The Tradition of Fieldwork in Kartvelian Languages and the Contemporary Situation at Tbilisi State University

Abstract

Language material can be documented in the written form or based on oral speech. Then peculiarities of field material are spontaneity (absence of preliminary preparation) and oral dissemination. Within Kartvelian languages, such data are peculiar of the dialects of literary Georgian language, Megrelian, Laz and Svan languages. Oral texts are of interdisciplinary nature and embrace folklore, ethnology-ethnography and linguistics. In the process of recording, linguistic data should be treated with utmost care and precision, taking into account the structuring of information, phonetical-phonological and morphological data. The paper analyzes the past and present states of the fieldwork implemented by Tbilisi State University with the aim of collection of Megrelian, Laz and Svan data. It is well known that the methodology of fieldwork-planning changes with time. This is also due to the introduction of computer technology in the process of fieldwork.