Laz language in the context of "Asomtavruli"

⭐ In the context of Georgian scripts, the Laz language is distinguished by its use of…

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⭐ Core Definition: Laz language

The Laz or Lazuri language (Laz: ლაზური ნენა, romanized: lazuri nena) is a Kartvelian language spoken by the Laz people on the southeastern shore of the Black Sea. In 2007, it was estimated that there were around 20,000 native speakers in Turkey, in a strip of land extending from Melyat to the Georgian border (officially called Lazistan until 1925), and around 1,000 native speakers around Adjara in Georgia. There are also around 1,000 native speakers of Laz in Germany.

Laz is not historically a written language or literary language. In 1989, Benninghaus wrote that the Laz themselves had no interest in writing in Laz.

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👉 Laz language in the context of Asomtavruli

The Georgian scripts are the three writing systems used to write the Georgian language: Asomtavruli, Nuskhuri and Mkhedruli. Although the systems differ in appearance, their letters share the same names and alphabetical order and are written horizontally from left to right. Of the three scripts, Mkhedruli, once the official script of the Kingdom of Georgia and mostly used for the royal charters, is now the standard script for modern Georgian and its related Kartvelian languages, whereas Asomtavruli and Nuskhuri are used only by the Georgian Orthodox Church, in ceremonial religious texts and iconography.

Georgian scripts are unique in their appearance and their exact origin has never been established; however, in strictly structural terms, their alphabetical order largely corresponds to the Greek alphabet, with the exception of letters denoting uniquely Georgian sounds, which are grouped at the end. Originally consisting of 38 letters, Georgian is presently written in a 33-letter alphabet, as five letters are obsolete. The number of Georgian letters used in other Kartvelian languages varies. Mingrelian uses 36: thirty-three that are current Georgian letters, one obsolete Georgian letter, and two additional letters specific to Mingrelian and Svan. Laz uses the same 33 current Georgian letters as Mingrelian plus that same obsolete letter and a letter borrowed from Greek for a total of 35. The fourth Kartvelian language, Svan, is not commonly written, but when it is, it uses Georgian letters as utilized in Mingrelian, with an additional obsolete Georgian letter and sometimes supplemented by diacritics for its many vowels.

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Laz language in the context of Poti

Poti (Georgian: ფოთი [pʰo̞t̪ʰi]; Mingrelian: ფუთი; Laz: ჶაში/Faşi or ფაში/Paşi) is a port city in Georgia, located on the eastern Black Sea coast in the region of Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti in the west of the country. Built near the site of the ancient Greek colony of Phasis and deriving its name from the same, the city has become a major port city and industrial center since the early 20th century. It is also home to a main naval base and the headquarters of the Georgian Navy.

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Laz language in the context of Rize

Rize (Turkish pronunciation: [ɾi'ze]; Greek: Ριζούντα, romanizedRizoúnta; Laz: რიზინი, romanized: Rizini; Georgian: რიზე) is a coastal city in the eastern part of the Black Sea Region of Turkey. It is the seat of Rize Province and Rize District. Its population is 346,977 (2024). Rize is a typical Turkish provincial capital with little in the way of nightlife or entertainment. Since the border with Georgia was opened in the early 1990s, the Black Sea coast road has been widened and the town is much wealthier than it used to be. Current Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's family has its roots in Rize and the local university is named after him. The city is linked by road with Trabzon (41 miles [66 km] west), Hopa (55 miles [88 km] east on the Georgian border, and Erzurum (south). The Rize–Artvin Airport started operating in 2022.

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Laz language in the context of Georgian language

Georgian (ქართული ენა, kartuli ena, pronounced [ˈkʰäɾt̪ʰuli ˈe̞n̪ä]) is the most widely spoken Kartvelian language. It is the official language of Georgia and the native or primary language of 88% of its population. It also serves as the literary language or lingua franca for speakers of related languages. Its speakers today amount to approximately 3.8 million. Georgian is written with its own unique Georgian scripts, alphabetical systems of unclear origin.

Georgian is most closely related to the Zan languages (Megrelian and Laz) and more distantly to Svan. Georgian has various dialects, 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 the Christianization of Georgia in the 4th century.

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Laz language in the context of Pontic Greek

Pontic Greek (Pontic: Ρωμαίικα, romanized: Rhomaiika, Greek: Ποντιακά, romanizedPontiaka; Turkish: Rumca or Romeika), also referred to as Pontic, is a variety of Modern Greek indigenous to the Pontus region on the southern shores of the Black Sea, northeastern Anatolia, and the Eastern Turkish and Caucasus region. An endangered Greek language variety, Pontic Greek is spoken by about 778,000 people worldwide, who are known as Pontic or Pontian Greeks.

Like nearly all of Greek varieties spoken today, the linguistic lineage of Pontic Greek stems from the Hellenistic Koine, itself based on AtticIonic Greek, which later developed into the Byzantine Greek of the Middle Ages. Following its geographic isolation from the rest of the Greek–speaking world, Pontic continued to develop separately along with other Anatolian Greek dialects, like Cappadocian, from the 11th century onwards. As a result, Pontic Greek is not completely mutually intelligible with the standard Demotic Greek spoken in mainland Greece today. Pontic also contains influences from Russian, Turkish, Kartvelian (namely Laz and Georgian) and Armenian.

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Laz language in the context of Hopa

Hopa (Laz and Georgian: ხოფა, romanized: khopa), is a town in Artvin Province in northeast Turkey. It is located on the eastern Turkish Black Sea coast about 67 km (42 mi) from the city of Artvin and 18 kilometres from the border with Georgia. It is the seat of Hopa District. Its population is 23,846 (2021).

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Laz language in the context of Pontic lyra

The Kemençe of the Black Sea (Turkish: Karadeniz kemençesi, Greek: Ποντιακή λύρα Pontiakí lýra or Pontic lyre, Laz: Çilili (ჭილილი), Armenian: քամանի Qamani, Pontic: lyra) is a traditional musical instrument. It belongs to the category of stringed bowed musical instruments. It has three strings, usually tuned to perfect fourths, usually tuned B-E-A. It is the pre-eminent musical folk instrument originated from the Northeastern Turkey, especially around the Eastern Black Sea Region and historically and currently played by Turkish and Pontic Greek folk artists from Turkey and Greece. The instrument is made of different types of wood.

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