The positionally caused phonetic process, particularly,
reduction of a vowel at the end of a rythmic group, caused by a stress,
fixed at the beginning of a rhythmic group, has affected the morphological
structure of a verb in the dialects where this phonetic process occurs.
The Iterative tense/aspect forms marker is -i
-i in those Georgian dialects where the Iterative forms are preserved.
In the Khevsurian and Tushian dialects where -i -i
at the absolute end is represented with its short variant (allophone) -i,
the Aorist and Iterative II forms may coincide:
Aorist: gavakeT-i gavak'et-i (short -i) (I did)
Iterative II: gavakeT-i gavak'et-i (short -i) (I used to do)
This coincidence of the Aorist and Iterative II forms must have caused the appearance of the specific forms of Iterative II (formed by -id/-od -id/-od suffixes) in these dialects:
Aorist:
gavakeT-i gavak'et-i (short
i) (I did)
Iterative II:
gavakeT-id-i gavak'et-id-i
(I used to do) (Khevsurian, Tushian ), gavakeT-od-i
gavak'et-od-i
(I used to do) (Pshavian dialect). The phonetic process
-i
-i
> -i -i(short i) in the Pshavian dialect has
not regular character unlike the Khevsurian and Tushian dialects where
it is a regular process.
In forms of the third subject person the suffix -i
-i
is not at the end but is followed by the third person subject marker -s
(-s). That is why -i (-i) is not reduced
and, consequently, the suffix -id/-od
-id/-od
does not appear:
ga-a-keT-i-s ga-a-k'et-i-s
(Singular)
ga-a-keT-i-an ga-a-k'et-i-an
(Plural)
(Khevsurian, Tushian, Pshavian); Sporadic examples
with
-od -od suffix in the third person are
found (Giorgi Cocanidze, Tushuri xolmeobitis shesaxeb, On the Tushian Iterative,
in: Iberiul-kavkasiuri enatmecniereba, XVII, Tbilisi, 1970).
More evidence for assuming that complicated form of iterarive
(formed by the suffix -od/id) is a way for overcoming the coincidence of
different tense/aspect forms, is that in the Mtiulian and Mokhevian dialects
where the process -i>-i -i > -i (short i) does
not occur, Aorist and Iterative II have preserved the Old Georgian forms
in the first and the second persons as well as in the third person.
Mtiulian and Mokhev dialects
Aorist:
| gavakeT-e (I did) | gavakeT-e-T |
| gavak'et-e (I did) | gavak'et-e-t (we did) |
| gaakeT-e | gaakeT-e-T |
| gaak'et-e (you did) | gaak'et-e-t (you did) |
| gaakeT-a | gaakeT-es |
| gaak'et-a (s/he did) | gaak'et-es (they did) |
Iterative II
| gavakeT-i (I used to do) | gavakeT-i-T |
| gavak'et-i (I used to do) | gavak'et-i-t (we used to do) |
| gaakeT-i | gaakeT-i-T |
| gaak'et-i (you used to do) | gaak'et-i-t (you used to do) |
| gaakeT-i-s | gaakeT-i-an |
| gaak'et-i-s (s/he used to do) | gaak'et-i-an (they used to do) |
Iteratives formed by adding -id // -od suffixes in Khevsurian, Tushian and Pshavian dialects must be a phenomenon resembling (but not identical to) the process by which in Old Georgian the Iterative formed by -od suffix emerged in the 10th-11th centuries (A. Shanidze and Levan Kiknadze, Shereuli xolmeobiti dzvel kartulshi, The Mixed Iterative in Old Georgian, in: "Orioni", devoted to Akaki Shanidze, Tbilisi, 1966; A. Tchintcharauli, Khevsurulis taviseburebani, Specific Features of the Khevsur dialect, Tbilisi, Mecniereba, 1960). The -od suffix in the so-called mixed Iterative in old Georgian, unlike its lesser role in the Khevsurian, Tushian and Pshavian dialects was represented in the third person too: mi-s-c-od-i-an, instead of regular: mi-s-c-i-an (they used to give them something).
Another interpretation of these forms belongs to Arnold Chikobava who suggested that forms of Iterative forms with the -od suffix evidenced both in Old Georgian and in the modern dialects must have been derived from the archaic imperfect (A. Chikobava, Ergat'iuli k'onst'rukciis p'roblema iberiul-k'avk'asiur enebshi, Problem of Ergative construction in Ibero-Caucasian languages, II Tbilisi, 1948,). For more information see From the history of tense/aspect forms.