MINGRELIAN LANGUAGE

also called Megrelian, unwritten Kartvelian (South Caucasian) language spoken along the coast of the Black Sea in Georgia. Its speakers call it margaluri nina; in Georgian, it is called megruli ena. Some scholars believe Mingrelian and the closely related Laz language to be dialects of a single language (called Zan) rather than independent languages, but Laz and Mingrelian are not inherently intelligible with each other. Speakers of Mingrelian use Georgian as their literary language. The Mingrelian, Laz, Georgian, and Svan languages together constitute the Kartvelian language family. See also Kartvelian languages.