Classification of Address Forms in Megrelian and Laz

Abstract

This publication presents the primary results of our research, which involve the description, classification, and alignment of address forms with Friederike Braun’s classification framework. At the same time, it demonstrates the types of modifications that this model required when applied to the Megrelian and Laz data. The research is based on empirically collected field data.

In Megrelian and Laz, address is expressed through nouns, pronouns, and verbs, or phrases containing them, which corresponds to Friederike Braun’s general classification framework based on parts of speech. A broader classification criterion, however, is the (in)dependence of address forms within syntactic constructions, according to which bound and free forms of address are distinguished—an analysis that also proves valuable for the languages under study.

The specificity of address forms in Megrelian and Laz relates not so much to the classification itself, but rather to interclassificatory peculiarities — such as the alteration of the addressee’s name, address inversion, and the particular ways politeness is expressed through pronominal and verbal forms. These appear to be shaped by various sociolinguistic and sociocultural strategies.

However, beyond this framework, it will be necessary to analyze the interjections and communicative field particles used in address—such as reported speech particles and question particles—which are deictic and always imply the second person as the addressee.