The Main Characteristics of the Noun in Taoan

Abstract

This paper discusses the main peculiarities of Taoan dialect of the Georgian language such as:
a. Absolutive case forms are used instead of nominative case forms: ელიასხევ არი...
b. The nominative case suffix in vowel-stem nouns is ი>ჲ: დედეჲ, თამარაჲ...
c. Vowel stem forms have the suffix -მა in the ergative case: წუმამა...; more seldom they have the suffix -მან: ნენემან...
d. Plural forms are derived by means of the suffixes -ებ, -ნ, -თ and ნარ: გურჯები, მოხუცნი, თევნარი, ხევნარი... There are some examples of double plurals: კაცებთ, ქალებთ...
e. Consonant-stem forms and vowel-stem forms are interchangeable: მელ-ი//მელა, ძეწკნ-ი/ძეწკნა, პეპელ-ი//პეპელა...
f. The nouns subject to vowel elision in literary Georgian do not drop vowels in Taoan: წყალები... Sometimes non-elidible stems are elided: ბებრი (compare ბებერი) ყოფილა.
g. Truncating nouns in literary Georgian are not truncated in Taoan: მამაჲს, ხედამ... With regard to noun inflection, Taoan is different from any other southern subdialects (accents).