"evropuli qartia saqarTvelo "European Charter for Regional or ...

(umlaut) ö, ü sounds, for instance, Balszemoan p’örni, Lentekhian
p’öreni "I am flying" are derived as follows: p’örni< p’w-ernir-v-ecħav>r-ö-cħav…
b) in another case, the consonant complex (v+C) in the initial
position is simplified by placing v- after the next syllable, for instance,
Imeretian, Javakhian: v-naħe>na-v-ħe (cf.: Ingilo: noħenecħ-w-ni "I
am waking up", etc.
In Megrelian the prefix v- will shift next to the root syllable in
certain case, namely, in case of roots with an initial labial consonant (b
p p’ m) (at the same time, marker v- is modified under the influence of
the following consonant):
v-barunk>ba-v-runk>ba-b-runk "I am digging (with spade)";
v-porunk>po-v-runk>po-b-runk "I am hiding, concealing";
v-p’uţorunk>p’u-v-torunk>p’u-p’-ţorunk "I am plucking".
The given phonetic phenomenon reflects certain linguistic regularity.
It is well known that in Georgian (accordingly in the Kartvelian
sub-systems) identical sounds or those of the same place of articulation
(phonemes) do not occur in succession within one morpheme in an initial
position of a word (T. Uturgaidze, 1976, p. 78). Besides, the sound
succession v/w+i seems unnatural for the Kartvelian dialects and its disintegration
occurs in different ways.
In Megrelian prefix v- being unable to remain next to a vowel
prefix i- and, as a rule, converts into infix. The process follows a certain
rule:
1. If a root has an initial non-labial consonant metathesis is contactive,
marker v- is placed after the verb vowel prefix before the root,
for instance: v-i-rduk>i-v-rduk>i-b-rduk "I am frowing up", v-i-ĉqank>i-vĉqank>
i-p’-ĉqank "I am starting", etc.
2. a long-distance metathesis occurs if a root is represented by a
initial labial consonant, morpheme v- is placed after the very first sylla-
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