Laz
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Laz
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  • Please provide some background information about this language. Where is it spoken? What communities speak this language? Is this language endangered?
  • What are the names of the people who built this dictionary? Whose voices are in this dictionary?
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Laz is a member of South Caucasian Language Family. Mingrelian, Svan and Georgian are also the members of this language family together with Laz. Mingrelian and Laz are the sister languages which have the opportunity to communicate reciprocatively in the baseline level.

Laz is spoken by the Laz people who live in Pazar (Atina), Ardeşen (Arthaşeni), Çamlıhemşin (Vica) and Fındıklı (Vitze) towns of Rize, Arhavi (Arkabi), Hopa (Xopa), Kemalpaşa (Noğedi) and Borçka (Boçxa) towns of Artvin in Eastern Blacksea Region in Turkey. There are not many people who speak Laz around Batumi today altough the Laz are the local people in this district.

Many Laz families migrated from the triangle of Batumi-Hopa-Borçka to the Marmara Region because of the 1877-78 Ottoman-Russian War, known as 93 War. As a result of this migration, small Laz towns ad villages established in İzmit, Sapanca, Düzce, Akçakoca, Bolu, Karamürsel, Yalova and the districts around them. Laz is still spoken especially among the old Laz generation in those areas in which immigrants of 93 War live.

It is possible to mention that Laz has two dialects. These are the eastern dialect which is spoken in Fındıklı, Arhavi, Hopa and Borçka and the western dialet which is spoken in Pazar, Ardeşen and Çamlıhemşin. Hopa dialect, which is one of the eastern dialects, is popular among the Laz people who live in the Marmara Region. The dialect differences are not tremendously effective to prevent the communication.

Let’s talk shortly about the grammar of Laz. Verbs may take prefixes and suffixes and in some conditions they can also take circumfixes. A finite verb may have both a subject and an object at the same time. As an action may be neutral, it may also be in favour of a subject or an object. Almost all verbs may take ablative suffix in the initial position. Ablative suffixes show the direction of the verb. According to the verb type (case, being a movement verb or taking an object), the third person subjects may be nominative, ergative (-k) or dative. Moreover, verbs may take some words that strengthen and add certainty to them in the initial position (like ho, ko, do). All of these features show that Laz language is a strong and rich languae in terms of verbs.

When it comes to the history of Laz in first language education, we should mention İskender Tzitaşi. He prepared the first Laz course books. Tzitaşi prepared the Laz alphabet based on Latin letters. Then, he published Lazuri Alboni (Laz Alphabet), Çkuni ÷ara (Reading book), O¸itxuşeni Supara (Social science book) and OxesaÙuşi Supara (Math book). These books were used in the schools which gave the education in Laz. Unfortunately, this process was finished when İskender Tzitaşi was shot to death in 1938.

The second experience in first language education in Laz history started in the Ministery of Education schools in September 2013 in Turkey. The first elective Laz language course was started to be taught in Rize-Fındıklı with the acceptance of the curriculum which was prepared by the Laz Institute. The Laz Institute completed the course books named Lazuri 5, Lazuri 6, Lazuri 7, Lazuri 8 which were planned to be used in 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th grades for the donation protocole signed by MEB and the Laz Institute.