On the origin of Kartvelian version

Among the categories marked in the Kartvelian verb is one that grammarians designate as "version", linked to a vowel prefix directly preceding the verb root (preradical vowel, PRV). In textbook examples, the PRVs have an applicative-like function, indicating the addition of an overt indirect object, or an implicit reflexive coreferent with the subject. PRVs also mark particular types of intransitives, and in many verbs the PRV is lexically specified. In this essay, all contexts in which PRVs appear will be presented, including nonfinite verb forms and a small number of archaic deverbal nouns with frozen PRVs. It will be argued that PRVs originally signalled a contrast in verbal trajectory between an inward (introvert) orientation toward the deictic center, associated with presupposability, animacy, and the 1st and 2nd persons; and an outward (extravert) orientation away from the deictic center toward a target or surface — associated with patienthood and inanimacy. ISBN 9783969390375. LINCOM Studies in Caucasian Linguistics 22. 62pp. 2021.