Prosodic Constructions of the Grammaticalized Verbal adga (‘stood up’) in Georgian

This article examines a specific case of the grammaticalization process in Georgian – the functional transformation of the verbal unit adga (‘stood up’) and the investigation of this process’s realization at the prosodic level. The study explores the prosodic characteristics that enable the differentiation between grammaticalized and verbal elements in oral speech. The research employs experimental phonetic methods, incorporating acoustic and auditory analysis of sentences. Acoustic analysis was conducted using Praat software, while prosodic annotation of the data was performed based on the ToBI (Tones and Break Indices) system. The findings revealed that grammaticalized constructions are characterized by enclitic structures, where the conjunction da (‘and’) attaches to the preceding grammaticalized word without any word boundary markers between them. From a pragmatic perspective, the grammaticalized adga + da appears as a single functional element. Conversely, in sentences where adga + da is not grammaticalized, inter-word pauses and/or intonational boundaries are observed between the verbal unit and the conjunction. The research results demonstrate that language distinguishes between grammaticalized and non-grammaticalized units through prosodic constructions. Accordingly, a comprehensive description of this phenomenon requires the analysis of other grammaticalized elements, which is significant from the perspectives of both theoretical and applied linguistics – specifically for the development of TTS technologies for Georgian and the establishment of orthoepic norms. This article presents a pilot study aimed at creating a methodological framework for broader empirical and typological investigations.