unwritten language spoken in the high valleys south of Mount Elbrus in the Caucasus. Svan and the Georgian, Mingrelian (Mingrelian language) (Megrelian), and Laz (Laz language) (Chan) languages constitute the Kartvelian, or South Caucasian, language family. Svan has four dialects and differs from the other Kartvelian languages especially in vocabulary. It preserves a number of archaisms not present in the other three Kartvelian tongues, although it also has a number of independent linguistic changes. See also Georgian language; Kartvelian languages.