We have already talked about the Armenian language and the Armenian alphabet [1]. Now I want to tell you more about the alphabets of Georgia, yes alphabets, and the Georgian language. But let's go back a bit.
Եթե նայեք Հայաստանի գրչին, ապա այն ամբողջովին տարբերվում է Վրաստանից. [If you look at the script in Armenia, it looks completely different from that in Georgia. ]
საქართველოს დამწერლობას თუ დააკვირდები, სომხურისგან სულ სხვანაირად გამოიყურება. [If you look at the script in Georgia, it looks completely different from that in Armenia.] [2]
In the blog post about Armenia, I mentioned Mesrop Mashtots, who invented the Armenian alphabet around 405 AD. He is also considered to have been the inventor of the alphabets for Caucasian Albanian and Georgian, although this is not undisputed [3]. Armenian is an Indo-European language and the only representative of the branch of Armenian languages [4]. Caucasian Albanian belongs to the Caucasian languages and bears no linguistic relationship with the Albanian language spoken in Albania, which belongs to the Indo-European family. The distinct Caucasian Albanian alphabet used 52 letters, but is extinct now [5].
After these excursions, I would like to come to the Georgian alphabets, because three writing systems have been developed: Asomtavruli, Nuskhuri and Mkhedruli, which were awarded the national status of intangible cultural heritage in Georgia by the UNESCO in 2015 [6]. Mkhedruli is the alphabet in use today, whereof 33 letters are used; previously there had been 38, but five of them are no longer needed today. They are arranged like the Greek alphabet and the letters that were needed for Georgian sounds were added. Asomtavruli and Nuskhuri are still used but only by the Georgian Orthodox Church for ceremonial religious texts or iconography. In summary, I have to qualify the above statement about the origin of the Georgian alphabets, because we do not know exactly how these alphabets developed.
Georgian or better Kartuli Ena (ქართული ენა), as the Georgians call their language, is the official language of Georgia [7]. Georgian belongs to the Kartvelian language family and the Karto-Zan subfamily; there are no connections to other language families. This is why this language and its preservation are of great cultural importance. It is estimated that there are 3.8 million speakers of Georgian, so there is hope for the preservation of the language.
For the linguistic nerds, I have a quote: “Georgian phonology features a rich consonant system, including aspirated, voiced, and ejective stops, affricates, and fricatives.“ Georgian is an agglutinative language. Nouns have seven cases and postpositions are used rather than prepositions. There is no grammatical gender [8] and no articles either. What makes it difficult for speakers of other languages are the clusters of consonants, especially at the beginning of words. The capital Tblisi (თბილისი) is therefore called Tbilisi in English (and in German formerly Tiflis).
Georgian shares another peculiarity with Basque, although otherwise the two languages have no connection, namely the vigesimal number system [9]. Yes, French and Danish also have parts of such a system. In French there is quatre vingt (80, i.e. 4x20) or quatre vingt onze (91), but not demi soixante for 30! But Maya and Aztec also used this system - that's where it's particularly interesting, unfortunately not here and now. I just found out that Dzongkha, the national language of Bhutan, also uses this system. And during a stay in Hunza I have been interested in the Burushaski language, which also has this system. A rudiment has been lost in Great Britain, because the British pound used to be worth 20 shillings.
I hope that Georgia and Armenia will move closer to the EU, because in my humble opinion they are an enrichment for Europe both linguistically and culturally.
Links and Annotations:
[1] Matenadaran, Mesrop Mashtots, Armenian Alphabet and Language
https://rheumatologe.blogspot.com/2024/10/matenadaran-mesrop-mashtots-armenian.html
[2] I had Google Translate create the two sentences.
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesrop_Mashtots
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenian_language
[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caucasian_Albanian_language
[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgian_scripts There are examples of all three scripts in this article.
[7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgian_language
[8] In Germany, gender is currently causing considerable problems in the populist parties.
[9] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vigesimal
.
No comments:
Post a Comment