Georgian language

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Georgian
kartuli ena
ქართული ენა
Kartuli written in Georgian script
Pronunciation[ˈkʰartʰuli ˈena]
Native toGeorgia
RegionSouth Caucasus
EthnicityGeorgians
speakersL1: 3.76 million (2020)[1]
L2: 150,000 (2014)[1]
Early form
Dialects
Official status
Official language in
 
Cabinet of Georgia
Language codes
ISO 639-1ka
ISO 639-2geo (B)
kat (T)
ISO 639-3kat
Glottolognucl1302
Linguasphere42-CAB-baa – bac
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.
This article contains Georgian text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Georgian letters.

Georgian (ქართული ენა,

unique alphabet.[1]

Classification

No claimed genetic links between the Kartvelian languages and any other language family in the world are accepted in mainstream linguistics. Among the Kartvelian languages, Georgian is most closely related to the so-called

Megrelian and Laz); glottochronological studies indicate that it split from the latter approximately 2700 years ago. Svan is a more distant relative that split off much earlier, perhaps 4000 years ago.[4]

Dialects

Main article: Georgian dialects

Standard Georgian is largely based on the Kartlian dialect.[5] Over the centuries, it has exerted a strong influence on the other dialects. As a result, they are all, generally, mutually intelligible with standard Georgian, and with one another.[6]

History

Further information: Kartvelian languages, Proto-Kartvelian language, Proto-Georgian–Zan language, and Old Georgian
Part of a series on
Georgians
ქართველები
The
Kartvelian
people
Nation
Georgia
Ancient Kartvelian people
  • Colchians
  • Iberians
Subgroups
Culture
Languages
Religion
Symbols
History of Georgia

The history of the Georgian language is conventionally divided into the following phases:[7]

  • Early
    Old Georgian
    : 5th–8th centuries
  • Classical Old Georgian: 9th–11th centuries
  • Middle Georgian: 11th/12th–17th/18th centuries
  • Modern Georgian: 17th/18th century–present

The earliest extant references to Georgian are found in the writings of Marcus Cornelius Fronto, a Roman grammarian from the 2nd century AD.[8] The first direct attestations of the language are inscriptions and palimpsests dating to the 5th century, and the oldest surviving literary work is the 5th century Martyrdom of the Holy Queen Shushanik by Iakob Tsurtaveli.

The emergence of Georgian as a written language appears to have been the result of the

Christianization of Georgia in the mid-4th century, which led to the replacement of Aramaic as the literary language.[7]

By the 11th century, Old Georgian had developed into Middle Georgian. The most famous work of this period is the epic poem The Knight in the Panther's Skin, written by Shota Rustaveli in the 12th century.

In 1629, a certain Nikoloz Cholokashvili authored the first printed books written (partially) in Georgian, the Alphabetum Ibericum sive Georgianum cum Oratione and the Dittionario giorgiano e italiano. These were meant to help western Catholic missionaries learn Georgian for evangelical purposes.[9]

Phonology

Consonants

On the left are IPA symbols, and on the right are the corresponding letters of the modern Georgian alphabet, which is essentially phonemic.

Consonants[10][11]
  Labial Dental/
Alveolar 		Post-alveolar Velar Uvular Glottal
Nasal m   მ
n
   ნ
Stop
 aspirated pʰ   ფ tʰ   თ kʰ   ქ
voiced b   ბ7, 8
d
   დ7, 8 		ɡ   გ7, 8
ejective pʼ   პ
tʼ
   ტ 		kʼ   კ qʼ3   ყ
Affricate
 (aspirated) t͡sʰ1   ც t͡ʃʰ1   ჩ
voiced d͡z   ძ d͡ʒ   ჯ
ejective t͡sʼ   წ t͡ʃʼ   ჭ
Fricative
 voiceless s   ს ʃ   შ x 2   ხ h   ჰ
voiced v   ვ6 z   ზ ʒ   ჟ ɣ 2   ღ
Vibrant
r
   რ4
Lateral
l
   ლ5
  1. Opinions differ on the aspiration of /t͡sʰ, t͡ʃʰ/, as it is non-contrastive.[citation needed]
  2. Opinions differ on how to classify /x/ and /ɣ/; Aronson (1990) classifies them as post-velar, Hewitt (1995) argues that they range from velar to uvular according to context.
  3. The uvular ejective stop is commonly realised as an uvular ejective fricative [χʼ] but it can also be [qʼ], [ʔ], or [qχʼ], they are in free variation.[12]
  4. /
    r
    ] occurs in free variation.
  5. /
    l] in the environment of front vowels.[14]
  6. /v/ has the following allophones.[13]
    1. word-initially, intervocally and word-finally, it is realized as a bilabial fricative [β] or [v].[15][13]
    2. before voiceless consonants, it is realized as [f] or [ɸ].
    3. post-consonantally, it is realized as [ʷ] labialization on preceding consonants.
  7. In initial positions, /b, d, ɡ/ are pronounced as weakly voiced [b̥, d̥, ɡ̊].[16]
  8. In word-final positions, /b, d, ɡ/ may be devoiced and aspirated to [pʰ, tʰ, kʰ].[16][15]

Former /qʰ/ (ჴ) has merged with /x/ (ხ), leaving only the latter.

The glottalization of the ejectives is rather light, and in fact Georgian transliterates the tenuis stops in foreign words and names with the ejectives. In many romanization systems, it is not marked for transcriptions such as ejective p, t, ts, ch, k and q, against aspirated p‘, t‘, ts‘, ch‘ and k‘ (as in transcriptions of Armenian).

The coronal occlusives (/tʰ tʼ d n/, not necessarily affricates) are variously described as apical dental, laminal alveolar, and "dental".[10]

Vowels

Vowel phonemes[17][18][19][20]
Front Central Back
Close i   ი u   უ
Mid e   ე o   ო
Open a   ა

Per Canepari, the main realizations of the vowels are [i], [e̞], [ä], [o̞], [u].[21]

Aronson describes their realizations as [i̞], [e̞], [ä] (but "slightly fronted"), [o̞], [u̞].[20]

Shosted transcribed one speaker's pronunciation more-or-less consistently with [i], [ɛ], [ɑ], [ɔ], [u].[22]

Allophonically, [ə] may be inserted to break up consonant clusters, as in /dɡas/ [dəɡäs].[23]

Prosody

pitch accents on the first syllable of a word and near the end of a phrase.[24]

According to Borise,[25] Georgian has fixed initial word-level stress cued primarily by greater syllable duration and intensity of the initial syllable of a word.[26] Georgian vowels in non-initial syllables are pronounced with a shorter duration compared to vowels in initial syllables.[27]

Phonotactics

Georgian contains many "harmonic clusters" involving two consonants of a similar type (voiced, aspirated, or ejective) that are pronounced with only a single release; e.g. ბგერა bgera (sound), ცხოვრება tskhovreba (life), and წყალი ts'q'ali (water).[28] There are also frequent consonant clusters, sometimes involving more than six consonants in a row, as may be seen in words like გვფრცქვნი gvprtskvni ("you peel us") and მწვრთნელი mts'vrtneli ("trainer").

Vicenik has observed that Georgian vowels following ejective stops have creaky voice and suggests this may be one cue distinguishing ejectives from their aspirated and voiced counterparts.[29]

Writing system

Part of a series on
Calligraphy
By culture
Main articles: Georgian scripts and Georgian Braille
Georgian alphabet from The American Cyclopædia, 1879
Road sign in Mtavruli and Latin scripts
"Mshrali khidi" (dry bridge) bilingual construction signboard in Georgian (Mtavruli) and Italian in Tbilisi.

Georgian has been written in a variety of scripts over its history. Currently the

Mkhedruli
script is almost completely dominant; the others are used mostly in religious documents and architecture.

Mkhedruli has 33 letters in common use; a half dozen more are obsolete in Georgian, though still used in other alphabets, like Mingrelian, Laz, and Svan. The letters of Mkhedruli correspond closely to the phonemes of the Georgian language.

According to the traditional account written down by

Nuskhuri "small letters", and Mkhedruli. The first two are used together as upper and lower case in the writings of the Georgian Orthodox Church
and together are called Khutsuri "priests' [alphabet]".

In Mkhedruli, there is no case. Sometimes, however, a capital-like effect, called Mtavruli, "title" or "heading", is achieved by modifying the letters so that their vertical sizes are identical and they rest on the baseline with no descenders. These capital-like letters are often used in page headings, chapter titles, monumental inscriptions, and the like.

Modern Georgian alphabet
Letter National
transcription		 IPA
transcription
ა a ä
ბ b b
გ g ɡ
დ d d
ე e e̞
ვ v v
ზ z z
თ t tʰ
ი i i
კ k’ kʼ
ლ l l
მ m m
ნ n n
ო o o̞
პ p’ pʼ
ჟ zh ʒ
რ r r
ს s s
ტ t’ tʼ
უ u u
ფ p pʰ
ქ k kʰ
ღ gh ɣ
ყ q’ qʼ
შ sh ʃ
ჩ ch t͡ʃʰ
ც ts t͡sʰ
ძ dz d͡z
წ ts’ t͡sʼ
ჭ ch’ t͡ʃʼ
ხ kh x
ჯ j d͡ʒ
ჰ h h

Keyboard layout

Main article:
Georgian keyboard layout

This is the Georgian standard[30] keyboard layout. The standard Windows keyboard is essentially that of manual typewriters.

 
„
  
1
!
  
2
?
  
3
№
  
4
§
  
5
%
  
6
:
  
7
.
  
8
;
  
9
,
  
0
/
  -
_ 		 +
= 		 ←
 Backspace
 Tab key
ღ
ჯ
უ
კ
ჱ
ნ
გ
შ
წ
ზ
ჴ
ც
(
 
Caps lock
ჶ
ძ
ჳ
თ
ა
პ
რ
ო
ლ
დ
ჟ
 		Enter key 
↵
 Shift key
 ↑
ჭ
ჩ
ყ
ს
მ
ჲ
ტ
ქ
ბ
ჵ
  Shift key
 ↑
 Control key Win key  Alt key Space bar  AltGr key Win key Menu key  Control key  
 

Grammar

Main articles:
Georgian verb paradigm

Morphology

Georgian is an

polypersonalism
; a verb may potentially include morphemes representing both the subject and the object.

Morphophonology

In Georgian

syncope
is a common phenomenon. When a suffix (especially the plural suffix -eb-) is attached to a word that has either of the vowels a or e in the last syllable, this vowel is, in most words, lost. For example, megobari means "friend". To say "friends", one says megobrebi (megobØrebi), with the loss of a in the last syllable of the word stem.

Inflection

Georgian has seven noun cases: nominative, ergative, dative, genitive, instrumental, adverbial and vocative. An interesting feature of Georgian is that, while the subject of a sentence is generally in the nominative case and the object is in the accusative case (or dative), one can find this reversed in many situations (this depends mainly on the character of the verb). This is called the dative construction. In the past tense of the transitive verbs, and in the present tense of the verb "to know", the subject is in the ergative case.

Syntax

Vocabulary

The last verse of Shota Rustaveli's romance The Knight in the Panther's Skin illustrating the appearance of the Georgian script.

Georgian has a rich

word-derivation
system. By using a root, and adding some definite prefixes and suffixes, one can derive many nouns and adjectives from the root. For example, from the root -kart-, the following words can be derived: Kartveli (a Georgian person), Kartuli (the Georgian language) and Sakartvelo (Georgia).

Most

Samegrelo), -ani (Western Georgia, Svaneti
), -uri (Eastern Georgia), etc. The ending -eli is a particle of nobility, comparable to French de, German von or Polish -ski.

Georgian has a vigesimal numeric system like Basque or (partially) French. Numbers greater than 20 and less than 100 are described as the sum of the greatest possible multiple of 20 plus the remainder. For example, "93" literally translates as "four times twenty plus thirteen" (ოთხმოცდაცამეტი – otkhmotsdatsamet'i).

One of the most important Georgian dictionaries is the Explanatory dictionary of the Georgian language (Georgian: ქართული ენის განმარტებითი ლექსიკონი). It consists of eight volumes and about 115,000 words. It was produced between 1950 and 1964, by a team of linguists under the direction of Arnold Chikobava.

Examples

Word formations

Georgian has a word derivation system, which allows the derivation of nouns from verb roots both with prefixes and suffixes, for example:

  • From the root -ts'er- ("write"), the words ts'erili ("letter") and mts'erali ("writer") are derived.
  • From the root -tsa- ("give"), the word gadatsema ("broadcast") is derived.
  • From the root -tsda- ("try"), the word gamotsda ("exam") is derived.
  • From the root -gav- ("resemble"), the words msgavsi ("similar") and msgavseba ("similarity") are derived.
  • From the root -shen- ("build"), the word shenoba ("building") is derived.
  • From the root -tskh- ("bake"), the word namtskhvari ("cake") is derived.
  • From the root -tsiv- ("cold"), the word matsivari ("refrigerator") is derived.
  • From the root -pr- ("fly"), the words tvitmprinavi ("plane") and aprena ("take-off") are derived.

It is also possible to derive verbs from nouns:

  • From the noun -omi- ("war"), the verb omob ("wage war") is derived.
  • From the noun -sadili- ("lunch"), the verb sadilob ("eat lunch") is derived.
  • From the noun -sauzme ("breakfast"), the verb ts'asauzmeba ("eat a little breakfast") is derived; the preverb ts'a- in Georgian could add the meaning "VERBing a little".
  • From the noun -sakhli- ("home"), the verb gadasakhleba (the infinite form of the verb "to relocate, to move") is derived.

Likewise, verbs can be derived from adjectives, for example:

  • From the adjective -ts'iteli- ("red"), the verb gats'itleba (the infinite form of both "to blush" and "to make one blush") is derived. This kind of derivation can be done with many adjectives in Georgian.
  • From the adjective -brma ("blind"), the verbs dabrmaveba (the infinite form of both "to become blind" and "to blind someone") are derived.
  • From the adjective -lamazi- ("beautiful"), the verb galamazeba (the infinite form of the verb "to become beautiful") is derived.

Words that begin with multiple consonants

In Georgian many nouns and adjectives begin with two or more contiguous consonants. This is because syllables in the language often begin with two consonants. Recordings are available on the relevant Wiktionary entries, linked to below.

Language example

Recording of a middle-aged male speaker reading Article 1.

Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Georgian and English:

ყველა ადამიანი იბადება თავისუფალი და თანასწორი თავისი ღირსებითა და უფლებებით. მათ მინიჭებული აქვთ გონება და სინდისი და ერთმანეთის მიმართ უნდა იქცეოდნენ ძმობის სულისკვეთებით.

Transliteration: q'vela adamiani ibadeba tavisupali da tanasts'ori tavisi ghirsebita da uplebebit. mat minich'ebuli akvt goneba da sindisi da ertmanetis mimart unda iktseodnen dzmobis sulisk'vetebit.

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.[32]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Georgian at Ethnologue (27th ed., 2024) Closed access icon
  2. ^ Hiller (1994:1)
  3. ^ Central Intelligence Agency. (2016). "Georgia". In The World Factbook. Archived 2021-02-04 at the Wayback Machine.
  4. ^ Hiller (1994:2)
  5. ^ Georgian DialectsArchived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine, The ARMAZI project. Retrieved on March 28, 2007
  6. ^ Manana Kock Kobaidze (2004-02-11) From the history of Standard Georgian Archived September 27, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  7. ^
    ISBN 0-521-68496-X
  8. ISBN 0-19-814473-3
  9. ^ "Georgian and Italian Dictionary". World Digital Library. Retrieved 3 July 2013.
  10. ^ a b Shosted & Chikovani (2006:263)
  11. ^ "Native Phonetic Inventory: georgian". gmu.edu. George Mason University. Retrieved 24 August 2019.
  12. ^ Shosted & Chikovani (2006:256)
  13. ^ a b c Shosted & Chikovani (2006:261)
  14. ^ Aronson (1990:17–18)
  15. ^ a b Hewitt (1995:21)
  16. ^ a b Aronson (1990:15)
  17. ^ Testelets (2020:497)
  18. ^ Putkaradze & Mikautadze (2014:53)
  19. ^ Hewitt (1987:19)
  20. ^ a b c Aronson (1990:18)
  21. ^ Canepari (2007:385)
  22. ^ Shosted & Chikovani (2006:262)
  23. ^ McCoy, Priscilla (1999). Harmony and Sonority in Georgian (PDF). 14th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences.
  24. ^ Jun, Vicenik & Lofstedt (2007)
  25. doi:10.21437/TAL.2018-42
    .
  26. S2CID 256858909
    .
  27. ISSN 1423-0321
    .
  28. ^ Aronson (1990:33)
  29. ^ Vicenik (2010:87)
  30. ^ Georgian Keyboard Layout Microsoft
  31. ^ Skopeteas, Féry & Asatiani (2009:2–5)
  32. ^ "About Georgia: Georgian Alphabet". Archived from the original on 2010-12-02. Retrieved 2010-11-10.

Bibliography

External links

Georgian edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
American Cyclopædia article about Georgian language
.

Grammars

Dictionaries

Software

Literature and culture

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