Proto-Kartvelian language

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Proto-Kartvelian
Reconstruction ofKartvelian languages
Lower-order reconstructions
  • Proto-Georgian-Zan

The Proto-Kartvelian language, or Common Kartvelian (

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.[1]
Several linguists, namely, Gerhard Deeters and
Proto-Georgian-Zan, which is the ancestor of Karto-Zan languages (includes Georgian and Zan).[2]

Influences

The

better source needed
]

Relation to descendants

The modern descendants of Proto-Kartvelian are Georgian, Svan, Mingrelian 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.[1]

The system of

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 Zan (Mingrelo-Laz).[1]

Phonology

Vowels

Proto-Kartvelian vowels[4][5][6]
Front Back
unrounded rounded
short long short long short long
Close (i [i]) (u [u])
Open-mid e [ɛ] ē [ɛː] o [ɔ] ō [ɔː]
Open a [ɑ] ā [ɑː]

Consonants

Proto-Kartvelian consonants[7][8]
Labial Alveolar Retroflex Postalveolar Velar Uvular Glottal
plain sibilant central lateral[8]
Nasal m [m] n [
n
]
Plosive voiced b [b] d [
d
]
ʒ [d͡z] ʒ₁ [d͡ʐ] ǯ [d͡ʒ] g [ɡ]
voiceless p [p] t [
t
]
c [t͡s] c₁ [t͡ʂ] č [t͡ʃ] k [k] q [q]
ejective [] [
]
[t͡sʼ] c̣₁ [t͡ʂʼ] č̣ [t͡ʃʼ] ɬʼ [t͡ɬʼ] [] []
Fricative voiceless s [s] s₁ [ʂ] š [ʃ] lʿ [
ɬ
]
x [x] h [h]
voiced z [z] z₁ [ʐ] ž [ʒ] ɣ [ɣ]
Trill r [
r
]
Approximant w [w] l [
l
]
y [j]

Distinction between plain [

ejective [] remains only in Svan language. This distinction also existed in Old Georgian
.

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d Britannica, 15th edition (1986): Macropedia, "Languages of the World", "Caucasian languages"
  2. ^ Klimov (1998), p. VIII
  3. ^ Gamkrelidze & Ivanov (1995), pp. 768, 774–776
  4. ^ Gamkrelidze & Machavariani (1965)
  5. ^ Klimov (1998), p. X
  6. ^ Gamkrelidze (1966), p. 70, 73, 80
  7. ^ Gamkrelidze (1966), p. 70
  8. ^ a b Fähnrich (2002), p. 5

References