Laz people
Place of distribution Lazistan Georgia Turkey Germany
Religion Sunni Islam Christianity Eparchy of Batumi and Lazeti The Seven Brothers of Lazia Laz Martyrs Churches:Jibistasi,Noghedi,Pironity
Culture Laz language Laz grammar Barchkhali Dance Cuisine Agani Murutsxi (Newspaper)
History Colchian culture ancient Colchian tribes Colchis Satrapy of Persia Greek colonisation Pontus Roman rule Kingdom of Lazica Christianization Byzantine rule Trebizond Empire Kingdom of Imereti Ottoman rule Hellenization Laz rebellion (1832–1834)
Related peoples Mingrelians Svans other groups of Georgians Pontic Greeks (possibly)
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Laz is aKartvelian language. It is sometimes considered as a southern dialect ofZan languages, the northern dialect being theMingrelian language.

Today, the area where Laz is spoken stretches from the villageSarpi ofKhelvachauri district inGeorgia to the village Kemer ofRize province inTurkey. Laz is spoken also in WesternTurkey in the villages created byLazmuhajirs in 1877–1878. InGeorgia, out ofSarpi, the Laz language islets were also inAbkhazia, 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).

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

The consonant inventory of Laz varies among the dialects. A full set of sounds is present in the Khopa-Chkhala dialect, while the Vitze-Arkabe and Atina-Artasheni dialects lost glottalized uvularq.

Glottalized uvularq is preserved only in the Khopa-Chkhala dialect before the vowels and the consonantsv andl. This sound is also evidenced after glottalized stops and affricates in several words, such asp̌qorop (I love smb./sth.);ǩqorop (I love you);t̆qubi (twins),ǯqv-/ǯqvin- (to reconcile);ç̌qint̆i (fresh-soft and unripe). But in the most of cases*t̆q → t̆ǩ;*ǯq → ǯǩ;*ç̌q → ç̌ǩ.

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

In Atina-Artasheni dialect:

• in word-initial prevocalic positionq → ∅. E.g.*qoropa → oropa "love",*qona → ona "cornfield" etc.
• in intervocalic position*q → y/∅. E.g.*loqa → *loʔa → loya/loa "sweet", *luqu → *luʔu → luu "cabbage" etc.
• word-initialqv →ǩv/v. E.g.qvali →ǩvali/vali "cheese,*qvaci → ǩvaci/vaci "testicle" etc.
• intervocalicqv → y. E.g.*oqvapu → oyapu "to be/become",*iqven → iyen "s/he will be/become" etc.
• in all other casesq → ∅

The most common types are:

• regressive voicing:
  • s → z
  • t → d
  • k → g
  • ş → j
  • ç → c
  • p → b
• regressive devoicing:
  • b → p
  • g → k
• regressive glottalization
  • b → p̌
  • p → p̌
  • g → ǩ

In some morphological contexts featuring two consonantsn 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 indeǩiǩe → deiǩe (minute); note also that the Arabic source of this wordدقيقةdaqīqa contains a uvular[q], and as above uvulars are unstable in Laz.

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

In the Atina-Artasheni dialect, the velars followed by the front vowelse andi and the glidey transform to alveolar affricates:

• g → c
• ǩ → ç̌
• k → ç

Laz is written in aGeorgian script or in theLatin script (as used in Turkish, but with specific Laz extensions).

Laz has eightgrammatical cases:nominative,ergative,dative,genitive,lative,ablative,instrumental and almost extinctadverbial.

As in otherSouth Caucasian languages, Laz distinguishes two classes of nouns and classifies objects as:

• 'Intelligent' entities. Respective interrogative ismi? (who?)
• 'Non-intelligent' entities. Respective interrogative ismu? (what?)

The Laz numerals are near identical to theirMegrelian equivalents with minor phonetic differences. The number system isvigesimal like inGeorgian.

Almost all basic Laz cardinal numbers stem from theProto-Kartvelian language, exceptar(t) (one) andeči (twenty), which are reconstructed only for the Karto-Zan chronological level, having regular phonetical reflexes inZan (Megrelo-Laz) andGeorgian. The numeralšilya (thousand) is aPontic Greek loanword and is more commonly used than original Lazvitoši.

Ordinal numbers inLaz are produced with the circumfixma-...-a, which, in contrast withMegrelian, may be extended with suffix-n. The circumfixma-...-a originates fromProto-Kartvelian and has regular phonetical equivalents inGeorgian (me-...-e) andSvan (me-...-e)

The fractional numbers' derivation rule inLaz andMegrelian is akin toOld Georgian andSvan.

Laz verbs are inflected for seven categories: person, number, version, tense, mood, aspect and voice.

In Laz, likeMingrelian,Georgian, andSvan, verbs can be unipersonal, bipersonal, and tripersonal.

• Monovalent verbs have only subjective person and are intransitive.
• Bivalent verbs have one subject and one object (direct orindirect). They are:
  • transitive if the object isdirect
  • intransitive if the object isindirect
• Trivalent verbs have one subject and two objects (onedirect and the otherindirect) and are ditransitive.

The person may be singular or plural.

Subject and object markers in Laz are the same as in Mingrelian.

In pre-consonant position, the markersv- andg- change phonetically:

• Before voiced consonants: v- → b-
• Before voiceless (nonglottalized) consonants:
  • v- → b- → p-
  • g- → k-
• Before glottalized consonants:
  • v- → b- → p̌-
  • g- → ǩ-

LikeMegrelian,Georgian andSvan,Laz has four types of version marking:

• 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.

The maximum number ofscreeves inLaz is 22. They are grouped in three series. Two screeves (future I andpast of future I) exist only for the verbr-, which serves as a 1st series root foroqopumu/ovapu/oyapu (to be).

stems: ç̌ar- (to write) andr- (to be: just forfuture I andpast of future I)

According to oldness thesescreeves can be grouped in two sets:

• old (primary) (common withMegrelian).
• new (secondary) derived from the basic screeves (specificLaz).

Classification of screeves according to oldness

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

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

• by means of interrogative words. E.g.mi? (who?),mu? (what?),so? (where?),mundes? (when?),muç̌o? (how?) etc. This rule is valid forMegrelian,Georgian andSvan as well.
• by adding an interrogative particle-i to the end of a verb. It has the same function asMegrelian-o,Old Georgian-a andSvan-ma/-mo/-mu.

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

Expresses possibility, wish, desire.

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

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• Qipshidze, I. (1911).Additional information about Chan (in Russian). St. Petersburg.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Qipshidze, I. (1914).The Grammar of Mingrelian (Iver) Language with reader and dictionary (in Russian). St. Petersburg.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link).
• Shanidze, A. (1973).Essentials of Georgian Grammar (in Georgian). Tbilisi.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Topuria, V. & Kaldani, M. (2000).Svan Dictionary (in Georgian). Tbilisi.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

• Laz Georgian-Latin and Latin-Georgian converter

• Laz people
• Laz language
• Kartvelian grammars

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