The transcription of the Georgian letter is i.
 'ი' is pronounced almost like English [i] in 'middle'.

Recordings:

ვინ
ის
 ირემი
იქ
vin
is
iremi
ik
who
he / she
deer
there

 
ვინ არის ირმა?
vin aris irma?
who is Irma?
Who is Irma?

Click here to listen:
i_f.mp3 Speaker 1
i_m.mp3 Speaker 2

When pronouncing the vowel 'ი'  the lips are close to each other and the mouth is slightly open. The tip of the tongue is at the lower front teeth, the top of the  front and middle parts of the tongue is raised, coming closer to the front part of the hard palate. The resonance area in the front part of the mouth is decreased and only a little opening is left for the air to come out.


The letter written or typed in this way is called 'ini'.

It is traced out with one movement of the hand and is written between the middle lines: movement of the hand begins from the lower middle line, goes upwards, drawing a semicircle from left to right at the upper middle line and ends at the lower middle line.

Back to the Georgian alphabet


© Manana Kock Kobaidze & Karina Vamling
Malmoe University, Sweden