Mingrelian grammar

Mingrelian is a Kartvelian language from the Caucasus. Like other languages in the area, it contains a large number of grammatical cases and shows ergative alignment. Mingrelian is mostly agglutinative in terms of morphological inflection, although it has no grammatical gender or noun classes, unlike neighbouring Caucasian languages from the Nakh-Dagestanian family. Mingrelian verbs index numerous tense-aspect-moods, with traces of evidentiality indexation.

Mingrelian has two dialects: Zugdidi-Samurzakano (northwestern) and Senaki-Martvili (southeastern).

Grammatical cases

Mingrelian has nine grammatical cases, which are indexed in all nominals. Unlike neighboring Nakh-Dagestanian languages, Mingrelian verbs show no case markings. Grammatical case endings are the same for nouns and adjectives, both in the singular and the plural, unlike many Indo-European languages such as Latin or Polish. Mingrelian case morphemes are shown below.

Case	Mingrelian
nominative	-ი	-i
ergative	-ქ	-k
dative	-ს	-s
genitive	-იშ	-iş
lative	-იშა	-işa
ablative	-იშე	-işe
instrumental	-ით	-it
adverbial	-ო(თ)	-o(t)
benefactive	-იშო(თ)	-işo(t)

Nominals

Mingrelian nouns and adjectives occur in singular and plural forms.

Example of noun declension

Example of the declension of noun stem კოჩ- (ǩoç- “man”) in singular and plural forms.

Case	Singular		Plural
Nominative	კოჩი	ǩoç-i	კოჩეფი	ǩoç-ep-i
Ergative	კოჩქ	ǩoç-k	კოჩეფქ	ǩoç-ep-k
Dative	კოჩს	ǩoç-s	კოჩეფს	ǩoç-ep-s
Genitive	კოჩიშ	ǩoç-iş	კოჩეფიშ	ǩoç-ep-iş
Lative	კოჩიშა	ǩoş-işa	კოჩეფიშა	ǩoç-ep-işa
Ablative	კოჩიშე	ǩoç-işe	კოჩეფიშე	ǩoç-ep-işe
Instrumental	კოჩით	ǩoç-it	კოჩეფით	ǩoç-ep-it
Adverbial	კოჩო	ǩoç-o	კოჩეფო	ǩoç-ep-o
Benefactive	კოჩიშო	ǩoç-išo	კოჩეფიშო	ǩoç-ep-işo

Example of adjective declension

Declension of stem ჟვეშ- (ǯveş- “old”) in singular and plural forms.

Case	Singular		Plural
Nominative	ჟვეში	ǯveş-i	ჟვეშეფი	ǯveş-ep-i
Ergative	ჟვეშქ	ǯveş-k	ჟვეშეფქ	ǯveş-ep-k
Dative	ჟვეშს	ǯveş-s	ჟვეშეფს	ǯveş-ep-s
Genitive	ჟვეშიშ	ǯveş-iş	ჟვეშეფიშ	ǯveş-ep-iş
Lative	ჟვეშიშა	ǯveş-işa	ჟვეშეფიშა	ǯveş-ep-işa
Ablative	ჟვეშიშე	ǯveş-işe	ჟვეშეფიშე	ǯveş-ep-işe
Instrumental	ჟვეშით	ǯveş-it	ჟვეშეფით	ǯveş-ep-it
Adverbial	ჟვეშო	ǯveş-o	ჟვეშეფო	ǯveş-ep-o
Benefactive	ჟვეშიშო	ǯveş-işo	ჟვეშეფიშო	ǯveş-ep-işo

Comparison with other Kartvelian languages

Example of the declension of noun stem კოჩ- (ǩoç- “man”) in comparison to corresponding Laz კოჩ- (ǩoç-) , Georgian კაც- (ḳac-) and Svan č'äš (“husband”) forms. Note that Laz does not index adverbial and benefactive cases through suffixes, neither do Georgian nor Svan index the lative or ablative.

Case	Singular					Plural
	Mingrelian		Laz	Georgian	Svan	Mingrelian		Laz	Georgian	Svan
Nominative	კოჩი	ǩoç-i	ǩoç-i	ḳac-i	č'äš	კოჩეფი	ǩoç-ep-i	ǩoç-ep-e	ḳac-eb-i	č'äš-är
Ergative	კოჩქ	ǩoç-k	ǩoç-i-k	ḳac-ma	č'äš-d	კოჩეფქ	ǩoç-ep-k	ǩoç-epe-k	ḳac-eb-ma	č'äš-är-d
Dative	კოჩს	ǩoç-s	ǩoç-i-s	ḳac-s	č'äš-s	კოჩეფს	ǩoç-ep-s	ǩoç-epe-s	ḳac-eb-s	č'äš-är-s
Genitive	კოჩიშ	ǩoç-iş	ǩoç-iş	ḳac-is	č'äš-iš	კოჩეფიშ	ǩoç-ep-iş	ǩoç-epe-ş	ḳac-eb-is	č'äš-är-iš
Lative	კოჩიშა	ǩoş-işa	ǩoç-işa	-	-	კოჩეფიშა	ǩoç-ep-işa	ǩoç-epe-şa	-	-
Ablative	კოჩიშე	ǩoç-işe	ǩoç-işe			კოჩეფიშე	ǩoç-ep-işe	ǩoç-epe-şe
Instrumental	კოჩით	ǩoç-it	ǩoç-ite	ḳac-it	č'äš-šw	კოჩეფით	ǩoç-ep-it	ǩoç-epe-te	ḳac-eb-it	č'äš-är-šw
Adverbial	კოჩო	ǩoç-o	-	ḳac-ad	č'äš-d	კოჩეფო	ǩoç-ep-o	-	ḳac-eb-ad	č'äš-är-d
Benefactive	კოჩიშო	ǩoç-išo		ḳac-istvis	č'äš-išd	კოჩეფიშო	ǩoç-ep-işo		ḳac-eb-istvis	č'äš-är-išd

Traces of noun classification

Mingrelian has traces of a noun classification system that distinguishes animacy semantically along the lines of human-like or un-human-like.

Concrete			Abstract
Animate		Inanimate
Human and "human-like" beings (e.g. God, deities, angels)	Animals	Inanimate physical entities	Abstract objects
Human-like	Un-human-like
mi? ("who?")	mu? ("what?")

Numerals

The Mingrelian numerals are almost identical to Laz with minor phonetic differences. The number system is vigesimal like in Georgian.

Cardinal numbers

Most of the Mingrelian cardinal numbers are inherited from Proto-Kartvelian language, except arti (one) and eçi (twenty), which are considered as a Karto-Zan heritage, since there are no regular equivalents in Svan.

Cardinal numbers' table

	Mingrelian
1	ართი	arti
2	ჟირი	zhiri/zhƨri
3	სუმი	sumi
4	ოთხი	otxi
5	ხუთი	xuti
6	ამშვი	amşvi
7	შქვითი	şkviti
8	(ბ)რუო	(b)ruo
9	ჩხორო	çxoro
10	ვითი	viti
11	ვითაართი	vitaarti
12	ვითოჟირი	vitozhiri
13	ვითოსუმი	vitosumi
14	ვითაანთხი	vitaantxi
15	ვითოხუთი	vitoxuti
20	ეჩი	eçi
21	ეჩდოართი	eçdoarti
30	ეჩდოვითი	eçdoviti
40	ჟაარნეჩი	zhaarneçi
50	ჟაარნეჩიდოვიჩი	zhaarneçidoviti
60		sumoneçi
70		sumoneçdoviti
80		otxoneçi
90		otxoneçdovit
100		oşi
101		oşarti
102		oşzhiri
110		oşviti
200		zhiroşi
500		xutoşi
1000		antasi
1999		antas çxoroş otxoneçdovitoçxoro
2000		zhiri antasi
10000		viti antasi

Ordinal numbers

In Mingrelian, ordinal numbers are derived by the circumfix ma- -a, with the exception of the word for “first”, პირველი (p̌irveli), which is not derived from the word for “one” ართი arti.

Ordinal
ma-NUMBER-a

Ordinal numbers

	Mingrelian
1st	p̌irveli
2nd	mazhira
3rd	masuma
4th	maotxa/mantxa
5th	maxuta
6th	maamşva
7th	maşkvita
8th	maruo
9th	maçxora
10th	mavita
11th	mavitaarta
12th	mavitozhira
20th	maeça
21st	eçdomaarta
30th	eçdomavita
100th	maoşa
101st	oşmaarta
102nd	oşmazhira
110th	oşmavita
200th	mazhiroşa
500th	maxutoşa
1000th	maantasa

Fractional numbers

The fractional numbers derivation rule in Mingrelian is akin to Old Georgian and Svan.

Fractional numbers' derivation rule

Mingrelian/Laz	Georgian		Svan
	Old	New
na-NUMBER-al/or	na-NUMBER-al	me-NUMBER-ed	na-NUMBER-al/ul

Fractional numbers' table

	Mingrelian/Laz	Georgian		Svan
		Old	New
whole	teli (m) mteli (l)	mrteli	mteli	tel
half	gverdi	naxevari	naxevari	xənsga
1/3	nasumori	nasamali	mesamedi	nasemal
1/4	naotxali (m–l) naantxali (m)	naotxali	meotxedi	naoštxul
1/5	naxutali	naxutali	mexutedi	naxušdal
1/6	naamşvali (m) naanşali (l)	naekvsali	meekvsedi	nausgwul
1/7	naşkvitali	našvidali	mešvidedi	nayšgwidal
1/8	naruali (m) naovrali (l)	narvali	mervedi	naaral
1/9	naçxorali	nacxrali	mecxredi	načxaral
1/10	navitali	naatali	meatedi	naešdal
1/11	navitaartali (m) navitoartali (l)	natertmeṭali	metertmeṭedi	naešdešxul
1/12	navitozhirali (m) navitojurali (l)	natormeṭali	metormeṭedi	naešdoral
1/20	naeçali	naocali	meocedi	nayerwešdal
1/100	naoşali	naasali	measedi	naaširal
1/1000	naantasali (m) navitoşali (l)	naatasali	meatasedi	naatasal

Pronouns

Personal pronouns

	Mingrelian	Laz	Georgian	Svan
I	ma	ma	me	mi
You (sing.)	si	si	šen	si
That	ena	aya	is	ala
This	ina	ia	es	eǯa
We	çki/çkƨ	çki	čven	näy
You (pl.)	tkva	tkvan	tkven	sgäy
Those	(t)inepi	entepe	isini	eǯyär
These	(t)enepi	antepe	eseni	alyär

Possessive pronouns

		Mingrelian	Laz	Georgian	Svan
1st person	singular	çkimi/çkƨmi	çkimi	čemi	mišgu
	plural	çkini/çkƨni	çkini	čveni	gwišgwey
2nd person	singular	skani	skani	šeni	isgu
	plural	tkvani	tkvani	tkveni	isgwey
3rd person	singular	muşi	muşi	misi	miča
	plural	inepiş	mutepeşi	mati	mine

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.

• Monovalent verbs are represented only by subjective person and are always intransitive.
• Bivalent verbs together with subject have also one object (direct or indirect). They are:
  • transitive in the case of direct object
  • intransitive if the object is indirect
• Trivalent verbs have one subject and always both, direct and indirect objects and are ditransitive.

Table of verb personality

	Unipersonal	Bipersonal		Tripersonal
	intransitive	transitive	intransitive	ditransitive
Subject	+	+	+	+
Direct Object		+		+
Indirect Object			+	+

The person may be singular or plural.

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

Subject markers

	Singular	Plural
S1	v-	v-...-t
S2	∅-	∅-...-t
S3	∅-...-∅/-s/-u	∅-...-na/-es

Object markers

	Singular	Plural
O1	m-	m-...-na/-es/-t
O2	g-	g-...-na/-es/-t
O3	∅-	∅-...-na/-es

In pre-consonant position the markers v- and g- may change phonetically:

• v- → b- (in Zugdidi-Samurzakano dialect)
• g- → r- (in both dialects)

Version

In Mingrelian there are four types of version marking like in other Kartvelian languages:

• 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.

Version markers

Version	Mingrelian	Laz	Georgian	Svan
Subjective	-i-	-i-	-i-	-i-
Objective	-u-	-u-	-u-	-o-
Objective-passive	-a-	-a-	-e-	-e-
Neutral	-o-/-a	-o-	-a-	-a-

Tenses

In total there are 20 screeves in Mingrelian. They are grouped in four series.

Verb screeves (sample conjugation)

I series
Screeve	Stem: ç̌ar- "to write"	Translation
present	ç̌aruns	s/he writes
imperfect	ç̌arundu	s/he was writing
imperfective optative	ç̌arundas	s/he were writing
imperfective conditional	ç̌arundu-ǩon	if s/he were writing
future imperfect	ç̌arundas iʔuapu(n)/iʔii(n)	s/he will be writing
conditional of future imperfect in the past	ç̌arundu-ǩon iɣuapudu/iɣiidu	if s/he were writing
future	doç̌aruns	s/he will write
future in the past	doç̌arundu	s/he would write
future optative	doç̌arundas
II series
aorist	ç̌aru	s/he wrote
aorist optative	ç̌aras	should s/he write
aorist conditional	ç̌aru-ǩon	if s/he wrote
III series
inferential I	uç̌aru(n)	(it seems) s/he has written
inferential II	uç̌arudu	(it seems) s/he had written
inferential optative I	uç̌arudas	may s/he have written
inferential conditional II	uç̌arudu-ǩon	if s/he have written
IV series
inferential III	noç̌arue(n)	(it seems) s/he has written
inferential IV	noç̌aruedu	(it seems) s/he had written
inferential optative III	noç̌aruedas	may s/he have written
Inferential conditional IV	noç̌aruedu-ǩon	if s/he have written

Mood

Indicative

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

Interrogative

There are two ways to express interrogative mood:

• with interrogative words, e.g. mi? (who?), mu? (what?), so? (where?), muzhams? (when?), muç̌o? (how?) etc. This rule is shared with other Kartvelian languages.
• by attaching an interrogative particle -o to the end of a verb. Cf. the interrogative particles in Laz -i, Old Georgian -a and Svan -ma/-mo/-mu.

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 -ǩo(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.

Aspect distribution in the 1st series

Imperfective Aspect
Screeve	Stem: ç̌ar- "to write"	Translation
present	ç̌aruns	s/he writes
imperfect	ç̌arundu	s/he was writing
imperfective optative	ç̌arundas	s/he were writing
imperfective conditional	ç̌arundu-ǩon	if s/he were writing
future imperfect	ç̌arundas iʔuapu(n)/iʔii(n)	s/he will be writing
conditional of future imperfect in the past	ç̌arundu ǩon iʔuapudu/iʔiidu	if s/he were writing
Perfective Aspect
future	doç̌aruns	s/he will write
future in the past	doç̌arundu	s/he would write
future optative	doç̌arundas

References

• Chikobava, Arn. (1936). Grammatical analysis of Laz with texts (in Georgian). Tiflis.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Chikobava, Arn. (1938). Chan-Megrel-Georgian Comparative Dictionary (in Georgian). Tbilisi.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Fähnrich, H. & Sardzhveladze, Z. (2000). Etymological Dictionary of the Kartvelian Languages (in Georgian). Tbilisi.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Kajaia, O. (2001–2002). Megrelian-Georgian dictionary. 3 Vols. (in Georgian). Tbilisi.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Kartozia, G. (2005). The Laz language and its place in the system of Kartvelian languages (in Georgian). Tbilisi.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Klimov, G. (1964). Etymological Dictionary of the Kartvelian Languages (in Russian). Moscow.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Klimov, G. (1998a). Etymological Dictionary of the Kartvelian Languages. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
• Klimov, G. (1998b). Languages of the World: Caucasian languages (in Russian). Moscow: Academia.
• Marr [Марръ], N. [Н.] (1910). Грамматика ̔чанскаго (лазскаго) языка съ хрестоматіею и словаремъ [Grammar of Chan (Laz) with chrestomathy and dictionary (in Russian)]. St. Petersburg.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Qipshidze, I. (1914). The Grammar of Megrelian (Iver) Language with reader and dictionary. St. Petersburg.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link). (in Russian and Mingrelian)
• 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)