Georgian, together with Svan, Mingrelian, Laz and Jewish-Georgian, belongs to the Kartvelian language family.This family, sometimes referred to as the South-Caucasian language family, is probably not related closely to other language families.In the Abkhaz part of Georgia, the Abkhaz language also has official language status.Abkhaz is a North-Caucasian language, which is possibly distantly related to Indo-European languages. Ossetian is spoken in the Ossetian regions in the north.Ossetian is an Iranian language which is a part of the Indo-European language family. Together with Norwegian, Danish, Icelandic and Faroese the letter „æ” is used also in Ossetian – in Ossetian together with the Cyrillic alphabet.
Of Georgia’s 4,6 million inhabitants it is estimated that approximately 3,9 million speak Georgian.
Georgian has its own alphabet with 33 letters, of which 28 are consonants and 5 are vowels.It is said that the Georgian alphabet was developed in the 3rd century BC, while other academics consider that the written language was first developed after the time when Georgia adopted Christianity as the state religion in 337. The oldest manuscript to be found in Georgian dates back to 430 and is in a church in Bethlehem in Palestine.The alphabet has some similarities with the Greek alphabet.The Georgian alphabet is known for its usually round and very elegant forms.