Language use among Svanetians in the late 1990s. A questionnaire study in Kvemo Svaneti*

The paper presents and discusses language use among Svanetians on the basis of a questionnaire study conducted in the late 1990s in the region of Kvemo Svaneti in northern Georgia. Svanetians are bilingual in Svan and Georgian, both belonging to the Kartvelian languages. Georgian is used as the literary language, whereas the non-standardized Svan is declining in use. 

The primary aim of the study is to explore language choices among the Svanetians: Is there a preference for the use of Svan in certain domains or contexts? What is the impact of different interlocutors and settings on preferred language choices? How does the use of Svan differ among older and younger generations? 

The results of the study are based on replies to a (written) questionnaire among 48 speakers of Svan, including 44% males and 56% females, born in the years 1924 to 1988. The questionnaire relies on self-evaluation by the respondents and does not include elements of testing their proficiency.

Most respondents indicated “very good” knowledge of Svan, with a smaller proportion of the respondents, born in the 1980s, rating their proficiency in Svan as “good”.  Among the respondents, three-quarters replied that they had been raised in Svan and acquired Georgian only later, in preschool or even in school.  Svan is chosen “most often” or “always” regarding “everyday topics” and “private communication”, whereas Georgian is indicated as the most common choice in other domains, such as communication on politics and sports. 

Special attention is paid to replies by the oldest respondents in the study (born in 1925–1935). This is of particular interest, as their responses illustrate both their own language use and reflect the language use of their parents, born around the turn of the last century (replying to such questions as “What was the home language of your father and mother? Which language(s) did your mother and father use among themselves? Which language did you use when addressing your mother and father in different informal and formal domains?”). 

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*The questionnaire study was conducted in the framework of the research project The Language Situation in Georgia, with support from the Swedish Council for Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences, in collaboration with the Arn. Chikobava Institute of Linguistics, Georgia. In particular, the invaluable assistance with the data collection in Svanetia is acknowledged.