reconstructed a lower-level proto-language called Proto-Karto-Zan or Proto-Georgian-Zan, which is the ancestor of Karto-Zan languages (includes Georgian and Zan). The Bashplemi lake tablet is thought to possibly be Proto-Kartvelian. Influences The ablaut patterns of Proto-Kartvelian are highly similar to those of the Indo-European languages, and so it is thought tha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zan Languages
The Zan languages, or Zanuri ( ka, ზანური ენები) or Colchidian, are a branch of the Kartvelian languages constituted by the Mingrelian and Laz languages. The grouping is disputed as some Georgian linguists consider the two to form a dialect continuum of one Zan language. This is often challenged on the most commonly applied criteria of mutual intelligibility when determining borders between languages, as Mingrelian and Laz are only partially mutually intelligible, though speakers of one language can recognize a sizable amount of vocabulary of the other, primarily due to semantic loans, lexical loans and other areal features resulting from geographical proximity and historical close contact common for dialect continuums. The term ''Zan'' comes from the Greco-Roman name of one of the chief Colchian tribes, which is almost identical to the name given to the Mingrelians by the Svans ( ''mə-zän''). Georgian linguist Akaki Shanidze proposed the name "Co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Judaeo-Georgian
Judeo-Georgian, known endonymically as () and also known as Gruzinic, is the traditional Georgian dialect spoken by the Georgian Jews, the ancient Jewish community of the South Caucasus nation of Georgia. History Georgian-speaking Jews maintain one of the oldest Jewish communities in the world. The most popular theory on the origins of Georgian Jewry is that the first Jews in Georgia arrived 2600 years ago after escaping Babylonian captivity. Relationship to other languages Judaeo-Georgian is the only Kartvelian Jewish dialect. Its status as a distinct language from the Georgian language is the subject of some debate. With the exception of a significant number of Hebrew loanwords, the language is reportedly largely mutually intelligible with Georgian. Distribution In the beginning of the late 19th century, there were large Jewish communities across Georgia, including Tbilisi, Kutaisi, and Tskhinvali in South Ossetia. Small Jewish communities existed across almost every p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Svan Language
Svan ( ''lušnu nin''; ka, სვანური ენა, tr) is a Kartvelian languages, Kartvelian language spoken in the western Georgia (country), Georgian region of Svaneti primarily by the Svans, Svan people. With its speakers variously estimated to be between 30,000 and 80,000, the UNESCO designates Svan as a "definitely endangered language". It is of particular interest because it has retained many features that have been lost in the other Kartvelian languages. Features Familial features Like all languages of the Caucasian language family, Svan has a large number of consonants. It has agreement between subject and object, and a split ergativity, split-ergative Morphosyntactic alignment, morphosyntactic system. Verbs are marked for grammatical aspect, aspect, evidentiality and Kartvelian languages#Verb, "version". Distinguishing features Svan retains the voiceless uvular plosive, voiceless aspirated uvular plosive, , and the glides and . It has a larger vowel inventor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Georgian Language
Georgian (, ) is the most widely spoken Kartvelian language, Kartvelian language family. It is the official language of Georgia (country), Georgia and the native or primary language of 88% of its population. It also serves as the literary language or lingua franca for speakers of related languages. Its speakers today amount to approximately 3.8 million. Georgian is written with its own unique Georgian scripts, alphabet, alphabetical systems of unclear origin. Georgian is most closely related to the Zan languages (Megrelian and Laz language, Laz) and more distantly to Svan language, Svan. Georgian has various dialects, with standard Georgian based on the Kartlian dialect, and all dialects are mutually intelligible. The history of Georgian spans from Early Old Georgian in the 5th century, to Modern Georgian today. Its development as a written language began with the Christianization of Georgia in the 4th century. Georgian phonology features a rich consonant system, including aspi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mingrelian Language
The Mingrelian or Megrelian language ( ) is a Kartvelian language spoken in Western Georgia (regions of Mingrelia and Abkhazia), primarily by the Mingrelians. Mingrelian has historically been only a regional language within the boundaries of historical Georgian states and then modern Georgia, and the number of younger people speaking it has decreased substantially, with UNESCO designating it as a "definitely endangered language". Distribution and status No reliable figure exists for the number of native speakers of Mingrelian, but it is estimated to be between 300,000 and 500,000. Most speakers live in the Mingrelia (or Samegrelo and formerly Odishi) region of Georgia, which comprises the Odishi Hills and the Colchis Lowlands, from the Black Sea coast to the Svan Mountains and the Tskhenistskali River. Smaller enclaves existed in Abkhazia, but the ongoing civil unrest there has displaced many Mingrelian speakers to other regions of Georgia. Their geographical distribution i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Laz Language
The Laz or Lazuri language () is a Kartvelian languages, Kartvelian language spoken by the Laz people on the southeastern shore of the Black Sea. In 2007, it was estimated that there were around 20,000 native speakers in Turkey, in a strip of land extending from Melyat to the Georgian border (officially called Lazistan until 1925), and around 1,000 native speakers around Adjara in Georgia (country), Georgia. There are also around 1,000 native speakers of Laz in Germany. Laz is not historically a written language or literary language. As of 1989, Benninghaus could write that the Laz themselves had no interest in writing in Laz. Classification Laz is one of the four Kartvelian languages also known as South Caucasian languages. Along with Mingrelian language, Mingrelian, it forms the Zan languages, Zan branch of this Kartvelian languages, Kartvelian language family. The two languages are very closely related, to the extent that some linguists refer to Mingrelian and Laz as dial ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Agglutinative Languages
An agglutinative language is a type of language that primarily forms words by stringing together morphemes (word parts)—each typically representing a single grammatical meaning—without significant modification to their forms ( agglutinations). In such languages, affixes ( prefixes, suffixes, infixes, or circumfixes) are added to a root word in a linear and systematic way, creating complex words that encode detailed grammatical information. This structure allows for a high degree of transparency, as the boundaries between morphemes are usually clear and their meanings consistent. Agglutinative languages are a subset of synthetic languages. Within this category, they are distinguished from fusional languages, where morphemes often blend or change form to express multiple grammatical functions, and from polysynthetic languages, which can combine numerous morphemes into single words with complex meanings. Examples of agglutinative languages include Turkish, Finnish, Japane ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kartvelian Languages
The Kartvelian languages ( ; ka, ქართველური ენები, tr; also known as South Caucasian or Kartvelic languages Boeder (2002), p. 3) are a language family indigenous to the South Caucasus and spoken primarily in Georgia. There are approximately 5 million Georgian language speakers worldwide, with large groups in Russia, Iran, the United States, the European Union, Israel, and northeastern Turkey. The Kartvelian family has no known relation to any other language family, making it one of the world's primary language families. The most widely spoken of these languages is Georgian. The earliest literary source in any Kartvelian language is the Old Georgian Bir el Qutt inscriptions, written in ancient Georgian Asomtavruli script at the once-existing Georgian monastery near Bethlehem,Lang (1966), p. 154 dated to . Georgian scripts are used to write all Kartvelian languages. Status Georgian is the official language of Georgia (spoken by 90% of the p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
