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31-605: The Mingrelians ( Mingrelian : მარგალეფი , romanized:  margalepi ; Georgian : მეგრელები , romanized : megrelebi ) are an indigenous Kartvelian -speaking ethnic subgroup of Georgians that mostly live in the Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti ( Mingrelian : სამარგალო , romanized:  samargalo ; Georgian : სამეგრელო , romanized : samegrelo ) region of Georgia . They also live in considerable numbers in Abkhazia and Tbilisi . In

62-424: A Mingrelian-German dictionary by Otar Kajaia and Heinz Fähnrich , and books of poems by Lasha Gakharia , Edem Izoria , Lasha Gvasalia , Guri Otobaia , Giorgi Sichinava , Jumber Kukava , and Vakhtang Kharchilava , journal Skani , Mingrelian wikipedia, as well as books and magazines published by Jehovah's Witnesses. Mingrelian has five primary vowels a , e , i , o , u . The Zugdidi-Samurzaqano dialect has

93-654: A form of nationalism, the Georgian republic became a "nationalist/socialist hybrid." After the Red Army invasion of Georgia and its sovietization in 1921, followed by suppression of an armed rebellion against the new regime in 1924, many leading nationalist intellectuals went in exile in Europe. In the Soviet Union , Georgian nationalism went underground or was rechanneled into cultural pursuits, becoming focused on

124-498: A phonetic analysis by Aleksandre Tsagareli (1880), and grammars by Ioseb Kipshidze (1914) and Shalva Beridze (1920). From 1930 to 1938 several newspapers were published in Mingrelian, such as Kazakhishi Gazeti , Komuna , Samargalosh Chai , Narazenish Chai , and Samargalosh Tutumi . More recently, there has been some revival of the language, with the publication of a Mingrelian–Georgian dictionary by Otar Kajaia ,

155-458: A series of ill-fated attempts at revolt, especially, after the failed coup plot of 1832 , the Georgian elites reconciled with the Russian rule, while their calls for national awakening were rechanneled through cultural efforts. In the 1860s, the new generation of Georgian intellectuals, educated at Russian universities and exposed to European ideas, promoted national culture against assimilation by

186-404: A sixth, ə , which is the result of reduction of i and u . The consonant inventory of Mingrelian is almost identical to that of Laz , Georgian , and Svan . Certain pairs of vowels reduce to single vowels: In Zugdidi-Samurzaqano dialect the vowels i and u also often reduce to ə . Before consonants, g → r . In word-initial prevocalic and intervocalic positions, q' → ʔ . Before

217-430: A stem with voiceless affricates or voiceless sibilants, a later ǯ is deaffricated to d , e.g. orcxondji dj orcxondi "comb", ç̌andji dj ç̌andi "fly (insect)", isindji dj isindi "arrow", etc. Between the vowels the organic v disappears, e.g. xvavi (Geo. "abundance, plenty") → * xvai → xvee (id.), mṭevani (Geo. "raceme") → ţiani (id.), etc. Before

248-520: Is believed to have branched off in the 2nd millennium BC or earlier. Mingrelian is mutually intelligible only with Laz . Some linguists refer to Mingrelian and Laz as Zan languages . Zan had already split into Mingrelian and Laz variants by early modern times, however, and it is not customary to speak of a unified Zan language today. The oldest surviving texts in Mingrelian date from the 19th century, and are mainly items of ethnographical literature. The earliest linguistic studies of Mingrelian include

279-863: The Black Sea coast to the Svan Mountains and the Tskhenistskali River . Smaller enclaves existed in Abkhazia , but the ongoing civil unrest there has displaced many Mingrelian speakers to other regions of Georgia. Their geographical distribution is relatively compact, which has helped to promote the transmission of the language between generations. Mingrelian is generally written in the Georgian alphabet , but it has no written standard or official status. Almost all speakers are bilingual; they use Mingrelian mainly for familiar and informal conversation, and Georgian (or, for expatriate speakers,

310-513: The Georgian language and culture . Modern Georgian nationalism emerged in the middle of the 19th century as a reaction to the Russian annexation of fragmented Georgian polities, which terminated their precarious independence, but brought to the Georgians unity under a single authority, relative peace and stability. The first to inspire national revival were aristocratic poets, whose romanticist writings were imbued with patriotic laments. After

341-516: The Menshevik faction adhering to relatively liberal ideas of their Western European colleagues. Meanwhile, in Geneva, Georgian emigres formed "Free Georgia" group, which published the newspaper with the same name and openly called for the Georgian independence. It often featured the articles of Socialist-Federalists and National Democrats . In one of its issues in 1914, it read: For a nation,

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372-619: The Russian Empire in the 19th century. In several censuses under the Russian Empire and the early Soviet Union , Mingrelian were considered a separate group, largely because at the time of the annexation Mingrelia was politically separate from eastern Georgia, the historical political and cultural centers of the Medieval Georgian Kingdoms. They were reclassified under the broader category of Georgian in

403-505: The 1930s. Currently, most Mingrelian identify themselves as a subgroup of the Georgian nation and have preserved many characteristic cultural features – including the Mingrelian language – that date back to the pre-Christian Colchian era. Lavrentiy Beria , the Chief of Stalin 's secret police, was a Mingrelian. (As is well known, Stalin himself was a Georgian.) The first President of an independent Georgia, Zviad Gamsakhurdia (1939–1993),

434-673: The Imperial center. Led by the literati such as Ilia Chavchavadze , their program attained more nationalistic colors as the nobility declined and capitalism progressed, further stimulated by the rule of the Russian bureaucracy and economic and demographic dominance of the Armenian middle class in the capital city of Tbilisi . Chavchavadze and his associates called for the unity of all Georgians and put national interests above class and provincial divisions. Their vision did not envisage an outright revolt for independence, but demanded autonomy within

465-793: The Persians and ensured Roman predominance in Lazica until the invasion and conquest of the Caucasus by the Arabs in the second half of the 7th century. In the 7th century Lazica fell to the Muslim conquest ; however, in the 8th century combined Lazic and Abasgian forces successfully repelled the Arab occupation. In 780 Lazica was incorporated into the Kingdom of Abkhazia as a result of dynastic succession,

496-544: The closing years of the 19th century. Initially, the Georgian Social Democrats were opposed to nationalism and viewed it as a rival ideology, but they remained proponents of self-determination . In the words of the historian Stephen F. Jones , "it was socialism in Georgian colors with priority given to the defense of national culture." The Georgian social-democrats were very active in all-Russian socialist movement and after its split in 1905 sided with

527-415: The consonant v , q' → ɣ/ǩ . The common types are: If the stem contains r then the suffixes -ar and -ur transform to -al and -ul , e.g. xorga ( Gaghma Pirveli Khorga  [ ka ] , the village)→ xorg-ul-i ("Khorgan"). The rule is not valid if in the stem with r an l appears later, e.g. marṫvili (" Martvili ", the town) dj marṫvil-ur-i (adj. "Martvilian") In

558-596: The early 1990s and the ensuing ethnic cleansing of Georgians in this separatist region. Mingrelian language No reliable figure exists for the number of native speakers of Mingrelian, but it is estimated to be between 300,000 and 500,000. Most speakers live in the Mingrelia (or Samegrelo and formerly Odishi ) region of Georgia, which comprises the Odishi Hills and the Colchis Lowlands , from

589-612: The first Christian king Gubazes I declared Christianity as a state religion of Lazica. Locals began to have closer contact with the Greeks and acquired various Hellenic cultural traits, including in some cases the language. From 542 to 562, Lazica was a scene of the protracted rivalry between the Eastern Roman and Sassanid empires, culminating in the Lazic War . Emperor Heraclius 's offensive in 628 AD brought victory over

620-550: The focus of Georgian nationalism on cultural issues, the Soviet regime was able to prevent it from becoming a political movement until the 1980s perestroika period. The late 1970s saw a re-emergence of Georgian nationalism that clashed with Soviet power. Plans to revise the status of Georgian as the official language of Soviet Georgia were drawn up in the Kremlin in early 1978, but after stiff and unprecedented public resistance

651-588: The issues of language, promotion of education, protection of old monuments, literature, film, and sports. Any open manifestation of local nationalism was repressed by the Soviet state, but it did provide cultural frameworks and, as part of its policy of korenizatsiya , helped institutionalize the Georgians as a " titular nationality " in the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic , allowing Georgia to develop its own national communist elite and cultural intelligentsia . Thus, by maintaining

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682-517: The latter led the unification of the Georgian monarchy in the 11th century. The nobility and clergy of Lazica switched from the Hellenic ecclesiastic tradition to the Georgian, and Georgian became the language of culture and education. After the fragmentation of the Kingdom of Georgia in the 15th century, Mingrelia was an autonomous principality within the Kingdom of Imereti , until being annexed by

713-520: The local official language) for other purposes. Mingrelian is one of the Kartvelian languages . It is closely related to Laz , from which it has become differentiated mostly in the past 500 years, after the northern (Mingrelian) and southern (Laz) communities were separated by Turkic invasions. It is less closely related to Georgian, the two branches having separated in the first millennium BC or earlier, and even more distantly related to Svan , which

744-537: The pre-1930 Soviet census, the Mingrelians were afforded their own ethnic group category, alongside many other ethnic subgroups of Georgians. The Mingrelians speak the Mingrelian language , and are typically bilingual also in Georgian . Both these languages belong to the Kartvelian language family . In the 13th century BC , the Kingdom of Colchis was formed as a result of the increasing consolidation of

775-473: The reformed Russian Empire, with greater cultural freedom, promotion of the Georgian language, and support for Georgian educational institutions and the national church , whose independence had been suppressed by the Russian government. Despite their advocacy of ethnic culture and demographic grievances over Russian and Armenian dominance in Georgia's urban centers, a program of the early Georgian nationalists

806-599: The state is the only weapon for self-defense. The history of the past confirms that Georgians have the ability to form their own state and manage it. We have survived invasions of numerous enemies and preserved our statehood until 19th century. The Georgians did not accept losing their statehood, they immediately began fighting against Russian Tsarism. After successfully ending this battle and restoring national statehood, Georgian people will evenly settle on its historical land and will achieve many successes in economics and cultural development as well. The Bolshevik revolution of 1917

837-473: The stops and affricates, an inorganic augmentation n may appear (before labials n → m ). Mingrelian is written in Mkhedruli , Latin and Cyrillic . The main dialects and subdialects of Mingrelian are: Georgian nationalism Georgian nationalism ( Georgian : ქართული ნაციონალიზმი , romanized : kartuli natsionalizmi ) is a nationalist ideology promoting Georgian national identity,

868-515: The tribes inhabiting the region, which covered modern western Georgia. The endonym margalepi (მარგალეფი) is presumably reflected in the Greek Manraloi (Μάνραλοι), recorded as a people of Colchis by Ptolemy in the 2nd century BC. By the mid-3rd century, the Lazi tribe came to dominate most of Colchis, establishing the kingdom of Lazica (or Egrisi in Georgian sources). In the 5th century,

899-470: Was a Mingrelian and also a creator of Georgian nationalism . Therefore, after the violent coup d'état of December 21, 1991 – January 6, 1992, Mingrelia became the centre of a civil war , which ended with the defeat of Gamsakhurdia's supporters. Approximately 180,000–200,000 Mingrelian and other subgroups of Georgian people have been expelled from Abkhazia as a result of the Abkhaz–Georgian conflict in

930-536: Was inclusive and preferred non-confrontational approach to inter-ethnic issues. Some of them, such as Niko Nikoladze , envisaged the creation of a free, decentralized, and self-governing federation of the Caucasian peoples based on the principle of ethnically proportional representation. The idea of Caucasian federation within the reformed Russian state was also voiced by the ideologues of Georgian social democracy , who came to dominate Georgian political landscape by

961-580: Was perceived by the Georgian Mensheviks, led by Noe Zhordania , as a breach of links between Russia and Europe. When they declared Georgia an independent democratic republic on 26 May 1918, they viewed the move as a tragic inevitability against the background of unfolding geopolitical realities. As the new state faced a series of domestic and international challenges, the internationalist Social-Democratic leadership became more focused on narrower national problems. With this reorientation to

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