Georgian (Kartvelian) languages by Levan Urushadze

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See also Kartvelian (Georgian) languages

This is a signed article by Dr. Levan Urushadze. It may be edited for spelling errors or typos, but not for substantive content except by its author. If you have created a user name and verified your identity provided you have set forth your credentials on your user page, you can add comments to the botton of this article as Wikinfo:Peer review.

The Georgian (Kartvelian) languages are a group of languages, spoken in the Republic of Georgia (more than 70% of the population), Turkey, Iran, Azerbaijan, Russia and other countries. This group of languages is a part of the family of Iberian-Caucasian languages.

Georgian (Kartvelian) languages include:

  • Georgian (Kartuli) - official language of theRepublic of Georgia, 4 million native speakers (70% of the population of Georgia including Svans and Megrelians (Megrels) and Lazs (Chans), who are ethnic Georgians, ethnographic groups of Georgian people);
  • Megrelian (Megruli in Georgian, Margali in Megrelian/Mingrelian) - appr. 300,000 native speakers mainly in Samegrelo region of Western Georgia.
  • Laz (Lazuri) - estimates vary from more than 500,000 speakers. Mainly spoken in the Black Sea littoral area of Northeast Turkey (Rize, Trabzon and Hopa). Lazs also are ethnic Georgians. In modern Turkey exist also historical regions of Georgia - Tao-Klarjeti and Artaani (now provinces of Erzerum and Ardagan) with about 1,5 million Georgians.
  • Svan (Svanuri) - appr. 40,000 native speakers in the northern mountainous region of the Republic of Georgia.


References

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