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 to ...
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 Georgians, or Kartvelians (; ka, ქართველები, tr, ), are a nation and indigenous Caucasian ethnic group native to Georgia and the South Caucasus. Georgian diaspora communities are also present throughout Russia, Turkey, ...
. 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"](_blank)
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Several linguists, namely, Gerhard Deeters and Georgy Klimov
Georgy Klimov (russian: Гео́ргий Андре́евич Кли́мов, ''Georgiy Andreyevich Klimov'') (September 23, 1928 – April 29, 1997) was a Russian linguist and a leading specialist of the Caucasian languages. His interest primarily ...
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 unattest ...
called Proto-Karto-Zan or Proto-Georgian-Zan, which is the ancestor of Karto-Zan languages (includes 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 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
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 ...
, 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 co ...
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
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 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 ...
(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 l ...
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 U ...
. This distinction also existed in Old Georgian
Old Georgian (ႤႬႠჂ ႵႠႰႧႭჃႪႨ, ''enay kartuli'') was a literary language of the Georgian monarchies attested from the 5th century. The language remains in use as the liturgical language of the Georgian Orthodox Church and for ...
.
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 time ...
, 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''
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kartvelian, Proto, Language
Agglutinative languages
Kartvelian language
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 ...
Proto-Kartvelian language
The Proto-Kartvelian language, or Common Kartvelian ( ka, წინარექართველური ენა, tr), is the linguistic reconstruction of the common ancestor of the Kartvelian languages, which was spoken by the ancestors of th ...