Proto-Kartvelian language

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July 13, 2026

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Proto-Kartvelian is the reconstructed ancestral language from which the modern Kartvelian languages, including Georgian, Svan, Mingrelian, and Laz, are descended. These languages are spoken south of the main Caucasus mountain range.12

Linguistic analysis reveals that Proto-Kartvelian shared features with Indo-European languages, such as vowel alternation (ablaut) patterns and loanwords. Svan is considered to have diverged earliest from Proto-Kartvelian, retaining more archaic features, while Georgian and Mingrelo-Laz developed common innovations later. The common vocabulary of Proto-Kartvelian includes basic terms for kinship, nature, body parts, and human activities.23

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Caucasian languages
Proto-Kartvelian
A comparative study of the Kartvelian languages enables specialists to outline the general structure of the parent language, called Proto-Kartvelian, which yielded the known Kartvelian, or South Caucasian, languages. One of the most characteristic features of the Proto-Kartvelian language is the functional vowel alternation,…
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A comparative study of the Kartvelian languages enables specialists to outline the general structure of the parent language, called Proto-Kartvelian, which yielded the known Kartvelian, or South Caucasian, languages. One of the most characteristic features of the Proto-Kartvelian language is the functional vowel alternation,…
Read More