Georgian

Kartvelian family · Eurasia

Georgian is an SOV language, like 564 of the 1,376 languages WALS codes for basic word order.

On Alignment of Case Marking of Full Noun Phrases, WALS codes Georgian as “Active - inactive”, a value held by 4 of the 190 languages coded, Basque and Imonda among them.

On Fixed Stress Locations, WALS codes Georgian as “Antepenultimate”, a value held by 12 of the 502 languages coded, Greek (Modern) and Cree (Plains) among them.

The closest grammar profile to Georgian in the atlas belongs to Pashto, an Indo-European language: the two agree on 36 of the 52 features both have coded.

The order Georgian uses in 8 pairings of a head word and its dependent. Bars: how all languages coded for each pairing split, before or after.

Contrast Georgian with Pashto or with any other language

Uncommon values

Values that fewer than one in ten of the coded languages share with Georgian, rarest first.

Coding of EvidentialityMixed systems10 of 418
'Want' Complement SubjectsBoth construction types exist14 of 283
Lateral ConsonantsLaterals, but no /l/, no obstruent lateral29 of 567
Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Verbal Inflection'We' and 'I' identical12 of 200
Verbal Number and SuppletionSingular-plural pairs, no suppletion12 of 193
Negative Indefinite Pronouns and Predicate NegationNegative indefinites show mixed behaviour13 of 206
Relativization on SubjectsRelative pronoun12 of 166
Asymmetrical Case-MarkingSubtractive-quantitatively asymmetrical case-marking20 of 261

Closest profiles

Languages that share the most coded values with Georgian; the count is out of the features both languages are coded for.

Hua Trans-New Guinea28 of 42
Mansi Uralic29 of 44
Armenian (Eastern) Indo-European61 of 101
Avar Nakh-Daghestanian31 of 48

The rest of the profile

WALS codes Georgian for 135 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 124 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Georgian shares with the fewest languages comes first.

Sounds 17

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Uvular Consonants	Uvular stops and continuants	48 of 567
Glottalized Consonants	Ejectives only	58 of 567
Consonant Inventories	Moderately large	94 of 563
Consonant-Vowel Ratio	Moderately high	102 of 564
Voicing in Plosives and Fricatives	Voicing contrast in both plosives and fricatives	158 of 567
Syllable Structure	Complex syllable structure	151 of 486
Voicing and Gaps in Plosive Systems	Other	242 of 567
Rhythm Types	Trochaic: left-hand syllable in the foot is strong	153 of 323
The Velar Nasal	No velar nasal	235 of 469
Vowel Quality Inventories	Average vowel inventory (5-6)	287 of 564
Weight Factors in Weight-Sensitive Stress Systems	No weight, or weight factor unknown	261 of 500
Weight-Sensitive Stress	Fixed stress (no weight-sensitivity)	281 of 500
Tone	No tones	307 of 527
Vowel Nasalization	Contrastive nasal vowels absent	180 of 244
Presence of Uncommon Consonants	None	449 of 567
Absence of Common Consonants	All present	503 of 567
Front Rounded Vowels	None	525 of 562

Word structure 12

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Case Syncretism	Core and non-core	22 of 198
Exponence of Tense-Aspect-Mood Inflection	TAM+agreement	19 of 160
Prefixing vs. Suffixing in Inflectional Morphology	Moderate preference for suffixing	123 of 969
Inflectional Synthesis of the Verb	8-9 categories per word	24 of 145
Locus of Marking in the Clause	P is double-marked	58 of 236
Syncretism in Verbal Person/Number Marking	Subject person/number marking is never syncretic	81 of 198
Locus of Marking in Possessive Noun Phrases	Possessor is dependent-marked	98 of 236
Exponence of Selected Inflectional Formatives	Monoexponential case	71 of 162
Locus of Marking: Whole-language Typology	Inconsistent marking or other type	121 of 236
Reduplication	Productive full and partial reduplication	278 of 368
Fusion of Selected Inflectional Formatives	Exclusively concatenative	125 of 165
Zero Marking of A and P Arguments	Non-zero marking	219 of 235

Nouns and pronouns 24

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Third Person Pronouns and Demonstratives	Related to remote demonstratives	18 of 225
Comitatives and Instrumentals	Mixed	33 of 322
Pronominal and Adnominal Demonstratives	Different inflectional features	21 of 201
Number of Cases	6-7 case categories	37 of 261
Plurality in Independent Personal Pronouns	Person-number stem with a pronominal plural affix	47 of 261
The Associative Plural	Special bound associative plural marker	48 of 236
Politeness Distinctions in Pronouns	Second person pronouns encode a binary politeness distinction	49 of 207
Position of Pronominal Possessive Affixes	No possessive affixes	260 of 902
Distributive Numerals	Marked by reduplication	85 of 251
Ordinal Numerals	First, two-th, three-th	110 of 321
Conjunctions and Universal Quantifiers	Formally different	40 of 116
Distance Contrasts in Demonstratives	Three-way contrast	88 of 234
Position of Case Affixes	Case suffixes	452 of 1,031
Occurrence of Nominal Plurality	Plural in all nouns, always obligatory	133 of 291
Coding of Nominal Plurality	Plural suffix	513 of 1,066
Person Marking on Adpositions	Adpositions without person marking	209 of 378
Intensifiers and Reflexive Pronouns	Intensifiers and reflexive pronouns are formally identical	94 of 168
Number of Genders	None	145 of 257
Sex-based and Non-sex-based Gender Systems	No gender system	145 of 257
Systems of Gender Assignment	No gender system	145 of 257
Indefinite Pronouns	Interrogative-based indefinites	194 of 326
Inclusive/Exclusive Distinction in Independent Pronouns	No inclusive/exclusive opposition	120 of 200
Numeral Classifiers	Numeral classifiers are absent	260 of 400
Gender Distinctions in Independent Personal Pronouns	No gender distinctions	254 of 378

Noun phrases 8

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Action Nominal Constructions	Ergative-Possessive	21 of 168
Possessive Classification	No possessive classification	125 of 243
Nominal and Verbal Conjunction	Nominal and verbal conjunction are largely identical	161 of 301
Genitives, Adjectives and Relative Clauses	Highly differentiated	77 of 138
Noun Phrase Conjunction	AND-languages: 'and' and 'with' are not identical	131 of 234
Adjectives without Nouns	Adjective may occur without noun, and without marking	73 of 124
Obligatory Possessive Inflection	No obligatorily possessed nouns	201 of 244
Number of Possessive Nouns	None reported	233 of 243

Verbs: tense, mood, evidence 14

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Suppletion According to Tense and Aspect	Suppletion in both tense and aspect	24 of 193
Suppletion in Imperatives and Hortatives	Imperative	29 of 193
The Optative	Inflectional optative present	48 of 319
Semantic Distinctions of Evidentiality	Both direct and indirect evidentials	71 of 418
The Morphological Imperative	No second-person imperatives	122 of 548
Overlap between Situational and Epistemic Modal Marking	Overlap for either possibility or necessity	66 of 207
Epistemic Possibility	Other	91 of 240
The Past Tense	Past/non-past distinction marked; no remoteness distinction	94 of 222
Perfective/Imperfective Aspect	Grammatical marking of perfective/imperfective distinction	101 of 222
The Future Tense	Inflectional marking of future/non-future distinction	110 of 222
The Perfect	No perfect	114 of 222
Imperative-Hortative Systems	The language has neither a maximal nor a minimal system	201 of 375
Position of Tense-Aspect Affixes	Tense-aspect suffixes	667 of 1,131
Situational Possibility	Verbal constructions	158 of 234

Word order 11

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Order of Adjective and Noun	Modifying adjective precedes noun (AdjN)	373 of 1,367
Position of Polar Question Particles	No question particle	355 of 884
Order of Numeral and Noun	Numeral precedes noun (NumN)	479 of 1,154
Order of Demonstrative and Noun	Demonstrative word precedes noun (DemN)	542 of 1,225
Order of Object and Verb	Object precedes verb (OV)	712 of 1,518
Order of Adposition and Noun Phrase	Postpositions	577 of 1,184
Order of Genitive and Noun	Genitive-noun (GenN)	685 of 1,249
Order of Adverbial Subordinator and Clause	Initial subordinator word	398 of 659
Position of Interrogative Phrases in Content Questions	Interrogative phrases not obligatorily initial	615 of 902
Order of Relative Clause and Noun	Relative clause follows noun (NRel)	579 of 824
Order of Subject and Verb	Subject precedes verb (SV)	1,192 of 1,496

Simple clauses 24

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Expression of Pronominal Subjects	Subject pronouns in different position	67 of 711
Other Roles of Applied Objects	Locative	18 of 183
Order of Person Markers on the Verb	P precedes A	57 of 379
Polar Questions	Interrogative intonation only	173 of 955
Predicative Possession	Have-Possessive	63 of 240
Applicative Constructions	Benefactive and other; both bases	49 of 183
Nominal and Locational Predication	Identical	117 of 386
Predicative Adjectives	Predicative adjectives have nonverbal encoding	132 of 386
Symmetric and Asymmetric Standard Negation	Symmetric standard negation only: Type Sym	114 of 297
Subtypes of Asymmetric Standard Negation	Non-assignable (no asymmetry found)	114 of 297
Negative Morphemes	Negative particle	502 of 1,157
Passive Constructions	There is a passive construction	162 of 373
Alignment of Case Marking of Pronouns	Neutral	79 of 172
Comparative Constructions	Locational Comparative	78 of 167
Third Person Zero of Verbal Person Marking	No zero realization of third person S forms	181 of 380
Ditransitive Constructions: The Verb 'Give'	Indirect-object construction	189 of 378
Verbal Person Marking	Person marking of both the A and P arguments	193 of 378
Zero Copula for Predicate Nominals	Zero copula is impossible	211 of 386
Alignment of Verbal Person Marking	Accusative alignment	212 of 380
Reciprocal Constructions	Distinct from reflexive	99 of 175
Periphrastic Causative Constructions	Purposive type but no sequential type	68 of 118
Antipassive Constructions	No antipassive	146 of 194
Productivity of the Antipassive Construction	no antipassive	146 of 186
Nonperiphrastic Causative Constructions	Morphological type but no compound type	254 of 310

Complex sentences 5

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Relativization on Obliques	Relative Pronoun Strategy	13 of 112
Purpose Clauses	Balanced/deranked	30 of 170
'When' Clauses	Balanced/deranked	39 of 174
Reason Clauses	Balanced	90 of 169
Utterance Complement Clauses	Balanced	114 of 143

Vocabulary 8

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Numeral Bases	Hybrid vigesimal-decimal	22 of 196
M-T Pronouns	M-T pronouns, paradigmatic	27 of 230
M in First Person Singular	m in first person singular	53 of 230
Hand and Arm	Identity: a single word denotes both 'hand' and 'arm'	228 of 617
Tea	Words derived from Sinitic cha	110 of 230
M in Second Person Singular	No m in second person singular	152 of 230
N-M Pronouns	No N-M pronouns	194 of 230
Finger and Hand	Different	521 of 593

Other 1

Feature	Value	Languages sharing it
Para-Linguistic Usages of Clicks	Clicks may express logical meanings ('yes' and/or 'no')	47 of 143