Georgian language

Dialects

The Georgian language has at least 18 dialects, with Standard Georgian being largely based on the Kartlian dialect. 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.

History

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

• 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. 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 the Kingdom of Iberia in the mid-4th century, which led to the replacement of Aramaic as the literary language.

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, 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.

Phonology

Consonants

Georgian has a large consonant inventory, like most languages of the Caucasus. It contrasts fully voiced, aspirated and ejective stops and affricates. Fricatives occur in five places of articulation (six if the uvular [χʼ] as an allophone of /qʼ/ is counted), with voicing contrast for dental (/s z/), post-alveolar (/ʃ ʒ/) and velar fricatives (/x ɣ/). Notably missing as a phoneme is the voiceless labio-dental, namely /f/, to contrast with /v/. The glottal fricative /h/ is marginal, occurring in very few words in the modern language.

The table below contains consonant phonemes in Georgian. On the left are IPA symbols, and on the right are the corresponding letters of the modern Georgian alphabet.

1. Opinions differ on the aspiration of .
2. Opinions differ on how to classify and ; Aronson (1990) classifies them as post-velar, Hewitt (1995) argues that they range from velar to uvular /χ ʁ/ according to context.
3. The uvular ejective stop is commonly realized as a uvular ejective fricative but it can also be , , or ; they are in free variation.
4. is realized as an alveolar tap though occurs in free variation.
5. is pronounced as a velarized before back vowels; it is pronounced as in the environment of front vowels.
6. is realized in most contexts as a bilabial fricative or , but has the following allophones.
   1. before voiceless consonants, it is realized as or .
   2. after voiceless consonants it is also voiceless and has been interpreted either as labialization of the preceding consonant or simply as .
   3. whether it is realized as labialization after voiced consonants is debated.
   4. word-initially before the vowel /u/ and sometimes before other consonants it may be deleted entirely.
7. In initial positions, are pronounced as a weakly voiced .
8. In word-final positions, may be devoiced and aspirated to .
9. /r/ may be dropped in CrC contexts in colloquial speech.
10. Word-final /b, d, ɡ/ may be realized as unreleased stops [b̚, d̚, ɡ̚] before another obstruent at word boundaries.

Old Georgian uvular (ჴ) has merged with velar (ხ) in the modern language as /x/.

The coronal occlusives (, not necessarily affricates) are variously described as apical dental, laminal alveolar, and "dental".

Ejectives and glottalization

The glottalization of Georgian ejectives is phonetically subtle. A study of the properties of Georgian stops and ejectives found that bursts in ejective consonants are virtually identical to those of pulmonic stops, with voice onset time and voicing perhaps being more relevant as cues to the different consonant types than a stronger "popping" sound associated with stop burst releases.

Vicenik also observed that Georgian vowels following ejective stops have creaky voice and suggests this may be one other perceptual cue distinguishing ejectives from their aspirated and voiced counterparts.

Vowels

Per Canepari, the main realizations of the vowels are [], [], [], [], [].

Aronson describes their realizations as [], [], [] (but "slightly fronted"), [], [].

Shosted transcribed one speaker's pronunciation more-or-less consistently with [], [], [], [], [].

Allophonically, [] may be inserted to break up consonant clusters, as in .

In casual speech, /i/ preceded or followed by a vowel may be realized as []~[]. similarly, /u/ and /o/ before a vowel may be realized as [w].

Phrase-final unstressed vowels are sometimes partially reduced.

Sequences /aa ii ee oo uu/ occurring at word and morpheme boundaries may be realized as single long vowels [äː iː e̞ː o̞ː uː], as in /kʼibeebi/ [ˈkʼibe̞ːbi] ("stairs").

Phonotactics

Georgian syllable structure is notable due to its frequent consonant clusters, many of which fail to conform to the sonority sequencing principle. Clusters are especially common in onset position, where three-consonant sequences often occur even in basic vocabulary. In coda position, sequences of more than two are much rarer, especially word-finally. Clusters of two or more consonants often contain morphemes such as in inflected verbs (e.g. /t͡sʼeɾt/ 'you write') or declined nominals (e.g. /datvs/ 'bear.dative').

Harmonic clusters

One special characteristic of Georgian phonotactics is the occurrence of two-consonant sequences termed harmonic clusters, which involve two consonants in which the laryngeal quality is constant across the cluster (i.e. both are voiced, aspirated, or ejective). Harmonic clusters are pronounced with individual releases of each segment , and occur both word-initially and word-medially; e.g. /bgeɾa/ ბგერა 'sound', /t͡sʰxovɾeba/ ცხოვრება 'life', or /apʼkʼi/ აპკი 'membrane'.

The first consonant of a harmonic cluster may be a stop or an affricate, whereas the second segment may be either a velar stop or a velar/uvular fricative. All harmonic clusters are sequences of a front and a back consonant. Harmonic clusters may themselves occur in larger clusters of consonants, such as in three-consonant sequence /tʼkʼbili/ ტᲙბილი 'sweet'.

Non-harmonic and longer consonant clusters with audio examples

Recordings are available on the relevant Wiktionary entries, linked to below.

• Examples of words that begin with two consonants in non-harmonic clusters (note that affricates /t͡s d͡z t͡sʼ/ etc. behave as one segment) :
  • /t͡sʼqʼali/ წყალი (ts’q’ali), 'water'
  • /st͡sʼori/ სწორი (sts’ori), 'correct'
  • /rd͡ze/ რძე (rdze), 'milk'
  • /tʰma/ თმა (tma), 'hair'
  • /mtʰa/ მთა (mta), 'mountain'
  • /t͡sʰxeni/ ცხენი (tskheni), 'horse'
• Examples of the many words that begin with three contiguous consonants:
  • /tʰkʰven/ თქვენ (tkven), 'you (pl.)'
  • /mt͡sʼvane/ მწვანე (mts’vane), 'green'
  • /t͡sʰxviɾi/ ცხვირი (tskhviri), 'nose'
  • /t’k’bili/ ტკბილი (t’k’bili), 'sweet'
  • /mt’k’ivneuli/ მტკივნეული (mt’k’ivneuli), 'painful'
  • /t͡ʃʰɾdiloetʰi/ ჩრდილოეთი (chrdiloeti), 'north'
• A few words in Georgian that begin with four contiguous consonants. Examples are:
  • მკვლელი (mk’vleli), 'murderer'
  • მკვდარი (mk’vdari), 'dead'
  • მთვრალი (mtvrali), 'drunk'
  • მწკრივი (mts’k’rivi), 'row, screeve'
• Some extreme cases also exist in Georgian. For example, the following word begins with six contiguous consonants:
  • მწვრთნელი (mts’vrtneli), 'trainer'
• While the following word begins with seven:
  • გვწვრთნი (gvts’vrtni), 'you train us'
• And the following words begin with eight:
  • გვფრცქვნი (gvprtskvni), 'you peel us'
  • გვბრდღვნი (gvbrdghvni), 'you tear us'

Prosody

Although the first syllable of Georgian words tends to be prominent, there is disagreement as to whether Georgian has lexical stress. In any case, there are no pairs of words in Georgian that contrast in meaning due to stress placement

According to a study by Borise and Zientarski, Georgian has fixed initial word-level stress cued primarily by greater syllable duration and intensity of the initial syllable of a word. Georgian vowels in non-initial syllables are pronounced with a shorter duration compared to vowels in initial syllables. Long polysyllabic words may have a secondary stress on their third or fourth syllable. A study by Gamq'relidze and colleagues states that quadrisyllabic words may be exceptionally stressed on their second syllable. Stressed vowels in Georgian have slightly longer duration, more intensity, and higher pitch compared to unstressed vowels.

Other authors have proposed that Georgian is an edge-prominence language, meaning that prominence and pitch accents mark accentual phrases rather than words. According to Vicenik and Jun, Georgian words receive pitch accents in syllables other than the first.

Writing system

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 Leonti Mroveli in the 11th century, the first Georgian script was created by the first ruler of the Kingdom of Iberia, Pharnavaz, in the 3rd century BC. The first examples of a Georgian script date from the 5th century AD. There are now three Georgian scripts, called Asomtavruli 'capitals', 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 'priest 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.

Keyboard layout

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

Grammar

Morphology

Georgian is an agglutinative language. Certain prefixes and suffixes can be joined in order to build a verb. In some cases, one verb can have up to eight different morphemes in it at the same time. An example is ageshenebinat ('you [all] should've built [it]'). The verb can be broken down to parts: a-g-e-shen-eb-in-a-t. Each morpheme here contributes to the meaning of the verb tense or the person who has performed the verb. The verb conjugation also exhibits polypersonalism; a verb may potentially include morphemes representing both the subject and the object.

Morphophonology

In Georgian morphophonology, 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'; megobrebi (megobØrebi) means 'friends', 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

• Georgian is a left-branching language, in which adjectives precede nouns, possessors precede possessions, objects normally precede verbs, and postpositions are used instead of prepositions.
• Each postposition (whether a suffix or a separate word) requires the modified noun to be in a specific case. This is similar to the way prepositions govern specific cases in many Indo-European languages such as German, Latin, or Russian.
• Georgian is a pro-drop language; both subject and object pronouns are frequently omitted except for emphasis or to resolve ambiguity.
• A study by Skopeteas et al. concluded that Georgian word order tends to place the focus of a sentence immediately before the verb, and the topic before the focus. A subject–object–verb (SOV) word order is common in idiomatic expressions and when the focus of a sentence is on the object. A subject–verb–object (SVO) word order is common when the focus is on the subject, or in longer sentences. Object-initial word orders (OSV or OVS) are also possible, but less common. Verb-initial word orders including both subject and object (VSO or VOS) are extremely rare.
• Georgian has no grammatical gender; even the pronouns are ungendered.
• Georgian has no articles. Therefore, for example, "guest", "a guest" and "the guest" are said in the same way. In relative clauses, however, it is possible to establish the meaning of the definite article through use of some particles.

Vocabulary

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 ('the country of Georgia').

Most Georgian surnames end in -dze 'son' (Western Georgia), -shvili 'child' (Eastern Georgia), -ia (Western Georgia, 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 and (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 (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 formation

Georgian has a rich derivation system in which both prefixes and suffixes are used to create new words, 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 'airplane' and aprena 'takeoff' are derived.

It is also possible to derive verbs from nouns:

• From the noun -omi- 'war', the verb omob 'you wage/are waging war' is derived.
• From the noun -sadili- 'lunch', the verb sadilob 'you eat/are eating lunch' is derived.
• From the noun -sauzme 'breakfast', the verb ts’asauzmeba 'eating a little breakfast' is derived; the preverb ts’a- in Georgian adds the meaning 'a little'.
• From the noun -sakhli- 'home', the verb gadasakhleba 'relocating, moving' is derived.

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

• From the adjective -ts’iteli- 'red', the verb gats’itleba 'blushing, making one blush' is derived. This kind of derivation can be done with many adjectives in Georgian.
• From the adjective -brma 'blind', the verbs dabrmaveba 'becoming blind, blinding someone' are derived.
• From the adjective -lamazi- 'beautiful', the verb galamazeba 'becoming beautiful' is derived.

Sample text

Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: