The system of verbs of fallıng in Karata

In this paper we describe the verbs of falling in Karata, an Andic (<East Caucasian) language. Our research is based on the dialect of Karata which is spoken in the village of Karata (Akhvakhsky district, Dagestan, Russia). The semantic field of falling includes eight verbs. The verb t’araɬa ‘to fall down’ is the dominant one. It can be used in the majority of situations of falling. The remaining seven verbs are more specialized. They are used in the situations of falling which have special features. The verb karaɬa ‘to topple over’ describes the situation of falling from a vertical position. Some of the verbs can only be combined with special subjects of falling (e.g. only with humans). t’oraɬa ‘to drip’ and t͡ʃʷaχːaɬa ‘to flow’ describe the falling of water. The first verbal root, t’oraɬa ‘to drip’, describes the falling of small portions of water (e.g. of water drops). Furthermore, the root of this verb may be (partially) reduplicated: in Karata, (partial) reduplication has the semantics of so-called verbal plurality. The meaning of tʼor~t’-aɬa ‘drip~vpl-inf’ presupposes that there was a number of drips, not only one drip. The second verbal root for the falling of water, t͡ʃʷaχːaɬa ‘to flow’, describes the falling of water as a substance (i.e. as a mass noun). tort͡ʃʼːaɬa ‘to crash’ is special in that it implies that the falling occurred with a loud sound. It covers many falling situations, including falling from upside down and falling from vertical position. The verb χːeraɬa ‘to pour’ is used with friable substances (e.g. sand). baχːaɬa ‘to collapse’ describes falling with destruction of the subject of falling. Finally, giraɬa ‘to lay down’ specializes in falling of human subjects from a vertical position. Overall, there are two parameters are crucial for the system of verbs of falling in Karata: (i) a kind of the subject of falling (human vs. non-human, mass noun vs. countable noun) and (ii) a kind of the situation of falling (e.g. falling from a vertical position or falling with destruction of the subject of falling).