The official language is Georgian. However, Russian is also spoken by everybody as the second language like all the other republics of former Soviet Union. Georgian language includes several dialects and somewhat differs between the regions. The language of Megrels who live in Kolhit plain is known as Lazish or Çanish (Çanuri); Svanish (Svanuri) is spoken in Svaneti, Ajaran (Acaruli) in Ajara and modern Georgian in Tbilisi and its environs. Ossetians and Abkhazians, who have their own language, also speak Georgian and Russian. Constituting the southern group of Caucasus languages, Georgian language has a special alphabet with thirty three letters of which five are vowel and twenty eight are consonant.