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.
Mingrelian has two dialects: Zugdidi-Samurzakano (northwestern) and Senaki-Martvili (southeastern). The dialects are extremely close to each other.
Grammatical cases
Mingrelian has nine grammatical cases. 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:
'Intelligent' entities (question mi? "who?") 'Non-intelligent' entities (question mu? "what?)
Noun classification scheme
Noun declension
Declension of noun stem ǩoç ("man") in comparison to corresponding Laz ǩoç (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 ǯveş ("old") in comparison to corresponding Laz (mǯveş), 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 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.
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.
Pronouns
Personal pronouns
Possessive pronouns
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
The person may be singular or plural.
Subject and object markers in Mingrelian are roughly the same as in Laz.
Subject markers
Object markers
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.
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: 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.