Comparative Analysis of the Phonemic Structures of Georgian and Abkhazian Languages Using Computational Linguistic Methods

Authors

  • Manana Bukia Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, Arn. Chikobava Institute of Linguistics
  • Rati Skhirtladze Caucasus University; Muskhelishvili Institute of Computational Mathematics of Georgian Technical University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22333/ijme.2025.10422

Keywords:

Georgian language, Abkhazian language, phonemic structure, diasystemic analysis, corpus linguistics, vocalism, computational linguistics

Abstract

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.

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Published

2025-12-26

How to Cite

Bukia, M., & Skhirtladze, R. (2025). Comparative Analysis of the Phonemic Structures of Georgian and Abkhazian Languages Using Computational Linguistic Methods. International Journal of Multilingual Education, 26, 69–78. https://doi.org/10.22333/ijme.2025.10422

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