The Georgian language (ქართული ენა, Kartuli ena), also known simply as Georgian, is the official language of Georgia and the most widely spoken member of the Kartvelian (South Caucasian) language family, an indigenous group of languages unique to the Caucasus region that also includes Svan, Mingrelian, and Laz.[1][2] Spoken natively by approximately 3.8 million people worldwide as of 2024, primarily within Georgia where it is the first language of about 87% of the population, Georgian serves as the primary medium of instruction in education and is used across government, media, and daily life.[3][4] It features a distinctive writing system comprising three historical scripts—Asomtavruli, Nuskhuri, and the modern Mkhedruli—all recognized by UNESCO as part of Georgia's intangible cultural heritage since 2016.[5] The Mkhedruli alphabet, consisting of 33 letters and in continuous use since the 9th–10th centuries AD with minimal changes, is one of the few independent alphabetic scripts still in use globally.[5]Georgian has a rich literary tradition dating back to the 5th century AD, when the oldest known inscriptions in Asomtavruli script appeared, marking it as one of the earliest attested languages in the Caucasus with a continuous written history.[5] Legends attribute the script's invention to King Parnavaz in the 3rd or 2nd century BCE, though scholarly estimates suggest it may have developed as early as the 7th century BCE.[5] The language exhibits complex grammar, including agglutinative verb systems with up to 11 tenses and a split ergative alignment, setting it apart from Indo-European languages and unrelated to neighboring families like Northeast or Northwest Caucasian.[2] Dialects such as Imerian, Racha-Lechkhumian, and Kartli-Kakhetian vary regionally but remain mutually intelligible, with standard Georgian based on the eastern variant spoken in Tbilisi.[1]As the lingua franca of a multi-ethnic nation, Georgian plays a vital role in fostering national identity, especially post-Soviet independence in 1991, when efforts intensified to promote its use amid linguistic diversity including minority languages like Abkhaz and Ossetic.[4] Printed Bible translations into Georgian date from 1743, though manuscript translations exist from the 5th century AD, to modern revisions in 2002, underscoring its ecclesiastical significance within the Georgian Orthodox Church, which continues to employ the older Asomtavruli and Nuskhuri scripts for religious texts.[1] With a literacy rate exceeding 99% in Georgia, the language remains vibrant and stable, though diaspora communities in Russia, Turkey, and the United States contribute to its global spread.[4]
Classification and history
Georgian belongs to the Kartvelian language family (also known as South Caucasian or Iberian), a small indigenous language group spoken primarily in the South Caucasus region. The family comprises four living languages: Georgian, Svan, Mingrelian, and Laz, with the latter two sometimes considered dialects of a single Zan language.[6] Georgian is most closely related to the Zan languages, while Svan forms a separate branch, retaining more archaic features. The Kartvelian languages have no established genetic relationship with other language families, including the neighboring Northeast and Northwest Caucasian families or Indo-European languages, though they share some typological similarities such as agglutinative morphology.[6]The Kartvelian languages descend from a common Proto-Kartvelian ancestor, estimated through Bayesian phylogenetic analysis to have originated over 12,500 years before present (approximately 10,500 BCE) in the western and central Lesser Caucasus.[7] Divergence estimates suggest Svan split from the rest of the family around 7,600 years BP (with a broad credible interval of 1,200–18,600 years BP), followed by the separation of Georgian from Proto-Zan approximately 2,600 years BP (1,200–4,300 years BP), and the final split between Mingrelian and Laz about 1,200 years BP, potentially linked to Georgian linguistic expansion in the 7th–8th centuries CE.[7]The written history of Georgian is attested from the 5th century CE, marking one of the earliest literary traditions in the Caucasus. It is traditionally divided into three periods: Old Georgian (5th–11th centuries CE), primarily religious in nature and using the Asomtavruli and Nuskhuri scripts; Middle Georgian (12th–18th centuries CE), a transitional phase with emerging secular literature and dialectal influences; and Modern Georgian (19th century onward), standardized on eastern dialects, incorporating the Mkhedruli script, and reflecting contemporary usage.[8]
Varieties
Georgian is characterized by a dialect continuum with at least 18 distinct dialects, all mutually intelligible to varying degrees. These dialects are traditionally classified into two main groups: East Georgian and West Georgian, based on geographical and linguistic features. The standard form of Georgian is primarily derived from the Kartlian dialect of the East Georgian group, spoken in and around Tbilisi.[9][8]
East Georgian dialects
The East Georgian dialects are spoken primarily in eastern Georgia, as well as in adjacent areas of Azerbaijan and Iran. They are subdivided into highland and lowland varieties.Highland dialects, found in the mountainous regions of the northeast, include Khevsur, Pshav, Tusheti (Tush), and Mtiuleti. These often preserve archaic phonological features, such as aspirated uvular stops (/qʰ/), and exhibit distinct verbal forms. Lowland dialects, spoken in the central and eastern plains, encompass Kartli (the basis for the standard language), Kakheti, and Meskheti. External varieties include Ingiloy (in Azerbaijan) and Fereydani Georgian (in Iran), which developed from migrations in the 19th century.[9]
West Georgian dialects
West Georgian dialects are prevalent in western Georgia and parts of Turkey, showing greater phonetic assimilation and innovative morphology compared to their eastern counterparts. They are often divided into upper, middle, and lower subgroups.Prominent examples include Imerian (in Imereti region), Guria (in Guria), Racha-Lechkhumi (in the northwest mountains), and Adjarian (along the Black Sea coast). The Imerian and Gurian dialects, in particular, feature rounded vowels and simplified consonant clusters not found in the standard language. Some communities in northeastern Turkey speak Imerkhevian, a variety influenced by historical migrations.[9][8]While differences exist in pronunciation, vocabulary, and syntax—such as varying stress patterns and case usage—all dialects form a continuum where speakers can generally understand one another, facilitating national communication.[9]
Phonology
Standard Georgian has 28 consonant phonemes and 5 vowel phonemes, making a total of 33 phonemes.[8][10] The language features a rich consonant system with ejective, voiced, and aspirated stops and affricates, typical of Caucasian languages, but a simple vowel system.[11] Consonant clusters can be complex, especially word-initially, with up to eight consonants possible in some positions.[11] There is no vowel harmony or phonemic vowel length, and no diphthongs in monomorphemic words.[10]
Consonants
The consonant phonemes are shown in the following table (using IPA symbols). Stops and affricates exhibit a three-way contrast: voiceless aspirated (e.g., /pʰ/), voiceless ejective (e.g., /p’/), and voiced (e.g., /b/). Fricatives and sonorants lack this contrast in some places.[10]
Bilabial
Labiodental
Alveolar
Postalveolar
Palatal
Velar
Uvular
Glottal
Plosive
pʰ p’ b
tʰ t’ d
kʰ k’ ɡ
q’
Affricate
tsʰ ts’ dz
tʃʰ tʃ’ dʒ
Fricative
v
s z
ʃ ʒ
x ɣ
h
Nasal
m
n
Tap/Trill
r
Lateral
l
Notes:
Ejectives (marked ’) are glottalized consonants produced with a simultaneous glottal closure.[10]
Aspirates (marked ʰ) have strong aspiration. The alveolar affricate /ts/ is aspirated but lacks an ejective counterpart in some analyses.[10]
/v/ varies between , , and , especially before voiceless consonants.[10]
/r/ is typically a flap [ɾ], though trilled occurs.
/q’/ (uvular ejective) has variable realizations, including [χ’] or [ʔ].
/h/ mainly appears in loanwords, often word-initially.[11]
Vowels
Georgian has a symmetric five-vowel system: /i, e, a, o, u/. These are realized as [i, ɛ, a, ɔ, u], with the mid vowels lax. Vowels do not contrast in length, and quality is stable regardless of stress.[10][8]
Front
Central
Back
i
u
e
a
o
Prosody
Stress in Georgian is fixed on the initial syllable of the word and is primarily realized through increased duration rather than intensity or fundamental frequency (pitch). It is relatively weak and does not affect vowel quality.[12][13] In phrases, intonational pitch accents may align with the antepenultimate or penultimate syllables, but word-level stress remains initial.[12]Phonological processes include optional reduction in consonant clusters, such as deletion of nasals or rhotics in rapid speech, and emergent stops in certain clusters (e.g., /mz/ → [mbz]).[10]
Grammar
Georgian is an agglutinative language with complex morphology, particularly in its verbal system. It lacks grammatical gender and articles, and employs postpositions rather than prepositions.[14]
Nouns and Cases
Nouns are inflected for seven cases: nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, instrumental, adverbial, and vocative. The nominative marks subjects in present-future tenses, while the ergative is used for transitive subjects in the past. Adjectives precede nouns and agree with them in case but not in gender. Plurals are formed with suffixes like -eb or -ni, though inanimate plurals often take singular verb agreement.[14][15]
Verbs
The verbal system is highly complex, featuring polypersonal agreement where verbs conjugate for subject, direct object, and indirect object. There are four verb classes based on conjugation patterns. Georgian uses "screeves," combinations of tense, mood, and aspect, totaling 11: three present-future screeves (present indicative, present subjunctive, future), four aorist screeves (aorist indicative, optative, conditional, future conjunctive), and four perfective screeves (perfect indicative, pluperfect subjunctive, irrealis, future perfect).[16][14]Tense influences case alignment, exhibiting split ergativity: nominative-accusative in present-future (subject in nominative, object in dative) and ergative-absolutive in past (transitive subject in ergative, object in nominative). Preverbs indicate direction and version, marking benefaction or other relations. Many verbs are irregular, with suppletion across screeves.[16]
Syntax
Word order is flexible but typically follows subject-object-verb (SOV) or subject-verb-object (SVO) patterns. Negation is formed by prefixing ar- to the verb. Georgian is a pro-drop language, often omitting pronouns when context is clear.[15][14]
Lexicon
The Georgian lexicon is primarily composed of native Kartvelian roots, reflecting the language's indigenous origins within the South Caucasian family, but it has been significantly enriched by loanwords due to historical contacts with neighboring cultures and empires.[17]
Native Vocabulary and Word Formation
Native words form the core of everyday vocabulary, particularly for basic concepts, kinship, and natural phenomena. Georgian employs agglutinative word formation, combining roots with prefixes, suffixes, and infixes to create new words. Common processes include:
Compounding: Combining two or more roots, e.g., ჯარი (jari, "army") + კაცი (k'atsi, "person") → ჯარისკაცი (jarisk'atsi, "soldier").
Affixation: Adding suffixes for derivation, e.g., ძმა (dzma, "brother") + -ობა (-oba) → ძმობა (dzmoba, "brotherhood").
Reduplication: Repeating elements for emphasis or intensity, e.g., ნელა (nela, "slowly") → ნელნელა (nelnela, "very slowly").
Verbal lexicon is particularly complex, with roots modified by preverbs and screeve-specific formants to express nuanced actions.[17]
Loanwords
Loanwords constitute a substantial portion of the lexicon, especially in domains like administration, religion, trade, and technology, though exact proportions vary by dialect and register. Major sources include:
Arabic, Persian, and Turkish: From medieval Islamic influences, e.g., საათი (saati, "clock/hour" from Arabic sāʿa), კალამი (kalami, "pen" from Arabic qalam), ჯივე (jive, "pocket" from Turkish).
Greek: Classical and Byzantine contacts, contributing terms in philosophy and Christianity.
Russian and European languages: Soviet era and modernization, e.g., გაზეთი (gazeti, "newspaper" from Russian gazeta), ლამპა (lampa, "lamp" from Greek/Latin via Russian), რეიტინგი (reitingi, "rating" from English).
Other Caucasian languages: Limited borrowings, e.g., აფრა (ap'ra, "sail" from Abkhaz), ქალაქი (kalaki, "town" from Armenian).
Borrowed words are fully integrated into Georgian morphology, often serving as roots for further derivation, and show dialectal variation—southern dialects like Fereydani exhibit stronger Persian influence, while highland dialects like Svan retain more native purity. Recent English loanwords are increasing in urban and youth speech, particularly in technology and pop culture.[17][18]
Examples
The following table provides examples of basic Georgian phrases, including the script in Mkhedruli, Roman transliteration, and English translation.[19]