The Institute of Linguistic Research at Ilia State University, supported by university, national, and international scientific funding, conducts research projects in the following areas:
- Digital Humanities: Computational linguistics, digital epigraphy, digital prosopography;
- Typological Studies of Kartvelian Languages and electronic documentation;
- Research on Standardization Issues of Georgian as a second language and as a foreign language for the preparation of teaching materials;
- Research on Georgian Sign Language;
- Textology: Study and publication of Old Georgian literary heritage;
- Research, Translation, and Publication of Georgian-European sources from the Middle Ages and modernity;
- Study of the Social History of the Georgian Language.
The institute’s structure includes the Kartvelian Languages Research Group, the Georgian Language Workshop, the Abkhazian Language Documentation and Research Center, and the Sign Language Laboratory.
Research Directions of the Institute of Linguistic Studies
The Institute of Linguistic Studies conducts interdisciplinary projects in various fields of general and applied linguistics and Kartvelology. The main research areas include:
Corpus Linguistics:
Work on Georgian language corpus projects began in 2009. Since then, monolingual and parallel corpora of Old, Middle, and Modern Georgian, covering various stages, genres, and specific texts, have been developed and made available online (www.corpora.iliauni.edu.ge). Current efforts include the preparation of corpora for Kartvelian languages, including the creation of an annotated corpus of the Megrelian language.
Natural Language Processing:
The development of Georgian language annotation and analysis tools was completed in 2014, including the creation of a finite-state morphological analyzer for modern Georgian using finite-state tools such as xfst and lexc (Beesley K.R., Karttunen L. 2003; Koskenniemi K. 1983). Current efforts focus on expanding this work to develop a morphosyntactic module and adapting the morphological analyzer for the linguistic features of Old and Middle Georgian.
In parallel, a syntactic treebank for Georgian is being created based on Universal Dependencies (Nivre, J., de Marneffe, M.-C. et al. 2016), with ongoing efforts to adapt the Udify model (Kondratyuk, D. 2019) for Georgian. These initiatives aim to provide comprehensive tools for the analysis of both contemporary and historical Georgian linguistic data.
Computational Lexicography:
The Institute was the first in Georgia to focus on the core research areas of this field of linguistic studies and to offer undergraduate and graduate courses in Language and Technology, Computational Linguistics, and Lexicography. In 2009-2010, lexical materials for the Dictionary of Georgian-Modern Greek Idioms were developed. Currently, monolingual and bidirectional bilingual dictionaries of idiomatic expressions are being compiled using the TLex lexicographic system. Future plans include the creation of Georgian language dictionaries based on monolingual corpus data.
Research on Georgian Sign Language:
Between 2011 and 2012, within the framework of local and international grant projects (USAID and Save the Children International, Tbilisi Office), Georgian Sign Language was documented for the first time, and the original Georgian manual alphabet was created with the direct participation of the deaf community. In 2012, the grammar of Georgian Sign Language was described and published, accompanied by methodological guidebooks for school teachers.
In 2013, the Institute established the Sign Language Laboratory, which has since become a hub for innovative research. A Georgian Sign Language dictionary was created, and further work on the Georgian manual alphabet led to the development of the first Georgian version of the tactile Lorm alphabet. In 2019, the Morphology of the Verb in Georgian Sign Language was published, and research into the morphology of nouns in Georgian Sign Language is currently ongoing.
The laboratory actively collaborates with universities and sign language research centers worldwide, focusing on cutting-edge projects, including translation software development and further documentation of Georgian Sign Language.
Research and Electronic Documentation of Kartvelian Languages:
The Kartvelian Languages Research Group, established within the Institute of Linguistic Studies in 2006, focuses on documenting and linguistically analyzing the unwritten Kartvelian languages. In 2010, the group published Linguistic Analysis of Megrelian, presenting comprehensive research on Megrelian phonetics, morphology, syntax, and lexicology. This work also included linguistic data collected during field expeditions to Samegrelo between 2006 and 2009.
In 2012, the group developed and published a theoretical framework for interlinear glossing of Megrelian texts and released newly recorded Megrelian oral narratives accompanied by Georgian translations. From 2007 to 2011, the group created an electronic corpus of Megrelian texts (www.klrg.iliauni.edu.ge).
Recent projects include Space and Time in Kartvelian Languages and Phonosemantic Vocabulary in Kartvelian Languages: Structural, Semantic, and Pragmatic Aspects. Additionally, from 2021 to 2025, the group has been working on developing an annotated corpus of the Megrelian language and creating an online Megrelian-English dictionary.
Study of the Social History of the Georgian Language:
Between 2006 and 2013, with the support of local and international foundations (i.e. Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung, DFG and Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Goettingen), the Institute of Linguistic Studies carried out projects addressing various issues relating to the social history of the Georgian language. More specifically, they dealt with major conceptual frameworks for the functioning of the dominant languages as well as the emancipation of vernacular languages of the Eastern and Western Christendom in the Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. As a result, three monographs in the Georgian and foreign languages were produced and papers were published in international and local peer-reviewed journals.
Textology and Old Georgian Philology:
Since 2006, within the framework of local and international research projects, the professors of the Institute of Linguistic Studies have been preparing and publishing original and translated old Georgian texts in Corpus Christianorum: Series Graeca, Series Apocryphorum. The papers authored by the professors of the Institute have appeared in local and international journals and series.
Research on Georgian as a Foreign and Second Language:
The institute includes a Georgian Language Workshop that addresses issues of functional grammar and develops textbooks and learning materials for various target groups (non-Georgian-speaking populations of Georgia, foreigners). From 2010 to 2013, textbooks for Georgian as a second language and an electronic portal for teaching materials in Old and Modern Georgian were prepared. Currently, a comprehensive textbook series for Georgian as a foreign language is being developed.