Mingrelian is a Kartvelian language that is mainly spoken in the Western Georgian regions Samegrelo and Abkhazia. In Abkhazia the number of Mingrelian speakers declined dramatically in the 1990s as a result of heavy ethnic cleansing of ethnic Georgians, the overwhelming majority of which were Mingrelians.
Contents
- Grammatical cases
- Nouns
- Noun declension
- Adjectives
- Example of adjective declension
- Numerals
- Cardinal numbers
- Ordinal numbers
- Fractional numbers
- Verbs
- Personality and Number
- Table of verb personality
- Object markers
- Version
- Tenses
- Mood
- Aspect
- References
Mingrelian has two dialects: Zugdidi-Samurzaqano (northwestern) and Senaki-Martvili (southeastern). The dialects are extremely close to each other.
Grammatical cases
Mingrelian has nine grammatical cases: nominative, ergative, dative, genitive, lative, ablative, instrumental, adverbial and benefactive. For pluralization the suffix -ep is used, which is inserted between stem and case marker.
Nouns
Mingrelian shares a noun classification scheme with other Kartvelian languages and classifies objects as:
Noun declension
Declension of noun stem ḳoč ("man") in comparison to corresponding Laz ḳoč (id.), Georgian ḳac (id.) and Svan č'äš (husband) forms:
Adjectives
Adjectives in Mingrelian are declined like nouns.
Example of adjective declension
Declension of stem ǯveš ("old") in comparison to corresponding Laz (mǯveš), Georgian (ʒvel) and Svan (ǯwinel) forms:
Numerals
The Mingrelian numerals are almost identical to Laz with minor phonetic differences. The number system is Vigesimal like Georgian.
Cardinal numbers
The most of Mingrelian cardinal numbers are inherited from Proto-Kartvelian language, except arti (one) and eči (twenty), which are considered as a Karto-Zan heritage, since there are no regular equivalents in Svan.
Ordinal numbers
In Mingrelian the circumfix ma-...-a produces ordinal numbers, which is a Common-Kartvelian heritage, since it has regular phonetical equivalents in Svan and Georgian (me-...-e in both)
Fractional numbers
The fractional numbers derivation rule in Mingrelian is akin to Old Georgian and Svan.
Verbs
The Mingrelian verb has the categories of person, number, version, tense, mood, aspect, voice, and verbal focus.
Personality and Number
In Mingrelian the verbs can be monovalent, bivalent or trivalent. This feature is also shared with other Kartvelian languages.
Table of verb personality
The person may be singular or plural.
Subject and object markers in Mingrelian are roughly the same as in Laz.
Object markers
In pre-consonant position the markers v- and g- may change phonetically:
Version
In Mingrelian there are four types of version marking like in other Kartvelian languages:
Tenses
In total there are 20 screeves in Mingrelian. They are grouped in four series.
Mood
Indicative
Indicative statement claims that the proposition should be taken as an apparent fact.
Interrogative
There are two ways to express interrogative mood:
Imperative
Indicates a command or request. The aorist form is used when addressing 2nd person (singular/plural) and aorist optative in all other cases.
Subjunctive
Expresses possibility, wish, desire. The subjunctive mood in Mingrelian is provided by optative screeves.
Conditional
Indicates condition in contrary to a fact. It is produced by adding a verbal suffix -ḳo(ni) to the end of a verb.
Aspect
In Mingrelian the verbs may have two aspects depending on the completeness of action (perfective aspect) or the lack of it (imperfective aspect). The perfective aspect is derived by adding a preverb to the verb.
In 2nd, 3rd, 4th series the verbs equally have both aspect forms, while in the 1st series the screeves are distributed between two aspects.