Georgian language and alphabet

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Language

The Georgian government has declared the Georgian language the official language, while in the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia, Abkhazian is also an official language. The Georgian language is spoken by about 4 million people worldwide and is the most widely spoken language in the country. Around 92 per cent of the population speak Georgian fluently. The language belongs to the South Caucasian language family and has its own alphabet, which has been in use since the 5th century but probably has much older origins.

Abkhazian, also a Caucasian language, is spoken mainly in the region of Abkhazia by about 100,000 people. High-level state documents are drafted in both official languages, and the news agencies of the Georgian president, government and parliament also work in both languages.

Linguistic diversity

In addition to the two official languages, there are 23 other languages in Georgia from six different language families. The most important of these are Azerbaijani, Armenian, Ossetian and Russian. Although these languages have no official status, they are protected and promoted by the state. There are a total of 642 public schools where minority languages are taught. In addition to Georgian and Abkhazian, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Ossetian, English and Russian are used for university entrance exams and on public radio.

The importance of the Russian language has declined since Georgia gained independence. While it was an official language and compulsory subject in schools during the Soviet era, it is now rarely taught as a second foreign language and is more common among the older generation. The Russian-speaking population has declined sharply and now accounts for only 1.2% of the country’s population.

By contrast, English is gradually increasing in importance. Although it is not an official language, state documents are often also published in English. English is taught as a compulsory foreign language from the first grade onwards, and many services are provided in two languages, which promotes the dissemination and use of English in the country.

Svan language

There are two regional languages in Georgia: Svan and Mingrelian. These languages are so specific that they cannot be understood by people outside these regions of Georgia.

Svan, also known as ‘lušnu nin’ in its own term or as ‘svanuri ena’ in Georgian, is spoken by an estimated 15,000 to possibly 30,000 people. This language is mainly spoken in the Svaneti region of Georgia, but also in the western Kodori Gorge, which belongs to Abkhazia and is claimed by Georgia. There are also speakers of Svan in other parts of Georgia and abroad. The language belongs to the South Caucasian (Kartvelian) language family.

Svan differs markedly from the other South Caucasian languages in its greater vowel richness. However, it has no official written form and the Svan traditionally use Georgian as their established written language. Within Georgia, the Svan are traditionally considered a sub-ethnic group of the Georgians.

Megrelian language

Mingrelian, also known by its native name ‘Margaluri Nina’, is spoken by around 500,000 people in the Mingrelia region of western Georgia, making it the second-largest South Caucasian language in the region. Together with the closely related Laz, it forms the San group within this language family.

Historically, Mingrelian had no separate written language and is still not used officially as a school or official language in Georgia. Instead, Georgian, which is related to Mingrelian, served as the written language for Mingrelian speakers. In recent times, Mingrelian has been written with Georgian or, more rarely, Latin letters in informal settings, e.g. in public fora, but without a standardised orthography. In Abkhazia, there is a publication in Mingrelian, the newspaper ‘Gali’.

Writing

The Georgian alphabet has existed since at least the 5th century and is used for the Georgian language. It consists of 33 letters, each of which represents a sound. Before a reform in the 19th century, there were five additional letters that are no longer used in modern language. The writing is done from left to right and was influenced by the Greek alphabet, although the letters themselves are an independent invention.

There are three different types of Georgian script: Assomtawruli, Nuskhuri and Mchedruli. Sometimes people talk about three different Georgian scripts, although historically they are variants of the same script. They have a common order and similar letter names.

For typographic purposes, Assomtawruli and Nuschuri are considered to be the capital and small letters of the same script. Mchedruli is considered to be a separate script. Today, Assomtawruli and Nuschuri are officially used only by the Georgian Orthodox Church for religious texts. Mchedruli is the predominant Georgian script for general use.

In addition to Georgian, this script is also used for other South Caucasian languages such as Mingrelian, Svan, Laz and the Northeast Caucasian language Bat. Between 1938 and 1954, the Georgian script was also officially used for the languages Abkhaz and Ossetian. In the past, the letters were also used as numerals.

Short History

The origins of the Georgian script are interpreted differently by various historians and sources. An important source is the 11th-century Georgian historian Leonti Mroweli, who claims that Parnawas I, the first king of Iberia in the 3rd century BC, invented the Georgian alphabet.

While some consider this source to be reliable, most historians doubt that Parnawas actually created the Georgian alphabet. Some believe that he rather revised an existing writing system.

The oldest known examples of the Georgian script were found in Palestine, outside of Georgia. In 1952, an Italian archaeologist discovered three inscriptions on the floor of a Georgian monastery near Bir el Qutt in the Judean Desert, dated 430 and 532 AD. Other inscriptions found in a church in Nazareth between 1955 and 1960 are probably even older, dating from around 330 to 427.

There is also evidence of this writing in Georgia itself. The inscriptions in the Sioni Church in Bolnissi are the oldest and date from the end of the 5th century. The Abakedarium on the stele of Davati deserves a special mention. Although this view is controversial, some scholars consider it to be the very first example of Georgian writing, dating from 367. The Nekresi inscriptions, often considered to date from the 1st to 3rd century, are also not clearly recognised, although they are considered to be very old examples.

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