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Svan
Data collected by the University of Frankfurt as part of the DoBes program.
Data on the Svan language
Alternative names: Lushnu nin
Main dialects:
Svan is generally reckoned to consist of 5 main dialects. They are usually divided in two larger categories:
“Upper Svan”, spoken in the Enguri valley, including the Upper and Lower Bal dialects
“Lower Svan”, spoken along the Tskhenistskali River, including the dialect groups of Lashkh, Lentekhian and Cholur.
Classification: Family of South Caucasian or Kartvelian languages
Geographic area: North-West of Georgia, in the mountain region South of Mount Elbrus, along the Enguri, Tskhenis-tskali and Kodori rivers. Some Svan speakers live on the territory of auto-proclaimed Abkhazia.
Number of speakers: The UNESCO mentioned 80,000 speakers in 2005, but pointed out that the number may be exaggerated. DoBes does in fact estimate that the number of speakers “does not exceed 30,000 people”.
Status of the language: No official status. Georgian is the language of administration, education and the media.
Vitality and Transmission:
The UNESCO considers Svan as an endangered language.
All Svan speakers are at least bilingual in Spanish, some of them are even trilingual in Russian. Native speakers are usually old, transmittal of the language is slowing down, the young generations drop Svan for the official language. The language is only used within family circles.
According to DoBes, the decrease of Svan worsened in the 60s. Increasing economic difficulties led Svan populations to move into towns where the communities of speakers broke up among the urban population. Recent political trouble only made the process of abandoning the traditional land and language worse.
A documentation and revitalization program for Svan (and other Caucasian languages) has been set up by linguists of the University of Frankfurt as part of the DoBes program.
For more information, visit the DoBes website
Sources
Page of the DoBes website dedicated to Svan [02/06/2011]
Bibliography
Kevin Tuite. 1997. Svan and its speakers.
Links
Page of the Linguamón website dedicated to Svan [02/06/2011]
Page on the Ethnologue.com website of the SIL dedicated to Svan [02/05/2011]
Please do not hesitate to contact us should you have more information on this language: contact@sorosoro.org