Abstract

This thesis is an investigation of the interaction of the phonological and syntactic components in Georgian. Presenting a summary and critical analysis of two studies of the interaction of syntax (word order) and intonation in the speech of native Georgian speakers, the findings of these studies are compared with the observations made in the Swans Study – an experimental analysis of freely-generated speech that examines the reading of a fictional story by a Georgian-speaking informant.
The Swans Study compares the intonation patters of experimentally constructed and natural (freely generated) speech, confirming the results of previous studies on Georgian intonation, and offering questions for further exploration. To explain the lack of unique correspondence between case marking and syntactic position (grammatical function) in the story “Mzia and the Swans”, an overview of the Georgian case marking system is provided.
Finally, the Georgian lateral fronting rule is described in a discussion on the necessity of maximum specificity in rule representations. The lateral fronting rule also attests to the close relationship between the syntactic and phonological modules, applying only when the triggering segment is found inside the same word as the dark lateral, and not applying when the triggering segment and the dark lateral are separated by a word boundary.