South Caucasian languages
| Kartvelian | |
|---|---|
| ქართველური | |
| Geographic distribution |
Western Trans-Caucasus, Northeast Anatolia |
| Linguistic classification | One of the world's primary language families |
| Proto-language | Proto-Kartvelian |
| Subdivisions |
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| ISO 639-5 | |
| Glottolog | kart1248 |
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The Kartvelian languages (Georgian: ქართველური ენები) (also known as Iberian and formerlySouth Caucasian) are a language family indigenous to the Caucasus and spoken primarily in Georgia, with large groups of native speakers in Russia, Iran, the United States, the European Union, Israel, and northeastern parts of Turkey. There are approximately 5.2 million speakers of Kartvelian languages worldwide. It is not known to be related to any other language family, making it one of the world's primary language families. The first literary source in a Kartvelian language is the Georgian language inscriptions of Bir el Qutt, written in ancient Georgian Asomtavruli script at the Georgian monastery near Bethlehem, which dates back to c. 430 AD.
The Georgian script is the writing system used to write all Kartvelian languages, though the Laz language in Turkey is also written using a Latin script.
Georgian is the official language of Georgia (spoken by 90% of the population) and the main language for literary and business use for all Kartvelian speakers in Georgia. It is written with an original and distinctive alphabet, and the oldest surviving literary text dates from the 5th century AD—the only Caucasian language with an ancient literary tradition. The old Georgian script seems to have been derived from Aramaic, with Greek influences.
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