Judaeo-Georgian

Infobox Language
name=Judæo-Georgian
nativename=קיברולי "Kivruli"
states=Georgia, Israel, Russia, Belgium, United States
speakers=85,000
familycolor=Caucasian
fam1=(Caucasianndash "non-genetic")
fam2=South Caucasian
fam3=Georgian
iso2=cau|iso3=jge

Judæo-Georgian (also known as Kivruli and Gruzinic) is the traditional language spoken by the Georgian Jews, the ancient Jewish community of the Caucasus nation of Georgia.

Relationship to other languages

Judæo-Georgian is the only South Caucasian (or "Kartvelian") Jewish language. Its status as a distinct language from the Georgian language is the subject of some debate.

With the exception of a significant number of Hebrew and Aramaic loanwords, the language is reportedly largely mutually intelligible with Georgian.

Judæo-Georgian is regarded by some authorities as little more than a market jargon [ [http://linguarium.iling-ran.ru/publications/caucas/alw_cau_kartv.shtml A brief linguistic overview] ] .

Distribution

Judæo-Georgian has approximately 85,000 speakers. These include 20,000 speakers in Georgia (1995 est.), and about 59,800 speakers in Israel (2000 est.). The language has approximately 4,000 speakers in New York and undetermined numbers in other communities in Russia, Belgium, the United States and Canada.

tatus

Judæo-Georgian is, like many Jewish languages spoken in Israel, on the decline. Its status in Georgia itself is unchanged, except by the rapid decline in the size of the language community, due to emigration beginning in the 1970s, which has seen the departure of some 80% of the community. Authoritative studies of its continued use by other expatriate communities of Georgian Jews have not been conducted.

Resources

* [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=jge Ethnologue's Judæo-Georgian entry]
* [http://languageserver.uni-graz.at/ls/lang?id=3078 LanguageServer's Judæo-Georgian page]
* [http://linguarium.iling-ran.ru/publications/caucas/alw_cau_kartv.shtml South Caucasian Languages page]

References