unwritten language spoken along the coast of the Black Sea in Georgia and in the adjacent areas of Turkey. Some scholars believe Laz and the closely related Mingrelian language to be dialects of the Svan language rather than independent languages.

Both Laz and Mingrelian have made a number of linguistic changes in comparison to Georgian (Georgian language) and Svan, which are relatively conservative in both their grammatical and phonological characteristics. The Laz, Mingrelian, Georgian, and Svan languages constitute the Kartvelian, or South Caucasian, language family. See also Kartvelian languages.