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

out the a >o process; a > o is labialization, accordingly, it is rather a
forward shift of articulation (also cf.: da – da, da – do (conjunction), šen
– si correspondences), etc.
It is also noteworthy that in Megrelian-Chan not all instances of
the common Kartvelian vowel a corresponds to o: more often a remains
unchanged. The common Kartvelian e: Zan a correspondence is characterized
similarly. 294
Dialectal variants of common Kartvelian consonants (consonant
correspondences). The common Kartvelian consonants are generally
unaltered in the Kartvelian sub-systems. The sibilants form a different
picture.
In Zan and Svan the sibilant changes (alterations), have a natural
and regular pattern and is known as a consonant correspondence.
a) Hissing consonant reflexes
In professional literature it is indicated that the Megrelian-Chan-
Svan hushing consonants corresponding to the common Kartvelian hissing
consonants resulted from backward shift of articulation (Arn. Chikobava,
1938, pp. 6-9, 441-442; S. Zhghenti, 1949, pp. 130-133; G. Rogava,
1953, pp. 42-43; V. Topuria, 1960, p.150).
In certain cases the common Kartvelian hissing consonant is
represented by the same hissing consonant in Megrelian-Chan-Svan, for
instance:
Common Kartvelian: mĵağe, Megrelian: ĵuğe, Svan: mŭ-ĵiğ;
common Kartvelian: cħemla, Megrelian: cħemuri/cħimuri, Svan:
cħum/cħŭm/cħwim, etc.
The exceptions to the regular correspondences are differently explained
in professional literature:
One part of researchers (G. Machavariani, K. H. Schmidt, G. Tsereteli,
M. Kurdiani, etc.) assumes occurrence of three locations (front,
central and back) of spirants and affricates in common Kartvelian.
294 The vowel reflexes of the common Kartvelian are differently analyzed in literature;
see: I. Kipshidze, 1914; Arn. Chikobava, 1938; G. Machavariani, 1958; T. Gamkrelidze,
G. Machavariani, 1965; T. Putkaradze, 1989; T. Putkaradze, 1990; T. Putkaradze, E.
Dadiani, 2005, etc.
246