fwjefodjbmpcjt!lbufhpsjb! twbovs!fobTj

3. In Svan, inference is a strongly pronounced semantic
characteristic and has its grammatical means of expression. The following are
inferential scrivas proper: Series I – Inferential Present (resp. non-perfective
Future), future with the main preverb, Non-Perfect, and Perfect Conditional;
Series III – Conditional-Resultative I and Condiotional-Resultative II;
preverbal Resultative II is also used with inferential meaning in constructions
containing -u/-oG… particles.
The enumerated evidential forms cannot have verbality as their
source of information, which explains the use of the term „inferential proper“.
The semantics of these verbs is epistemic irrespective of context as each verbform
creates an opposition within or between other scrivas (see Sections
I and II).
4. Traditional Svan conjugation does not feature examples of the
above mentioned inferential (epistemic) scrivas of Series III due to the fact
that Conditional-Resultative I and Conditional-Resultative II have been
identified and termed by the present author quite recently. Therefore, a more
detailed summary of these scrivas is called for:
a) The forms under study are perfective and typical of all casechanging
subject verbs (mono-, bi-, and tri-personal forms);
b) They are inversive in the traditional understanding of the term.
The forms have a real subject with the morphological object marker. Some
scholars (D. Melikishvili) presume that the subject is expressed with the
regular m- sign and reflects the phenomenon present in all scrivas;
c) They (forms of Conditional-Resultative I, Conditional-Resultative
II) create a dative construction in the same manner as other scrivas of series
III do;
d) Epistemics is the semantic sign that creates an opposition with
imperfective experiencial forms of Resulatitive I and II built without any
preverbs.
In Svan, the descriptive forms of these verbs equal Resultative I and
II non-preverbal (non-evidential, experiencial) forms + inferential,
epistemic modal particle [mˆrŠs (UB.), ma…S…li (LB.) „perhaps,
probably“, serTxi „perhaps“ (implies speaker’s expectancy of a negative
event)...].
248
5. In Svan, the source of epistemics is always inference, but
inference does not always guarantee epistemic meaning. Let us underscore
that evidentiality expressed by nonvisual forms may also be inferential, but
unable to assess information in terms of its reliability.
6. The suffix -un (