Individual cases of syntactic linking of words in the Georgian language

Abstract

A nominal syntagma and syntagma, consisting of a nominal part, as a rule, form a modifier-modified construction. The structural diversity of the nominal syntagma in the Georgian language is due to the different types of components that make it up. The study showed that the nominal syntagma is represented by five main structural models.

The first type of nominal syntagma, consisting of an attributive modifier and a modified (akauri ts’q’ali - local water, chemi barati - my map, ...), is the simplest and most common model. The second type, a combination of a substantive modifier and a modified (mtats’mindis niavi - breeze of Mtatsminda, abreshumis ksovili - silk fabric,...), is also common and expresses the relations of belonging and origin. The third type represents the attributive modifier combined with a noun with a suffix (lamaz ezostan - at a beautiful yard, dzvel kalakshi - in the old town, maghal mts’vervalze - on a high peak, …). The fourth type, a compound formed by combining a noun with a suffix and a noun without a suffix (soroshi mjdom - sitting in a grove, adamianisgan mok’luli - killed by a man,...), is a more complex structural unit. The fifth type, a syntagma consisting of two nouns with suffixes (direkt’ortan molap’arak’ebaze - at negotiations with the director, ts’ignze mushaobashi - in work on a book, …), deserves special attention. It is structurally the most complex one and expresses specific semantic-syntactic relations. The last model differs from other types in that both components in it have suffixes, and the syntactic connection between them is also interesting.  This structural diversity testifies to the flexibility and expressive richness of the syntactic system of the Georgian language, which once again confirms that nominal syntagmas require detailed analysis.

          Here, attention is focused on three-member phrases. As a rule, each meaningful word is a member of a sentence, and two members form a collocation called a syntactic pair or syntagma. Words are paired according to meaning, taking into account the content and observing the form, so sometimes three full-meaning words give a pair, two of which represent one member, and therefore we call them "three-member syntagmas". For instance, gak’vetilebis damtavrebamde samsakhuridan gamorboda - he ran from work before the end of classes; gamotsdis dats’q’ebamde khuti ts’uti rcheboda - there were five minutes left before the exam; ert dghes sopelshi ts’avedi – one day I went to the village; im dros bavshvi viq’avi - I was a child then ...

A single unified member of a sentence can be represented by: constructions expressing time and duration: dzvel dros - in the old days; am dros - at this time; gasul k’viras - last week; momaval tves - next month; im khanad - at this time; am khanebshi - at these times; bolo dros - recently; uk’anask’nel khans - recently... In the sentence „ramdenime saati videki kuchashi“ - I had been standing on the street for several hours - we have the following pairs: 1. ramdenime saati videki - I had been standing for several hours (adverbial modifier of time - predicate); 2. kuchashi videki  - I had been standing on the street (adverbial modifier of place - predicate). Similar examples: bevri dro - a lot of time; mteli dghe - all day; tsot’a khani – a little time... Similar constructions pointing to a place of an action: im adgilas - in that place; am mkhares - on this side; im mkhares - on that side... Collocations expressing manner: am sakhit - thus; im rigad - in such a way; aset p’irobebshi - under such conditions"... All these collocations, despite the fact that they consist of several words, are perceived as one member of the sentence and perform a single syntactic function. However, they can often be replaced by one word (for example, ert dghes – one day, odesghats - once upon a time, dzvel dros (dzvelad) - in the old days; am dros (amzhamad) - at the present time (at the present moment); im dros (mashin) – then. In similar cases: gak’vetilebis damtavrebamde - before the end of classes or dghis damtavrebamde - before the end of the day – the phrase represents one member - an adverbial modifier of time. Although these expressions consist of different words (noun + noun), syntactically they form a single whole. For example: gak’vetilebis damtavrebamde bibliotek’ashi viskhedit - we had been sitting in the library until the end of classes" - here  gak’vetilebis damtavrebamde – “before the end of classes" is one member and expresses an adverbial modifier of time. Examples of such constructions are: ts’lis dasrulebamde - until the end of the year; zapkhulis dadgomamde - before the start of summer; k’rebis dats’q’ebamde - before the start of the meeting; mat’areblis chamosvlamde - before the arrival of the train... All these constructions make up one syntactic unit in the sentence.