Kartvevlie languages (or South Caucasus ; Georgian. ქართველური ენები ) - a family of languages spoken in the west of Transcaucasia (South Caucasus), mainly in Georgia .
| Kartvelian languages | |
|---|---|
| Taxon | family |
| Area | Transcaucasia |
| Classification | |
| Category | Languages of Eurasia |
| Nostratic macrofamily (hypothesis) | |
| Composition | |
| 4 languages | |
| Language group codes | |
| ISO 639-2 | - |
| ISO 639-5 | ccs |
Content
Classification
Genetic connections have not been established. Earlier it was often included in a hypothetical Caucasian or Iberian-Caucasian (macro) family. There is also a hypothesis about the entry of the Kartvelian family into the Nostratic macro family [1] . This position, however, was criticized by various experts, is considered very controversial and its conclusions are not accepted by many comparativists , who consider the theory of Nostratic languages either as completely erroneous or, at best, as unconvincing [2] [3] .
- South Cartel Branch
- Georgian - 5 million [4] speakers (including the dialects of Kartli , Kakheti and Imereti ).
- Zan (Colchis) group
- Mingrelian language - 400 thousand [5], speaking mainly in western Georgia ( Megrelia ) and eastern Abkhazia ( Gali , Tkvarcheli districts ).
- Laz language (Chan) - 150 thousand [6] speakers in northeastern Turkey ( Lazistan ).
- Severno-Kartvelskaya (Svan) branch
- Svan language - from 14 thousand to 30 thousand, mainly in the north-west of Georgia ( Svaneti ) [7] [8] .
Kartvelian languages also include the ancient Georgian literary language of Georgia - Old Georgian .
Sometimes, as a special Kartvelian language, the language of Georgian Jews ( Hebrew-Georgian ) is distinguished, which is called nivruly in Georgia, and Hebrew in Israel . גרוזינית יהודית (Georgian Yehudit) or Heb. גאורגית יהודית (georgit yehudit). Most linguists consider it a dialect of Georgian, with a lot of borrowing from Hebrew and Aramaic . Writing is a Hebrew letter .
Of the modern Kartvelian languages, only Georgian has writing. Since the XIX century, attempts have been made to introduce writing for Laz (based on Latin in Germany and Turkey) and Mingrelian (based on Georgian letters in Georgia, and earlier on the basis of Cyrillic ).
Grammatical features
In Kartvelian languages there are from 11 to 15 modal-temporary forms. There is no grammatical gender in nouns and other nominal parts of speech. The initial form of the verb is the present tense form of the third person singular. There is ablaut [9] . Inherent Caucasian languages twenty-account system . Ways of syntactic connection - management, coordination, contiguity and coordination. Three basic constructions of the sentence are distinguished: nominative, ergative (with transitive verbs in most tenses) and dative (with verbs of perception). Verb by the end of the sentence. Word formation is prefixal, suffixal, and mainly prefixal-suffixal ( circumfix ). There is a composition. Many descriptive words. Borrowing from Arabic, Persian, Turkic languages [10] . Post - tender system (for comparison, in the Indo-European languages, including Russian, the prepositional structure of sentences is used).
See also
- wikt: Appendix: Swadesh lists for Kartvelian languages
Notes
- ↑ British Encyclopedia , 15th edition, Article Caucasian languages .
- ↑ George Starostin. Nostratic Neopr . Oxford Bibliographies . Oxford University Press (October 29, 2013). doi : 10.1093 / OBO / 9780199772810-0156 . - "However, it was clear that there wasn’t much evidence," at best, inconclusive. ”. Archived September 13, 2015.
- ↑ V. P. Nereznak . Prayazyk: Reconstruction or Reality? // Comparative-historical study of languages of different families: Theory of linguistic reconstruction / Ed. ed. N. Z. Gadzhiev . - M .: Science, 1988. - p. 36-38. - ISBN 5-02-010869-3 .
- ↑ Joshuaproject. Georgian
- ↑ Joshuaproject. Margaluri, Mingrelian
- ↑ Joshuaproject. Laz, Lazuri
- ↑ Joshuaproject. Svanetian, Mushwan
- ↑ DoBeS ( Do kumentation Be drohter S prachen, Documentation of Endangered Languages)
- Gamkrelidze T., Machavariani G. System of Sonants and Ablaut in Kartvelian Languages. Typology of general archetype structure. On load. lang - TB. 1965
- ↑ Great Soviet Encyclopedia , see Kartvelian languages
Literature
- Klimov G. A. Kartvelian languages // Languages of the world.
- Klimov, A. A. Declination in the Kartvelian languages in the comparative historical aspect, M., 1962.
- Klimov G. A. Etymological dictionary of Kartvelian languages. M., 1964.
- Tsagareli, A.A., Comparative Review of the Morphology of the Iberian Group of Caucasian Languages, 2nd ed., TB., 1957.
- Bopp Fr., Die kaukasischen Glieder des indoeuropä ischen Sprachstamms, B., 1847.
- Deeters G., Das kharthwelische Verbum, Lpz., 1930.
- Harris AC Diachronic Syntax: The Kartvelian Case (Syntax and Semantics, 18). New York: Academic Press, 1985.
- Schmidt K.-H., Studien zur Rekonstruktion des Lautstandes der südkaukasischen Grundsprache, Wiesbaden, 1962.