Georgian language

Georgian
ქართული ენა kartuli ena
Kartuliwritten inGeorgian script
Pronunciation	[ˈkʰartʰuliˈena]
Native to	Georgia
Region	South Caucasus
Ethnicity	Georgians
speakers	L1:3.76 million (2020) L2:150,000 (2014)
Language family	Kartvelian Karto-Zan Georgian
Early form	Old Georgian
Dialects	Georgian dialects
Writing system	Georgian script Georgian Braille
Official status
Official language in	Georgia
Regulated by	Cabinet of Georgia
Language codes
ISO 639-1	ka
ISO 639-2	geo(B) kat(T)
ISO 639-3	kat
Glottolog	nucl1302
Linguasphere	– bac 42-CAB-baa – bac

Georgian(ქართული ენა,kartuli ena,pronounced[ˈkʰartʰuliˈena]) is the most widely spokenKartvelian language;it serves as theliterary languageorlingua francafor speakers of related languages.It is theofficial languageofGeorgiaand the native or primary language of 88% of its population.Its speakers today amount to approximately 3.8 million. Georgian is written with its own uniqueGeorgian scripts,alphabetical systemsof unclear origin.

Georgian is most closely related to the Zan languages (MegrelianandLaz) and more distantly toSvan.Georgian has variousdialects,with standard Georgian based on the Kartlian dialect, and all dialects are mutually intelligible. The history of Georgian spans from Early Old Georgian in the 5th century, to Modern Georgian today. Its development as a written language began with theChristianization of Georgiain the 4th century.

Georgian phonology features a richconsonantsystem, including aspirated, voiced, andejective stops,affricates,andfricatives.Itsvowel systemconsists of five vowels with varying realizations. Georgianprosodyinvolves weak stress, with disagreements among linguists on its placement. The language'sphonotacticsinclude complexconsonant clustersand harmonic clusters. TheMkhedruli script,dominant in modern usage, corresponds closely to Georgian phonemes and has no case distinction, though it employs a capital-like effect called Mtavruli for titles and inscriptions. Georgian is an agglutinative language with a complex verb structure that can include up to eightmorphemes,exhibitingpolypersonalism.The language has seven noun cases and employs a left-branching structure with adjectives preceding nouns and postpositions instead of prepositions. Georgian lacks grammatical gender and articles, with definite meanings established through context. Georgian's rich derivation system allows for extensive noun and verb formation from roots, with many words featuring initial consonant clusters.

The Georgian writing system has evolved from ancient scripts to the current Mkhedruli, used for most purposes. The language has a robust grammatical framework with unique features such as syncope inmorphophonologyand aleft-branching syntax.Georgian's vocabulary is highly derivational, allowing for diverse word formations, while its numeric system is vigesimal.

Classification

No claimed genetic links between the Kartvelian languages and any other language family in the world are accepted in mainstream linguistics. Among the Kartvelian languages, Georgian is most closely related to the so-calledZan languages(MegrelianandLaz);glottochronologicalstudies indicate that it split from the latter approximately 2700 years ago.Svanis a more distant relative that split off much earlier, perhaps 4000 years ago.

Dialects

Main article:Georgian dialects

Standard Georgian is largely based on theKartliandialect.Over the centuries, it has exerted a strong influence on the other dialects. As a result, they are all, generally, mutually intelligible with standard Georgian, and with one another.

History

Further information:Kartvelian languages,Proto-Kartvelian language,Proto-Georgian–Zan language,andOld Georgian

The history of the Georgian language is conventionally divided into the following phases:

• EarlyOld Georgian:5th–8th centuries
• Classical Old Georgian: 9th–11th centuries
• Middle Georgian: 11th/12th–17th/18th centuries
• Modern Georgian: 17th/18th century–present

The earliest extant references to Georgian are found in the writings ofMarcus Cornelius Fronto,a Roman grammarian from the 2nd century AD.The first direct attestations of the language are inscriptions andpalimpsestsdating to the 5th century, and the oldest surviving literary work is the 5th centuryMartyrdom of the Holy Queen ShushanikbyIakob Tsurtaveli.

The emergence of Georgian as a written language appears to have been the result of theChristianization of Georgiain the mid-4th century, which led to the replacement ofAramaicas theliterary language.

By the 11th century, Old Georgian had developed into Middle Georgian. The most famous work of this period is theepic poemThe Knight in the Panther's Skin,written byShota Rustaveliin the 12th century.

In 1629, a certainNikoloz Cholokashviliauthored the first printed books written (partially) in Georgian, theAlphabetum Ibericum sive Georgianum cum Orationeand theDittionario giorgiano e italiano.These were meant to help western Catholic missionaries learn Georgian forevangelicalpurposes.

Phonology

Consonants

On the left areIPAsymbols, and on the right are the corresponding letters of the modern Georgian alphabet, which is essentially phonemic.

Consonants

		Labial	Dental/ Alveolar	Post-alveolar	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Nasal		mმ	nნ
Stop	aspirated	pʰფ	tʰთ		kʰქ
	voiced	bბ7, 8	dდ7, 8		ɡგ7, 8
	ejective	pʼპ	tʼტ		kʼკ	qʼ3ყ
Affricate	(aspirated)		t͡sʰ1ც	t͡ʃʰ1ჩ
	voiced		d͡zძ	d͡ʒჯ
	ejective		t͡sʼწ	t͡ʃʼჭ
Fricative	voiceless		sს	ʃშ	x2ხ		hჰ
	voiced	vვ6	zზ	ʒჟ	ɣ2ღ
Vibrant			rრ4
Lateral			lლ5

1. Opinions differ on the aspiration of/t͡sʰ,t͡ʃʰ/,as it is non-contrastive.
2. Opinions differ on how to classify/x/and/ɣ/;Aronson (1990)classifies them as post-velar,Hewitt (1995)argues that they range from velar to uvular according to context.
3. The uvular ejective stop is commonly realised as an uvular ejective fricative[χʼ]but it can also be[qʼ],[ʔ],or[qχʼ],they are in free variation.
4. /r/is realised as an alveolar tap[ɾ]though[r]occurs in free variation.
5. /l/is pronounced as velarized[ɫ]before back vowels, it is pronounced as[l]in the environment of front vowels.
6. /v/is realized in most contexts as a bilabial fricative[β]or[v],but has the following allophones.
   1. before voiceless consonants, it is realized as[f]or[ɸ].
   2. after voiceless consonants it is also voiceless and has been interpreted either as labialization of the preceding consonant[ʷ]or simply as[ɸ].
   3. whether it is realized as labialization after voiced consonants is debated.
   4. word-initially before the vowel /u/ and sometimes before other consonants it may be deleted entirely.
7. In initial positions,/b,d,ɡ/are pronounced as weakly voiced[b̥,d̥,ɡ̊].
8. In word-final positions,/b,d,ɡ/may be devoiced and aspirated to[pʰ,tʰ,kʰ].

Former/qʰ/(ჴ) has merged with/x/(ხ), leaving only the latter.

The glottalization of the ejectives is rather light, and in fact Georgian transliterates thetenuis stopsin foreign words and names with the ejectives.

The coronal occlusives (/tʰtʼdn/,not necessarily affricates) are variously described as apical dental, laminal alveolar, and "dental".

Vowels

Vowel phonemes

	Front	Central	Back
Close	iი		uუ
Mid	eე		oო
Open		aა

Per Canepari, the main realizations of the vowels are [i], [e̞], [ä], [o̞], [u].

Aronson describes their realizations as [i̞], [e̞], [ä] (but "slightly fronted" ), [o̞], [u̞].

Shosted transcribed one speaker's pronunciation more-or-less consistently with [i], [ɛ], [ɑ], [ɔ], [u].

Allophonically, [ə] may be inserted to break up consonant clusters, as in/dɡas/[dəɡäs].

Prosody

Prosodyin Georgian involves stress, intonation, and rhythm. Stress is very weak, and linguists disagree as to where stress occurs in words.Jun, Vicenik, and Lofstedt have proposed that Georgian stress and intonation are the result ofpitch accentson the first syllable of a word and near the end of a phrase.

According to Borise,Georgian has fixed initial word-level stress cued primarily by greater syllable duration and intensity of the initial syllable of a word.Georgian vowels in non-initial syllables are pronounced with a shorter duration compared to vowels in initial syllables.

Phonotactics

Georgian contains many "harmonic clusters" involving two consonants of a similar type (voiced, aspirated, or ejective) that are pronounced with only a single release; e.g.ბგერაbgera'sound',ცხოვრებაtskhovreba'life', andწყალიts’q’ali'water'.There are also frequentconsonant clusters,sometimes involving more than six consonants in a row, as may be seen in words likeგვფრცქვნიgvprtskvni'you peel us' andმწვრთნელიmts’vrtneli'trainer'.

Vicenik has observed that Georgian vowels following ejective stops havecreaky voiceand suggests this may be one cue distinguishing ejectives from their aspirated and voiced counterparts.

Writing system

Main articles:Georgian scriptsandGeorgian Braille

Georgian alphabet fromThe American Cyclopædia,1879

Road sign in Mtavruli and Latin scripts

"Mshrali khidi" (dry bridge) bilingual construction signboard in Georgian (Mtavruli) and Italian inTbilisi.

Georgian has been written in a variety of scripts over its history. Currently theMkhedruliscript is almost completely dominant; the others are used mostly in religious documents and architecture.

Mkhedrulihas 33 letters in common use; a half dozen more are obsolete in Georgian, though still used in other alphabets, like Mingrelian, Laz, and Svan. The letters ofMkhedrulicorrespond closely to the phonemes of the Georgian language.

According to the traditional account written down byLeonti Mroveliin the 11th century, the first Georgian script was created by the first ruler of theKingdom of Iberia,Pharnavaz,in the 3rd century BC. The first examples of a Georgian script date from the 5th century AD. There are now three Georgian scripts, calledAsomtavruli'capitals',Nuskhuri'small letters', andMkhedruli.The first two are used together as upper and lower case in the writings of theGeorgian Orthodox Churchand together are calledKhutsuri'priest alphabet'.

InMkhedruli,there is no case. Sometimes, however, a capital-like effect, calledMtavruli('title' or 'heading'), is achieved by modifying the letters so that their vertical sizes are identical and they rest on the baseline with no descenders. These capital-like letters are often used in page headings, chapter titles, monumental inscriptions, and the like.

Modern Georgian alphabet

Letter	National transcription	IPA transcription
ა	a	[ä]
ბ	b	[b]
გ	g	[ɡ]
დ	d	[d]
ე	e	[e̞]
ვ	v	[v~w]
ზ	z	[z]
თ	t	[tʰ]
ი	i	[i]
კ	k’	[kʼ]
ლ	l	[l]
მ	m	[m]
ნ	n	[n]
ო	o	[o̞]
პ	p’	[pʼ]
ჟ	zh	[ʒ]
რ	r	[r]
ს	s	[s]
ტ	t’	[tʼ]
უ	u	[u]
ფ	p	[pʰ]
ქ	k	[kʰ]
ღ	gh	[ɣ]
ყ	q’	[qʼ]
შ	sh	[ʃ]
ჩ	ch	[t͡ʃʰ]
ც	ts	[t͡sʰ]
ძ	dz	[d͡z]
წ	ts’	[t͡sʼ]
ჭ	ch’	[t͡ʃʼ]
ხ	kh	[x]
ჯ	j	[d͡ʒ]
ჰ	h	[h]

Keyboard layout

Main article:Georgian keyboard layout

This is the Georgian standardkeyboard layout. The standard Windows keyboard is essentially that of manualtypewriters.

“ „

1 !

2 ?

3 №

4 §

5 %

6 :

7 .

8 ;

9 ,

0 /

- _

+ =

← Backspace

Tab key

ღ

ჯ

უ

კ

ეჱ

ნ

გ

შ

წ

ზ

ხჴ

ც

) (

Caps lock

ფჶ

ძ

ვჳ

თ

ა

პ

რ

ო

ლ

დ

ჟ

Enter key ↵

Shift key ↑

ჭ

ჩ

ყ

ს

მ

იჲ

ტ

ქ

ბ

ჰჵ

Shift key ↑

Control key

Win key

Alt key

Space bar

AltGr key

Win key

Menu key

Control key

Grammar

Main articles:Georgian grammarandGeorgian verb paradigm

Morphology

Georgian is anagglutinative language.Certain prefixes and suffixes can be joined in order to build a verb. In some cases, one verb can have up to eight different morphemes in it at the same time. An example isageshenebinat('you [all] should've built [it]'). The verb can be broken down to parts:a-g-e-shen-eb-in-a-t.Each morpheme here contributes to the meaning of the verb tense or the person who has performed the verb. The verb conjugation also exhibitspolypersonalism;a verb may potentially include morphemes representing both the subject and the object.

Morphophonology

In Georgianmorphophonology,syncopeis a common phenomenon. When a suffix (especially the plural suffix -eb-) is attached to a word that has either of the vowelsaorein the last syllable, this vowel is, in most words, lost. For example,megobarimeans 'friend';megobrebi(megobØrebi) means 'friends', with the loss ofain the last syllable of the word stem.

Inflection

Georgian has seven noun cases:nominative,ergative,dative,genitive,instrumental,adverbialandvocative.An interesting feature of Georgian is that, while the subject of a sentence is generally in the nominative case and the object is in theaccusative case(or dative), one can find this reversed in many situations (this depends mainly on the character of the verb). This is called thedative construction.In the past tense of the transitive verbs, and in the present tense of the verb "to know", the subject is in the ergative case.

Syntax

• Georgian is aleft-branchinglanguage, in which adjectives precede nouns,possessorsprecede possessions, objects normally precede verbs, andpostpositionsare used instead ofprepositions.
• Each postposition (whether a suffix or a separate word) requires the modified noun to be in a specific case. This is similar to the way prepositions govern specific cases in manyIndo-European languagessuch asGerman,Latin,orRussian.
• Georgian is apro-droplanguage; both subject and object pronouns are frequently omitted except for emphasis or to resolve ambiguity.
• A study by Skopeteaset al.concluded that Georgian word order tends to place thefocusof a sentence immediately before the verb, and thetopicbefore the focus. A subject–object–verb (SOV) word order is common in idiomatic expressions and when the focus of a sentence is on the object. A subject–verb–object (SVO) word order is common when the focus is on the subject, or in longer sentences. Object-initial word orders (OSVorOVS) are also possible, but less common. Verb-initial word orders including both subject and object (VSOorVOS) are extremely rare.
• Georgian has nogrammatical gender;even the pronouns are ungendered.
• Georgian has noarticles.Therefore, for example, "guest", "a guest" and "the guest" are said in the same way. Inrelative clauses,however, it is possible to establish the meaning of the definite article through use of some particles.

Vocabulary

The last verse ofShota Rustaveli's romanceThe Knight in the Panther's Skinillustrating the appearance of the Georgian script.

Georgian has a richword-derivationsystem. By using a root, and adding some definite prefixes and suffixes, one can derive many nouns and adjectives from the root. For example, from the root -kart-, the following words can be derived:Kartveli('a Georgian person'),Kartuli('the Georgian language') andSakartvelo('the country of Georgia').

MostGeorgian surnamesend in -dze'son' (Western Georgia), -shvili'child' (Eastern Georgia), -ia(Western Georgia,Samegrelo), -ani(Western Georgia,Svaneti), -uri(Eastern Georgia), etc. The ending -eliis a particle of nobility, comparable to Frenchde,Dutchvan,Germanvonor Polish -ski.

Georgian has avigesimalnumeric system likeBasqueand (partially)French.Numbers greater than 20 and less than 100 are described as the sum of the greatest possible multiple of 20 plus the remainder. For example, "93" literally translates as 'four times twenty plus thirteen' (ოთხმოცდაცამეტი,otkhmotsdatsamet’i).

One of the most important Georgian dictionaries is theExplanatory dictionary of the Georgian language(ქართული ენის განმარტებითი ლექსიკონი). It consists of eight volumes and about 115,000 words. It was produced between 1950 and 1964, by a team of linguists under the direction ofArnold Chikobava.

Examples

Word formations

Georgian has a word derivation system, which allows the derivation of nouns from verb roots both with prefixes and suffixes, for example:

• From the root -ts’er- 'write', the wordsts’erili'letter' andmts’erali'writer' are derived.
• From the root -tsa- 'give', the wordgadatsema'broadcast' is derived.
• From the root -tsda- 'try', the wordgamotsda'exam' is derived.
• From the root -gav- 'resemble', the wordsmsgavsi'similar' andmsgavseba'similarity' are derived.
• From the root -shen- 'build', the wordshenoba'building' is derived.
• From the root -tskh- 'bake', the wordnamtskhvari'cake' is derived.
• From the root -tsiv- 'cold', the wordmatsivari'refrigerator' is derived.
• From the root -pr- 'fly', the wordstvitmprinavi'aeroplane' andaprena'takeoff' are derived.

It is also possible to derive verbs from nouns:

• From the noun -omi- 'war', the verbomob'to wage war' is derived.
• From the noun -sadili- 'lunch', the verbsadilob'to eat lunch' is derived.
• From the noun -sauzme'breakfast', the verbts’asauzmeba'to eat a little breakfast' is derived; the preverbts’a- in Georgian adds the meaning 'a little'.
• From the noun -sakhli- 'home', the verbgadasakhleba'to relocate, to move' is derived.

Likewise, verbs can be derived from adjectives, for example:

• From the adjective -ts’iteli- 'red', the verbgats’itleba'to blush, to make one blush' is derived. This kind of derivation can be done with many adjectives in Georgian.
• From the adjective -brma'blind', the verbsdabrmaveba'to become blind, to blind someone' are derived.
• From the adjective -lamazi- 'beautiful', the verbgalamazeba'to become beautiful' is derived.

Words that begin with multiple consonants

In Georgian many nouns and adjectives begin with two or more contiguous consonants. This is because syllables in the language often begin with two consonants. Recordings are available on the relevant Wiktionary entries, linked to below.

• Some examples of words that begin with two consonants are:
  • წყალი(ts’q’ali), 'water'
  • სწორი(sts’ori), 'correct'
  • რძე(rdze), 'milk'
  • თმა(tma), 'hair'
  • მთა(mta), 'mountain'
  • ცხენი(tskheni), 'horse'
• Many words begin with three contiguous consonants:
  • თქვენ(tkven), 'you(pl.)'
  • მწვანე(mts’vane), 'green'
  • ცხვირი(tskhviri), 'nose'
  • ტკბილი(t’k’bili), 'sweet'
  • მტკივნეული(mt’k’ivneuli), 'painful'
  • ჩრდილოეთი(chrdiloeti), 'north'
• A few words in Georgian that begin with four contiguous consonants. Examples are:
  • მკვლელი(mk’vleli), 'murderer'
  • მკვდარი(mk’vdari), 'dead'
  • მთვრალი(mtvrali), 'drunk'
  • მწკრივი(mts’k’rivi), 'row,screeve'
• Some extreme cases also exist in Georgian. For example, the following word begins with six contiguous consonants:
  • მწვრთნელი(mts’vrtneli), 'trainer'
• While the following word begins with seven:
  • გვწვრთნი(gvts’vrtni), 'you train us'
• And the following words begin with eight:
  • გვფრცქვნი(gvprtskvni), 'you peel us'
  • გვბრდღვნი(gvbrdghvni), 'you tear us'

Sample text

Recording of a middle-aged male speaker reading Article 1.

Article 1 of theUniversal Declaration of Human Rightsin Georgian and English:

Georgian original	Romanization of Georgian	IPA transcription	English translation
ყველა ადამიანი იბადება თავისუფალი და თანასწორი თავისი ღირსებითა და უფლებებით. მათ მინიჭებული აქვთ გონება და სინდისი და ერთმანეთის მიმართ უნდა იქცეოდნენ ძმობის სულისკვეთებით.	Q’vela adamiani ibadeba tavisupali da tanasts’ori tavisi ghirsebita da uplebebit. Mat minich’ebuli akvt goneba da sindisi da ertmanetis mimart unda iktseodnen dzmobis sulisk’vetebit.	[q(χ)ʼʷe̞ɫä‿ädämiäni‿ibäde̞bätʰäβisupʰälidätʰänäst͡sʼo̞ɾitʰäβisiɣiɾse̞bitʰädä‿upʰle̞be̞bitʰ|mätʰminit͡ʃ’e̞buli‿äkʰʷtʰɡo̞ne̞bädäsindisidä‿e̞ɾtʰmäne̞tʰismimäɾtʰundä‿ikʰt͡sʰe̞o̞dne̞nd͡zmo̞bissulisk’ʷe̞tʰe̞bitʰ‖]	All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

See also

• Old Georgian
• Georgian dialects
• Georgian alphabet
• Georgian calligraphy
• Georgian calendar
• Georgian grammar
• Georgian numerals
• Georgian profanity

Bibliography

• Abuladze, Lia; Ludden, Andreas (2011).Lehrbuch der georgischen Sprache[Textbook of the Georgian language]. Second edition. Hamburg: Buske,ISBN978-3-87548-620-9(in German).
• Zaza Aleksidze.Epistoleta Tsigni,Tbilisi, 1968, 150 pp (in Georgian)
• Aronson, Howard I. (1990),Georgian: a reading grammar(second ed.), Columbus, OH: Slavica
• Butskhrikidze, Marika (2002).The consonant phonotactics of Georgian
• Canepari, Luciano (2007),Natural phonetics and tonetics: Articulatory, auditory, & functional,München: Lincom Europa
• Fähnrich, Heinz (2013).Die ältesten georgischen Inschriften[The oldest Georgian inscriptions]. Leiden: Brill,ISBN978-90-04-24921-9(in German).
• Farshid Delshad.Georgica et Irano-SemiticaStudies on Iranian, Semitic and Georgian Linguistics, Wiesbaden 2010 (in German, English, Russian and Georgian summary)
• "Great discovery" (about the expedition of Academician Levan Chilashvili).- NewspaperKviris Palitra,Tbilisi, April 21–27, 2003 (in Georgian)
• Hewitt, Brian G. (1987),The typology of subordination in Georgian and Abkhaz,Berlin: De Gruyter
• Hewitt, B. G. (1995),Georgian: a structural reference grammar,Amsterdam: John Benjamins
• Hewitt, B. G. (1996),Georgian: a Learner's Grammar,London: Routledge
• Hiller, P. J. (1994).Georgian: The Kartvelian Literary Language.Pontypridd, Wales: Language Information Centre.
• Pavle Ingorokva.Georgian inscriptions of antique.- Bulletin of ENIMK, vol. X, Tbilisi, 1941, pp. 411–427 (in Georgian)
• Ivane Javakhishvili.Georgian Paleography,Tbilisi, 1949, 500 pp (in Georgian)
• Jun, Sun-Ah; Vicenik, Chad; Lofstedt, Ingvar (2007),"Intonational Phonology of Georgian"(PDF),UCLA Working Papers in Phonetics(106): 41–57, archived fromthe original(PDF)on 2012-06-16
• Kiziria, Dodona (2009),Beginner's Georgian with 2 Audio CDs,New York: Hippocrene,ISBN978-0-7818-1230-6
• Korneli Danelia, Zurab Sarjveladze.Questions of Georgian Paleography,Tbilisi, 1997, 150 pp (in Georgian, English summary)
• Kraveishvili, M. & Nakhutsrishvili, G. (1972),Teach Yourself Georgian for English Speaking Georgians,Tbilisi: The Georgian Society for Cultural Relations with Compatriots Abroad{{citation}}:CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Elene Machavariani.The graphical basis of the Georgian Alphabet,Tbilisi, 1982, 107 pp (in Georgian, French summary)
• Price, Glanville (1998),An Encyclopedia of the Languages of Europe,Blackwell
• Putkaradze, Tariel; Mikautadze, Maia (2014),Phonetics of the Georgian literary language,Tbilisi{{citation}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Ramaz Pataridze.The Georgian Asomtavruli,Tbilisi, 1980, 600 pp. (in Georgian).
• Shosted, Ryan K.; Chikovani, Vakhtang (2006),"Standard Georgian"(PDF),Journal of the International Phonetic Association,36(2): 255–264,doi:10.1017/S0025100306002659,S2CID53481687
• Skopeteas, Stavros; Féry, Caroline; Asatiani, Rusudan (2009),Word order and intonation in Georgian,University of Potsdam
• Testelets, Yakov G. (2020), "Kartvelian (South Caucasian) Languages", in Polinsky, Maria (ed.),The Oxford Handbook of Languages of the Caucasus,pp. 491–528
• Vicenik, Chad (2010),"An acoustic study of Georgian stop consonants",Journal of the International Phonetic Association,40(1): 59–92,doi:10.1017/s0025100309990302,S2CID143120834

External links

• Dryer, Matthew S.;Haspelmath, Martin,eds. (2013)."Georgian language".World Atlas of Language StructuresOnline.Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
• The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Georgian language

Grammars

• Reference grammar of Georgian by Howard Aronson (SEELRC, Duke University)
• Georgian Grammar

Dictionaries

• Georgian English, English Georgian online dictionary
• English-Georgian, German-Georgian and Russian-Georgian dictionaries
• English-Georgian HTML Dictionary
• Georgian Swadesh list of basic vocabulary words(from Wiktionary'sSwadesh-list appendix)
• Georgian Verb Conjugator/Dictionary

Software

• Georgian fonts, compliant with Unicode 4.0, also available for MAC OS 9 or X
• A keyboard for typing georgian characters for firefox
• Learn Georgian Alphabet Now appGives the name, pronunciation of each letter, and example words. Shows the stroke order of each letter. Permits drawing practice and has a quiz to learn the letters.

Literature and culture

• About Georgia – Language and Alphabet
• Summer School of Georgian at Tbilisi State University
• Learn how to write Georgian hand-written letters correctly