enaTmecnierebis sakiTxebi ISSUES OF LINGUISTICS - Tbilisi State ...

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Irine Melikishvili
The Reconstruction of the Phoneme /J / and Common -Kartvelian
Sibilant Correspondences
Summary
The present paper discusses the question of the reconstruction of the phoneme /J/
on the Common-Kartvelian level. In the system of sibilant correspondences
between the Kartvelian languages, there is a gap at the place of the correspondence
Geo. J: Zan/Swan zg/Jg.
This gap is evaluated in different ways in various interpretations of the Common-
Kartvelian sibilant system: in the system offered by Givi Machavariani this is the
gap in the row of hushing phonemes and the reconstructed system has the
following shape:
z s Z c w
zי s י Zי cי wי
_ S j C W
That is, the system is complete in the hissing-hushing row and defective - in the
hushing row. Such a situation is impossible from the typological viewpoint.
Wherever there are hissing -hushing phonemes, they occupy a peripheral position
in the sibilant system. There are no languages in which a gap would be found in the
row of hushing fricatives, whereas the row of hissing-hushing fricatives would be
complete.
In case of the reconstruction of hushing phonemes for the second row of sibilant
correspondences in Common-Kartvelian (K.H.Schmidt), there would not be a
defect at the place of the phoneme */J/ in common-Kartvelian. A gap or very low
frequency would be at the place of the cluster *Jg. This is quite acceptable from
the viewpoint of the phonological theory and typology. The changes which took
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