ISO/DIS 9984:2025(en)

ISO/TC 46

Secretariat: AFNOR

Date: 2025-02-05

Information and documentation - Transliteration of Georgian characters into Latin characters

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Contents

Foreword iv

Introduction vii

1 Scope 1

2 Normative references 1

3 Terms and definitions 1

4 Transliteration tables 3

4.1 General 3

4.2 Georgian characters 3

4.3 Other characters used in the Georgian script 5

Bibliography 6

Foreword

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This document was prepared by Technical Committee ISO/TC 46 Information and documentation.

This second edition cancels and replaces the first edition (ISO 9984:1996), which has been technically revised. The main changes are as follows:

— The system is now based on the Georgian national system of 2002 (presidential decree of 2011), with modifications incorporated to ensure reversibility^[1]. There are certain digraphs included in the romanizations in the table, e.g. /zh/ for ჟ (row 16), and to ensure there is no ambiguity with the possible occurrence of /z/ followed by /h/, such adjoining characters should be separated by a middle dot symbol in their romanization (Unicode 00B7) to show that they do not represent the digraph, so /z·h/ for the character combination ზჰ (rows 7 and 33).

— In introducing digraphs to follow the national system, there are 10 modifications to former romanizations:

— The other significant change entailed by moving closer to the Georgian national system is the marking of glottalized consonants with neutral (vertical line) apostrophe (Unicode 0027) (e.g. 4.2, row 19: ტ was /t/ now / t'/). This is relevant to:

— Previously their aspirated counterparts were represented with this mark (e.g. 4.2, row 8: თ was /t'/, now /t/).

— The main system (4.2) is now limited to the 33 characters of the current Georgian alphabet (removing long obsolete additional characters). These obsolete characters are retained for reference in a table at 4.3.

— The table showing punctuation marks has been removed, as the marks shown in the first edition are infrequently used (Georgian usually uses the same punctuation as Roman-script alphabets).

Any feedback or questions on this document should be directed to the user’s national standards body. A complete listing of these bodies can be found at www.iso.org/members.html.

Introduction

This International Standard is one of a series of International Standards dealing with the conversion of systems of writing. The aim of this International Standard and others in the series is to provide a means for international communication of written messages. The system is entirely reversible.

This International Standard may be used by anyone who has a clear understanding of the system and is certain that it can be applied without ambiguity. The focus of the Standard is the unambiguous written conversion, and may not lead to the correct pronunciation of the original text.

Information and documentation - Transliteration of Georgian characters into Latin characters

This International Standard establishes a system for the transliteration of Georgian characters into Latin characters in accordance with the principles of stringent conversion in order to permit international information exchange, particularly by electronic means.

The following documents are referred to in the text in such a way that some or all of their content constitutes requirements of this document.

ISO/IEC 10646, Information technology — Universal coded character set (UCS)

For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply.

ISO and IEC maintain terminology databases for use in standardization at the following addresses:

— ISO Online browsing platform: available at https://www.iso.org/obp

— IEC Electropedia: available at https://www.electropedia.org/

3.1

character

element of an alphabetical or other type of writing system that graphically represents a phoneme, a syllable, a word or even a prosodical characteristic of a given language; it is used either alone (for example, a letter, a syllabic sign, an ideographical character, a digit, a punctuation mark) or in combination (such as an accent or a diacritical mark)

Note 1 to entry: A letter having an accent or a diacritical mark, for example â, è, ö, is therefore a character in the same way as a basic letter.

3.2

vowel

speech sound produced by unobstructed flow of air through the mouth

3.3

consonant

speech sound produced by complete or partial closure of the vocal tract

3.4

transliteration

process which consists of representing the characters (3.1) of an alphabetical or syllabic system of writing by the characters of a conversion alphabet

3.5

retransliteration

process whereby the characters (3.1) of a conversion alphabet are transformed back into those of the converted writing system

3.6

transcription

process whereby the sounds of a given language are noted by the system of signs of a conversion language

3.7

romanization

conversion of non-Latin writing systems to the Latin alphabet transliteration tables

4.1.1 “Hex” in the following tables refers to hexadecimal character codes in ISO/IEC 10646 (Unicode).

4.1.2 Georgian script does not distinguish between upper and lower case. In transliterated forms, Georgian names may be transliterated with initial capital letters. In romanized forms, Georgian may be written using upper or lower case according to the conventions of the target language. This is optional. Capitalization rules are not part of this document.

Table 1 — Transliteration of Georgian characters

Note 1 to Table 1. There are certain digraphs included in the romanization in the table, e.g. /zh/ for ჟ (row 16), and to ensure there is no ambiguity with the possible occurrence of /z/ followed by /h/, such adjoining characters should be separated by a middle dot symbol (Unicode 00B7) in their romanization to show that they do not represent the digraph, so /z·h/ for the character combination ზჰ (rows 7 and 33). This is relevant to characters: /g/ (row 3), /z/ (row 7), /s/ (row 18), and /k/ (row 22), when followed by /h/ (row 33); and is also relevant to /t/ (row 8) followed by /s/ (row 18) and /d/ (row 4) followed by /z/ (row 7). This avoids any ambiguity and ensures the reversibility of the system.

4.3.1 The following list represents characters not used in standard Georgian. Some of these are now obsolete, some are used in linguistics, some in regional varieties. Characters No. 1–6 are taken from the previous edition (ISO 9984:1996) edition of the standard, their transliteration equivalents are unchanged.

Table 2 — Transliteration of other characters

Bibliography

[1] Romanization of Georgian – BGN/PCGN 2009 Agreement [accessed online: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1057659/ROMANIZATION__GEORGIAN_Feb22_53_.pdf 13 June 2023]

[2] Report on the current status of United Nations romanization systems for geographical names: Georgian, compiled by the UNGEGN Working Group on Romanization Systems, Version 4.1, December 2018 [accessed online: https://unstats.un.org/unsd/ungegn/working_groups/wg5/documents/wgrr4georgian.pdf 26 November 2024]

[3] ALA-LC Table for the Romanization of Georgian. (2011) [accessed online: www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/romanization/georgian.pdf 13 June 2023]

[4] Unicode chart for Georgian [accessed online: http://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U10A0.pdf 13 June 2023] [Georgian character range 10D0–10FF]

[5] Decree of the President of Georgia, No. 109, February 24, 2011 On the Approval of Rules of Latin Transliteration of the Names of Geographical Features. [Accessed online: https://matsne.gov.ge/ka/document/view/1216954?publication=0 08 December 2018]

[6] Georgian transcription system: Guidelines for Latin Transliteration of the Sound System of the Georgian language 2019-2020 (State Language Department, Bulletin II, Griponi Publishing, Tbilisi, ISBN 978-9941-480-63-8): [Accessed online: https://enadep.gov.ge/uploads/Guidelines_for_Latin_Transliteration_of_the_Sound_System_of_the_Georgian_Language_.pdf 16 July 2024].

1. For information, Georgia has also developed a transcription system: Guidelines for Latin Transliteration of the Sound System of the Georgian language 2019-2020 (State Language Department, Bulletin II, Griponi Publishing, Tbilisi, ISBN 978-9941-480-63-8): https://enadep.gov.ge/uploads/Guidelines_for_Latin_Transliteration_of_the_Sound_System_of_the_Georgian_Language_.pdf (Accessed 16 July 2024). This simpler system, which does not differentiate between aspirated and glottal consonants with the use of apostrophes, is also used nationally for the text of statements, notices, titles, posters, signs, geographical and personal names on addresses and road stencils, advertisements, and other visual information intended to inform the public. It is not used for academic or scientific purposes. ↑