Re: vprtskvni (was Re: average syllables per word?)

In a message dated 7/2/1999 12:41:03 AM, dnsulani@INTERNET-ZAHAV.NET writes:

>As to the form,  my neighbor didn't understand any word such as
>"vprtskvni".  According to your grammars what exactly is the person,
>tense, etc. of this
>form?
>Perhaps the /v/ in /kvni/ is an infix signifying "it". If so, could this
>form be
>literary Georgian, as opposed to the "street Georgian"  that my neighbor
>speaks?
Did you see my email that I sent to the list before? I don't have a real=20
Georgian Grammar; I have a phrasebook and a little chapter in _The Concise=20
Compendium of the World's Languages_. It says that third person direct=20
objects are not marked on the verb, tho others are (as are indirect ones)=97=
so=20
any verb without a direct object shown could have an implied object or not.

Perhaps your neighbor is speaking a non-standard dialect? This could be why=20
he doesn't recognize that second "v."

And, the first person conjugation is signified by an initial "v," which this=20
word has. I don't know why your neighbor said the root includes the "v."

>    If so, there could be an analogue in Hebrew grammar: to say "I am
>peeling it"
>one would say /ani mkalef oto/  (ani =3D I, mkalef =3D  am peeling,  oto =
=3D
>it (masculine) ).
>
>However, in a more literary style, Hebrew cuts off the "ot-" from "it"
>and
>suffixes the remaining vowel ("o") to the verb: /ani mkalefo/ (or
>/mkalefa/ if the
>word for "it" was "ota" (feminine). However, you'd never hear this form
>on the street.
>Someone who was not literate in Hebrew and only spoke the street version
>of it
>might not know the shortened form.
>
>      ( BTW, could you provide me with the name of your grammar? I've
>been wanting
>to teach myself Georgian for years, and although I've searched all over,
>I haven't
>found any grammars for the language!)
>
>Dan Sulani
I have seen a nice big Georgian grammar at a Borders around here, though not=20
the one I usually go to. If I go there soon, I'll see what it's called. Have=20
you tried any online bookstores? You'll probably find some there.

>--
> likehsna  rtem  zuv  tikuhnuh  auag  inuvuz  vaka'a.
>
> A  word  is  an  awesome  thing.
Josh Roth
http://members.aol.com/fuscian