The Place of Judeo-Georgian in the Georgian Linguistic Space

• In Event: Jewish Languages: Sound and Silence

Abstract

Despite the fact that Georgia is not a large country in terms of territory—its area is 69,000 square kilometers—three Kartvelian languages and fifteen dialects are distinguished here (according to most scholars, although other views also exist). The classification of dialects is primarily based on geographic principles, though linguistic features are also taken into account alongside geographic ones.
Jews have lived in Georgia for many centuries, inhabiting nearly every region of the country (with the exception of Svaneti and the highland dialect regions of eastern Georgia). The aim of this paper is to analyze the studies and debates that exist in the fields of sociolinguistics and dialectology, and, relying on theories and methods of variationist sociolinguistics and linguistic anthropology, to demonstrate that Judeo-Georgian is a dialect based on the Georgian language. This dialect incorporates, on the one hand, features typical of local territorial/regional dialects, and on the other hand, common features that are shared by Jews residing in all regions of Georgia.
The objective of this paper is to answer the following questions: Is the speech of Georgian Jews from different parts of Georgia a single variety of the Georgian language? How does the speech of Georgian Jews in various regions relate to the local Georgian dialects or Kartvelian languages of those areas? What evidence supports the classification of Judeo-Georgian speech as a dialect of Georgian—one that, in addition to features of local dialects, also possesses shared linguistic traits specific to the ethnic group (in this case, Jews)?
The position of Judeo-Georgian speech within the Georgian linguistic space is of interest from two perspectives: on the one hand, that of Georgian dialectology (sociolinguistics), and on the other hand, from the perspective of “Jewish languages.”

The current work has been supported by Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation (SRNSF), grant No FR-22-5180 Linguistic repertoire of Georgian Jews: migrations, language competencies and hierarchies.

Author

• Tamari Lomtadze, Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University