Classification
Laz is one of the four South Caucasian languages. Along with Mingrelian, it forms the Zan branch of this language family. The two languages are very closely related, to the extent that some linguists refer to Mingrelian and Laz as dialects or regional variants of a single Zan language, a view held officially in the Soviet era and still so in Georgia today. In general, however, Laz and Mingrelian are classed as separate languages, due both to the long-standing separation of their communities of speakers (500 years) and to a lack of mutual intelligibility.
Read more about this topic: Laz Language