ალერსობითი მიმართვის ზმნური ფორმიდან მიმართვის ტერმინებამდე (მეგრული და ლაზური ენების მასალის ანალიზი)

Abstract

Verbal terms of endearment such as Georgian genacvale (lit. “may I replace you”) and its counterparts in Megrelian – kukogale (lit. “May I revolve around you”) and in Laz gogikhta (lit. „may I share my soul with you”) are typologically rare phenomena. Their meanings are associated with the expression of affection, warmth, and care. In Georgian linguistic literature, such forms have been assigned to different word classes and are regarded as verbs, nouns, or interjections. The present study examines this issue exclusively on the basis of Megrelian and Laz data. It demonstrates the path of development through which a fully-fledged syntactic construction evolves into a term of address. The analysis reveals that verbal and deverbal forms of endearing address differ according to their syntactic and pragmatic environments and fulfill different functions. In different contexts, they may function as verbs, nominals, or interjections. For their functional differentiation, a useful method is to test whether, within a syntactic construction, they occur as bound or as free forms of address. All these forms are lexically verbal in origin; however, verbal features are preserved in predicate constructions, whereas nominal features are presented in participial forms. These forms become free forms of address when they acquire a vocative function. More specifically, they develop into verbal terms of endearment when they syntactically detach from the clause, lose their syntactic connection with other members of the clause and acquire a vocative function.