Paper abstract:

The paper aims at defining the semantic distinctive features of the Georgian verbal affix or infix -am-, found, e.g. in vsvam, “I drink.” Only about 15 verbs have this infix, also called present/future stem formant (P/FSF); there are four other such infixes: -av-, -i-, -eb- , -ob- and maybe -op-. A few verbs, the so called “root verbs”, have a zero infix (Aronson, "Georgian ... ," 40; Tschenkeli, "Einführung ... " I ," 70). The verbs with the -am- infix describe a situation where the subject can be observed in close contact with the object while influencing it, while the object still can be observed outside the described situation without contact with the subject. The juxtaposition, influence and separateness are described using Jakobson’s semantic distinctive features, supplemented by the three features later proposed by van Schooneveld. The juxtaposition is described by the feature van Schooneveld first called “duplication” and later “enumeration:” the perception of the verbal root—“drink” in this case—implies the perception of an additional linguistic unit—the direct object in this case. For example: “to sit” implies “chair” or “sofa” or even “floor.” The influence of the subject on the object is described by the feature Jakobson called “directionality ” and van Schooneveld “extension,” although the occurrence of the object outside the described situation could maybe also be described by what Jakobson called “partitive” and van Schooneveld “objectiveness.” Finally, the initial separateness of subject and object can be best described by “demarcatedness,” the feature van Schooneveld found in the preposition and prefix “in” where it differentiates “in” from “on.” Some scholars, e.g. Martha McGinnis-Archibald, propose that the verbal infixes do not have different meanings, if they have meanings at all. Others, e.g. Kevin Tuite and Givi Mach’avariani, see a semantic element in the infixes/affixes. This paper proposes that at least one infix, -am, has a clear meaning that can be formulated in terms that have been proven useful in the description of other languages, Russian and Slavic languages, and that may be universal