| Mingrelian | |
| Nativename: | მარგალური ნინა margaluri nina |
| States: | Georgia |
| Region: | Mingrelia Abkhazia |
| Ethnicity: | Mingrelians |
| Speakers: | 345,000 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| Ref: | e19 |
| Map: | Kartvelian_languages.svg |
| Familycolor: | Caucasian |
| Fam1: | Kartvelian |
| Fam2: | Karto-Zan |
| Fam3: | Zan |
| Script: | Georgian script |
| Map2: | Lang Status 60-DE.svg |
| Iso3: | xmf |
| Glotto: | ming1252 |
| Glottorefname: | Mingrelian |
Mingrelian, or Megrelian (მარგალური ნინა,) is a Kartvelian language spoken in Western Georgia (regions of Mingrelia and Abkhazia), primarily by the Mingrelians. 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 designating it as a "definitely endangered language".[1]
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) region of Georgia, which comprises the Odishi Hills and the Colchis Lowlands, from the Black Sea coast to the Svan Mountains and the Tskhenistskali River. Smaller enclaves existed in Abkhazia,[2] 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 (or, for expatriate speakers, the local official language) for other purposes.
Mingrelian is one of the Kartvelian languages. 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.[3] Mingrelian is mutually intelligible only with Laz.
Some linguists refer to Mingrelian and Laz as Zan languages.[4] 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 (1914) and Shalva Beridze (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, Giorgi Sichinava, Jumber Kukava, and Vakhtang Kharchilava, journal Skani, Mingrelian wikipedia, as well as books and magazines published by Jehovah's Witnesses.[5]
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.
| Front | Back | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| unrounded | rounded | |||
| High | i pronounced as /link/ ი | (ə pronounced as /link/) ჷ | u pronounced as /link/ უ | |
| Mid | e pronounced as /link/ ე | o pronounced as /link/ ო | ||
| Low | a pronounced as /link/ ა | |||
The consonant inventory of Mingrelian is almost identical to that of Laz, Georgian, and Svan.
| Nasal | m pronounced as /link/ მ | n pronounced as /link/ ნ | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | voiced | b pronounced as /link/ ბ | d pronounced as /link/ დ | g pronounced as /link/ გ | ||||
| aspirated | p pronounced as /link/ ფ | t pronounced as /link/ თ | k pronounced as /link/ ქ | |||||
| ejective | p̌ pronounced as /link/ პ | ţ pronounced as /link/ ტ | ǩ pronounced as /link/ კ | qʼ pronounced as /link/ ყ | ɔ pronounced as /link/ ჸ | |||
| Affricate | voiced | ž pronounced as /link/ ძ | dj pronounced as /link/ ჯ | |||||
| aspirated | ʒ pronounced as /link/ ც | ç pronounced as /link/ ჩ | ||||||
| ejective | ǯ pronounced as /link/ წ | č pronounced as /link/ ჭ | ||||||
| Fricative | voiced | v pronounced as /link/ ვ | z pronounced as /link/ ზ | j pronounced as /link/ ჟ | ɣ pronounced as /link/ ღ | |||
| voiceless | s pronounced as /link/ ს | ş pronounced as /link/ შ | x pronounced as /link/ ხ | h pronounced as /link/ ჰ | ||||
| Trill | r pronounced as /link/ რ | |||||||
| Approximant | l pronounced as /link/ ლ | y pronounced as /link/ ჲ | ||||||
Certain pairs of vowels reduce to single vowels:
In Zugdidi-Samurzaqano dialect the vowels i and u also often reduce to ə.
Before consonants, g → r.
In word-initial prevocalic and intervocalic positions, q' → ʔ. Before the consonant v, q' → ɣ/ǩ.
The common types are:
If the stem contains r then the suffixes -ar and -ur transform to -al and -ul, e.g. (the village)→ ("Khorgan").The rule is not valid if in the stem with r an l appears later, e.g. ("Martvili", the town) dj (adj. "Martvilian")
In a stem with voiceless affricates or voiceless sibilants, a later ǯ is deaffricated to d, e.g. dj "comb", dj "fly (insect)", dj "arrow", etc.
Between the vowels the organic v disappears, e.g. (Geo. "abundance, plenty") → → (id.), (Geo. "raceme") → (id.), etc.
Before the stops and affricates, an inorganic augmentation n may appear (before labials n → m).
Mingrelian is written in the Mkhedruli script Latin script Cyrillic script.
| Mkhedruli | Mingrelian Latin | Mingrelian Cyrillic | IPA transcription | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ა | a | а | pronounced as /ɑ/ | |
| ბ | b | б | pronounced as /b/ | |
| გ | g | г | pronounced as /ɡ/ | |
| დ | d | д | pronounced as /d/ | |
| ე | e | е | pronounced as /ɛ/ | |
| ვ | v | в | pronounced as /v/ | |
| ზ | z | з | pronounced as /z/ | |
| თ | t | ꚋ | pronounced as /t/ | |
| ი | i | і | pronounced as /i/ | |
| კ | ǩ | к | pronounced as /kʼ/ | |
| ლ | l | л | pronounced as /l/ | |
| მ | m | м | pronounced as /m/ | |
| ნ | n | н | pronounced as /n/ | |
| ჲ | y | ј | pronounced as /j/ | |
| ო | o | о | pronounced as /ɔ/ | |
| პ | p̌ | п | pronounced as /pʼ/ | |
| ჟ | zh | ж | pronounced as /ʒ/ | |
| რ | r | р | pronounced as /r/ | |
| ს | s | с | pronounced as /s/ | |
| ტ | ṫ | т | pronounced as /tʼ/ | |
| უ | u | у | pronounced as /u/ | |
| ჷ | ƨ | ѵ | pronounced as /ə/ | |
| ფ | p | ҧ | pronounced as /p/ | |
| ქ | k | ӄ | pronounced as /k/ | |
| ღ | ǧ | ҕ | pronounced as /ɣ/ | |
| ყ | q | k | pronounced as /qʼ/ | |
| ჸ | ɣ | ɣ | pronounced as /ʔ/ | |
| შ | ş / sh | ш | pronounced as /ʃ/ | |
| ჩ | ç / ch | ч | pronounced as /t͡ʃ/ | |
| ც | ts | ц | pronounced as /t͡s/ | |
| ძ | dz | ӡ | pronounced as /d͡z/ | |
| წ | ʒ / tz | ҵ | pronounced as /t͡sʼ/ | |
| ჭ | ç̌ | ꚓ | pronounced as /t͡ʃʼ/ | |
| ხ | x | х | pronounced as /x/ | |
| ჯ | dj | џ | pronounced as /d͡ʒ/ | |
| ჰ | h | һ | pronounced as /h/ |
See main article: Mingrelian grammar.
The main dialects and subdialects of Mingrelian are: