Mingrelian or Megrelian (, ) is a
Kartvelian language spoken in Western
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to the ...
(regions of
Mingrelia and
Abkhazia
Abkhazia, ka, აფხაზეთი, tr, , xmf, აბჟუა, abzhua, or ( or ), officially the Republic of Abkhazia, is a partially recognised state in the South Caucasus, recognised by most countries as part of Georgia, which vi ...
), primarily by the
Mingrelians. The language was also called kolkhuri (Georgian ) in the early 20th century. 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
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
designating it as a "definitely
endangered language
An endangered language or moribund language is a language that is at risk of disappearing as its speakers die out or shift to speaking other languages. Language loss occurs when the language has no more native speakers and becomes a "dead langu ...
".
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
Odishi ( ka, ოდიში) was a historical district in western Georgia, the core fiefdom of the former Principality of Mingrelia, with which the name "Odishi" was frequently coterminous. Since the early 19th century, this toponym has been su ...
) region of Georgia, which comprises the
Odishi Hills and the
Kolkheti
In Greco-Roman geography, Colchis (; ) was an exonym for the Georgian polity of Egrisi ( ka, ეგრისი) located on the coast of the Black Sea, centered in present-day western Georgia.
Its population, the Colchians are generally thou ...
Lowlands, from the
Black Sea
The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...
coast to the
Svan Mountains and the
Tskhenistskali River
Tskhenistsqali ( ka, ცხენისწყალი, ''Cxenisċqali'', also: ''Tskhenistskali'') is a river in northern Georgia. Its source is in the main range of the Caucasus Mountains, in the easternmost part of the Lentekhi Municipality, l ...
. Smaller enclaves existed in
Abkhazia
Abkhazia, ka, აფხაზეთი, tr, , xmf, აბჟუა, abzhua, or ( or ), officially the Republic of Abkhazia, is a partially recognised state in the South Caucasus, recognised by most countries as part of Georgia, which vi ...
, but the ongoing civil unrest there has displaced many Mingrelian speakers to other regions of Georgia. Their geographical distribution is relatively compact, which has helped to promote the transmission of the language between generations.
Mingrelian is generally written in the
Georgian alphabet, but it has no written standard or official status. Almost all speakers are bilingual; they use Mingrelian mainly for familiar and informal conversation, and
Georgian
Georgian may refer to:
Common meanings
* Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country)
** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group
** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians
**Georgian scripts, three scrip ...
(or, for expatriate speakers, the local official language) for other purposes.
History
Mingrelian is one 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 ...
. It is closely related to
Laz, from which it has become differentiated mostly in the past 500 years, after the northern (Mingrelian) and southern (Laz) communities were separated by Turkic invasions. It is less closely related to Georgian, the two branches having separated in the first millennium BC or earlier, and even more distantly related to
Svan, which is believed to have branched off in the 2nd millennium BC or earlier. Mingrelian is only
mutually intelligible with
Laz.
Some linguists refer to Mingrelian and Laz as
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 ...
. Zan had already split into Mingrelian and Laz variants by early modern times, however, and it is not customary to speak of a unified Zan language today.
The oldest surviving texts in Mingrelian date from the 19th century, and are mainly items of ethnographical literature. The earliest linguistic studies of Mingrelian include a phonetic analysis by
Aleksandre Tsagareli (1880), and grammars by
Ioseb Kipshidze Ioseb ( ka, იოსებ) is a Georgian given name and may refer to:
* Ioseb Abakelia (1882–1938), pioneering Georgian physician and medical scholar, specializing in phthisiatry
* Catholicos Ioseb of Abkhazia (1739–1776), Georgian Orthodox h ...
(1914) and
Shalva Beridze
Shalva ( he, שַׁלְוָה, ''lit.'' Security) is a moshav shitufi in southern Israel. Located in the southern Shephelah near Kiryat Gat, it falls under the jurisdiction of Shafir Regional Council. In it had a population of .
History
The mos ...
(1920). From 1930 to 1938 several newspapers were published in Mingrelian, such as ''
Kazakhishi Gazeti'', ''
Komuna'', ''
Samargalosh Chai'', ''
Narazenish Chai'', and ''
Samargalosh Tutumi''. More recently, there has been some revival of the language, with the publication of a Mingrelian–Georgian dictionary by
Otar Kajaia, a Mingrelian-German dictionary by Otar Kajaia and
Heinz Fähnrich, and books of poems by
Lasha Gakharia,
Edem Izoria,
Lasha Gvasalia,
Guri Otobaia
Guri (, lit. Nine Villages Town(Town of Nine Villages) is a city in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. It is located immediately to the east of Seoul, in the heart of the Capital Metropolitan Area.
The Royal Tombs of the Joseon Dynasty are locat ...
,
Giorgi Sichinava,
Jumber Kukava, and
Vakhtang Kharchilava
Vakhtang ( ka, ვახტანგ) is a masculine given name in Georgian language. The name derives from an ancient Persian expression, "vahrka-tanū," meaning of which translates into "wolf-bodied." Some sources argue that the meaning of the ...
, as well as books and magazines published by Jehovah's Witnesses.
Phonology
Vowels
Mingrelian has five primary vowels ''a'', ''e'', ''i'', ''o'', ''u''. The Zugdidi-Samurzaqano dialect has a sixth, ''ə'', which is the result of reduction of ''i'' and ''u''.
Consonants
The consonant inventory of Mingrelian is almost identical to that of
Laz,
Georgian
Georgian may refer to:
Common meanings
* Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country)
** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group
** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians
**Georgian scripts, three scrip ...
, and
Svan.
Phonetic processes
Vowel reduction
Certain pairs of vowels reduce to single vowels:
*''ae'' and ''ai'' → ''ee'' → ''e''
*''ao'', ''oa'' and ''oo'' → ''aa'' → ''a''
*''ou → uu → u''
In Zugdidi-Samurzaqano dialect the vowels ''i'' and ''u'' also often reduce to ''ə''.
Pre-consonant change of velar ''g''
Before consonants, ''g'' → ''r''.
Positional change of uvular ''q sound
In word-initial prevocalic and intervocalic positions, ''q' → ʔ''. Before the consonant ''v'', ''q' → ɔ/ǩ''.
Regressive assimilation of consonants
The common types are:
*voicing/devoicing of voiceless/voiced consonants before voiced/voiceless ones (respectively).
*glottalization of consonants before the glottalized ones and the glottal stop.
Progressive dissimilation
If the stem contains ''r'' then the suffixes ''-ar'' and ''-ur'' transform to ''-al'' and ''-ul'', e.g. ''(
Khorga, the village)→'' ("Khorgan").
The rule is not valid if in the stem with ''r'' an ''l'' appears later, e.g. ''("
Martvili
Martvili ( ka, მარტვილი) is a small town in Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti province of Western Georgia. Its monastery was Samegrelo's clerical centre in the Middle Ages. Under Soviet rule, from 1936 to 1990, it was named Gegechkori after ...
", the town) →'' ''(adj. "Martvilian")''
In a stem with voiceless affricates or voiceless sibilants, a later ''ǯ'' is
deaffricated to ''d'', e.g. ''→'' "comb", ''→'' "fly (insect)", ''→'' "arrow", etc.
The transformation of ''l''
*in all dialects of Mingrelian, before consonants ''l'' → ''r''.
*in the Martvili subdialect in word-initial prevocalic position, ''l → y → ∅'' and in intervocalic position ''l → ∅''
Intervocalic deletion of ''v''
Between the vowels the organic ''v'' disappears, e.g. ''(Geo. "abundance, plenty") →'' ''→'' (id.), ''(Geo. "raceme") →'' (id.), etc.
Phonetic augmentation ''n''
Before the stops and affricates, an inorganic augmentation ''n'' may appear (before labials ''n → m'').
Alphabet
Mingrelian is written in the
Mkhedruli script.
Grammar
Dialects
The main dialects and subdialects of Mingrelian are:
*
Zugdidi
Zugdidi ( ka, ზუგდიდი; xmf, ზუგდიდი or ზუგიდი) is a city in the western Georgian historical province of Samegrelo (Mingrelia). It is situated in the north-west of that province. The city is located 318 kil ...
-
Samurzakano
Samurzakano ( ka, სამურზაყანო, ''Samurzak'ano'', ''Samurzaqano'') is a historical region in southeastern Abkhazia, in western Georgia.''Georgian Soviet Encyclopedia'', v. 9, p. 37, Tb., 1985. Populated by Samurzakania ...
or Northwest dialect
** Dzhvari
*
Senaki
Senaki ( ka, სენაკი; xmf, სანაკი) is a town in Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti region, western Georgia. It is located at around between the rivers Tekhura/i and Tsivi, at an elevation of 28–38 meters above sea level. Senaki is ...
or Southeast dialect
** Martvili-Bandza
** Abasha
Famous speakers
*
Lavrenti Beria
Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria (; rus, Лавре́нтий Па́влович Бе́рия, Lavréntiy Pávlovich Bériya, p=ˈbʲerʲiə; ka, ლავრენტი ბერია, tr, ; – 23 December 1953) was a Georgian Bolshevik ...
, Soviet leader
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...
's chief of secret police
*
Konstantine Gamsakhurdia
Konstantine Gamsakhurdia ( ka, კონსტანტინე გამსახურდია) (May 3, 1893 – July 17, 1975) was a Georgian writer and public figure. Educated and first published in Germany, he married Western European in ...
, one of the most influential
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to the ...
n writers of the 20th century
*
Zviad Gamsakhurdia
Zviad Konstantines dze Gamsakhurdia ( ka, ზვიად გამსახურდია, tr; russian: Звиа́д Константи́нович Гамсаху́рдия, Zviad Konstantinovich Gamsakhurdiya; 31 March 1939 – 31 December 1 ...
, first president of post-Soviet Georgia
*Antisa Khvichava, claimed world's oldest person (purportedly 132 years old at the time of her death in 2012).
References
*
Aleksandre Tsagareli (1880), ''Megrelskie Etiudi, Analiz Fonetiki Megrelskogo Yazika'' ("Megrelian Studies — The Analysis of Phonetics of Megrelian Language").
*
Ioseb Kipshidze Ioseb ( ka, იოსებ) is a Georgian given name and may refer to:
* Ioseb Abakelia (1882–1938), pioneering Georgian physician and medical scholar, specializing in phthisiatry
* Catholicos Ioseb of Abkhazia (1739–1776), Georgian Orthodox h ...
(1914)
''Grammatika Mingrel’skogo (Iverskogo) Jazyka'' ("Grammar of Megrelian (Iverian) Language")
*
Shalva Beridze
Shalva ( he, שַׁלְוָה, ''lit.'' Security) is a moshav shitufi in southern Israel. Located in the southern Shephelah near Kiryat Gat, it falls under the jurisdiction of Shafir Regional Council. In it had a population of .
History
The mos ...
(1920), ''Megruli (Iveriuli) Ena'' ("Megrelian (Iverian) Language").
* Rusudan Amirejibi-Mullen, Nana Danelia and Inga Dundua (2006), ''kolkhuri (megrul-lazuri) ena'' (Tbilisi: Universali).
*
Laurence Broers (2012),"'Two Sons of One Mother'. Nested Identities and Centre-Periphery Politics in Post-Soviet Georgia". In Andreas Schonle, Olga Makarova and Jeremy Hicks (eds.), ''When the Elephant Broke Out of the Zoo. A Festschrift for Donald Rayfield ''(Stanford Slavic Studies, Volume 39).
*Otar Kajaia (2001-2002), Georgian-Mingrelian dictionary.
* Alio Kobalia (2010), Georgian-Mingrelian dictionary.
External links
TITUS Caucasica: Megrelischat TITUS.
Megrelian Projectat
Lund University
, motto = Ad utrumque
, mottoeng = Prepared for both
, established =
, type = Public research university
, budget = SEK 9 billion [Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...]
Article on the situation in 2017from
OpenDemocracy
openDemocracy is an independent media platform and news website based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 2001, openDemocracy states that through reporting and analysis of social and political issues, they seek to "challenge power and encourage de ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mingrelian Language
Agglutinative languages
Definitely endangered languages
Languages of Abkhazia
Languages of Georgia (country)