დიდი მნიშვნელობის მცირე ნაშრომი ქართული მართლწერის თანამედროვე პრობლემატიკის შესახებ

Abstract

In 2021, Tbilisi State University Arnold Chikobava Institute of Linguistics celebrated its 80th anniversary. “80 Recommendations on Spelling”, published in 2022, was dedicated to this anniversary. The editor is Tamar Vashakidze who collaborated on the compilation of the booklet with Tea Burchuladze, Ketevan Datukishvili, Maka Labartkava, Vakhtang Maghradze, Tea Teteloshvili and Nino Jorbenadze. The reviewers were Giorgi Gogolashvili and Vazha Shengelia (80 Recommendations, 2022). The publication is comprised of morphological-orthographic and syntactic-stylistic errors that are most widespread in contemporary Georgian. This small but significant booklet is based on the previous editions of the above-mentioned Institute, chiefly on “The Orthographic Dictionary for Schools” (Orthographic Dictionary, 2011). However, the material included in the given collection of recommendations is updated and enriched. For instance, unlike the earlier orthographic dictionaries, according to the given edition, the norm is უნებლიედ uneblied “involuntarily” and not უნებლიეთ unebliet. The latter word is considered correct only in the expression ნებსით თუ უნებლიეთ nebsit tu unebliet “voluntarily or involuntarily”. Besides, certain recommendations are enriched with additional examples, e.g. Recommendation 66: სერვისექსპერტი serviseksp’ert’i “service expert”, სერვისმენეჯერი servismenejeri “service manager”, სერვისცენტრი servistsent’ri “service center” etc. Although the authors of the collection criticize barbarisms, they note that not every word that has been borrowed from English should be considered as barbarism. Some of the borrowings have penetrated into Georgian as international terms, for instance: “აქტორი akt’ori “actor” − this word has penetrated into Georgian as a political term denoting a unit which plays an independent role in the international relations and is represented as a separate subject”. Naturally, publication of such recommendations is a matter of utmost importance. Therefore, below are given certain ideas aimed at its further improval. The booklet offers recommendations regarding incorrect usage of words already established in Georgian. In particular, it brings examples of incorrect usage of foreign words and offers the correct versions as well. However, this rule does not refer to each word, for instance, the word კომუნიკაცია k’omunik’atsia “communication”, or a Russian calque expression აქედან გამომდინარე akedan gamomdinare “therefore” and others. Mention should also be made of certain technical shortcomings to be improved in later editions. This will make the recommendations more comprehensible. For instance, certain recommendations are absolutely appropriate, but written inappropriately with reference to what is offered by this recommendation. Namely, according to Recommendation 35, the compounds containing the root Covid should not be hyphenated but written together in Georgian. Five examples of this kind are given in the booklet. Out of these five, the fifth word კოვიდსერტიფიკატი k’ovidsert’ipik’at’i “Covid certificate” proves the rule vividly. The remaining four examples: კოვიდპანდემია k’ovidp’andemia “Covid pandemic”, კოვიდპასპორტი k’ovidp’asp’ort’i “Covid passport”, კოვიდრეგულაცია k’ovidregulatsia “Covid regulation, კოვიდსასტუმრო k’ovidsast’umro “Covid hotel” are printed in the way that the root “Covid” is given at the end of one line, and the following root is given at the beginning of the following line, hence, a hyphen appears. Such spelling confuses the reader and contradicts the recommendation to write these words without a hyphen. The same applies to Recommendation 17 which offers the word ბიზნეს-პარტნიორი biznes-p’art’niori “business partner” and Recommendation 72, which offers the examples ფოტო-ჟურნალისტი pot’o-zhurnalist’i “photojournalist”, ფოტო-რეპორტიორი pot’o-rep’ort’iori “photo-reporter”. It should also be mentioned that, although the recommendations are given in alphabetical order, the pages of the booklet are not numbered, which hampers the searching process. Publication of the collection of orthographic-stylistic recommendations was an urgent and significant affair. Naturally, such recommendations should be published in an enriched and updated form in the future.