"evropuli qartia saqarTvelo "European Charter for Regional or ...

a>o: ţaniani>toniani "large-framed" (Her-Kakian), deda>dedo "a mother"
(Acharan), ĉap'ani>ĉop'ani "rope; back-breaking work" (Mokhevian), mzareuli>mzoreuli
"chef, cook" (Kartlian), etc.
e>a: jebiri>jabiri "dyke, embankment", keipi>kaipi/kaibi "feast, party"
(Khevsurian), zeit>zait "above", kidev>kidav "once again", mere>mamre
"then, after a time" (Mokhevian) etc.
i>e: iqo>eqo "he/she was" (Her), mandili>mandeli "(woman’s) headscarf"
(Khevsurian), ħesavit>ħesavet "like a tree" (Imeretian), unagiri>unageri
"saddle" (Rachan), etc. 293
As discussed above, the common Kartvelian vowels have qualitatively
homogenous reflexes in all Kartvelian dialects, thought in Megrelian-Chan
the vowel alternation is relatively regular.
Arn. Chikobava suggests that in Zan variants the difference is
caused by articulation change, namely, in Zan the sound articulation
(production) has shifted backward. According to the researcher, the very
process did not occur suddenly; it rather developed gradually and finally
formed a certain sound correspondence (Arn. Chikobava, 1938, pp. 6-9,
441-442). The question is as follows: if the sound articulation (production)
has shifted backward why only a small part of the phonemes experienced
it (for instance, why did not d, t, ţ shifted towards ĵ, c, ċ ?)? Besides,
the backward movement of a tongue is not sufficient for carrying
293 Other types of vowel alternation are acknowledged, namely, according to some scientists:
common Kartvelian i > Megrelian-Chan e: maqare (Megrelian) “bridal party”,
kotume (Chan) “a hen”, etc. We think that i/e are morphological equivalents rather than
phonetic varieties. Also, on e : i alternation: G. Rogava notes that modification of vowel
e into vowel i is of positional nature: the vowel complex ea is modified into that of ia:
mċare>mċaria, eama>iama (Pshavian), etc. Here we encounter the vowel dissimilation,
better to say, the diphthongization of certain complex of vowels: ea>ia/ya. In Megrelian
dissimilation occurs even if e and a vowels are separated by a consonant: deda>dida,
venaħi>bineħi, ena>nina, neţavi>niţe, mţevani>ţiani, mċevari>ċiari… (G. Rogava,
1975).
The Megrelian-Chan dialects provide differences in terms of availability of vowel
variants, for instance, a/e: žašħa/žešħa (Megrelian) “Sunday”, ĉaĉa/ ĉeĉa (Chan), etc.
(cf.: rabe (Kakian)/rebe (Aliabatian), paqi (Aliabatian) / peqi (Kakian) “a foot”), etc.
i/e: diħa (Megrelian), deħa (Chan) “land, earth, ground”; kotomi (Megrelian), kotume
(Chan) “a hen”.
u/i: Chan: kuri / Megrelian: kiri, Chan: žuri / Megrelian: žiri, Chan: juma / Megrelian:
jima, Chan: guruni / Megrelian: girini, etc.
Vitsean-Arkabean: lumji / Khopan: limji, Vitsean-Arkabean: nusa / Khopan: nisa,
Vitsean-Arkabean: pukuri / Khopan: pikiri “a flower”, etc. (cf.: šaaždina (Aliabatian)/
šaaždüna (Kakian), etc.)
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