| Also Known As: Zan,Lazuri,Chan,Chanuri,Chanzan,Laze,Laz
Description:
The Laz language (ლაზური ნენა, lazuri nena; Georgian: ლაზური ენა, lazuri ena, or ჭანური ენა, č'anuri ena, also chanuri ena) is spoken by the Laz people on the Southeast shore of the Black Sea. It is estimated that there are around 30,000 native speakers of Laz in Turkey, in a strip of land extending from Melyat to the Georgian border (officially called Lazistan until 1925), and about 2,000 in Georgia.
Laz is one of the four South Caucasian languages. Along with Mingrelian, it forms the Zan branch of this language family. The two tongues are very closely related, to the extent that they were officially considered to be dialects of a single language called Zan in the Soviet era (a view that is still held in Georgia today). In general, however, Laz and Mingrelian are classed as separate tongues, due both to the long-standing separation of their communities of speakers (500 years) and to a lack of mutual intelligibility. Some linguists refer to Mingrelian and Laz as regional variants of a single Zan language.
Laz has five major dialects:
The last two are often treated as a single Atinan dialect. Speakers of different Laz dialects have trouble understanding each other, and often prefer..... full article at Wikipedia |
