Mingrelian grammar

Megrelian is one of Kartvelian languages mainly spoken in Western Georgia (the regions of Samegrelo and Abkhazia). In Abkhazia the number of Megrelian speakers declined dramatically in 1990s as a result of heavy ethnic cleansing of Georgian population, overwhelming majority of which were Megrelians.

Megrelian has two dialects: Zudgidi-Samurzaqano (north-western) and Senaki-Martvili (south-eastern). The dialects are extremely close to each other.

Phonology and Alphabet

Vowels

In Megrelian there are five primary vowels a, e, i, o, u and one secondary ə (only in Zugdidi-Samurzaqano dialect), which is a result of reduction of i and u.

Megrelian vocalism

	front	back
		nonlabial	labial
high	i [i]	ə [ə]	u [u]
mid	e [ɛ]		o [ɔ]
low		a [ɑ]

Consonants

Consonant inventory of Megrelian is almost identical to Laz, Georgian, and Svan.

Megrelian consonantism

	stops			affricates			fricatives		nasals	liquids	glides
	voiced	voiceless		voiced	voiceless		voiced	voiceless
		glottalized	aspirated		glottalized	aspirated
labial	b [b]	ṗ [pʼ]	p [p]				v [v]		m [m]
dental	d [d]	ṭ [tʼ]	t [t]	ʒ [d͡z]	ċ [t͡sʼ]	c [t͡s]	z [z]	s [s]	n [n]	l [l]
alveolar				ǯ [d͡ʒ]	čʼ [t͡ʃʼ]	č [t͡ʃ]	ž [ʒ]	š [ʃ]		r [r]	y [j]
velar	g [ɡ]	ḳ [kʼ]	k [k]				ɣ [ɣ]	x [x]
uvular		qʼ [qʼ]
laryngeal		ʔ [ʔ]						h [h]

Phonetic processes

Vowel reduction

Certain pairs of vowels reduce to single vowels:

• ae and ai → ee → e
• ao, oa and oo → aa → a
• ou → uu → u

In Zugdidi-Samurzaqano dialect the vowels i and u also often reduce to ə.

Pre-consonant change of velar g

Before consonants, g → r.

Positional change of uvular q' sound

In word-initial prevocalic and intervocalic positions, q' → ʔ. Before the consonant v, q' → ʔ/ḳ.

Regressive assimilation of consonants

The common types are:

• voicing/devoicing of voiceless/voiced consonants before voiced/voiceless ones (respectively).
• glottalization of consonants before the glottalized ones and the glottal stop.

Progressive dissimilation

If the stem contains r then the suffixes -ar and -ur transform to -al and -ul. E.g. xorga (Khorga, the village)→ xorg-ul-i ("Khorgan"). The rule is not valid if in the stem with r an l appears later. E.g. marṭvili ("Martvili", the town) → marṭvil-ur-i (adj. "Martvilian")

In a stem with voiceless affricates or voiceless sibilants, a later ǯ is deaffricated to d. E.g. orcxonǯi → orcxondi "comb", č'anǯi → č'andi "fly (insect)", isinǯi → isindi "arrow" etc.

The transformation of l

• in all dialects of Megrelian, before consonants l → r.
• in the Martvili subdialect in word-initial prevocalic position, l → y → ∅ and in intervocalic position l → ∅^{[further explanation needed]}

Intervocalic deletion of v

Between the vowels the organic^{[clarification needed]} v disappears. E.g. xvavi (Geo. "abundance, plenty") → *xvai → xvee (id.), mṭevani (Geo. "raceme") → ṭiani (id.) etc.

Phonetic augmentation n

Before the stops and affricates, an inorganic^{[clarification needed]} augmentation n may appear (before labials n → m).

Alphabet

Megrelian is written in the Georgian alphabet.

Georgian	Transcription	IPA transcription
ა	a	ɑ
ბ	b	b
გ	g	ɡ
დ	d	d
ე	e	ɛ
ვ	v	v
ზ	z	z
თ	t	t
ი	i	i
კ	ḳ	kʼ
ლ	l	l
მ	m	m
ნ	n	n
ჲ	y	j
ო	o	ɔ
პ	ṗ	pʼ
ჟ	ž	ʒ
რ	r	r
ს	s	s
ტ	ṭ	tʼ
უ	u	u
ჷ	ə	ə
ფ	p	p
ქ	k	k
ღ	ɣ	ɣ
ყ	qʼ	qʼ
ჸ	ʔ	ʔ
შ	š	ʃ
ჩ	č	t͡ʃ
ც	c	t͡s
ძ	ʒ	d͡z
წ	ċ	t͡sʼ
ჭ	čʼ	t͡ʃʼ
ხ	x	x
ჯ	ǯ	d͡ʒ
ჰ	h	h

Grammatical cases

Megrelian has nine grammatical cases: nominative, ergative, dative, genitive, lative, ablative, instrumental, adverbial and benefactive. For pluralization the suffix -ep is used, which is inserted between stem and case marker.

Case	Singular					Plural
	Megrelian	Laz	Georgian	Svan		Megrelian	Laz	Georgian	Svan
Nominative	-i	-i/-e	-i	-i		-ep-i	-ep-e	-eb-i	-är
Ergative	-k	-k	-ma	-d		-ep-k	-epe-k	-eb-ma	-är-d
Dative	-s	-s	-s	-s		-ep-s	-epe-s	-eb-s	-är-s
Genitive	-iš	-iš	-is	-iš		-ep-iš	-epe-š	-eb-is	-are-š
Lative	-iša	-iša	n/a	n/a		-ep-iša	-epe-ša	n/a	n/a
Ablative	-iše	-iše	n/a	n/a		-ep-iše	-epe-še	n/a	n/a
Instrumental	-it	-ite	-it	-šw		-ep-it	-epe-te	-eb-it	-är-šw
Adverbial	-o(t)	-ot	-ad	-d		-ep-o(t)	n/a	-eb-ad	-är-d
Benefactive	-išo(t)	n/a	-isad	-išd		-ep-išo(t)	n/a	-eb-isad	-är-išd

Nouns

Megrelian shares a noun classification scheme with other Kartvelian languages and classifies objects as:

• Animate entities (question mi? "who?")
• Inanimate entities (question mu? "what?)

Noun classification scheme

Concrete			Abstract
Animate		Inanimate
Human and "human-like" beings (e.g. God, deities, angels)	Animals	Inanimate physical entities	Abstract objects
Animate	Inanimate
mi? ("who?")	mu? ("what?")

Noun declension

Declension of noun stem ḳoč ("man") in comparison to corresponding Laz ḳoč (id.), Georgian ḳac (id.) and Svan č'äš (husband) forms:

Case	Singular					Plural
	Megrelian	Laz	Georgian	Svan		Megrelian	Laz	Georgian	Svan
Nominative	ḳoč-i	ḳoč-i	ḳac-i	č'äš		ḳoč-ep-i	ḳoč-ep-e	ḳac-eb-i	č'äš-är
Ergative	ḳoč-k	ḳoč-i-k	ḳac-ma	č'äš-d		ḳoč-ep-k	ḳoč-epe-k	ḳac-eb-ma	č'äš-är-d
Dative	ḳoč-s	ḳoč-i-s	ḳac-s	č'äš-s		ḳoč-ep-s	ḳoč-epe-s	ḳac-eb-s	č'äš-är-s
Genitive	ḳoč-iš	ḳoč-iš	ḳac-is	č'äš-iš		ḳoč-ep-iš	ḳoč-epe-š	ḳac-eb-is	č'äš-är-iš
Lative	ḳoč-iša	ḳoč-iša	n/a	n/a		ḳoč-ep-iša	ḳoč-epe-ša	n/a	n/a
Ablative	ḳoč-iše	ḳoč-iše	n/a	n/a		ḳoč-ep-iše	ḳoč-epe-še	n/a	n/a
Instrumental	ḳoč-it	ḳoč-ite	ḳac-it	č'äš-šw		ḳoč-ep-it	ḳoč-epe-te	ḳac-eb-it	č'äš-är-šw
Adverbial	ḳoč-o	n/a	ḳac-ad	č'äš-d		ḳoč-ep-o	n/a	ḳac-eb-ad	č'äš-är-d
Benefactive	ḳoč-išo	n/a	ḳac-isad	č'äš-išd		ḳoč-ep-išo	n/a	ḳac-eb-isad	č'äš-är-išd

Adjectives

Adjectives in Megrelian are declined like nouns.

Example of adjective declension

Declension of stem ǯveš ("old") in comparison to corresponding Laz (mǯveš), Georgian (ʒvel) and Svan (ǯwinel) forms:

Case	Singular					Plural
	Megrelian	Laz	Georgian	Svan		Megrelian	Laz	Georgian	Svan
Nominative	ǯveš-i	mǯveš-i	ʒvel-i	ǯwinel		ǯveš-ep-i	mǯveš-ep-e	ʒvel-eb-i	ǯwinel-är
Ergative	ǯveš-k	mǯveš-i-k	ʒvel-ma	ǯwinel-d		ǯveš-ep-k	mǯveš-epe-k	ʒvel-eb-ma	ǯwinel-är-d
Dative	ǯveš-s	mǯveš-i-s	ʒvel-s	ǯwinel-s		ǯveš-ep-s	mǯveš-epe-s	ʒvel-eb-s	ǯwinel-är-s
Genitive	ǯveš-iš	mǯveš-iš	ʒvel-is	ǯwinl-iš		ǯveš-ep-iš	mǯveš-epe-š	ʒvel-eb-is	ǯwinel-är-iš
Lative	ǯveš-iša	mǯveš-iša	n/a	n/a		ǯveš-ep-iša	mǯveš-epe-ša	n/a	n/a
Ablative	ǯveš-iše	mǯveš-iše	n/a	n/a		ǯveš-ep-iše	mǯveš-epe-še	n/a	n/a
Instrumental	ǯveš-it	mǯveš-ite	ʒvel-it	ǯwinel-šw		ǯveš-ep-it	mǯveš-epe-te	ʒvel-eb-it	ǯwinel-är-šw
Adverbial	ǯveš-o	mǯveš-ot	ʒvel-ad	ǯwinel-d		ǯveš-ep-o	n/a	ʒvel-eb-ad	ǯwinel-är-d
Benefactive	ǯveš-išo	n/a	ʒvel-isad	ǯwinel-išd		ǯveš-ep-išo	n/a	ʒvel-eb-isad	ǯwinel-är-išd

Numerals

The Megrelian numerals are almost identical to Laz with minor phonetic differences. The number system is Vigesimal like Georgian.

Cardinal numbers

The most of Megrelian cardinal numbers are inherited from Proto-Kartvelian language, except arti (one) and eči (twenty), which are considered as a Karto-Zan heritage, since there are no regular equivalents in Svan.

Cardinal numbers' table

	Megrelian	Laz	Georgian	Svan
1	arti	ar(t)	erti	ešxu
2	žiri/žəri	žur/ǯur	ori	yori
3	sumi	sum	sami	semi
4	otxi	otxo	otxi	oštxw
5	xuti	xut	xuti	woxušd
6	amšvi	anši	ekvsi	usgwa
7	škviti	škvit	švidi	išgwid
8	ruo/bruo	ovro	rva	ara
9	čxoro	čxoro	cxra	čxara
10	viti	vit	ati	ešd
11	vitaarti	vitoar	tertmeṭi	ešdešxu
12	vitožiri	vitožur	tormeṭi	ešdori
13	vitosumi	vitosum	cameṭi	ešdsemi
14	vitaantxi	vitotxo	totxmeṭi	ešdoštx
15	vitoxuti	vitoxut	txutmeṭi	ešdoxušd
20	eči	eči	oci	yerwešd
21	ečdoarti	ečdoar	ocdaerti	yerwešdiešxu
30	ečdoviti	ečdovit	ocdaati	semešd
40	žaarneči	žurneči	ormoci	woštxuešd
50	žaarnečidoviti	žurnečdovit	ormocdaati	woxušdešd
60	sumoneči	sumeneči	samoci	usgwašd
70	sumonečdoviti	sumenečidovit	samocdaati	išgvidašd
80	otxoneči	otxoneči	otxmoci	arašd
90	otxonečdovit	otxonečidovit	otxmocdaati	chxarašd
100	oši	oši	asi	ašir
101	ošarti	oši do ar	aserti	ašir i ešxu
102	ošžiri	oši do žur	asori	ašir i yori
110	ošviti	oši do vit	asati	ašir i ešd
200	žiroši	žuroši	orasi	yorašir
500	xutoši	xutoši	xutasi	woxušdaršir
1000	antasi	šilya/vitoši	atasi	atas
1999	antas čxoroš otxonečdovitočxoro	šilya čxoroš otxonečdoviṭočxoro	atas cxraas otxmocdacxrameṭi	atas čxara ašir chxarašd chxara
2000	žiri antasi	žuršilya	ori atasi	yori atas
10000	viti antasi	vit šilya	ati atasi	ešd atas

Ordinal numbers

In Megrelian the circumfix ma-...-a produces ordinal numbers, which is a Common-Kartvelian heritage, since it has regular phonetical equivalents in Svan and Georgian (me-...-e in both)

Ordinal numbers' derivation rule

Megrelian	Laz	Georgian	Svan
ma-NUMBER-a	ma-NUMBER-a(ni)	me-NUMBER-e	me-NUMBER-e

Ordinal number's table

	Megrelian	Laz	Georgian	Svan
1st	ṗirveli	maartani	ṗirveli	manḳwi
2nd	mažira	mažura	meore	merme
3rd	masuma	masuma	mesame	meseme
4th	maotxa/mantxa	maotxa	meotxe	meuštxwe
5th	maxuta	maxuta	mexute	meuxušde
6th	maamšva	maanša	meekvse	meusgwe
7th	maškvita	maškvita	mešvide	meyšgwide
8th	maruo	maovra	merve	meare
9th	mačxora	mačxora	mecxre	meyčxre
10th	mavita	mavita	meate	meyšde
11th	mavitaarta	mavitoarta	metertmeṭe	meyšdešxue
12th	mavitožira	mavitožura	metormeṭe	meyšdore
20th	maeča	maeča	meoce	meyerwešde
21st	ečdomaarta	ečdomaarta	ocdameerte
30th	ečdomavita	ečdomavita	ocdameate	mesemešde
100th	maoša	maoša	mease	meašire
101st	ošmaarta	ošmaarta	asmeerte
102nd	ošmažira	ošmažura	asmeore
110th	ošmavita	ošmavita	asmeate
200th	mažiroša	mažuroša	meorase	meyorašire
500th	maxutoša	maxutoša	mexutase	meuxušdašire
1000th	maantasa	mavitoša	meatase	meatase

Fractional numbers

The fractional numbers derivation rule in Megrelian is akin to Old Georgian and Svan.

Fractional numbers' derivation rule

Megrelian/Laz	Georgian		Svan
	Old	New
na-NUMBER-al/or	na-NUMBER-al	me-NUMBER-ed	na-NUMBER-al/ul

Fractional numbers' table

	Megrelian/Laz	Georgian		Svan
		Old	New
whole	teli (m) mteli (l)	mrteli	mteli	tel
half	gverdi	naxevari	naxevari	xənsga
1/3	nasumori	nasamali	mesamedi	nasemal
1/4	naotxali (m-l) naantxali (m)	naotxali	meotxedi	naoštxul
1/5	naxutali	naxutali	mexutedi	naxušdal
1/6	naamšvali (m) naanšali (l)	naekvsali	meekvsedi	nausgwul
1/7	naškvitali	našvidali	mešvidedi	nayšgwidal
1/8	naruali (m) naovrali (l)	narvali	mervedi	naaral
1/9	načxorali	nacxrali	mecxredi	načxaral
1/10	navitali	naatali	meatedi	naešdal
1/11	navitaartali (m) navitoartali (l)	natertmeṭali	metertmeṭedi	naešdešxul
1/12	navitožirali (m) navitožurali (l)	natormeṭali	metormeṭedi	naešdoral
1/20	naečali	naocali	meocedi	nayerwešdal
1/100	naošali	naasali	measedi	naaširal
1/1000	naantasali (m) navitošali (l)	naatasali	meatasedi	naatasal

Pronouns

Personal pronouns

	Megrelian	Laz	Georgian
I	ma	ma	me
You (sing.)	si	si	šen
That (close to speaker)	ena	aya	es
This	ina	ia	is
We	čki/čkə	čki	čven
You (pl.)	tkva	tkvan	tkven
Those	enepi	antepe	eseni
These	inepi	entepe	isini

Possessve pronouns

	Megrelian	Laz	Georgian
My	čkimi/čkəmi	čkimi	čemi
Your (sing.)	skani	skani	šeni
His/her/its	muši	muši	misi
Our	čkini/čkəni	čkini	čveni
Your (pl.)	tkvani	tkvani	tkveni
Their	inepiš	mutepeši	mati

Verbs

The Megrelian verb has the categories of person, number, version, tense, mood, aspect, voice, and verbal focus.

Personality and Number

In Megrelian the verbs can be monovalent, bivalent or trivalent. This feature is also shared with other Kartvelian languages.

• Monovalent verbs are represented only by subjective person and are always intransitive.
• Bivalent verbs together with subject have also one object (direct or indirect). They are:
  • transitive in the case of direct object
  • intransitive if the object is indirect
• Trivalent verbs have one subject and always both, direct and indirect objects and are ditransitive.

Table of verb personality

	Unipersonal	Bipersonal		Tripersonal
	intransitive	transitive	intransitive	ditransitive
Subject	+	+	+	+
Direct Object		+		+
Indirect Object			+	+

The person may be singular or plural.

Subject and object markers in Mwgrelian are roughly the same as in Laz

Subject markers

	Singular	Plural
S1	v-	v-...-t
S2	∅-	∅-...-t
S3	∅-...-∅/-s/-u	∅-...-an/-es

Object markers

	Singular	Plural
O1	m-	m-...-an/-es/-t
O2	g-	g-...-an/-es/-t
O3	∅-	∅-...-an/-es

In pre-consonant position the markers v- and g- may change phonetically:

• v- → b- (in Zugdidi-Samurzaqano dialect)
• g- → r- (in both dialects)

Version

In Megrelian there are four types of version marking like in other Kartvelian languages:

• subjective - shows that the action is intended for oneself,
• objective - action is intended for another person,
• objective-passive - the action is intended for another person and at the same time indicating the passiveness of subject,
• neutral - neutral with respect to intention.

Version markers

Version	Megrelian	Laz	Georgian	Svan
Subjective	-i-	-i-	-i-	-i-
Objective	-u-	-u-	-u-	-o-
Objective-passive	-a-	-a-	-e-	-e-
Neutral	-o-/-a	-o-	-a-	-a-

Tenses

In total there are 20 screeves in Megrelian. They are grouped in four series.

Verb screeves (sample conjugation)

I series
Screeve	Stem: č'ar- "to write"	Translation
present	č'aruns	s/he writes
imperfect	č'arundu	s/he was writing
imperfective optative	č'arundas	s/he were writing
imperfective conditional	č'arundu-ḳon	if s/he were writing
future imperfect	č'arundas iʔuapu(n)/iʔii(n)	s/he will be writing
conditional of future imperfect in the past	č'arundu-ḳon iʔuapudu/iʔiidu	if she were writing
future	doč'aruns	s/he will write
future in the past	doč'arundu	s/he would write
future optative	doč'arundas
II series
aorist	č'aru	s/he wrote
aorist optative	č'aras	should s/he write
aorist conditional	č'aru-ḳon	if s/he wrote
III series
inferential I	uč'aru(n)	(it seems) s/he has written
inferential II	uč'arudu	(it seems) s/he had written
inferential optative I	uč'arudas	may s/he have written
inferential conditional II	uč'arudu-ḳon	if s/he have written
IV series
inferential III	noč'arue(n)	(it seems) s/he has written
inferential IV	noč'aruedu	(it seems) s/he had written
inferential optative III	noč'aruedas	may s/he have written
Inferential conditional IV	noč'aruedu-ḳon	if s/he have written

Mood

Indicative

Indicative statement claims that the proposition should be taken as an apparent fact.

Interrogative

There are two ways to express interrogative mood:

• with interrogative words. E.g. mi? (who?), mu? (what?), so? (where?), mužams? (when?), muč'o? (how?) etc. This rule is shared with other Kartvelian languages.
• by attaching an interrogative particle -o to the end of a verb. Cf. the interrogative particles in Laz -i, Old Georgian -a and Svan -ma/-mo/-mu.

Imperative

Indicates a command or request. The aorist form is used when addressing 2nd person (singular/plural) and aorist optative in all other cases.

Subjunctive

Expresses possibility, wish, desire. The subjunctive mood in Megrelian is provided by optative screeves.

Conditional

Indicates condition in contrary to a fact. It is produced by adding a verbal suffix -ḳo(ni) to the end of a verb.

Aspect

In Megrelian the verbs may have two aspects depending on the completeness of action (perfective aspect) or the lack of it (imperfective aspect). The perfective aspect is derived by adding a preverb to the verb.

In 2nd, 3rd, 4th series the verbs equally have both aspect forms, while in the 1st series the screeves are distributed between two aspects.

Aspect distribution in the 1st series

Imperfective Aspect
Screeve	Stem: č'ar- "to write"	Translation
present	č'aruns	s/he writes
imperfect	č'arundu	s/he was writing
imperfective optative	č'arundas	s/he were writing
imperfective conditional	č'arundu-ḳon	if s/he were writing
future imperfect	č'arundas iʔuapu(n)/iʔii(n)	s/he will be writing
conditional of future imperfect in the past	č'arundu ḳon iʔuapudu/iʔiidu	if she were writing
Perfective Aspect
future	doč'aruns	s/he will write
future in the past	doč'arundu	s/he would write
future optative	doč'arundas

Voice

References

• Chikobava, Arn. (1936). Grammatical analysis of Laz with texts (in Georgian). Tiflis. 
• Chikobava, Arn. (1938). Chan-Megrel-Georgian Comparative Dictionary (in Georgian). Tbilisi. 
• Fähnrich, H. & Sardzhveladze, Z. (2000). Etymological Dictionary of the Kartvelian Languages (in Georgian). Tbilisi. 
• Kajaia, O. (2001-2002). Megrelian-Georgian dictionary. 3 Vols. (in Georgian). Tbilisi. 
• Kartozia, G. (2005). The Laz language and its place in the system of Kartvelian languages (in Georgian). Tbilisi. 
• Klimov, G. (1964). Etymological Dictionary of the Kartvelian Languages (in Russian). Moscow. 
• Klimov, G. (1998a). Etymological Dictionary of the Kartvelian Languages. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. 
• Klimov, G. (1998b). Languages of the World: Caucasian languages (in Russian). Moscow: Academia. 
• Marr, N. (1910). Grammar of Chan (Laz) with reader and wordlist (in Russian). St. Petersburg. .
• Qipshidze, I. (1914). The Grammar of Megrelian (Iver) Language with reader and dictionary] (in Russian). St. Petersburg. . (Russian)(Mingrelian)
• Shanidze, A. (1973). Essentials of Georgian Grammar (in Georgian). Tbilisi. 
• Topuria, V. & Kaldani, M. (2000). Svan Dictionary (in Georgian). Tbilisi.