| Latin Laz Alphabet | Georgian (Mkhedruli) | IPA Pronunciation | English Approximation |
A a | ა | /a/ | as in “father” |
B b | ბ | /b/ | as in “boy” |
C c | ჯ | /d͡ʒ/ | as in “jungle” |
Ç ç | ჩ | /t͡ʃ/ | as in “church” |
Ç̌ ç̌ | ჭ | /t͡ʃʼ/ | ejective, not in English |
D d | დ | /d/ | as in “door” |
E e | ე | /ɛ/ | as in “bed” |
F f | ფ | /f/ | as in “fish” |
G g | გ | /ɡ/ | as in “go” |
Ğ ğ | ღ | /ɣ/ | soft g, not in English |
H h | ჰ | /h/ | as in “house” |
I i | ი | /i/ | as in “see” |
J j | ჟ | /ʒ/ | as in “measure” |
K k | ქ | /kʰ/ | as in “king” |
Ǩ ǩ | კ | /kʼ/ | ejective k, not in English |
L l | ლ | /l/ | as in “love” |
M m | მ | /m/ | as in “mother” |
N n | ნ | /n/ | as in “name” |
O o | ო | /ɔ/ | as in “open” |
P p | ფ | /pʰ/ | as in “pen” |
P̌ p̌ | პ | /pʼ/ | ejective p, not in English |
Q q | ყ | /qʼ/ | deep throat k, not in English |
R r | რ | /r/ | rolled r, as in Spanish |
S s | ს | /s/ | as in “sun” |
Ş ş | შ | /ʃ/ | as in “ship” |
T t | თ | /tʰ/ | as in “top” |
Ť ť | ტ | /tʼ/ | ejective t, not in English |
U u | უ | /u/ | as in “moon” |
V v | ვ | /v/ | as in “voice” |
X x | ხ | /x/ | as in Scottish “loch” |
Y y | ჲ | /j/ | as in “yes” |
Z z | ზ | /z/ | as in “zoo” |
Ž ž | ჟ | /ʒ/ | as in “vision” |
ʒ | ძ | /d͡z/ | as in “adze” |
ǯ | ჯ | /d͡ʒ/ | as in “judge” |
Notes
- The Laz Latin alphabet is based on the Turkish alphabet with additional characters for sounds specific to Laz.
- Ejective consonants (marked with a caron ˇ or a comma below) are pronounced with a sharp burst of air from the glottis, a distinctive feature of South Caucasian (Kartvelian) languages.
- Laz has 5 vowels (a, e, i, o, u), fewer than Turkish, which has 8.
- The Georgian script (Mkhedruli) is used by Laz speakers in Georgia, while the Latin script is used in Turkey.
- Sources: Laz Institute (lazenstitu.com), Omniglot, and Wikipedia (Laz language).