Unbound and Untamed? A Corpus-Based Exploration of Georgian Function Words

Abstract

This paper explores the role and function of Georgian function words from a corpus-linguistic perspective, focusing on their morphosyntactic as well as syntactic and typological qualities. Particular attention is paid to the formal and functional properties of prepositions, postpositions, particles, conjunctions, and other elements and their usage in both the nominal and verbal domain. The study is grounded on evidence from a representative Georgian corpus, the GNC, which facilitates the empirical investigation of syntactic environments and distributional patterns. In addressing the challenge of function word classification in a morphologically complex language such as Georgian, the study confronts several theoretical models of classification of synsemantics and autosemantics. To support this analysis and enable further empirical exploration, a lightweight Java tool has been developed as part of the study. The tool allows users to supply a predefined list of Georgian function words and analyse their occurrence within any given input text. It automatically identifies which function words are present, counts their frequency, and optionally visualises the results. This practical component demonstrates how computational methods can complement theoretical linguistic investigation and highlights the importance of corpus-based, tool-supported methodologies in advancing our understanding of function word systems in typologically complex languages such as Georgian.