Generalization of bipartite stems in Budugh

Budugh, a critically endangered one-village language of Azerbaijan, makes up with the Kryz dialects the Southern Lezgic branch of East Caucasian. It has generalized bipartite verb stems, characterized by the fact that verbal inflection (negation and ergative gender-number agreement with S/P) is inserted as infixes between a preverb and the (usually monoconsonantal) root. Other, mostly post-radical modifications mark aspect, giving rise to two paradigms, perfective and imperfective, for each verb. Some verbs have a second preverb, and a handful of verbs have optional forms where the negation marker takes the place of the preverb. This article examines the origin of the different preverbs found, and the generalization of a default preverb on verbs whose cognates bear no preverb in related languages. Comparison with less innovative languages, especially Kryz but also Rutul and Tsakhur (Western Lezgic), sheds light on how Budugh renewed the verbal morphological template in a way that is rare in East Caucasian.