Comparative Analysis of the Phonemic Structures of Georgian and Abkhazian Languages Using Computational Linguistic Methods
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.22333/ijme.2025.10422Keywords:
Georgian language, Abkhazian language, phonemic structure, diasystemic analysis, corpus linguistics, vocalism, computational linguisticsAbstract
This study presents a comparative analysis of the phonemic structures of Georgian and Abkhazian languages using computational linguistic methods and corpus-based methodologies. Employing the diasystemic approach, we analyze large-scale corpora (Georgian: 953 million tokens; Abkhazian: 19.4 million tokens) to reveal systematic patterns in vowel distribution. Our findings confirm the principle of markedness theory in both languages, demonstrating universal dominance of the vowel a and the marked status of labial vowels. The study identifies both common typological characteristics (preference for open vowels in anlaut position, labial/non-labial opposition) and distinctive features (six-vowel system in Abkhazian versus five-vowel system in Georgian, specific role of the neutral vowel ə in Abkhazian). These data provide an empirical foundation for historical-comparative analysis and contribute to the development of Caucasian areal linguistics.
References
Akhvlediani, G. (1949). ზოგადი ფონეტიკის საფუძვლები [Foundations of General Phonetics]. Tbilisi: Tbilisi University Press.
Allen, W. S. (1956). Structure and system in the Abaza verbal complex. Transactions of the Philological Society, 55(1), 127-176.
Allen, W. S. (1965). On one-vowel systems. Lingua, 13, 111-124.
Aronson, H. I. (1982). Georgian: A Reading Grammar. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Chirikba, V. (1996). Common West Caucasian: The Reconstruction of Its Phonological System and Parts of Its Lexicon and Morphology. Leiden: CNWS Publications.
Chukhua, M. (2017). ქართულ-ჩერქეზულ-აფხაზური ეტიმოლოგიური ძიებანი [Georgian-Circassian-Abkhazian Etymological Studies]. Tbilisi: Saari Publishing.
Genko, A. (1955). Абазинский язык: Грамматический очерк наречия Тапанта [The Abaza Language: A Grammatical Sketch of the Tapanta Dialect]. Moscow: USSR Academy of Sciences.
Gvantseladze, T. (2010). წინარე აფხაზურ-აბაზური ენა: ხმოვანთა სისტემის დიაქრონია [Proto-Abkhaz-Abaza Language: Diachrony of the Vowel System]. In Linguistic Problems of Kartvelology and Abkhazology (Vol. 2). Tbilisi.
Gvantseladze, T. (2011). აფხაზური ენა: სტრუქტურა, ისტორია, ფუნქციონირება [The Abkhazian Language: Structure, History, Functioning]. Tbilisi: Universal Publishing.
Hewitt, G. (2010). Abkhaz: A Comprehensive Self-Tutor. München: Lincom Europa.
Kuipers, A. (1955). The North-West Caucasian languages. Analecta Slavica, 1, 193-206.
Kurdiani, M. (2007). იბერიულ-კავკასიური ენათმეცნიერების საფუძვლები [Foundations of Ibero-Caucasian Linguistics]. Tbilisi: TSU Press.
Lomtatidze, K. (1976). აფხაზური და აბაზური ენების ისტორიულ-შედარებითი ანალიზი I: ფონოლოგიური სისტემა და ფონეტიკური პროცესები [Historical-Comparative Analysis of Abkhazian and Abaza Languages I: Phonological System and Phonetic Processes]. Tbilisi: Metsniereba.
Machavariani, N. (2020). აფხაზური ენის აფიქსები და მოდალური ელემენტები გრამატიკული მიმოხილვითურთ [Affixes and Modal Elements of Abkhazian with Grammatical Overview]. Tbilisi: TSU Press.
Marr, N. (1912). К вопросу о положении абхазского языка среди яфетических [On the Position of Abkhazian among Japhetic Languages]. St. Petersburg: Imperial Academy of Sciences.
Moulton, W. G. (1960). The short vowel systems of Northern Switzerland: A study in structural dialectology. Word, 16, 155-182.
Robins, R. H., & Waterson, N. (1952). Notes on the phonetics of the Georgian word. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 14(1), 55-72.
Rogava, G. (1985). К вопросу о взаимоотношении между сложной системой консонантизма и простой системой вокализма в абхазско-адыгских языках [On the Relationship between Complex Consonantism and Simple Vocalism in Abkhaz-Adyghe Languages]. Annual of Ibero-Caucasian Linguistics, 12, 182-186.
Shanidze, A. (1973). ქართული გრამატიკის საფუძვლები [Fundamentals of Georgian Grammar]. Tbilisi: Tbilisi University Press.
Shengelia, V. (2006). ქართველურ და ჩერქეზულ ენობრივ სისტემათა ისტორიის ზოგი საკითხი [Some Issues in the History of Kartvelian and Circassian Language Systems]. Georgian Language, Tbilisi.
Spruit, A. (1986). Abkhaz Studies. Leiden: University of Leiden.
Trubetzkoy, N. S. (1931). Phonologie et géographie linguistique. Travaux du Cercle Linguistique de Prague, 4, 228-234.
Trubetzkoy, N. S. (1960). Principles of Phonology. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Uslar, P. K. (1862). Этнография Кавказа. Языкознание. Абхазский язык [Ethnography of the Caucasus. Linguistics. The Abkhazian Language]. St. Petersburg: Imperial Academy of Sciences.
Uturgaidze, T. (1976). ქართული ენის ფონემატური სტრუქტურა [The Phonemic Structure of Georgian]. Tbilisi: Metsniereba.
Vogt, H. (1961). ქართული ენის ფონემატური სტრუქტურა [The Phonematic Structure of Georgian]. Tbilisi.
Weinreich, U. (1954). Is a structural dialectology possible? Word, 10(2-3), 388-400.
Zhghenti, S. (1956). ქართული ენის ფონეტიკა [Georgian Phonetics]. Tbilisi: TSU Press.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Copyright (c) - Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms: Authors retain copyright and grant the journal the right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 International License, which allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their personal website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (see The Effect of Open Access). Authors may enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to a repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.