Zan languages

Common card · No. 437024

The Zan languages, also known as Zanuri (Georgian: ზანური ენები) or Colchidian, are a branch of the Kartvelian languages comprising the Mingrelian and Laz languages. This classification is disputed, as some Georgian linguists consider the two languages to form a dialect continuum of a single Zan language. This view is often challenged on the basis of mutual intelligibility, one of the most commonly applied criteria for distinguishing languages. Mingrelian and Laz are only partially mutually intelligible, although speakers of either language can recognize a substantial amount of vocabulary in the other. This overlap is attributable primarily to semantic loans, lexical loans, and other areal features resulting from geographical proximity and prolonged historical contact, which are characteristic of dialect continua. The term Zan derives from the Greco-Roman name of one of the principal Colchian tribes. This name closely resembles the term used by the Svans for the Mingrelians (მჷ-ზა̈ნ mə...

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