Mingrelian phonology

Vowels
Mingrelian has five primary vowels a, e, i, o, u. The Zugdidi-Samurzaqano dialect has a sixth, ə, which is the result of reduction of i and u.

Consonants
Consonant inventory of Megrelian is almost identical to Laz, Georgian, and Svan.

Vowel reduction
Certain pairs of vowels reduce to single vowels:
 * ae and ai → ee → e
 * ao, oa and oo → aa → a
 * ou → uu → u

In Zugdidi-Samurzaqano dialect the vowels i and u also often reduce to ə.

Pre-consonant change of velar g
Before consonants, g → r.

Positional change of uvular q' sound
In word-initial prevocalic and intervocalic positions, q' → ʔ. Before the consonant v, q' → ʔ/ḳ.

Regressive assimilation of consonants
The common types are:
 * voicing/devoicing of voiceless/voiced consonants before voiced/voiceless ones (respectively).
 * glottalization of consonants before the glottalized ones and the glottal stop.

Progressive dissimilation
If the stem contains r then the suffixes -ar and -ur transform to -al and -ul, e.g. xorga (Khorga, the village)→ xorg-ul-i ("Khorgan"). The rule is not valid if in the stem with r an l appears later, e.g. marṭvili ("Martvili", the town) → marṭvil-ur-i (adj. "Martvilian")

In a stem with voiceless affricates or voiceless sibilants, a later ǯ is deaffricated to d, e.g. orcxonǯi → orcxondi "comb", č'anǯi → č'andi "fly (insect)", isinǯi → isindi "arrow", etc.

The transformation of l

 * in all dialects of Megrelian, before consonants l → r.
 * in the Martvili subdialect in word-initial prevocalic position, l → y  → ∅ and in intervocalic position l → ∅

Intervocalic deletion of v
Between the vowels the organic v disappears, e.g. xvavi (Geo. "abundance, plenty") → *xvai → xvee (id.), mṭevani (Geo. "raceme") → ṭiani (id.), etc.

Phonetic augmentation n
Before the stops and affricates, an inorganic augmentation n may appear (before labials n → m).