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Conjugation types of Georgian verbs

Kock Kobaidze, Manana

Kartvelur Enata Strukturis Sakitxebi [Issues of the Structure of Kartvelian Languages];, 2011, Vol.11, pp.98-131

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  • Title:
    Conjugation types of Georgian verbs
  • Author: Kock Kobaidze, Manana
  • Subjects: Humanities And Religion ; Humaniora Och Religionsvetenskap ; Humanities/Social Sciences ; Georgian Language ; Georgian Verb ; Transitivity ; Language Morphology ; Verb Structure ; Case Marking ; Stative Verbs ; Dynamic Verbs ; Thematic Markers ; Auxiliary Verbs ; Inversion ; Inversive Verbs
  • Is Part Of: Kartvelur Enata Strukturis Sakitxebi [Issues of the Structure of Kartvelian Languages]; , 2011, Vol.11, pp.98-131
  • Description: There is a strong tendency to form morphologically marked two major groups of verbs in Georgian: dynamic verbs marked by thematic markers, on the one hand, and stative verbs makred by auxiliary verbs, on the other hand. This difference is manifested in the first and second persons of the present tense in the v-set marked forms. Stative verbs which formed the present tense without auxiliary verbs in old Georgian employ auxiliaries in contemporary Georgian (vzi vzivar ‘I am sitting’, vdga vdgavar ‘I am standing’...), whereas a large group of dynamic verbs presented without thematic markers in old Georgian takes thematic markers in contemporary Georgian (vtib vtibav ‘I am mowing it’, vt’ex vt’exav ‘I am breaking it’). All formally stative verbs are atelic verbs (vuq’varvar ‘S/he loves me’, vdgavar ‘I am standing’). They form the future tense by adding vowel prefixes. Within dynamic verbs, three large groups are distinguished: transitive telic verbs (vasheneb ‘I am building it’), intransitive telic verbs (vimalebi ‘I hide myself) and atelic verbs (vcxovrob ‘I live’, vmgheri ‘I sing’). Telic verbs (both dynamic transitives and dynamic intransitives) form the future tense by adding preverbs. Atelic verbs (both dynamic and stative) form the future tense by adding vowel prefixes. It is reasonable to identify three various types traditionally presented within conjugation type III: a) verbs formed with the markers –eb, -ob- and –av, b) verbs formed with the marker –i (vicini ‘I am laughing), and c) verbs formed with auxiliary verbs (vc’uxvar ‘I am worried). It is suggested to place the latter group (medioactives formed with auxiliary verbs, e.g. vc’uxvar ‘I am worried’, vdumvar ‘I am silent’) within the verbs formed with auxiliary verbs. Three other main groups within auxiliary formation verbs are the following: mediopassives (vdgavar ‘I am standing’), stative passives (vgdivar ‘I am lying thrown about’), and verbs where the 3rd subject person marker –a is attached directly to the root (cxela ‘It’s hot’). Some other features, characteristic of each type, are also described. Separation of auxiliary and non auxiliary verb formation makes it possible to describe the relation between phonematic structure of verbs and conjugation types. Inversive verbs are presented as differnet groups reflecting a variety of morphology of direct verbs but marked with a shared syntactic pattern C. (Abbreviations: PV – preverb, PVR – preradical vowel, R – root, Th – thematic marker, Syntactic B – syntactic pattern of transitive and labile transitive verbs, Syntactic pattern A – syntactic pattern of intransitive verbs, Syntactic pattern C – syntactic pattern of inversive verbs )
  • Language: Georgian
  • Source: SwePub (National Library of Sweden)
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