Phonetic Changes of Cowel Complexes at the Morpheme Boundary in the Speech of Adjarians Living in Inner Kartli

Abstract

The presented scientific article discusses the trends, cases of rea­l­ization and frequency of phonetic changes of vowel complexes at the morpheme boundary in the speech of Adjarians living in the villages of Tsitelubani, Shavshvebi and Natsreti of Gori Municipality in Shida Kartli. The research is based on dialect texts recorded and published by us at different times.

The speech of Tsitelubani, Shavshvebi and Natsreti confirms the cases of mixing of Adjarian and Meskhetian-Javakhian speech codes with the Georgian dialect. In the 90s of the twentieth century, people from the village of Chao in the Khulo district, later from Samtskhe-Javakheti (the village of Khizabavra) and from various parts of Kartli (the population displaced from the historical Samachablo) moved to these villages of Shida Kartli. 

The change in vowel complexes was predominantly confirmed in the initial and final positions of the word. It is noteworthy that thr­ee markers of assimilation and dissimilation are revealed: local order (place of articulation), openness (raising), and labiality.

The vowel preceding the verb changes in complexes as a result of regressive, contact, and complete assimilation. ae→ee: tseegho ( ←tsa­egho " to take away") , geegho (←gaegho"to understand");oe→ee: me­­e­ria (←moeria"Interferes"), meekida (← moekida "Hanging"); au→uu: uutsia (←autsia "Raised’’), duudeden (←daudeben "They will put "); eu →uu: Shuukra (←sheukra "tied up"); ai →ii: imitana (←ami­tana " brought"), dimig’vira (←damig’vira " shouted at me")…Com­plex chan­ges occur not only between neighboring vowels, but also between elements separated by a consonant, especially when a comp­ound preverb is attached to a verb. Both vowel elements of a comp­ound pre­verb undergo changes: gidimig’ara (←gadimig’ara "I was over­­whe­lmed"). This phenomenon is also characteristic of Shidakartli, only the vowel change is different: gemeerchiya (←gamoerchiya "Cho­sen"), tsemeeq’vana (←tsamoeq’van +"to bring").

The ee obtained by complete regressive assimilation undergoes regressive dissimilation. ee→ee→ye: giekida (←geekida ←gaekida), die­sien (←deesien←daesien). Vowel dissimilation occurs in nouns in the final position. ee→ie:  khiebi → khiebi ("Trees"); rdzeebi→rdziebi ("milks").

The study showed that the main trends of phonetic changes of vowel complexes at the morpheme boundary in the speech of Tsit­elu­bani, Shavshvebi and Natsreti are common Georgian, although certain modifications are also confirmed, which are determined by the inte­rnal laws of the dialect, population migration and mixing of speech codes.

The conclusions obtained as a result of the study are important for the diachronic analysis of key issues of Kartvelian dialectology and, in general, the Georgian literary language.