Principles of word-formation in the Russian language

The stock of words in a language is increased over time by various procedures. In Russian the main procedures have been borrowing, affixation and composition.

Knowledge of the main principles of Russian affixation helps a student to extend her or his vocabulary, because it enables the student in many cases to understand the precise sense of a word and to recognise the word’s relationship with other words derived from the same root.

The student needs to be able to identify the basic components of a Russian verb, noun, or adjective, i.e. its prefix (if it contains one), root and suffix (again, if it contains one), e.g.

Similar principles apply in English, but they are in evidence in words of Greek or Latin origin (e.g. psycho/logy, trans/late, in/scrip/tion) rather than in the words of Germanic origin which constitute the bulk of the most common, everyday vocabulary of English. Some of the English prefixes and suffixes derived from Latin that are equivalent to Russian prefixes and suffixes are noted in the following sections.

It should be emphasised that while an understanding of Russian affixation and of the meanings of a word’s components aids recognition of words and retention of vocabulary, the principles of word-formation cannot be applied in a wholly predictable way. The foreign student must therefore check that a word whose form may be inferred from the principles given here does actually exist.

Diminutive, augmentative and expressive suffixes

Russian is rich in suffixes which either indicate the size, especially smallness, of an object or are indicative of the speaker’s attitude (which may be affectionate, tender, attentive or scornful, ironic, disparaging) towards it. Many suffixes may serve both a diminutive and an affectionate (hypocoristic) purpose. Note though that in certain nouns, or in some nouns when suffixes are used in certain meanings, the suffix has lost its original diminutive or hypocoristic function (e.g. when the noun ру.чкa means the handle of a door).

As a rule diminutives and augmentatives are of the same gender as the noun to which the suffix is attached, even when the suffix ends with a vowel normally associated with another gender. For example, the noun городи.шко, god-forsaken town, is masculine like го.род even though nouns in -o are generally neuter.

Because they are highly expressive colloquial forms diminutives belong primarily to the colloquial register, although they are widely used in the literary variety of the written language and in folk poetry. They are less likely to be encountered in the neutral register and are generally altogether absent in the more formal varieties of higher register, especially academic and official.

The following lists of diminutive, augmentative and expressive suffixes are not exhaustive; they contain only some of the more productive suffixes.

Diminutive and hypocoristic suffixes

Double diminutive suffixes

Some suffixes are really double diminutive suffixes. They may help to form nouns denoting particularly small objects or they may serve as terms of special endearment.

The augmentative suffix -ищe/-ищa

-ищe is added to masculine and neuter nouns, -ищa to feminine nouns, e.g.

городи.щe a very large town

бороди.щa a massive beard

Pejorative suffixes

The basic function of pejorative suffixes is to indicate scorn or contempt on the part of the speaker or writer towards the person or object in question. At the same time these suffixes may also have a quite different function, i.e. they may express affection in an ironic tone. The main pejorative suffixes are:

Task 6. Use the word at the end of each gap to form a new word with which to fill the gap. Make sure to take into consideration forms using various prefixes and suffixes, as well as negative forms.

In the centre of the room, clamped to an upright easel, stood the full-length portrait of a young man of _____ (ORDINARY) personal beauty, and in front of it, some little _____ (DISTANT) away, was sitting the artist himself, Basil Hallward, whose sudden _____ (APPEAR) some years ago caused, at the time, such public _____ (EXCITE), and gave rise to so many strange conjectures. As the painter looked at the _____ (GRACE) and comely form he had so _____ (SKILL) mirrored in his art, a smile of ______ (PLEASE) passed across his face, and seemed about to linger there. But he _____ (SUDDEN) started up, and, closing his eyes, placed his fingers upon the lids, as though he sought to _____ (PRISON) within his brain some curious dream from which he feared he might _____ (WAKE).

Date: 2014-12-22; view: 1752