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Notes on the Phonetics of the Georġian Word

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 December 2009

Extract

This paper is intended to summarize the results of our observations on the phonetics of the Georgian language, gathered in some fifteen sessions of listening with our informant, Mr. A. Gugushvili. Mr. Gugushvili, who has been on the Panel of Additional Lecturers as a part-time teacher of Georgian at the School of Oriental and African Studies, was born in Kutais and describes his speech as normal educated West Georgian. He has lived in this country for the past twenty-four years as a member of the Georgian community in London, and has been engaged in the study of Georgian history and literature.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © School of Oriental and African Studies 1952

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References

page 55 note 1 See Firth, J. E., “Sounds and Prosodies,” TPS., 1948, pp. 127 ff.Google Scholar

page 55 note 2 Cf. Firth, J. R. and Rogers, B. B., “The Structure of the Chinese-Monosyllable in a Hunanese Dialect (Changsha),” BSOS., viii, 4, p. 1055.Google Scholar

page 55 note 3 A Georgian-English dictionary by Miss E. Cherkesi was in preparation at the time of writing (December, 1950), and has since been published.

page 56 note 1 See Firth, J. R., “The Technique of Semantics,” TPS., 1935, pp. 36 ff.Google Scholar

page 56 note 2 Dirr, A., Grammatik der Modernen Georgischen SpracheGoogle Scholar; Marr, N., Posobie dl'a izučenija živogo gruzinskogo yazykaGoogle Scholar; Marr, N. and Brière, M., La Langue GeorgienneGoogle Scholar; Meckelein, R., Georgisch-Deutsches WörterbuchGoogle Scholar; Vogt, H., Esquisse d'une Grammaire du Georgien Moderne.Google Scholar

page 56 note 3 A need recognized by Vogt, , op. cit., p. 9.Google Scholar

page 56 note 4 See p. 68.

page 58 note 1 For syllable division in some loan words see p. 65.

page 58 note 2 See Dirr, A., Einführung in das Studium der Kaukasischen Sprachen.Google Scholar

page 59 note 1 Cf. Trubetskoy, N. S., Principes de Phonologie (tr. Cantineau), pp. 116–17.Google Scholar

page 59 note 2 This is decided for a, where the opposition of “front” and “back” does not apply, by its behaviour with preceding l (see p. 63).

page 60 note 1 For the suggestion that it may be useful to conduct phonological anlaysis in terms of more than one system see Firth, J. B., Sounds and Prosodies, pp. 127 f.Google Scholar

page 60 note 2 Except that final clusters resulting from the morphological junction of unaspirated and aspirated consonant were realized as two aspirated consonants. See p. 68.

page 61 note 1 See pp. 65 ff.

page 61 note 2 These descriptions will be amplified in the statement on pp. 65 ff.

page 62 note 1 Vogt, , Esquisse, p. 13Google Scholar, notes that in such words the letter “m” (Ƌ) is sometimes omitted in writing.

page 62 note 2 But not before x and ɣ.

page 63 note 1 See p. 58.

page 63 note 2 See pp. 66–7.

page 63 note 3 When I pronounced the English word “reks” (wrecks, Rex) Mr. Gugushvili said that he “heard a w-sound” before the “r” (“r” in standard English may be said to carry a w-prosody).—R. H. R.

page 64 note 1 For a similar phenomenon in the contiguous Armenian language, see Allen, W. S., “Notes on the Phonetics of an Eastern Armenian Speaker, TPS, 1950, pp. 195–6.Google Scholar

page 65 note 1 Mr. Gugushvili did not pronounce any of the “h” verbal prefixes, still sometimes preserved in the orthography.

page 65 note 2 H. Sohuchardt is quoted by Deeters, G., “Armenisch und Sudkaukasisch,” Caucasica, fase. 3, p. 73Google Scholar, as having referred to the aspirated series as “Aspiratae Lenes” in his “Ueber das Georgische”. We have been unable to trace the original.

page 65 note 3 Cf. Fourquet, J., Les Mutations Consonantiques en Germanique, p. 53.Google Scholar

page 65 note 4 Cf. Pike, K. L., Phonetics, pp. 90–1.Google Scholar

page 66 note 1 Initial q, however, preceding another consonant, if realized as a fricative, was not an ejective.

page 66 note 2 Glottalized consonants in final position are limited to certain tense forms of a limited number of verbs.

page 66 note 3 E.g. in Vogt, , Esquisse, p. 11.Google Scholar

page 66 note 4 Such occurrences must have been the basis of N. Marr's description of the aspirated series as “half-voiced” (see Trudy komissii po izučeniju plemennogo naselenija Rossii, Nr. 4, p. 3Google Scholar; Marr, N. and Brière, M., La Langue Georgienne, pp. 18ff.)Google Scholar, but such voicing was confined to medial position after vowels and l, r, m, n, in the speech of our informant.

page 67 note 1 Esquiase, p. 16.Google Scholar

page 68 note 1 For the same phenomenon in Armenian, see Allen, W. S., “Notes on the Phonetics of an Eastern Armenian Speaker,” TPS., 1950, p. 186.Google Scholar

page 68 note 2 Cf. p. 56. Historically, however, t' + s > ts', and tc + ∫ > t∫' (ts'ameti, thirteen < *at'sammeti; t∫'vidmeti, seventeen < *at'∫vidmeti. See Vogt, , Esquisse, p. 89).Google Scholar

page 68 note 3 See Henderson, Eugénie J. A., “Prosodies in Siamese: A Study in Synthesis,” Asia Major, N.S., i, 2, esp. pp. 204 ff.Google Scholar

page 69 note 1 Carnochan, J., “A Study in the Phonology of an Igbo Speaker,” BSOAS., xii, 2, p. 425.Google Scholar

page 69 note 2 Certain small changes in the text as given in the book were made by him in the recording.