The Proto-Kartvelian language, or Common Kartvelian ( ka, წინარექართველური ენა, tr), is the

linguistic reconstruction 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 t ...

of the common ancestor of the

Kartvelian languages The Kartvelian languages (; ka, ქართველური ენები, tr; also known as South Caucasian, Kartvelic, and Iberian languagesBoeder (2002), p. 3) are a language family indigenous to the South Caucasus and spoken primari ...

, 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.Britannica, 15th edition (1986): Macropedia, "Languages of the World", "Caucasian languages"
/ref> Several linguists, namely, Gerhard Deeters and Georgy Klimov have also reconstructed a lower-level

proto-language In the tree model of historical linguistics, a proto-language is a postulated ancestral language from which a number of attested languages are believed to have descended by evolution, forming a language family. Proto-languages are usually unattes ...

called Proto-Karto-Zan or Proto-Georgian-Zan, which is the ancestor of Karto-Zan languages (includes Georgian and

Zan Zan or ZAN, may refer to: Geography * Zhan, Kurdistan, Iran, also known as Zān * Zhan, Lorestan, Iran, also known as Žān * Zan, Tehran, a village in Tehran Province, Iran Ethnicity and language * Zans, the Zan People, people who speak the Za ...

Influences

The

ablaut In linguistics, the Indo-European ablaut (, from German '' Ablaut'' ) is a system of apophony (regular vowel variations) in the Proto-Indo-European language (PIE). An example of ablaut in English is the strong verb ''sing, sang, sung'' and its ...

patterns of Proto-Kartvelian are highly similar to those of the

Indo-European languages The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Dutc ...

, and so it is thought that Proto-Kartvelian interacted with Indo-European at a relatively early date.Gamkrelidze & Ivanov (1995), pp. 768, 774–776 This is reinforced by words borrowed from Indo-European, such as the Proto-Kartvelian '' *mḳerd-'' (breast), and its possible relation to the Proto-Indo-European '' *ḱerd-'' (heart). Proto-Kartvelian '' *ṭep-'' (warm) may also be directly derived from Proto-Indo-European ''*tep-'' "warm".

Relation to descendants

The modern descendants of Proto-Kartvelian are Georgian, Svan,

Mingrelian Mingrelian may refer to: *the Mingrelians *the Mingrelian language Mingrelian or Megrelian (, ) is a Kartvelian language spoken in Western Georgia (regions of Mingrelia and Abkhazia), primarily by the Mingrelians. The language was also called kol ...

and Laz. The ablaut patterns of Proto-Kartvelian were better preserved in Georgian and (particularly) Svan than in either Mingrelian or Laz, in which new forms have been set up so that there is a single, stable vowel in each word element. The system of

pronoun In linguistics and grammar, a pronoun (abbreviated ) is a word or a group of words that one may substitute for a noun or noun phrase. Pronouns have traditionally been regarded as one of the parts of speech, but some modern theorists would not c ...

s of Proto-Kartvelian is distinct on account of its category of inclusive– exclusive (so, for instance, there were two forms of the pronoun "we": one that includes the listener and one that does not). This has survived in Svan but not in the other languages. Svan also includes a number of archaisms from the Proto-Kartvelian era, and therefore it is thought that Svan broke off from Proto-Kartvelian at a relatively early stage: the later Proto-Kartvelian stage (called Karto-Zan) split into Georgian and

(Mingrelo-Laz).

Phonology

Vowels

Consonants

Distinction between plain q and

ejective In phonetics, ejective consonants are usually voiceless consonants that are pronounced with a glottalic egressive airstream. In the phonology of a particular language, ejectives may contrast with aspirated, voiced and tenuis consonants. Some ...

q' remains only in

Svan language Svan ( ''lušnu nin''; ka, სვანური ენა, tr) is a Kartvelian language spoken in the western Georgian region of Svaneti primarily by the Svan people. With its speakers variously estimated to be between 30,000 and 80,000, the ...

. This distinction also existed in Old Georgian.

Notes

References

Encyclopædia Britannica The (Latin for "British Encyclopædia") is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; the company has existed since the 18th century, although it has changed ownership various t ...

, 15th edition (1986): Macropedia, "Languages of the World", see section titled
Caucasian languages"
* * Gamkrelidze, Th. (1966) "A Typology of Common Kartvelian", ''Language, Vol. 42, No. 1 (Jan. – Mar.), pp. 69–83'' * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kartvelian, Proto, Language Agglutinative languages Kartvelian language Proto-Kartvelian language