Ossetic Preverbs

СОИГСИ DOI: 10.46698/h3735-7702-4400-x ОСЕТИНСКИЕ ПРЕВЕРБЫ Э. Шахингёз [Цорити] Хотя термин «преверб» не получил широкого распространения, он используется в лингвистике кавказцев (включая все три семейства: северо-западных, северо-кавказских и картвельских), каддоанской, атабаскской и алгонкинской лингвистике для описания определенных элементов, предшествующих глаголам. В контексте индоевропейских языков этот термин обычно используется для отделяемых префиксов глаголов. Превербы, изначальная функция которых состоит в выражении пространственных связей, были предметом рассмотрения в ряде исследований по осетинскому языку. Особое значение традиционно придается морфологическим, семантическим и фонетическим процессам, сопровождающим стадию словообразования, когда основы глаголов сливаются с превербами. Фонологические явления иллюстрируются различными процессами, происходящими в иронском и дигорском вариантах осетинского языка. В основном они встречаются на стыке морфемы и включают эпентезу в форме согласного или полугласного, изменение гласного и геминацию начального согласного или полугласного в инициальной позиции в глагольной основе. Развитие дейктической функции наречий имеет типологическое сходство с грузинским: аспектные глагольные префиксы, возникшие из наречных частиц с функцией направления. Горизонтальный и вертикальный дейксис, а также экстравертный (ориентированный от говорящего) и интровертный (ориентированный на говорящего) дейксисы различаются в осетинском языке и сопоставимы с грузинским. Критически рассмотрено количество превербов, и было предложено выделить в качестве предглаголов восемь элементов в иронском варианте и семь в дигорском варианте. Рассматриваются пространственные и грамматические (точнее: аспектные) функции превербов, а также функционирование исторических и непродуктивных превербов. Эта работа является первой частью обширного труда по осетинским превербам. Ключевые слова: осетинский язык, фонетический процесс, эпентеза, пространственные функции, сопоставительный анализ. Ossetic Preverbs1are elements that enable a special word formation process; they combine with verbs, but at the same time they are not firmly connected to the word stem. They are verbal prefixes that modify the basic verb grammatically and semantically. This modification can be aspect-specific or spatial-directional. In some grammars, preverbs are referred to as prefixes. This work is intended to provide a chronological overview of previous research on preverbs in Ossetic as well as to illuminate the proposed semantic 60 KAVKAZ-FORUM ВЫП. 3 (10) СОИГСИ and syntactic functions. Modern literature was used to determine whether previous research regarding their functions and semantics is still applicable or needs to be updated. For the analysis the Ossetic translations of The Little Prince (A. d. Saint-Exupéry, 1943) that was translated by T. Kambolov [1] into Iron and Digor was used as parallel text [1]. Another text that was used for this analysis is mægwyr læg æmæ us | mægur læg æma wosæ2 («The poor man and woman»), since the text is available in both Ossetic varieties (mlæw). Further, the Ossetic National Corpus was consulted [2]. Previous Research on Ossetic Preverbs Already in 1844 A. J. Sjögren speaks of «compound verbs» in his grammar on Ossetic and recognizes some of the preverbs as modifying prepositions [3, 111-113]. V. Miller supplemented the previously published research in 1903 by showing cognates from other Iranian languages and providing examples of the functions and peculiarities of the preverbs [4, 81-84]. In 1949 V. I. Abaev mentions the preverbs in four paragraphs (§76-80) [5] and notes the dialectal differences [5, 420-421]. A few years later, in 1959 V. I. Abaev‘s grammar on Iron-Ossetic is published3 where he devotes an entire chapter to preverbs and partly discusses their functions [6, 76-80]. Later, É. Benveniste discusses the spatial functions of the preverbs and their historical preverbal forms as well as the etymology of some productive andsome no longerproductive preverbs [7, 103-113]. With detailed descriptions of the functions of the individual preverbs, G. Axvlediani rounds off the previous findings on the preverbs in 1963 [8, 237-248]. In his grammar on Digor-Ossetic, M. I. Isaev outlines the functions of the preverbs and explains that in addition to the function of perfecting the aspect they also reflect semantic nuances such as suddenness or duration of the action [9, 80-86]. In 1970 K. H. Schmidt publishes an article on the language typology of Ossetic [10, 161-168]. He explicitly goes into the development of the Ossetic aspect system and its parallels to Georgian and Russian. After no research on Ossetic preverbs had been published for a long period of time, R. Bielmeier publishes an article in 1981 in which, on the one hand, he refers to the term orien‫ܩ‬acia, that was coined by A. Šanidze, where Bielmeier refers to the spatial function of the Ossetic preverbs [11, 27-46]. On the other hand, he divides the preverbs into non-analyzable ones that are fused with the verbal stem, and productive preverbs. Shortly afterwards, in 1982 F. Thordarson analyzes the preverbs with regard to their function, typology and etymology [12, 251-261]. The most recent studies directly related to preverbs are V. Tomelleri‘s research published in an article in 2010 [13, 245-272]. He examines them with regard to the category of aspect and compares them with the preverbs of Georgian and Russian. KAVKAZ-FORUM ВЫП.3 (10) 61 СОИГСИ The number of preverbs the researchers count, differs: a– a– É. Benve- G. AxvleM. I. Isaev R. Bielmeier niste diani (Digor) (Iron) (Iron) a– a– a– ær – ær – ær – ær – ær – ær – ba – fa-, fæ-, fe – ba – ærba – ba – ærba – ba – ærba – ba – ærba – ba – ærba – ba – fæ – fæ – fæ – fæ – fæ – ny- | ni – ny- | ni – ny – ny – ni – ny- | ni – ra – ra – s-, z-| is-, iz-, æz – ra – ra – (æ) ra – ra- | (æ) ra – (i) s – s– is – (y) s- | is – A. J. Sjgren a– ær-, ra- | ar-, er – s-, is – V. Miller V. I. Abaev ny (n) – | ni – ra – (y) s – am – cæ – cæ – ræ – Table 1: Ossetic Preverbs according to earlier research As shown in table 1 the preverbs all researchers mention are a- (only Iron), ær-, ba-, ny- | ni-, ra- and (y) s- | (i) s-. A. J. Sjögren and V. Miller don‘t list ærba-, supposedly because this preverb looks like a combination of the two preverbs ær- and ba-. Sjögren counts am-4 as a preverb, but this was not kept up by following research. É. Benveniste doesn‘t mention fæ-, because he mainly goes into the spatial functions of the preverbs whereas he isn‘t able to show any spatial property for fæ-. On the other hand he proposes ræ-, which isn‘t mentioned by any other research and which might be an allophone of ra-. V. I. Abaev and G. Axvlediani propose cæ-5as a preverb, but neither previous nor following research follows this up. All in all, with regards to table 1 I count seven preverbs for Digor- and eight for Iron-Ossetic for my research. Hereby I leave out the preverbs am-, proposed only by A. J. Sjögren; cæ-, proposed by V. I. Abaev and G. Axvlediani; and ræ-, proposed only by É. Benveniste: Iron a– ær – ærba – ba – fæ – ny – 62 KAVKAZ-FORUM ВЫП. 3 (10) Digor – ær – ærba – ba – fæ – ni – СОИГСИ ra – ys-, s-, ss – ra – æs-, is-, iss-, s-, ss – Table 2: Preverbs in Ossetic Ossetic preverbs combine with simple and compound verbs, verbalized nouns and adjectives, as well as with borrowed verbal elements, such as from Turkish or Russian. The functions and meanings of the preverbs vary in part in Iron and Digor. Not every preverb can be combined with every verb, since the semantics of the verb are just as relevant as the semantics and function of the preverb. Basically, it can be said that the function of a preverb stands out in connection with the verbs of movement. Functions of Ossetic Preverbs According to G. Hewitt [14, 286], preverbs can be traced back to adverbs or prepositions and were merged with the word stem over time. This process can be understood as a process of concretization. P. Arkadiev states, thatthe original function of the preverbs is to express spatial bonds, which is why they are also called «bounder-based perfectives» in cases where such morphemes mark the perfective aspect [15, 386]. The investigations at this point, which should form the main focus of this work, are as follow: Phonological phenomena caused by the preverbs Tmesis and the inserted elements Compound verbs Orien‫ܩ‬acia, with a view of the Georgian preverbs Topics such as preverb combinations, prefix conversion, aspect and Aktionsart will not be dealt with in this paper. While working with the text material it seemed like there is a tendency of the preverbs expressing Aktionsart when they combine with the nominal part of compound verbs and marking aspect when they combine with verbs, except for verbs of movement. But this needs additional investigation and shall not be discussed any further. The examples in the following are, if taken from the parallel texts, firstly given in Iron (for example 6a) and afterwards in Digor (6b). Since the sentences are almost identical a translation is only given after the Digor example. The sources of the examples are shortened as: «tlp» for The Little Prince, «mlæw» for mægwyr læg æmæ us | mægur læg æma wosæ and «ONC» for Ossetic National Corpus and a reference to the text from the ONC [2]. KAVKAZ-FORUM ВЫП.3 (10) 63 СОИГСИ Phonological Phenomena In addition to the semantic, spatial and grammatical functions there are phonological processes caused by some of the preverbs, for which the final vowel of the preverb plays as much a role as the initial consonant or vowel of the verb stem. The phonological phenomena occur at the morpheme border and include epenthesis in form of consonant or semi-vowel, vowel change and gemination of the verb‘s initial consonant or semi-vowel. According to V. I. Abaev [5, 420] the preverbs a-, ba-, ærba-, fæ-, ny- | ni-6 and ra-cause an epenthesis. In Iron a-c-and in Digor a-j-is inserted:7 (1) Iron Ацагурын æй хъæуы. A-c-agur-yn æj qæw-y PV-EP-search-INF CL. 3SG. GEN need-3SG «It is necessary to search it.» (ONC, Md 1997) (2) Iron Кæм æй бацагурын хъæудзæн, уый сын бацамыдта. Kæm æj ba-c-agur-yn qæw-dzæn, uyj syn ba-c-amyd-ta PV - EP -search- n e e d - 3 S G . D E M . CL. 3PL. PV-EP-show. PST-3SG. INTER CL. 3SG. GEN PST DAT 3SG INF FUT «He / She showed them where it will be necessary to search for it.» (ONC, VzB Г. Х. 2003) (3) Digor Мадта махæн уой æнæ байагорун нæййес, – зæгъгæ, загътонцæ дууæ лæхъуæни. Madta ADV maxwoj æn 1 P L - DAT DEM. SG ænæ PREP b a - j z æ ğ - zağ-tonnæ-jjes, duwæ læqwæn-i agor-un cæ gæ, P V - E P say-3 PL . NUM boy-GEN. SG say-CV search- NEG-EX PST INF «Then wecan‘t but look for it, – the two boys said.» (ONC, IasF 1900-1950) (4) Iron […] уый зæгъынмæ хъавыди пыхсы фæндаг рацагурын, […] […] uyj DEM. 3SG zæğ-ynqavy-di pyxs-y fændag mæ seek-3 SG . b u s h say-INF-ALL way PST INES ra-c-agur-yn, […] PV-EP-search-INF ‘…he seeked to say itwhile searching for a way in the brushwood,…» (ONC, IasD 1900-1950) 64 KAVKAZ-FORUM ВЫП. 3 (10) СОИГСИ (5) Digor Еуæй-еу хатт сæ къохи бафтуйуй райахæссун фус […] Jewæj-ew xatt some-ITER time ‫܌‬ox-i sæ ba-ftuj-uj CL. 3PL. h a n d - GEN GEN PV-achieve-3SG ra-j-axæssfus un PV - EP -catchsheep […] INF «Sometimes they manage to catch a sheep…» (ONC, ZBM 2012) If a preverb, that is ending in a vowel, meets a verb, which starts withæ-, then no epenthesis is inserted. Instead, the vowel changes – two æ become e, such as infæ-æxxuys>fexxuys|fæ-ænxus> fenxus (6): (6a) Iron …уæд сын тынг феххуыс уыдзæнис. […] wæd syn 3PL. DAT CL. ADV tyng fe-xxuys ADV PV-help wy-dzænis COP-3SG. FUT (6b) Digor …уæд син хъæбæр фенхус уодзæнæй. […] wæd sin qæbær fe-nxus wo-dzænæj CL. 3PL. DAT ADV PV-help COP-3SG. FUT ‘… then this will be a great help for them.» (tlp 5.35) ADV In addition to the preverbs mentioned by V. I. Abaev, the preverb ær- in Iron also requires an epenthesis. It is therefore questionable whether the epenthesis is only caused by the clashof two vowels in adjacent words. (7) Iron Йæ цæстытæ цинæрттывд фæкодтой æмæ «Тотрадзы зарæг» æрцамыдта. Jæ CL. GEN cæst-ytæ cinærttyvd 3SG. eye-PL sparkling_ from_joy fæ-kod-toj æmæ «Totradz-y zæræg» PV-do. 3SG. PST CONJ PST- To t r a d z GEN song ær-c-amydta PV - EP -teach3SG. PST «His eyes were sparkling from joy and he taught «the song of Totradz»‘. (ONC, Md 1997) If the verb starts with a semivowelw8or j, then no epenthesis takes place. Preverb ny- | ni- requires a gemination of the initial consonant in Digor as well as in Iron (8a &8b), whereas fæ- causes a gemination only in Digor (9a & 9b). Semi-vowels are geminated like consonants: KAVKAZ-FORUM ВЫП.3 (10) 65 СОИГСИ (8a) Iron Æз ныууагътон мæ кусæнгæрзтæ. Æz 1SG ny-wwağ-ton mæ PV-leave-1SG. PST POSS. 1SG kusængærz-tæ working_tool-PL (8b) Digor Æз ниууагътон мæ косæнгæрзтæ. Æz ni-wwağ-ton mæ 1SG PV-leave-1SG. PST POSS. kosængærz-tæ 1SG working_tool-PL «I left my working tools.» (tlp 7.71) (9a) Iron Уыдонæн алкæддæр алцыдæр æмбарын кæнын фæхъæуы. Wydon-æn DEM. PL-DAT alkæd-dær alcy-dær always-PTCL everything-PTCL æmbar-yn kæn-yn fæ-qæw-y understand-INF do-INF PV-need-3SG (9b) Digor Уонæн алкæддæр алцидæр лæдæрун кæнун фæгъгъæуй. Won-æn alkæd-dær alci-dær lædær-un kæn-un fæ-ğğæw-uj DEM. PL-DAT always-PTCL everything-PTCL understand-INF do-INF PV-need-3SG «It»s always necessary to explain them everything.» (tlp 1.13) Further, if a verb in Digor starts with a vowel and there is an epenthesis between the preverb and the verb stem, then this epenthesis, since it is a semivowel and since semi-vowels behave like consonants, it isgeminated: (10) Digor Ци фæййагорун, – нæ иссерун. Ci fæ-jj-agor-un, næ INTER PV-EP-search-1SG NEG isser-un find-1SG «What I am looking for – I cant» find (it). ’ (ONC, Md 2002) (11) Digor Æртæ анзи йин ниййахæссун фæрæзнæ не’ссирдтонцæ. Ærtæ anz-i jin ni-jj-axæss-un færæznæ ne «ssird-toncæ year-GEN. SG CL.DAT.SG PV-EP-catch-INF method NEG find. PST-3PL. PST «During the three years they did not find a method to catch it.» (ONC, IasF 1900-1950) NUM If there isa tmesis in Digor, the initial consonant of the inserted element is also geminated: 66 KAVKAZ-FORUM ВЫП. 3 (10) СОИГСИ (12) Digor Уосæ рамæстгун æй ’ма ’йбæл фæгъгъæр кодта: – Ниммæуадзæ хуссун. raæj mæstgun Ni-mmæxuss-un wadz-æ 1SG. PV-CL. do-3SG. G E N -leave - sleep-INF woman PV-angry COP. 3SG CONJ 3SG-ALL PV-shout PST 2SG. IMP «The woman got angry and yelled at him: – Let me sleep!» (ONC, IasD 1900-1950) Wosæ «ma ’j-bæl fæ-ğğær kod-ta: Tmesis A peculiarity of Digor has been recorded by the research so far: a tmesis between the preverb and the verb stem is possible through enclitic pronouns. V. I. Abaev [6] is the first to realize that in Iron the particle cæj also presupposes a tmesis, since it can appear between the preverb and the verb stem. K. H. Schmidt takes up this theory and describes the function of the particle cæj, which denotes a coincidence case or an almost completed action and is a «formal identification of the imperfectivein the future and past tense» [16, 164]. The particle also exists Digor, but K. H. Schmidt describes its function used as a demanding particle. I suppose that preverb cæ-, proposed by V. I. Abaev and later G. Axvlediani either goes back to particle cæ jor even is this particle, wrongly analysed as a preverb. In the Ossetic National Corpus, the particle is listed as a preverb as -cæj-.9 Hence, in the following -cæj- (with two hyphens) will be called particle. More than one enclitic pronoun can be inserted for tmesis in Digor. In Iron, on the other hand, the enclitic pronouns follow the verb. In Digor as well in Iron, it seems like a tendency that these elements stand in the «Wackernagel’s position. ’In verbal constructions with trivalent verbs with a direct and indirect object, where both pronouns are clitized, the direct object follows the indirect one: (13a) Iron, only direct object Бауадз мæ иунæгæй иу къахдзæф акæнын. Ba-wadz mæ iwnægæj iw ‫܌‬axdzæf a-kæn-yn PV-leave CL. alone NUM step PV-do-1SG 1SG. GEN (13b) Digor, only direct object Бамæуадзæ еунæгæй еу къахдзæф ракæнун. Ba-mæ-wadzæ jewnægæj 1SG. GEN-leave alone «Let me do one step by myself.» PV-CL. jeu NUM KAVKAZ-FORUM ВЫП.3 (10) ‫܌‬axdzæf step ra-kæn-un PV-do-1SG (tlp 26.157) 67 СОИГСИ (14a) Iron, direct and indirect object Лæг [фырадæргæй хъуыды дæр нæ акодта, афтæмæй] загъта, ратдзынæндын æй, зæгъгæ. Læg […] man zağ-ta, rat-dzynæn dyn æj, zæğ-gæ say-3SG. PST give-1SG. FUT CL. CL. say-CV 2SG. DAT 3SG. GEN (14b) Digor, direct and indirect object Илæг [дæр, æнæ нецирасагъæскæнгæй,] загъта, ра-дин-æй-æтдзæнæн, зæгъгæ. I læg […] zağ-ta, ra-din-æj-æt-dzænæn, zæğ-gæ man say-3SG. PST PV-CL. 2SG. DAT-CL. 3SG. GEN-give-1SG. FUT say-CV «The man [,was so excited that with out thin king at all,] said «I will give her to you.»‘ (mlæw 12) PTCL. DEF In Iron, there are not many examples for a tmesis with the particle -cæj-. Further, it seemsthat only some preverbs can be combined with it. (15) Iron Иуахæмы та æнкъардæй рацæйцыди сæхимæ. Iwaxæmy ta ænæard-æj ra-cæj-cyd-i sæxi-mæ ADV PTCL sadness-ABL PV-PTCL-go. PST-3SG. PST REFL. 3PL-ALL «But once he went (home) to themselves insadness.» (ONC, IasD 1900-1950) The particle -cæj-can be found more frequently in Digor. Theoretically, it should be possible to combine the particle with enclitic pronouns in tmesis position. But I could not find any examples for this. (16) Digor Рацæйевгъудæй мæ догæ, Ниццæйкалдæй мæ мæсуг. Ra-cæj-evğud-æj mæ PV-PTCL-miss. PST-3SG. PST POSS. dogæ, Ni-ccæj-kald-æj 1SG time mæ PV-PTCL-destroy. PST-3SG. PST «My time has passed, my tower is destroyed.» P O S S mæsug . tower 1SG (ONC, D34 2007) Another property of the preverbs is that together with a preverb in preverbal position the same preverb can occur in suffix position at the same time. This seems to be more common in Digor than in Iron. However, the examples of this phenomen on are very little; for Digor, only a few examples were given by V. Miller and M. I. Isaev. And for Iron, there is only one sentence by V. I. Abaev: 68 KAVKAZ-FORUM ВЫП. 3 (10) СОИГСИ (17) Iron Цæгъдынтæ сæ байдыдтон-ба Cæğdyn-tæ sæ destroy-PL CL. 3PL. GEN «I began to destroy them» ba-jdyd-ton-ba PV-begin. PST-1SG. PST-PV (Abaev 1964: 104) (18) Digor Ниффинсай-нийецигæгъæди! Ni-ffins-aj-ni jeci gæğædi PV-write-IMP. 2SG-PV DEM paper «You shall write that paper!» (Isaev 1966: 84) (19) Digor Рацæуайтæ мæмæ-ра, мæ хортæ! Ra-cæw-ajtæ mæ-mæ-ra, mæ xor-tæ PV-go-IMP. 2PL 1SG-ALL-PV CL. 1SG. GEN sun-PL «Come to me, my suns!» (Isaev 1966: 84) Example (19) shows that another word, in this case the cliticmæ, can appear before the repeated preverb. Compound Verbs In Ossetic, compound verbs are formed by combining a nominal, verbal or verbalized (de-adjective, de-substantive) element with an auxiliary verb. According to M. I. Isaev [9, 84] the most frequent auxiliary verbs used herefore are kænyn | kænun «to do», lasyn | lasun «to carry» und wyn | un «to be» (copula). Other verbs, that can function as auxiliars aredaryn | darun «to have», kæsyn | kæsun «to look», maryn | marun «to kill» and mælyn | mælun «to die». A large number of compound verb connections are onomatopoetic expressions that combine with an auxiliary. In Ossetic the preverb can often be foundon the nominal element of the compound verb: (20a) Iron Ме ‘мбал та ногæй ныккæл-кæл кодта: Me POSS. 1SG ‘mbal friend ta PTCL nogæj new ny-kkæl-kæl PV-laughter kod-ta do. PST-3SG. PST (20b) Digor Мæ ‘нбал нæуæгæй никъкъæл-къæл кодта: Me ‘nbal næwæg-æj ni-‫܌܌‬æl-‫܌‬æl KAVKAZ-FORUM ВЫП.3 (10) kod-ta 69 СОИГСИ 1SG friend new-ABL PV-laughter do. PST-3SG. PST «My friend broke into another peal of laughter:» (tlp 3.41) POSS. However, this should be seen as a tendency, since there are also cases where the preverb occurs on the auxiliary verb: (21a) Iron Æмæ Гыццыл принц цы зæрдиаг кæл-кæл ныккодта, [уымæ йæм тынг рамæсты дæн.] Æmæ Gyccyl princ cy CONJ little prince INTER zærdiag kæl-kæl warm-hearted laughter […] ny-kkod-ta, PV-do. PST-3SG. PST (21b) Digor Æма Минкъий принц зæрдиуаг къæл-къæл никкодта, [æма мæ уомæй хъæбæр рамæстгун кодта.] […] Minæij princ zærdiwag kæl-kæl ni-kkod-ta, CONJ little prince warm-hearted laughter PV-do. PST-3SG. PST «And the little prince broke into a lovely peal of laughter, which made me very angry.» (tlp 3.15) Æmа The auxiliary verbs, that are used to form compound verbs, cannot be limited to the verbs, that were listed by M. I. Isaev, since compound verbs combining with other verbs can be found as well: (22a) Iron [Æвирхъау] гуыв-гуыв систа æмæ мæ нымады цыппар рæдыды скодтон. […] guyv-guyv s-is-ta æmæ mæ PV-take. buzz P S T - 3 S G . CONJ PST POSS 1SG . s-kodton PV-do. mistakePST-1SG. nymad-y cyppar rædyd-y count-INES NUM GEN PST (22b) Digor [Æверхъау] гув-гув исиста æма мæ нимади цуппар рæдуди скодтон. […] guv-guv is-is-ta æma mæ PV-take. P O S P S T - 3 S G . CONJ buzz 1SG PST nimad-i S . countINES cuppar rædud-i NUM mistakeGEN s-kod-ton PV-do. PST1SG. PST «He made [exceptional] noise and I made four mistakes at my counting.» (tlp 13.26) Certain compound verbs consist of two verbal elements, which on the other hand appear with two different preverbs before they are accompanied 70 KAVKAZ-FORUM ВЫП. 3 (10) СОИГСИ by the auxiliar, such as raco-baco kænun [9, 23].The verb co can be analysed as imperative of the second person singular of cæwun «to go.»Preverb ra- marks a movement away from the speaker whereas preverb ba- marks a movement to the direction of the speaker. The two preverbs denote opposite actions (Engl. back-forth; Germ. hin-her, auf-ab). (23) Digor Биццеу рацо-бацо кæнуй зæнхи астæу. Biccew ra-co-ba-co kæn-uj zænx-i astæw boy PV-go-PV-come do-3SG. PRS world-INES POSTP «The boy goes back and forth in the midst of the world.» (ONC, Nk 2005) (24a) Iron [Йæ зæрдыл æрлæууыдис, кæддæр] хурныгуылдтæ феныны тыххæй бандон куыд ралас-балас кодта, уый. […] xurnyguyldra-las-bafen-yn-y tyxxæj bandon kuyd kod-ta, tæ las sunset-PL see- INF GEN POSTP chair INTER PV-pushPV-drag do. PST3SG. PST uyj DEM. 3SG (24b) Digor [Æ зæрдæбæл æрлæудтæй, кæддæр хорнигулдтæ] фæййинуни туххæй къела куд раласæ-баласæ кодта, е. xorniguyldfæ-jjin-un-i tuxxæj tæ ra-lasækod-ta, e ba-lasæ PV-push-PV- do. PSTDEM. 3SG sunset-PL see-INF-GEN POSTP chair INTER drag 3SG. PST «He / She remembered how he / she dragged the chair to see the sunsets.» (tlp 14.52) […] ‫܌‬ela kud The verb las (yn) | las (un) (24) has a reciprocal meaning due to the two preverbs. Hencera-las | ra-lasæmeans «push» and ba-las | ba-lasæmeans «drag». As in Example (25) an enclitic pronoun can appear between the elements of a compound verb. In contrast to tmesis, where clitics can mainly be encountered in Digor, both varieties can have clitics between the verbal and nominal element of acompound verb: (25a) Iron [Уый мын лæвæр кодта йæ хæрздæф,] срухс мын кодта мæ цард. […] s-ruxs PV-light myn CL. 1SG. DAT kod-ta do. PST-3SG. PST KAVKAZ-FORUM ВЫП.3 (10) mæ POSS. 1SG card. life 71 СОИГСИ (25b) Digor [Е мин лæвар кодта æ хуæрздæф,] срохс мин кодта мæ царди. […] s-roxs min kod-ta mæ card-i. PV-light CL. 1SG. DAT do. PST-3SG. PST POSS. 1SG life-GEN ‘ [He / She gave me his / her fragrance as a gift] and (this) enlighted my life.» (tlp 8.61) (26a) Iron Сныв мын кæн фыс. kæn do. 2SG. IMP fys. sheep S-xuzæ min kæn-æ PV-picture CL. 1SG. DAT do. 2SG. IMP «Draw me a sheep.» (tlp 2.42) fus sheep S-nyv PV-picture myn 1SG. DAT CL. (26b) Digor Схузæ мин кæнæ фус. Orien৬acia The term orien‫ܩ‬acia ikit‫܌‬en da akat‫܌‬en («Orientation here and there»), introduced by A. Šanidze, denotes a movement that either goes to the direction of the speaker or listener or to a place they know (theact of direction, also: observer‘s field). In contrast there is the position of the speaker or observer and the direction of movement (position of the observer, also: actor‘s field). Due to the differentiation of the movement towards the speaker or away from the speaker, this opposition is also referred to as «back / forth deixis» [10, 162]. According to F. Thordarson the spatial-directional function of preverbs is only marked on the verbs of movement. The development of the deictic function of the preverbs has a typological similarity to Georgian: aspectual verbal prefixes developed from adverbial particles with a directional function [12, 251-252]. The two-dimensional system, which denotes the movement towards or away from the speaker, is also an area phenomenon that Ossetic has adopted from its Caucasian contact languages, which show large numbers of elements with spatial functions. However, the two-dimensional system of spatial opposition in Osseticis not fully researched yet and orien‫ܩ‬aciain Ossetic is less developed than orien‫ܩ‬acia in Georgian. The following table show sorien‫ܩ‬acia in Old and New Georgian, Ossetic and Russian. Since in some cases it is not possible to express the opposition of the speaker‘s position in English, some movements are described more accurately by giving the German oppositions of ther movement. 72 KAVKAZ-FORUM ВЫП. 3 (10) СОИГСИ The preverbs cæ- and ræ-, the first one being only proposed by V. I. Abaev and G. Axvlediani and the second one by É. Benveniste, and which I decided to not count as preverbs, are also inserted in this table, since their spatial functions were described. É. Benveniste mentioned ræ- as opposition to (y) s- | (i) s- and it was M. I. Isaev and R. Bielmeier who described the spatial function of preverb fæ-. Not every researcher considered the spatial functions for the preverbs, hence I only describe the position of the speaker; the position of the observer, as described by M. I. Isaev [9, 81-83] for Digor, is not taken into account: Speaker’s position inside from the inside to the outside (hinaus & heraus) to the speaker / hearer (her-) away from the speaker / hearer away from somebody to the bottom and inside backwards forward through ra – še – ba – outside šemo – šemo – ærba – top da – ča – ny- | ni – bottom damo – čamo – ær – bottom ağ- / a a– (y) s- | (i) s – top ağmo – amo – ræ – here there garda – gardamo – gada – expressed gadamo – lexically pere – – mo – mo – ær-, ærba – pri – – mi – mi – there here not at the bottom and inside at the bottom and inside in front behind behind in front not to the speaker to the speaker c̙ar – c̙armo – c̙a – c̙amo – fæ – ot-, raz-, c-, u– šta – ča – ær – expressed lexically outside from the outside to the inside (hinein & herein) from the top to the bottom (hinunter / runter & herunter) from the bottom to the top (hinauf & herauf) over (hinüber / herüber) gamo – inside Old Georgian gan-, ga – ganmo-, gamo – še – New Ossetic Georgian ga – a- | ra – Russian vy-, iz – v-, vo – cæ – so-, pod – voz-, na – štamo – čamo – uk̙u – uk̙umo – c̙ina – c̙inamo – expressed expressed lexically lexically expressed lexically expressed expressed lexically lexically pred – expressed expressed lexically lexically pere-, pro – c̙iağ – c̙iağmo – Table 3: orien‫ܩ‬acia in Old and New Georgian, Ossetic and Russian KAVKAZ-FORUM ВЫП.3 (10) 73 СОИГСИ In contrast to the other preverbs in Old and New Georgian, which are extrovertive (oriented away from the speaker), preverb mo- is introvertive (oriented towards the speaker); it can combine with other preverbs and form a preverb compound. In doing so, it retains its function of indicating the direction to the speaker. Except for the Old Georgian preverbs uk̙u (mo) – , c̙ina (mo) – , c̙iağ (mo) – , that have adverbs function aslexical equivalents in New Georgian, Old Georgian preverbs are mainly preserved in New Georgian. As in Georgian, the horizontal and vertical deixis are distinct in Ossetic. The two-dimensional opposition in relation to the position of the speaker can be clearly seen. Ossetic ær- behaves similarly to New Georgian ča (mo) – : it marks a movement from to top to the bottom (the speaker islocated at the target of the movement) and can therefore be used for a movement downwards. Generally speaking, speakers of Digor use the preverb ær- in movements that occurin direction to them; only when the speaker is in a building and the movement is in directionto that particular building, the speaker might useærba-. In Digor, Orien‫ܩ‬aciaseems to be less than in Iron. (27a) Iron — Ныр та ацу, [- загъта Гыццыл принц,] мæн фæнды дæлæмæ æрхизын! Nyr ta a-cu, […] ADV PV-go PTCL mæn 1SG. DAT fænd-y want-3SG dælæ-mæ below-ALL ær-xiz-yn! PV-climb-INF (27b) Digor — Нур ба рандæ уо, [- загъта Минкъий принц, – ] мæн фæндуй дæлæмæ æрхезун! Nur ba ADV PTCL randæ wo, […] mæn fænd-uj dælæ-mæ away COP. 2SG. IMP 3SG. DAT want-3SG below-ALL «Now go away, [said the Little Prince,] I want to go down there.» (tlp 26.22) ær-xez-un! PV-climb-INF In (27a & 27b) two directions are marked: Iron a-cu, which is represented in Digor by a the compound verb randæ wo, and ær-xizyn | ær-xezun. 10 The former verb is the verb cu | co «go», which in this case in combination with a-gets the meaning «to go away», but can mean «come» in combination with the preverbs ba-cu | ba-co, ær-cu | ær-co, ærba-cu | ærba-co. Depending on the context and situation, these preverbs can also represent the vertical and horizontal deixis. Furthermore, in example (27) the preverb ær- in ær-xizyn | ær-xezun «to climb down» marks a movement from the top to the bottom. In this example the speaker expresses his wish to climb downto the bottom. This means he cannot be at the bottom already. In contrast to the speaker, however, the listener is already at the bottom, which is why preverb ny- |ni-might have been 74 KAVKAZ-FORUM ВЫП. 3 (10) СОИГСИ expected. This suggests that the preverbs in the Ossetic might differentiate between the speaker‘s space, the listener‘s space and the event‘s space. (28a) Iron Ахæм паддзахиуæгад тынг фæцыдис Гыццыл принцы зæрдæмæ. Axæm such padzdzaxityng fæ-cyd-is Gyccyl princ-y zærdæ-mæ. wægad ADV PV-go. PST-3SG. PST little prince-GEN heart-ALL power (28b) Digor Ауæхæн паддзахеуæгадæ хъæбæр бацудæй Минкъий принци зæрдæмæ. padzdzaxeqæbær ba-cud-æj Mink̙ij princ-i zærdæ-mæ. wægadæ ADV PV-go. PST-3SG. PST little prince-GEN heart-ALL such power «The Little Prince really liked this kind of power.» (tlp 10.48) Awæxæn As in example (28) both varieties use different preverbs for the metaphorical expression zærdæmæ fæ-cydis | zærdæmæ ba-cudæj «he / she liked it» (lit. «it went to the heart»). The preverb fæ- marks a movement away from the speaker / listener, but a movement from the outside to the inside. If something «goes to the heart» resp. ifsomeone likes something / someone, one would expect a movement to the inside, as in Digor (28b). Considering this, the question arises as to why in theIron examplefæ-was used and whether this may have something to do with the fact that orien‫ܩ‬acia is more pronounced in Iron than in Digor. Another reason could be the aspect (perfectivity) or the viewer‘s position, but preverbs expressing aspectuality with verbs of movement has yet to be examined. Conclusion This workbriefly summarized previous research on the preverbs and the research focus of the linguists who researched Ossetic preverbs. Furthermore, phenomena that are caused by the preverbs and differ in Digor and Iron were explained. These include phonological phenomena such as reduplication or epenthesis and tmesis, where the order of the inserted clitics is of great importance. Furthermore, compound verbs and orien‫ܩ‬acia in Ossetic have been described in more detail. The latter was illustrated by showing parallel meanings and functions of these preverbs in two contact languages of Ossetic, namely Old and New Georgian and Russian. Contrary to the previous studies on preverbs, I suggest eight preverbs for Iron and seven for Digor. The reason for this is the particle-cæj-, which is declared as a preverb in previous research. But during my investigations KAVKAZ-FORUM ВЫП.3 (10) 75 СОИГСИ I wasn‘t able to find an example of -cæj-in an initial position with preverbal functions. According to N. K. Bagaev, this preverb can be found in certain North Ironic dialects [17, 282]. V. I. Abaev states that it is found more frequently in South Ossetic rather than in North Ossetic varieties [5, 103]. G. Axvlediani, on the other hand, states that it can be found in all dialects of Iron [8, 244]. R. Bielmeier and É. Benveniste ignore thisparticle completely because of the lack of orien‫ܩ‬acia and thereforethey don‘t address it as a preverb. In this work, topics such as preverb combinations, prefix conversion, aspect and Aktionsart were not dealt with. Since preverbs function as orien‫ܩ‬acia-markers when combined with verbs of movement, they might mark grammatical aspect and Aktionsart when being combined with other verbs, including compound verbs. This theory needs to be checked and shall be discussed in a later supplementary work on Ossetic preverbs. List of Abbreviations 1 1st Person INES Inessive 2 3 2nd Person 3rd Person Ablativ Adverb Allative Clitic Pronoun Conjunction Copula Converb Dative Demonstrativ Pronoun Epenthesis Particle Existence Particle Future Tense Genitive Imperative INF Infinitive Interrogative Pronoun Iterative Negation Numeralia Plural Possessive Pronoun Postposition Preposition Present Tense Past Tense Particle Definite Article Preverb Reflexive Pronoun Singular ABL ADV ALL CL CONJ COP CV DAT DEM EP EX FUT GEN IMP INTER ITER NEG NUM PL POSS POSTP PREP PRS PST PTCL PTCL. DEF PV REFL SG Şahingöz, [Tsoriti] Emine M. A. – Goethe University Research Training Group «Nominal Modification» (Frankfurt, Germany); sahingoez @em.unifrankfurt.de Keywords: Ossetic, preverbs, phonetic process, epenthesis, spatial functions, comparative analysis. 76 KAVKAZ-FORUM ВЫП. 3 (10) СОИГСИ The preverbs, the original function of which is to express spatial bonds, have been studied in a number of the researches on the Ossetic language. Special importance is traditionally attached to morphological, semantic, and phonetic processes which accompany the derivational stage, when verb stems merge with preverbs. The phonological phenomena is illustrated through the differing processes which occur in the Iron and Digor variants of the Ossetic language. Mainly they occur at the morpheme border and include epenthesis in form of consonant or semi-vowel, vowel change and gemination of the verb‘s initial consonant or semivowel. The development of the deictic function of the preverbs has a typological similarity to Georgian: aspectual verbal prefixes developed from adverbial particles with a directional function. The horizontal and vertical deixis, as well as extrovertive (oriented away from the speaker), and introvertive (oriented to the speaker), are distinct in Ossetic and are comparable with Georgian. The number of preverbs is critically reviewed and it has been suggested to identify as preverbs eight elements in the Iron and seven in Digor variants, their spatial and grammatical (more precisely: aspectual) functions are discussed as well as their functionality with in terms of historical and unproductive preverbs. This work is the first part of a broad work on Ossetic preverbs. It displays topics such as the phonological phenomena that are caused by the preverbs, tmesis where elements stand between the preverb and the word stem, compound verbs and the spatial functions of the preverbs, also known as orien‫ܩ‬acia. Notes : 1. This work is a revised excerpt from my thesis entitled «Präverbien im Ossetischen», which I wrote in 2018 to achieve the academic degree of Master of Arts. I want to thank Elmira Gutieva for her helpful remarks for this revised version. 2. In the following the Iron- and Digor-Ossetic forms are separated by a vertical bar with the example before the line standing for the Iron and the word following the line being the Digor form of the morpheme or lexeme. 3. The English translation was published in 1964. 4. The prefix æm- (sometimes æn- in Digor), not with / a / but / æ / , is still existent in today. It expresses a comitative meaning: æm-dzæræn «(student) dormitory», æm-badt «joint sitting», æm-xwærdt «joint eating.» 5. I suppose cæ- is an allophone of cæj- which will be discussed below. 6. Regarding Abaev‘s assumption that the preverbs ærba- and ny- also lead to an epenthesis, I could not get any results in the Ossetic National Corpus. Also the examples given by Abaev, ærbacarazyn | ærbajarazun and nyccaxsyn (1949: 420) are not present in the corpus in this form. Even in combination with KAVKAZ-FORUM ВЫП.3 (10) 77 СОИГСИ other verbs, that have a vowel in initial position, I could not find an example of an epenthesis caused by these preverbs. 7. In the following examples, if the case is not explicitly mentioned in the gloss, casus rectus is to be assumed. 8. Cyrillic y can be transliterated as vowel u as well as semivowel w. If it‘s surrounded by two vowels (C_C), it‘s transliterated as / u / . If it stands between two vowels (V_V) orword initial and followed by a vowel (#_V) or in word or syllable final position after a vowel (V_#), then it is transliterated as semivowel / w / . 9. In the Ossetic National Corpus, – cæj- is designatedas a preverb, but its spelling implies that it cannot stand in wordinitial position. Even when searching for it in the ONC, no results with a word initial position are obtained. In my own parallel corpus, that was created during my master‘s thesis, – cæjcannot be found in any word initial position. Taking Anatolian Ossetic into account, where I have not encountered -cæj- yet, I do not list the particle as a preverb, but prefer referring to it as particle. The only occurrence I can think of is in a Digor folk song in form of ær-cæj-cæğdæ, cæj, Zærijnæ what can be translated with -cæj- and cæj as somewhat functioning as interjection: «Come on play, let‘s go, Zærijnæ.» 10. The Digor formrandæ could be composed of two elements: preverb ra- and the adjective ændær «different». This theory is reinforced by the assumption of the phonological rule that an epenthesis with an verb with æ in initialposition does not result in an epenthesis but a vowel change. If this assumption is correct, then the verb composition randæ wo could mean something like «be somewhere else» and the preverbra- would be an opposition to a-, as shown in Table 3. REFERENCES 1. Saint-Exupéry, de A. The Little Prince (tlp) Ossetic Version: Digor Translation: Qambolti Tamerlan, Malein‫܌‬ij princ. Dzæwægiğæw. Iron Translation: Qæmbolty Tamerlan & Astermiraty Izet, Gyccyl princ. Dzæwdžyqæw. 2017. 183 р. 2. Vydrin, A. Ossetic National Corpus (ONC), et al., 2011-2014. URL: http://corpus.ossetic-studies.org / search / index. php?interface_ language=en 3. Sjögren, A. J. Iron aevzagakhur, das ist: Ossetische Sprachlehre: nebst kurzem ossetisch-deutschen und deutsch-ossetischen Wörterbuche. St. Petersburg. Kaiserliche Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1844. 543 p. 4. Miller, V. F. Die Sprache der Osseten. In: Geiger und Kuhn (Ed.): Grundriss deriranischen Philologie. App. Vol. I. Strassbur, 1903. 111 p. 78 KAVKAZ-FORUM ВЫП. 3 (10) СОИГСИ 5. Abaev, V. I. Osetinskij jazyk i fol‘klor [Ossetian language and folklore]. Moscow and Leningrad, USSR Academy of Sciences Publishing House, 1949. 603 p. 6. Abaev, V. I. A grammatical sketch of Ossetic. The Hague. 1964. 133 p. 7. Benveniste, É. Études sur la langue ossète. Paris. Transl.: K. E. Gagkaeva. Očerki po osetinskomu jazyku. Moscow, 1965. 168 p. 8. Axvlediani, G. Grammatika osetinskogo jazyka [Ossetian grammar]. Ordžonikidze, 1963-1969. 9. Isaev, M. I. Digorskij dialekt osetinskogo jazyka [Digor dialect of the Ossetian language]. Moscow, 1966. 223 p. 10. Schmidt, K. H. Zur Tmesis in den Kartvelsprachen und ihren typologischen Parallelen in indogermanischen Sprachen. Machavariani, G. et al. (Ed.): Giorgi Axvlediani, 1969, pp. 96–105. 11. Bielmeier, R. Präverbien im Ossetischen. Duchesne-Guillemin, J. (Ed.). Monumentum Georg Morgenstierne I. Leiden. E. J. Brill. 1981, pp. 27–46. 12. Thordarson, F. Preverbsin Ossetic. Monumentum Georg Morgemstierne II. Leiden. E. J. Brill, 1982. 140 p. 13. Tomelleri, V. The category of aspect in Georgian, Ossetic and Russian. Some areal and typological observations. Faits de langues. 2009, vol. 1, pp. 245–272. 14. Hewitt, G. Introduction to the Study of the Languages of the Caucasus. Lincom Handbooks in Linguistics. Munich, Lincom Europa, 2004. 346 p. 15. Arkadiev, P. Towards an areal typology of prefixal perfectivization. Scando-Slavica. 2014, no. 60 (2), pp. 384-405. 16. Schmidt, K. H. Zur Sprachtypologie des Ossetischen. Bedi Kartlisa XXVII – Études Géorgiennes et Caucasiennes, Paris, 1970, pp. 161–168. 17. Bagaev, N. K. Sovremennyj osetinskij jazyk (Fonetika i morfologija) [Modern Ossetian language. Phonetics and Morphology]. Ordžonikidze, 1965. 488 p. KAVKAZ-FORUM ВЫП.3 (10) 79