Editing Svan language

{{Short description|Kartvelian language of northwestern Georgia}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = Svan
| map              = Kartvelian_languages.svg
| nativename       = {{lang|sva|ლუშნუ ნინ}} ''Lušnu nin''
| pronunciation    = {{IPA|ka|ˈɫuʃnu nin|}}
| states           = [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]]
| region           = [[Svaneti]]<br/>[[Abkhazia]]
| ethnicity        = [[Svans]]
| speakers         = 14,000
| date             = 2015
| ref              = e18
| familycolor      = Caucasian
| fam1             = [[Kartvelian languages|Kartvelian]]
| script           = [[Georgian script]]
| map2             = Lang Status 60-DE.svg
| mapcaption2      = {{center|{{small|Svan is classified as Definitely Endangered by the [[UNESCO]] ''[[Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger]]''}}}}
| iso3             = sva
| glotto           = svan1243
| glottorefname    = Svan
| notice           = IPA
}}

'''Svan''' ({{lang|sva|ლუშნუ ნინ}} ''lušnu nin''; {{lang-ka|სვანური ენა|tr}}) is a [[Kartvelian languages|Kartvelian]] language spoken in the western [[Georgia (country)|Georgian]] region of [[Svaneti]] primarily by the [[Svans|Svan people]].<ref>Levinson, David. Ethnic Groups Worldwide: A Ready Reference Handbook. Phoenix: Oryx Press, 1998. p 34</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Tuite|first=Kevin|author-link=Kevin Tuite|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/22492614|title=Encyclopedia of World Cultures|date=1991–1996|publisher=G.K. Hall|isbn=0-8168-8840-X|editor-last=Friedrich|editor-first=Paul|volume=VI|location=Boston, Mass.|pages=343|chapter=Svans|oclc=22492614|editor-last2=Diamond|editor-first2=Norma}}</ref> With its speakers variously estimated to be between 30,000 and 80,000, the [[UNESCO]] designates Svan as a "definitely [[endangered language]]".<ref>[http://www.unesco.org/culture/languages-atlas/en/atlasmap/language-id-1058.html UNESCO Interactive Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger]</ref> It is of particular interest because it has retained many features that have been lost in the other Kartvelian languages.

==Features==

===Familial features===
Like all languages of the Caucasian language family, Svan has a large number of consonants. It has agreement between subject and object, and a [[split ergativity|split-ergative]] [[Morphosyntactic alignment|morphosyntactic system]]. Verbs are marked for [[grammatical aspect|aspect]], [[evidentiality]] and [[Kartvelian languages#Verb|"version"]].

===Distinguishing features===
Svan retains the [[voiceless uvular plosive|voiceless aspirated uvular plosive]], {{IPA|/qʰ/}}, and the glides {{IPA|/w/}} and {{IPA|/j/}}. It has a larger vowel inventory than Georgian; the Upper Bal dialect of Svan has the most vowels of any South-Caucasian language, having both long and short versions of {{IPA|/a ɛ i ɔ u æ ø y/}} plus {{IPA|/ə eː/}}, a total of 18 vowels (Georgian, by contrast, has just five).

Its morphology is less regular than that of the other three sister languages, and there are notable differences in [[grammatical conjugation|conjugation]].

==Distribution==
Svan is the native language of fewer than 30,000 [[Svan people|Svans]] (15,000 of whom are Upper Svan dialect speakers and 12,000 are Lower Svan), living in the mountains of [[Svaneti]], i.e. in the districts of [[Mestia]] and [[Lentekhi]] of Georgia, along the [[Enguri River|Enguri]], [[Tskhenistsqali]] and [[Kodori River|Kodori]] rivers. Some Svan speakers live in the [[Kodori Valley]] of the de facto independent republic of [[Abkhazia]]. Although conditions there make it difficult to reliably establish their numbers, there are only an estimated 2,500 Svan individuals living there.<ref name="DoBeS">[http://www.mpi.nl/DOBES/projects/svan DoBeS (<u>Do</u>kumentation <u>Be</u>drohter <u>S</u>prachen, Documentation of Endangered Languages)]</ref>

The language is used in familiar and casual social communication. It has no written standard or official status.<ref>{{Cite book|chapter-url= https://brill.com/view/title/33702 |title=Endangered Languages of the Caucasus and Beyond |chapter= Language and emergent literacy in Svaneti |pages=226–243|last=Tuite|first=Kevin|date=2017|location=Montréal|publisher=Brill|isbn=978-90-04-32564-7|editor-last1= Korkmaz | editor-first1= Ramazan |editor-last2= Doğan | editor-first2= Gürkan}}</ref> Most speakers also speak [[Georgian language|Georgian]]. The language is considered endangered, as proficiency in it among young people is limited.

==History==
Svan is the most differentiated member of the four South-Caucasian languages and is believed to have split off in the [[2nd millennium BC]] or earlier, about one thousand years before [[Georgian language|Georgian]] and [[Zan languages|Zan]] split from each other.

Soviet ethnologist [[Evdokia Kozhevnikova]] extensively documented the Svan language during her fieldwork in [[Svaneti]] in the 1920s and 1930s.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Dina Kozhevnikova: Ethnographical Records |publisher=[[Georgian National Museum]] |year=2023 |isbn=978-9941-9822-1-7 |editor-last=Kvantidze |editor-first=Gulnara |location=Tbilisi |editor-last2=Khizanashvili |editor-first2=Manana|lang=ka|last1=Margiani|first1=Ketevan|chapter=Texts in the Svan Language by Dina Kozhevnikova (Linguistic Analysis)|page=82}}</ref>

==Dialects==
The Svan language is divided into the following dialects and subdialects:
*Upper Svan (about 15,000 speakers)
**Upper Bal: [[Ushguli]], Kala, Ipar, Mulakh, [[Mestia]], Lenzer, Latal.
**Lower Bal: Becho, Tskhumar, Etser, Par, Chubekh, Lakham.
*Lower Svan (about 12,000 speakers)
**Lashkhian: Lashkh.
**Lentekhian: [[Lentekhi]], Kheled, Khopur, Rtskhmelur, Cholur

==Phonology==

===Consonants===
The consonant inventory of Svan is more or less the same as that of [[Old Georgian]]. That is, compared to Modern Georgian, it also has {{IPA|/j/}}, {{IPA|/q/}} and {{IPA|/w/}}, but the labiodental fricative only appears as an allophone of {{IPA|/w/}} in the Ln dialect. Furthermore, the uvular consonants {{IPA|/q/}} and {{IPA|/q’/}} are realized as affricates, i.e. {{IPA|[q͡χ]}} and {{IPA|[q͡χʼ]}}.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Tuite |first=Kevin |date=2020 |title=The Svan language |url=https://www.academia.edu/37393637 |journal=Manuscript}}</ref>

{| class=wikitable style=text-align:center
|+Svan consonants
! colspan=2 |
! [[Labial consonant|Labial]]
! [[Dental consonant|Alveolar]]
! [[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
! [[Velar consonant|Velar]]
! [[Uvular consonant|Uvular]]
! [[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|-
! colspan=2 | [[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
| m {{IPAslink|m}} მ
| n {{IPAslink|n}} ნ
| 
| 
| 
| 
|-
! rowspan=3 | [[Plosive consonant|Plosive]]
! <small>[[voice (phonetics)|voiced]]</small>
| b {{IPAslink|b}} ბ
| d {{IPAslink|d}} დ
| 
| g {{IPAslink|ɡ}} გ
| 
| 
|-
! <small>[[Aspirated consonant|aspirated]]</small>
| p {{IPAslink|pʰ}} ფ
| t {{IPAslink|tʰ}} თ
| 
| k {{IPAslink|kʰ}} ქ
| q {{IPAslink|qʰ}} ჴ
| 
|- 
! <small>[[ejective consonant|ejective]]</small>
| ṗ {{IPAslink|pʼ}} პ
| ṭ {{IPAslink|tʼ}} ტ
| 
| ḳ {{IPAslink|kʼ}} კ
| q̇ {{IPAslink|qʼ}} ყ
| ʔ {{IPAslink|ʔ}} ჸ
|-
! rowspan=3 | [[Affricate consonant|Affricate]]
! <small>[[voice (phonetics)|voiced]]</small>
| 
| ʒ {{IPAslink|d͡z}} ძ
| ǯ {{IPAslink|d͡ʒ}} ჯ
| 
| 
| 
|- 
! <small>[[Aspirated consonant|aspirated]]</small>
| 
| c {{IPAslink|t͡sʰ}} ც
| č  {{IPAslink|t͡ʃʰ}} ჩ
| 
| 
| 
|-
! <small>[[ejective consonant|ejective]]</small>
| 
| ċ {{IPAslink|t͡sʼ}} წ
| čʼ {{IPAslink|t͡ʃʼ}} ჭ
| 
| 
| 
|-
! rowspan=2 | [[Fricative consonant|Fricative]]
! <small>[[voice (phonetics)|voiced]]</small>
| (v {{IPAblink|v}} ვ)
| z {{IPAslink|z}} ზ
| ž  {{IPAslink|ʒ}} ჟ
| 
|ɣ {{IPAslink|ʁ}} ღ
|
|-
! <small>[[voicelessness|voiceless]]</small>
| 
| s {{IPAslink|s}} ს
| š  {{IPAslink|ʃ}} შ
| 
| x {{IPAslink|χ}} ხ
| h {{IPAslink|h}} ჰ
|- 
! colspan=2 | [[Approximant consonant|Approximant]]
| w {{IPAslink|w}} უ̂ 
| l {{IPAslink|l}} ლ
| y {{IPAslink|j}} ჲ
| 
| 
|
|- 
! colspan=2 | [[Trill consonant|Trill]]
| 
| r {{IPAslink|r}} რ
| 
| 
| 
| 
|}

=== Vowels ===
The vowel inventory of Svan varies between different dialects. For instance, Proto-Svan phonemic long vowels occur in the Upper Bal, Cholur and Lashkh dialects, but have been lost in the Lentekh and Lower Bal dialects. Compared to Georgian, Svan also has a central or back unrounded high vowel {{IPA|/ə/}} (realized as {{IPA|[ɯ]~[ɨ]}}), the low front {{IPA|/æ/}} (except for Lashkh) and the front rounded vowels {{IPA|/œ/}} and {{IPA|/y/}} (also except for Lashkh). The front rounded vowels are often realized as diphthongs {{IPA|[we]}} and {{IPA|[wi]}} and are therefore sometimes not treated as separate phonemes.<ref name=":0" />

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
! rowspan=3 |
! colspan=4 | [[Front vowel|Front]]
! colspan="2" rowspan="2" | [[Central vowel|Central]]
! colspan="2" rowspan="2" | [[Back vowel|Back]]
|-
! colspan=2 | {{small|unrounded}}
! colspan=2 | {{small|rounded}}
|-
! {{small|short}}
! {{small|long}}
! {{small|short}}
! {{small|long}}
! {{small|short}}
! {{small|long}}
! {{small|short}}
! {{small|long}}
|-
! [[Close vowel|Close]]
| {{IPAslink|i}}<br>ი<br>i
| {{IPAslink|iː}}<br>ი̄<br>ī
| {{IPAslink|y}}<br>უ̈, ჳი<br>ü
| {{IPAslink|yː}}<br>უ̄̈<br>ṻ
|
|
| {{IPAslink|u}}<br>უ<br>u
| {{IPAslink|uː}}<br>უ̄<br>ū
|-
! [[Close-mid vowel|Close-mid]]
| {{IPAslink|e}}<br>ე<br>e
| {{IPAslink|eː}}<br>ჱ<br>ē
|
|
| rowspan=2|{{IPAslink|ə}}{{efn|name=fn1}}<br>ჷ<br>ə
| rowspan="2"|{{IPAslink|əː}}<br>ჷ̄<br>ə̄
|
|
|-
! [[Open-mid vowel|Open-mid]]
| 
| 
| {{IPAslink|œ}}<br>ო̈, ჳე<br>ö
| {{IPAslink|œː}}<br>ო̄̈<br>ō̈
| {{IPAslink|ɔ}}<br>ო<br>o
| {{IPAslink|ɔː}}<br>ო̄<br>ō
|-
! [[Open vowel|Open]]
| {{IPAslink|æ}}<br>ა̈<br>ä
| {{IPAslink|æː}}<br>ა̄̈<br>ā̈
|
|
|
|
| {{IPAslink|ɑ}}<br>ა<br>a
| {{IPAslink|ɑː}}<br>ა̄<br>ā
|}
{{notelist|refs=
{{efn|name=fn1|Realized as {{IPA|[ɯ]}} or {{IPA|[ɨ]}}.}}
}}

===Alphabet===
[[File:Road sign in Svan language, Tvebishi village, late October 2020.jpg|thumb|Road sign in Svan language, that contains only Svan-specific letters, and romanized variant]]
The alphabet, illustrated above, is similar to the [[Mingrelian alphabet]], with a few additional letters otherwise obsolete in the [[Georgian script]]:<ref>{{Cite web |title=Svan alphabet, language and prounciation |url=https://www.omniglot.com/writing/svan.htm |access-date=2023-10-13 |website=www.omniglot.com}}</ref>
* [[Fi (letter)|ჶ]] {{IPA|[f]}}
* [[Khari (letter)|ჴ]] {{IPA|/q⁽ʰ⁾/}}
* [[ჸ]] {{IPA|/ʔ/}}
* [[Ie (letter)|ჲ]] {{IPA|/j/}}
* უ̂ {{IPA|/w/}}
* [[ჷ]] {{IPA|/ə/}}
* [[He (Georgian letter)|ჱ]] {{IPA|/eː/}}

These are supplemented by diacritics on the vowels (the [[umlaut (diacritic)|umlaut]] for front vowels and [[Macron (diacritic)|macron]] for length), though those are not normally written.  The digraphs 
* ჳი ("wi") {{IPA|/y/}}
* ჳე ("we") {{IPA|/œ/}}
are used in the Lower Bal and Lentekh dialects, and occasionally in Upper Bal; these sounds do not occur in Lashkh dialect.

==References==

===Notes===
{{reflist}}

===General references===
* {{Cite book|title=Upper Svan: Grammar and texts|last1=Palmaitis |first1=Mykolas Letas|last2=Gudjedjiani |first2=Chato |publisher=Mokslas |year=1986|location=Vilnius}}
* {{Cite book|title=Die swanische Sprache (Teil I: Phonologie, Morphonologie, Morphologie des Nomens; Teil II: Morphologie des Verbs, Verbal-nomen, Udeteroi)|last=Oniani |first=Aleksandre |translator-last1=Fähnrich |translator-first1=Heinz|publisher=Friedrich-Schiller-Universität |year=2005|location=Jena}}
* {{Cite book|url=https://www.webdepot.umontreal.ca/Usagers/tuitekj/MonDepotPublic/publications/2018-Svan-grammatical-sketch-Tuite.pdf|title=Svan|last=Tuite |first=Kevin |publisher=LINCOM-Europa |series= Languages of the World, Materials, vol. 139 |year=1997 |isbn=978-3895861543|location=Munich}}

==External links==
{{Incubator|code=sva}}
* [http://titus.fkidg1.uni-frankfurt.de/armazi/armaziII/svan/svan.htm Svan at TITUS database]
* [http://titus.fkidg1.uni-frankfurt.de/ecling/ecling02.htm ECLING - Svan] (includes audio/video samples).
* [http://www.omniglot.com/writing/svan.htm Svan alphabet and language] at Omniglot
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20140327222707/http://www.svanbib.eu/up/files/Svan_Youth_Literature_2013.pdf Svan Youth literature in Svan language]
* [https://doreco.huma-num.fr/languages/svan1243 Svan DoReCo corpus] compiled by Jost Gippert. Audio recordings of narrative texts, with transcriptions time-aligned at the phone level and translations.
* [https://titus.fkidg1.uni-frankfurt.de/texte/caucasica/svanica/gelvan.htm Svan (Lashkh Dialect) recordings and audio samples].

{{Georgian language}}
{{Languages of Georgia (country)}}
{{Languages of the Caucasus}}
{{Georgia (country) topics}}
{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Svan Language}}
[[Category:Svan language| ]]
[[Category:Agglutinative languages]]
[[Category:Definitely endangered languages]]
[[Category:Kartvelian languages]]
[[Category:Languages of Georgia (country)]]
[[Category:Languages of Abkhazia]]
[[Category:Svaneti]]