The Mingrelian Alphabet

"Mingrelian" and "Megrelian" are two English names for exactly the same language ^[3]. "Mingrelian" is the older English form, derived from the historical European name for the region ("Mingrelia," from the Italian/Portuguese "Mingrelia" or "Mengrellia" used since at least the 17th century).

"Megrelian" is derived from the Georgian name for the region (სამეგრელო, Samegrelo) and the people (მეგრელები, Megrelebi). "Megrelian" is now the more standard term in modern linguistics, while "Mingrelian" remains in historical texts and some regional references.

Both names share the same ISO 639-3 code xmf.

Mingrelian (Megrelian) uses the Georgian Mkhedruli script with one additional letter: ჷ (Yn, U+10F7) ^[4], representing the schwa vowel /ə/. This gives Mingrelian 34 letters compared to Georgian's 33.

The schwa vowel is the most phonologically distinctive feature of the Zan branch of Kartvelian — it appears in many common Mingrelian words and cannot be written using any of the standard 33 Georgian letters.

Without ჷ, Mingrelian cannot be accurately represented in the Georgian script.

Mingrelian (Megrelian) belongs to the Kartvelian (South Caucasian) language family ^[1]. Within Kartvelian, it forms the Zan branch alongside Laz.

The Kartvelian family is indigenous to the Caucasus region and has no established genetic relationship to any other language family.

Mingrelian is more closely related to Laz than either is to Georgian or Svan, making the Zan languages a distinct sub-group within the broader Kartvelian family. ^[2]

Mingrelian (Megrelian) is spoken by approximately 500,000 people ^[1] — the same count applies whether the language is called "Mingrelian" or "Megrelian." Speakers are located primarily in the Samegrelo (Mingrelia) and Abkhazia regions of Georgia.

All Mingrelian/Megrelian speakers are also fluent in Georgian, which is the official language of education, government, and public life in Georgia.

Despite the large number of speakers, Mingrelian/Megrelian lacks official status and is considered vulnerable to language shift toward Georgian.

Mingrelian is spoken in western Georgia, specifically in the Samegrelo (historical Mingrelia) region ^[1]. The name "Mingrelia" is the historical European name for the same region that Georgians call Samegrelo — this regional name is the origin of "Mingrelian" as an English word for the language.

Mingrelian/Megrelian is spoken in and around the cities of Zugdidi and Senaki, in Abkhazia (where the ethnic Megrelian population lives), and by diaspora speakers in Tbilisi and other Georgian cities.

The ISO 639-3 code for Mingrelian is xmf ^[3] — the same code used for "Megrelian," since they are the same language. The Glottolog identifier is ming1252. The ISO registration covers both names and both spellings.

Mingrelian/Megrelian does not have an ISO 639-1 two-letter code, which is typical for minority and endangered languages.

The single code xmf identifies all speakers of the Zan Kartvelian language of Samegrelo, whether they encounter it labeled as "Mingrelian," "Megrelian," or "Margaluri" (the native name used by speakers themselves).