| Svan ლუშნუ ნინ Lušnu nin |
||
|---|---|---|
| Pronunciation: | [luʃ. nu nin] | |
| Spoken in: | Georgia, Abkhazia | |
| Total speakers: | 30,000 (Total) 15,000 (Native) |
|
| Language family: | South Caucasian Svan |
|
| Writing system: | Seldom (if ever) written, but Georgian alphabet is used | |
| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639-1: | none | |
| ISO 639-2: | – | |
| ISO 639-3: | sva | |
| Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. Georgia ( საქართველო, Sakartvelo) is a Transcontinental country in the Caucasus region situated at the dividing line between Abkhazia (Аҧсны Apsny აფხაზეთი Apkhazeti or Abkhazeti Абха́зия Abhazia) is a De facto List of language familiesA language family is a group of Languages related by descent from a common ancestor called the Proto-language of that family The South Caucasian languages (also known as Ibero-Caucasian or Kartvelian) are spoken primarily in Georgia, with smaller groups of speakers in Turkey A writing system is a type of Symbolic system used to represent elements or statements expressible in Language. The Georgian alphabet (ქართული დამწერლობა is the writing system currently used to write the Georgian language and other South Caucasian ISO 639-1 is the first part of the ISO 639 international-standard language-code family ISO 639-2 is the second part of the ISO 639 standard, which lists codes for the representation of the names of languages ISO 639 -3 (ISO 639-32007 is an international standard for Language codes The standard describes three‐letter codes for identifying languages In Computing, Unicode is an Industry standard allowing Computers to consistently represent and manipulate text expressed in most of the world's | ||
The Svan language (ლუშნუ ნინ/შკა̈ნ, lušnu nin/šḳän; Georgian: სვანური ენა, svanuri ena) is a language spoken in Northwest Georgia. Georgian (ka ქართული ენა kartuli ena) is the Official language of Georgia, a country in the Caucasus. Georgia ( საქართველო, Sakartvelo) is a Transcontinental country in the Caucasus region situated at the dividing line between
Contents |
Distribution
Svan is the native language of about 30,000 Svans, an ethnic subdivision of the Georgian people, living in the mountains of Svaneti, i. The Georgians (ქართველები kartvelebi) are a Nation and Ethnic group originating in the Caucasus, the oldest group of the Svaneti or Svanetia ( Suania in ancient sources (სვანეთი Svaneti) is a historic province in Georgia, in the northwestern part of e. in the districts of Mestia and Lentekhi of Georgia, along the Enguri, Tskhenistskali and Kodori rivers. Mestia (მესტია is a highland Townlet in northwest Georgia, at an elevation of 1 Lentekhi (ლენტეხი is a small town and Lentekhi District's ( Raion) capital in Georgia 's western region of Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti The Inguri (ენგური Enguri; Егры Egry) is a river in western Georgia. The Kodori (Кәыдры Kwydry; კოდორი Kodori) is the second largest river of Abkhazia, de jure an autonomous republic of Some Svan speakers live in the autonomous republic of Abkhazia; although conditions there make it difficult to reliably estimate their numbers, they are thought to number only around 2,500 individuals. Abkhazia (Аҧсны Apsny აფხაზეთი Apkhazeti or Abkhazeti Абха́зия Abhazia) is a De facto
The language is used in familiar and casual social communication. It has no written standard or official status; most speakers also speak Georgian, the country's official language, and use it as their literary and business language. There is no official instruction in Svan, and the number of speakers is declining due to the dispersal of the Svan population in the face of increasing economic hardship. The language is regarded as being endangered, as proficiency in it is limited among young people.
History
Svan is the most differentiated member of the four South Caucasian (Kartvelian) languages, and is not intelligible with the other three (Georgian, Laz, and Mingrelian). The South Caucasian languages (also known as Ibero-Caucasian or Kartvelian) are spoken primarily in Georgia, with smaller groups of speakers in Turkey The Laz language (ლაზური ნენა lazuri nena; ლაზური lazuri, or ჭანური chanuri) is spoken by the Laz people Mingrelian, or Megrelian (მარგალურ ნინა margalur nina; მეგრული ენა megruli ena) is a Language Svan is believed to have separated from them in the 2nd millennium BC or earlier, about one thousand years before Georgian branched off from the other two. The 2nd millennium BC marks the transition from the Middle to the Late Bronze Age.
Phonology
Consonants
| Bilabial | Dental | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stop | pʰ b pʼ ფ ბ პ |
tʰ d tʼ თ დ ტ |
kʰ g kʼ ქ გ კ |
qʰ qʼ ჴ ყ |
ʔ ჸ |
|
| Fricative | f v ჶ ვ |
s z ს ზ |
ʃ ʒ შ ჟ |
x ɣ ხ ღ |
h ჰ |
|
| Affricate | ʦʰ ʣ ʦʼ ც ძ წ |
ʧʰ ʤ ʧʼ ჩ ჯ ჭ |
||||
| Nasal | m მ |
n ნ |
||||
| Liquid | l, r ლ, რ |
j ჲ |
w ჳ |
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| unrounded | rounded | unrounded | rounded | |||||
| short | long | short | long | short | long | short | long | |
| Close | [ i ] ი i |
[ iː ] ი̄ ī |
[ y ] უ̈ ü |
[ yː ] უ̄̈ ű |
[ u ] უ u |
[ uː ] უ̄ ū |
||
| Close-mid | [ eː ] ჱ ė |
[ ə ]¹ ჷ ə |
||||||
| Open-mid | [ ɛ ] ე e |
[ ɛː ] ე̄ ē |
[ œ ] ო̈ ö |
[ œː ] ო̄̈ ő |
[ ɔ ] ო o |
[ ɔː ] ო̄ ō |
||
| Open | [ æ ] ა̈ ä |
[ æː ] ა̄̈ ã |
[ a ] ა a |
[ aː ] ა̄ ā |
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Bold letters are standard in all dialects. In Phonetics, a bilabial consonant is a Consonant articulated with both Lips The bilabial consonants identified by the International Phonetic Alphabet In Linguistics, a dental consonant or dental is a Consonant that is articulated with the tongue against the upper teeth such as /t/ /d/ /n/ and Palatal consonants are Consonants articulated with the body of the tongue raised against the Hard palate (the middle part of the roof of the mouth Uvulars are Consonants articulated with the back of the Tongue against or near the uvula, that is further back in the mouth than Velar consonants Glottal consonants are Consonants articulated with the Glottis. A stop, plosive, or occlusive is a Consonant sound produced by stopping the airflow in the Vocal tract. Fricatives are Consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together Affricate Consonants begin as stops (most often an alveolar, such as or) but release as a fricative (such as or or occasionally into A nasal consonant (also called nasal stop or nasal continuant) is produced with a lowered velum in the mouth allowing air to escape freely through the Liquid consonants, or liquids, are Approximant Consonants that are not classified as Semivowels (glides because they do not correspond phonetically A front vowel is a type of Vowel sound used in some spoken Languages The defining characteristic of a front vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far forward A central vowel is a type of Vowel sound used in some spoken Languages The defining characteristic of a central vowel is that the tongue is positioned halfway between A back vowel is a type of Vowel sound used in some spoken Languages The defining characteristic of a back vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far back as A close vowel is a type of Vowel sound used in many spoken Languages The defining characteristic of a close vowel is that the tongue is positioned as close as A close-mid vowel is a type of Vowel sound used in some spoken Languages The defining characteristic of a close-mid vowel is that the tongue is positioned two-thirds The open-mid vowels make a class of Vowel sounds used in some spoken Languages The defining characteristic of an open-mid vowel is that the tongue is positioned An open vowel is a Vowel sound of a type used in most spoken Languages The defining characteristic of an open vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far as
- Freely varies between [ə] and [ɨ]
- Diacritics not normally written
Features
Familial features
Like all languages of the South Caucasian family, Svan has a large number of consonants. It has agreement between subject and object, and a split-ergative morphosyntactic system. An ergative-absolutive Language (or simply ergative language is a language that treats the argument (" subject " of an Intransitive Verbs are marked for aspect, evidentiality and "version".
Distinguishing features
Svan retains the consonant /qʰ/ (voiceless aspirated stop), and the glides /w/ and /j/. It has a larger repertoire of vowels than Georgian; the Upper Bal dialect of Svan has the most vowels of any South Caucasian language, showing both long and short versions of /a ɛ i ɔ u æ ø y/ plus /ə eː/, a total of 18 vowels (Georgian, by contrast, has just five).
Its morphology is less regular than that of the other three sister languages, and there are notable differences in verbal inflections.
Dialects
The Svan language is divided into the following dialects and sub-dialects:
- Upper Bal (about 15,000 speakers): Ushgul, Kala, Ipar, Mulakh, Mestia, Lenzer, Latal.
- Lower Bal (about 12,000 speakers): Becho, Tskhumar, Etser, Par, Chubekh, Lakham.
- Lashkh.
- Lentekh: Kheled, Khopur, Rtskhmelur, Cholur
Books
- Kevin Tuite, Svan. Kevin Tuite (in Irish Caoimhin de Tiùite (born April 3, 1954) is a full Professor of Anthropology at the Université de Montréal Université de Montréal. ISBN 3-89586-154-5.
External links
- A website about Svaneti (in Russian)
- Ethnologue report on Svan
- Svan at TITUS database
- ECLING - Svan (includes audio/video samples).
- Svanetia, Svan Language, Svan Songs
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