Laz grammar

Laz is a Kartvelian language. It is sometimes considered as a southern dialect of Zan languages, the northern dialect being the Mingrelian language.

Today, the area where Laz is spoken stretches from the village Sarpi of Khelvachauri district in Georgia to the village Kemer of Rize province in Turkey. Laz is spoken also in Western Turkey in the villages created by Laz muhajirs in 1877-1878. In Georgia, out of Sarpi, the Laz language islets were also in Abkhazia, but the fate of them is obscure at present.

Laz is divided into three dialects: Khopa-Chkhala, Vitze-Arkabe and Atina-Artasheni. Dialectical classification is mainly conditioned by phonetic characteristics. More specifically, the crucial point is the reflexes of the Kartvelian phoneme [qʼ], which is maintained only in the Khopa-Chkhala dialect but has different reflections in Vitze-Arkabe and Atina-Artasheni dialects (see below).

Phonology and Writing system

Vowels

Laz vowel inventory consists of five sounds: a, e, i, o, u.

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

Consonants

Consonant composition of Laz varies dialectically. Full set of sounds is present in Khopa-Chkhala dialect, while Vitze-Arkabe and Atina-Artasheni dialects lost glottalized uvular q.

Consolidated table of Laz consonants
stops affricates sibilants nasals liquids glides
voiced voiceless voiced voiceless voiced voiceless
glottalized aspirated glottalized aspirated
labial b [b] p̌ [pʼ] p [p] v [v] f [f] m [m]
dental d [d] ť [tʼ] t [t] ž [d͡z] ǯ [t͡sʼ] ʒ [t͡s] z [z] s [s] n [n] l [l]
alveolar c [d͡ʒ] ç̌ [t͡ʃʼ] ç [t͡ʃ] j [ʒ] ş [ʃ] r [r] y [j]
velar g [ɡ] ǩ [kʼ] k [k] ǧ [ɣ] x [x]
uvular q [qʼ]
laryngeal h [h]

Phonetic processes

Uvular q sound change

Glottalized uvular q is preserved only in Khopa-Chkhala dialect before the vowels and the consonants v and l. This sound is also evidenced after glottalized stops and affricates in several words, such as p̌qorop (I love smb./sth.); ǩqorop (I love you); ťqubi (twins), ǯqv-/ǯqvin- (to reconcile); ç̌qinťi (fresh-soft and unripe). But in the most of cases *ťq → ťǩ; *ǯq → ǯǩ; *ç̌q → ç̌ǩ.

In the Vitze-Arkabe dialect, in the neighborhood of consonants *q → ǩ (exception is the verb ovapu ← *oqvapu "to be"). In the word-initial prevocalic and in the intervocalic positions *q → ∅.

In Atina-Artasheni dialect:

Regressive assimilation

The most common types are:

Dissimilative deletion of consonant

In some morphological contexts featuring two consonants n split only with a vowel, the former can be deleted. miqonun → miqoun (I have {an animate object}), iqvasinon → iqvasion (s/he will be), mulunan → *muluan → mulvan (they are coming).

Another dissimilation, presumably sporadic, occurs in deǩiǩe → deiǩe (minute); note also that the Arabic source of this word دقيقة daqīqa contains a uvular [q], and as above uvulars are unstable in Laz.

Intervocalic reduction of r

This process is evidenced in Khopa-Chkhala and Vitze-Arkabe dialects, where in intervocalic position facultatively r → y → ∅.

Palatalization of velars

In the Atina-Artasheni dialect, the velars followed by the front vowels e and i and the glide y transform to alveolar affricates:

Alphabet

A Laz newspaper in 1928

Laz is written in a Georgian script or in the Latin script (as used in Turkish, but with specific Laz extensions).

Georgian (Mkhedruli) Latin (Turkey) Latin (rare) IPA
Orthographic alphabets Transcriptions
ა a a ɑ
ბ b b b
გ g g ɡ
დ d d d
ე e e ɛ
ვ v v v
ზ z z z
თ t t t
ი i i i
კ ǩ, or kʼ ḳ kʼ
ლ l l l
მ m m m
ნ n n n
ჲ y y j
ო o o ɔ
პ p̌, or pʼ ṗ pʼ
ჟ j ž ʒ
რ r r r
ს s s s
ტ ť, or tʼ ṭ tʼ
უ u u u
ფ p p p
ქ k k k
ღ ǧ ɣ ɣ
ყ q qʼ qʼ
შ ş š ʃ
ჩ ç č t͡ʃ
ც ʒ, or з [1] c t͡s
ძ ž, or zʼ ʒ d͡z
წ ǯ, or зʼ [1] ċ t͡sʼ
ჭ ç̌, or çʼ č’ t͡ʃʼ
ხ x x x
ჯ c ǯ d͡ʒ
ჰ h h h
ჶ f f f

Grammatical cases

Laz has eight grammatical cases: nominative, ergative, dative, genitive, lative, ablative and almost extinct adverbial.

  Marker
Nominative -i/-e
Ergative -k
Dative -s
Genitive -iş
Lative -işa
Ablative -işe
Instrumental -ite
Adverbial -ot

Example of adjective declension

  Marker Stem: mcveş- ("old")
Nominative -i mcveş-i
Ergative -k mcveş-i-k
Dative -s mcveş-i-s
Genitive -iş mcveş-iş
Lative -işa mcveş-işa
Ablative -işe mcveş-işe
Instrumental -ite mcveş-ite
Adverbial -ot mcveş-ot

Example of noun declension

  Marker Stem: ǩoç- ("man")
Nominative -i ǩoç-i
Ergative -k ǩoç-i-k
Dative -s ǩoç-i-s
Genitive -iş ǩoç-iş
Lative -işa ǩoç-işa
Ablative -işe ǩoç-işe
Instrumental -ite ǩoç-ite
Adverbial -ot n/a

Nouns

As in other sister languages Laz distinguishes two classes of nouns and classifies objects as:

Noun classification scheme

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

Numerals

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

Cardinal numbers

Almost all basic Laz cardinal numbers stem from Proto-Kartvelian language, except ar(t) (one) and eči (twenty), which are reconstructed only for Karto-Zan chronological level having regular phonetical reflexes in Zan (Megrelo-Laz) and Georgian. The numeral šilya (thousand) is a Pontic Greek loanword and is more commonly used than original Laz vitoši.

Laz cardinal numbers compared to Megrelian, Georgian and Svan

  Laz Megrelian Georgian Svan
1 ar(t) arti erti ešxu
2 jur/cur žiri/žəri ori yori
3 sum sumi sami semi
4 otxo otxi otxi oštxw
5 xut xuti xuti woxušd
6 anşi amšvi ekvsi usgwa
7 şkvit škviti švidi išgwid
8 ovro ruo rva ara
9 çxoro čxoro cxra čxara
10 vit viti ati ešd
11 vitoar vitaarti tertmeṭi ešdešxu
12 vitojur vitožiri tormeṭi ešdori
13 vitosum vitosumi cameṭi ešdsemi
14 vitotxo vitaantxi totxmeṭi ešdoštx
15 vitoxut vitoxuti txutmeṭi ešdoxušd
20 eçi eči oci yerwešd
21 eçidoar ečdoarti ocdaerti yerwešdiešxu
30 eçidovit ečdoviti ocdaati semešd
40 jurneçi žaarneči ormoci woštxuešd
50 jurneçidovit žaarnečdoviti ormocdaati woxušdešd
60 sumeneçi sumoneči samoci usgwašd
70 sumeneçidovit sumonečdoviti samocdaati išgvidašd
80 otxoneçi otxoneči otxmoci arašd
90 otxoneçidovit otxonečdoviti otxmocdaati chxarašd
100 oşi oši asi ašir
101 oşi do ar ošarti aserti ašir i ešxu
102 oşi do jur ošžiri asori ašir i yori
110 oşi do vit ošviti asati ašir i ešd
200 juroşi žiroši orasi yori ašir
500 xutoşi xutoši xutasi woxušd aršir
1000 şilya/vitoşi antasi atasi atas
1999 şilya çxoroş

otxoneçdoviťoçxoro

 antas čxoroš

otxonečdovitočxoro

 atas cxraas

otxmocdacxrameṭi

 atas čxara ašir

chxarašd chxara

2000 jurşilya žiri antasi ori atasi yori atas
10000 vit şilya viti antasi ati atasi ešd atas

Ordinal numbers

Ordinal numbers in Laz are produced with the circumfix ma-...-a, which, in contrast with Megrelian, may be extended with suffix -n. The circumfix ma-...-a originates from Proto-Kartvelian and has regular phonetical equivalents in Georgian (me-...-e) and Svan (me-...-e)

Ordinal numbers' derivation rule

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

Laz ordinal numbers compared to Megrelian, Georgian and Svan

  Laz Megrelian Georgian Svan
1st maartani ṗirveli ṗirveli manḳwi
2nd majura(ni) mažira meore merme
3rd masuma(ni) masuma mesame meseme
4th maotxa(ni) maotxa/mantxa meotxe meuštxwe
5th maxuta(ni) maxuta mexute meuxušde
6th maanşa(ni) maamšva meekvse meusgwe
7th maşkvita(ni) maškvita mešvide meyšgwide
8th maovra(ni) maruo merve meare
9th maçxora(ni) mačxora mecxre meyčxre
10th mavita(ni) mavita meate meyšde
11th mavitoarta(ni) mavitaarta metertmeṭe meyšdešxue
12th mavitojura(ni) mavitožira metormeṭe meyšdore
13th mavitosuma(ni) mavitosuma mecameṭe meyšdseme
14th mavitotxa(ni) mavitaantxa metotxmeṭe meyšdoštxe
15th mavitoxuta(ni) mavitoxuta metxutmeṭe meyšdoxušde
20th maeça(ni) maeča meoce meyerwešde
21st eçidomaarta(ni) ečdomaarta ocdameerte
30th ečidomavita(ni) ečdomavita ocdameate mesemešde
40th majurneça(ni) mažaarneča meormoce meuštxuešde
50th jurneçidomavita(ni) žaarnečdomavita ormocdameate meuxušdešde
60th masumeneça(ni) masumoneča mesamoce meusgwešde
70th sumeneçidomavita(ni) sumonečdomavita samocdameate meyšgwidešde
80th maotxoneça(ni) maotxoneča meotxmoce mearašde
90th otxoneçidomavita(ni) otxonečdomavita otxmocdameate mečxarašde
100th maoşa(ni) maoša mease meašire
101st oşmaarta(ni) ošmaarta asmeerte
102nd oşmajura(ni) ošmažira asmeore
110th oşmavita(ni) ošmavita asmeate
200th majuroşa(ni) mažiroša meorase meyorašire
500th maxutoşa(ni) maxutoša mexutase meuxušdašire
1000th maşilya(ni)/mavitoşa(ni) maantasa meatase meatase

Fractional numbers

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

Fractional numbers' derivation rule

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

Laz fractional numbers compared to Megrelian, Georgian and Svan

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

Pronouns

Personal pronouns

Laz Megrelian Georgian
Khopa-Chkhala Vitze-Arkabe Atina-Artasheni
I ma(n) ma ma ma me
You (sing.) si(n) si si si šen
That (close to speaker) aya haya ham ena esa
This ia heya him ina isa
We çki çku şǩu čki/čkə čven
You (pl.) tkvan tkvan ťǩva tkva tkven
Those antepe hamtepe hani enepi eseni
These entepe hemtepe hini inepi isini

Possessive pronouns

Laz Megrelian Georgian
Khopa-Chkhala Vitze-Arkabe Atina-Artasheni
My çkimi çkimi şǩimi čkimi/čkəmi čemi
Your (sing.) skani skani sǩani skani šeni
His/her/its muşi muşi himuşi muši misi
Our çkini çkuni şǩuni čkini/čkəni čveni
Your (pl.) tkvani tkvani ťǩvani tkvani tkveni
Their mutepeşi hemtepeşi nişi inepiš mati

Verbs

Laz verb has the person, number, version, tense, mood, aspect and voice categories.

Person and Number

In Laz, like Megrelian, Georgian and Svan the verbs can be unipersonal, bipersonal and tripersonal

Verb personality table
Unipersonal Bipersonal Tripersonal
intransitive transitive intransitive ditransitive
Subject + + + +
Direct Object + +
Indirect Object + +

The person may be singular or plural.

Subject and object markers in Laz are the same as in Megrelian

Subject markers

  Singular Plural
S1 v- v-...-t
S2 ∅- ∅-...-t
S3 ∅-...-n/-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- change phonetically:

Version

Like Megrelian, Georgian and Svan in Laz there are the four types of version marking:

Laz version markers compared to Megrelian, Georgian and Svan

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

Tenses

The maximum number of screeves in Laz is 22. They are grouped in three series. Two screeves (future I and past of future I) exist only for the verb r-, which serves as a 1st series root for oqopumu/ovapu/oyapu (to be).

Paradigm of verb conjugation

stems: ç̌ar- (to write) and r- (to be: just for future I and past of future I)

I Series
Khopa-Chkhala Vitze-Arkabe Atina-Artasheni
present ç̌arups ç̌arums
imperfect ç̌arupťu ç̌arumťu
imperfective optative ç̌arupťas ç̌arumťas
imperfective inferential ç̌arupť-eren ç̌arumťu-doren ç̌arumťu-donu
present conditional ç̌arupťu-ǩon ç̌arumťu-ǩo(n)
future I (r)ťas-unon (r)ťasen orťas-en
past of future I (r)ťas-unťu ťasťu orťas-ereťu
II Series
Khopa-Chkhala Vitze-Arkabe Atina-Artasheni
aorist ç̌aru
aoristic optative ç̌aras
aoristic inferential I ç̌ar-eleren

/ç̌ar-een /ç̌ar-elen

 ç̌aru-doren ç̌aru-donu
aoristic inferential II ç̌ar-elereťu

/ç̌ar-eeťu /ç̌ar-eleťu

 ç̌aru-dorťu
aoristic inferential optative ç̌ar-elereťas

/ç̌ar-eeťas /ç̌ar-eleťas

 n/a
aoristic conditional ç̌aru-ǩon
future II ç̌aras-unon ç̌aras-en
past of future II ç̌aras-unťu

/ç̌ara-ťu

 ç̌ara-ťu ç̌aras-erťu
conditional of aoristic inferential II ç̌ar-elereťu-ǩon

/ç̌ar-eeťu-ǩon

 n/a
inferential of the past of future II ç̌aras-unť-eren ç̌ara-ťu-doren n/a
conditional of the past of future II ç̌ara-ťu-ǩon n/a
III Series
Khopa-Chkhala Vitze-Arkabe Atina-Artasheni
inversive inferential I uç̌arun
inversive inferential II uç̌aruťu
inferential optative uç̌aruťas
inferential conditional uç̌aruťu-ǩo(n)

According to oldness these screeves can be grouped in two sets:

Classification of screeves according to oldness

Old (common with Megrelian) New (specific Laz)
present imperfective inferential
imperfect future I
imperfective optative past of future I
present conditional aoristic inferential I
aorist aoristic inferential II
aoristic optative aoristic inferential optative
aoristic conditional future II
inversive inferential I past of future II
inversive inferential II Conditional of aoristic inferential II
inferential optative inferential of the past of future II
inferential conditional conditional of the past of future II

Mood

Indicative

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

Interrogative

There are two ways to transform an indicative statement into a question:

Imperative

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

Subjunctive

Expresses possibility, wish, desire.

Conditional

Indicates condition in contrary to a fact. For this reason a verbal suffix -ǩo (At.-Arsh, Vtz.-Ark.) / -ǩon/-ǩoni (Khop.-Chkh.) is used.

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 Extension consonnant for the Altaic (Turkish) version of the Latin alphabet, often represented with the digit three (3) (currently missing from Unicode ?) ; the Cyrillic letter ze (З/з) has been borrowed in newspapers published in the Socialist Republic of Georgia (within USSR) to write the missing Latin letter ; modern orthographies used today also use the Latin digraphs Ts/ts for З/з and Ts’/ts’ for(З’/з’

References

External links

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