Constraints on Kartvelian preverbs

Question

In Georgian and its related languages there is a concept of the "preverb", which is much like the separable and inseparable verb prefixes in German or in English phrasal verbs with a preposition or adverbial particle.

Prefixes sometimes impart some meaning like a preposition, but mostly there is one set preverb per verb which is used in perfective forms.

There is a set number of preverbs in Georgian: ა–, გა–, და–, მი–, მო–, შე–, ჩა–, and წა–.

Preverbs can also be combined, the most common being: ამო–, გადა–, გამო–, and ჩამო–.

But the materials I've been using do not go on to list the full number of possible combinations and permutations. So I'm wondering about rare preverbs, preverbs which might lead to ambiguity in analysing verbs, and whether what is possible and impossible in preverb combinations has been studied.

Specifically:

1. Are preverbs with the same morpheme doubled possible, such as აა- or მიმი-?
2. Is it possible for preverbs to comprise three morphemes?
3. May ა- occur as the second morpheme in a preverb pair?

I've analysed some Georgian text and found words which might be examples of all three types but it's very possible they're not verbs or the following morpheme is causing ambiguity where it looks like part of a preverb. My Georgian knowledge is not yet sufficient to tell.

Answer 1

I can answer only from Hewitt's Georgian, a learner's grammar (which is, of course, not a reference grammar).

He lists the eight you give, together with გადა-, as "Simplex", and all of them (except მო- itself) combined with მო- as "Complex", though he says დამო- is found with only one verbal root.

So if other combinations of two or more preverbs are found, they are outside the notice of this Learner's Grammar.

Answer 2

Hewitt, Aronson and Tschenkeli are in agreement that გადა- is simplex and that the only way that complex preverbs can be formed is by having მო as the second element. Therefore, anything that looks like a complex preverb with something other than მო as the second element, or anything that looks as if it might be a three-part complex preverb should be flagged as a false positive and reinterpreted as some combination potentially including the preverb, object pronouns, version vowels and even the first letters of the root.

Forms such as მომიტანე ("bring me" or "you brought me X") are not parsed *მომი [preverb] + ტან [root] + ე [screeve ending], but should be parsed მო [preverb] + მი [1st p sg indirect object] + ტან [root] + ე [screeve ending]. Contrast with მოგიტანე ("I brought you X"), where there is no such ambiguity.

To give an example with ა looking like part of a preverb, but actually being a version vowel, we could take the example of გაინტერესებს "it interests you", which is not parsed *გა [preverb] + ინტერეს [root] + ებ [P/F stem formant] + ს [screeve ending], but which should be parsed გ [2nd p sg indirect object, h-series] + ა [version vowel] + ინტერეს [root] + ებ [P/F stem formant] + ს [screeve ending]. Contrast with მაინტერესებს ("it interests me"), where there is no such ambiguity.

I hope this helps!