The Proto-Kartvelian language, or Common Kartvelian (Georgian: წინარექართველური ენა, romanized: ts'inarekartveluri ena, Georgian: პროტოქართველური ენა, romanized: p'rot'okartveluri ena), is the linguistic reconstruction of the common ancestor of the Kartvelian languages, which was spoken by the ancestors of the modern Kartvelian peoples. The existence of such a language is widely accepted by specialists in linguistics, who have reconstructed a broad outline of the language by comparing the existing Kartvelian languages against each other.[1]Several linguists, namely, Gerhard Deeters and Georgy Klimov have also reconstructed a lower-level proto-language called Proto-Karto-Zan or Proto-Georgian-Zan, which is the ancestor of Karto-Zan languages (includes Georgian and Zan).[2]
| Proto-Kartvelian | |
|---|---|
| Reconstruction of | Kartvelian languages |
| Lower-order reconstructions | |
Influences
The ablaut patterns of Proto-Kartvelian are highly similar to those of the Indo-European languages, and so it is thought that Proto-Kartvelian interacted with Indo-European at a relatively early date.[3] This is reinforced by cognates with Indo-European, such as the Proto-Kartvelian *mḳerd- (breast), and its possible relation to the Proto-Indo-European *ḱerd- (heart). Proto-Kartvelian *ṭep- (warm) may also be related to Proto-Indo-European *tep- "warm".[1][better source needed]
Relation to descendants
The modern descendants of Proto-Kartvelian are Georgian, Svan, Mingrelian and Laz. The ablaut patterns of Proto-Kartvelian were better preserved in Georgian and (particularly) Svan than in either Mingrelian or Laz, in which new forms have been set up so that there is a single, stable vowel in each word element.[1]
The system of pronouns of Proto-Kartvelian is distinct on account of its category of inclusive–exclusive (so, for instance, there were two forms of the pronoun "we": one that includes the listener and one that does not). This has survived in Svan but not in the other languages. Svan also includes a number of archaisms from the Proto-Kartvelian era, and therefore it is thought that Svan broke off from Proto-Kartvelian at a relatively early stage: the later Proto-Kartvelian stage (called Karto-Zan) split into Georgian and Zan (Mingrelo-Laz).[1]
Phonology
Vowels
| Front | Back | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| unrounded | rounded | |||||
| short | long | short | long | short | long | |
| Close | (i [i]) | (u [u]) | ||||
| Open-mid | e [ɛ] | ē [ɛː] | o [ɔ] | ō [ɔː] | ||
| Open | a [ɑ] | ā [ɑː] | ||||
Consonants
| Labial | Alveolar | Retroflex | Postalveolar | Velar | Uvular | Glottal | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plain | sibilant | central | lateral[8] | |||||||
| Nasal | m [m] | n [n] | ||||||||
| Plosive | voiced | b [b] | d [d] | ʒ [d͡z] | ʒ₁ [d͡ʐ] | ǯ [d͡ʒ] | g [ɡ] | |||
| voiceless | p [p] | t [t] | c [t͡s] | c₁ [t͡ʂ] | č [t͡ʃ] | k [k] | q [q] | |||
| ejective | ṗ [pʼ] | ṭ [tʼ] | c̣ [t͡sʼ] | c̣₁ [t͡ʂʼ] | č̣ [t͡ʃʼ] | ɬʼ [t͡ɬʼ] | ḳ [kʼ] | q̇ [qʼ] | ||
| Fricative | voiceless | s [s] | s₁ [ʂ] | š [ʃ] | lʿ [ɬ] | x [x] | h [h] | |||
| voiced | z [z] | z₁ [ʐ] | ž [ʒ] | ɣ [ɣ] | ||||||
| Trill | r [r] | |||||||||
| Approximant | w [w] | l [l] | y [j] | |||||||
Distinction between plain [q] and ejective [qʼ] remains only in Svan language. This distinction also existed in Old Georgian.
Notes
References
- Encyclopædia Britannica, 15th edition (1986): Macropedia, "Languages of the World", see section titled "Caucasian languages".
- Fähnrich, H. (2002). Kartwelische Wortschatzstudien. Jena: Friedrich-Schiller-Universität.
- Gamkrelidze, Th. (1966) "A Typology of Common Kartvelian", Language, Vol. 42, No. 1 (Jan. – Mar.), pp. 69–83
- Gamkrelidze, Th. & Ivanov, V. (1995). Indo-European and the Indo-Europeans: A Reconstruction and Historical Analysis of a Proto-Language and a Proto-Culture. 2 Vols. Berlin and New York: Mouton de Gruyter.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - Gamkrelidze, Th. & Machavariani, G. (1965). The system of sonants and ablaut in Kartvelian languages (in Georgian and Russian). Tbilisi.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - Klimov, G. (1998). Etymological Dictionary of the Kartvelian Languages. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
- Schmidt, Karl Horst (1962). Studien zur Rekonstruktion des Lautstandes der südkaukasischen Grundsprache. Abhandlung für die Kunde des Morgenlandes XXXIV #3.