Georgian language

official language of Georgia

Georgian (Ⴕⴀⴐⴇⴓⴊⴈ Ⴄⴌⴀ, kʰartʰuli ena) is the official language of Georgia, a country in the Caucasus.

Georgian
Kartuli
ქართული
Pronunciation[kʰɑrtʰuli ɛnɑ]
RegionGeorgia (Including Abkhazia and South Ossetia)
Russia, United States, Israel, Ukraine, Turkey, Iran, Azerbaijan
Native speakers
3.7 million (2014)[1]
Early form
Dialects
Georgian script
Georgian Braille
Official status
Official language in
 Georgia
Regulated byCabinet of Georgia
Language codes
ISO 639-1ka
ISO 639-2geo (B)
kat (T)
ISO 639-3kat
Glottolognucl1302
Linguasphere42-CAB-baa – bac
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Georgian is the primary language of about 3.9 million people in Georgia itself (83 percent of the population), and of another 500,000 abroad (chiefly in Turkey, Iran, Russia, the United States and Europe). It is the literary language for all ethnographic groups of Georgian people, especially those who speak other South Caucasian languages (or Kartvelian languages): Svans, Megrelians, and the Laz. Gruzinic, or "Kivruli", which is sometimes considered a separate Jewish language, is spoken by an additional 20,000 in Georgia and 65,000 elsewhere (primarily 60,000 in Israel).

References change

  1. Georgian at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)