The Russian language is very rich and figurative. There are many ways to give words a particular connotation. One of them is word formation. That is, by adding certain morphemes, the meaning of a word can sparkle with new colors. Parts of a word can give it a diminutive connotation, introduce a derogatory, dismissive and familiar connotation, indicate abstraction or abstractness, reflect a subjective assessment, show membership in a particular group, increase intensity, and much more.
What is a suffix?
A suffix is a part of a word (morpheme) that is found in a word after the root. A suffix can be part of different parts of speech.
Thus, the suffixes characteristic of nouns are: -echk-, -ichk-, -ochk-, -ashk-, -ishk-, -ek-, -ik-, -ok-, -chik-, -enk-, - onk-, -in-, -ish-, -k-, -enk-, -ink-, -onk-, -ets-, -its-, etc. Examples of use in words: tablet, button, vase, face, bunny, pot, elephant, ten, carrier, kitty, daughter, domina, house, bead, pine, cobweb, vest, white guard, nonsense and etc.
The suffixes of adjectives include: -el-, -an-, -ast-, -ev-, -ov-, -enn-, -iv-, -in-, -ist-, -chiv-, -enk-, -onk-, -liv-, etc. Let us give a number of examples: tanned, leather, bespectacled, beige, hedgehog, morning, beautiful, swan, golden, resourceful, blue, deep, happy and etc.
Verbs are characterized by suffixes such as -a-, -e-, -i-, -ova-, -eva-, -iva-, -l-, -i-, -ite-, -nu-, -stva- etc. For example: run, get dark, saw, draw, dance, walk, wanted, write, look, gasp, be silent and etc.
Adverbs are characterized by the following suffixes: -a-, -o-, -e-, -i-, -ucha-, -zhdy-, -to-, -either-, -something-, etc. Let’s give a few examples: again, good, pleadingly, friendly, sneaking, one day, somewhere, someone, someday and etc.
Participles use the suffixes -ash-, -ush-, -vsh-, -enn-, -nn-, etc. The following examples can be given: screaming, writing, stabbing, offended, read and etc.
Participles are characterized by the suffixes -a-, -я-, -в-, etc. For example: knocking, drawing, writing and etc.
So, from the above examples it is clear that the suffix serves to form new words. Let's take a closer look at the methods of word formation, where a morpheme such as a suffix takes part.
Suffix method
This method implies that a suffix must be added to the stem. Let's look at examples with the addition of the suffixes -ichk-, -echk- and others. Water - water, fox - fox, book - little book(in this example, the letters “g” and “zh” alternate in the root), word - word, write - writer, dream - dreamer, white - little white, tree - wooden, proud - pride, ruthless - mercilessly, warn - warning and so on.
Prefix-suffix method
To use this method, you need to attach both a prefix and a suffix to the base. Here are some examples: avoid - inevitable, road - roadside(in this example we also observe the alternation of the letters “g” and “zh” in the root), blanket - duvet cover, blind - low-blind, job - unemployed, city - suburban, candle - candlestick and so on.
Suffix -echk-. Rule
Many morphemes take part in word formation. Let us dwell in more detail on the suffix -echk- and consider the features of its use. This morpheme gives the word a diminutive meaning (compare, spoon - spoon, watering can - watering can, nut - nut, seed - seed and etc.). This suffix is used in a number of cases.
Namely, for the formation of a feminine and neuter noun, provided that the suffix -ek- is present in the plural and genitive case, where the letter “e” is fluent. Let's look at it with an example. Word nurse in the genitive plural it has the form nannies(suffix -ek-, the sound “e” is fluent). Accordingly, you can form a word with the suffix -echk- - nanny. Or another example: the word book. Putting it in the genitive plural form, we get: books(the suffix -ek- is also present, the sound “e” is fluent). Therefore, it is possible to form the form little book.
The suffix -echk- is also used to create diminutive forms of names. For example, Vanya - Vanechka, Fedya - Fedechka, Kolya - Ring, Sonya - Sonechka, Lilya - Lilechka, Olya - Olechka, Tanya - Tanechka, Raya - Raechka and etc.
In addition to the above, the suffix -echk- is placed in neuter nouns formed from a noun ending in -mya. Examples include the following: crown - crown, time - little time, name - name and etc.
Suffix -echk- and others. Comparison
Let's compare the use of similar morphemes. To begin with, let's focus on the suffixes -ichk-, -echk-. The use of -echk- has been described in detail above. As for the suffix -ichk-, it is used in feminine nouns formed from nouns that include the suffix -itz-. For example, tit - tit, scissors - scissors, bulb - bulb, ladder - ladder and etc.
Next, let's look at the suffixes -ochk-, -echk-. After hard paired consonants the letter “o” is placed. The letter “e” should be written in other cases. For example, asterisk, bedside table, tube, chain, spatula, time, nanny and etc.
Examples of word usage
Words that have a diminutive meaning are very common, especially in spoken language. Below we provide a list of the most common words that contain the suffix -echk-.
Book, seed, spoon, watering can, name, tablet, bridle, nanny, daughter, uncle, auntie, darling, word, time, window, saucer, strainer, piece of paper, little crown, little insect, place, morning, little stove, little birdie and etc.
Now you know all the subtleties of using the suffix -echk-.
Spelling noun suffixes includes a number of rules. We have already examined the spelling of N and NN, so the remaining rules can be divided into two types of rules:
1) Spelling consonants in noun suffixes;
2) Spelling vowels in noun suffixes.
Spelling of consonants in noun suffixes.
1) Suffix -chik written in nouns whose stems end in consonants g, h, s, d, t:
Counter, pilot, scout, storyteller.
Note. Consonants k, h, c, to which the stem of the noun ends, when adding suffix -chik alternate with -t-:
Distribution is a distributor, reconnaissance is a scout.
2) Suffix -schik written in nouns whose stem ends with all other consonants:
Welder, welder, nuclear engineer.
Spelling vowels in noun suffixes.
1) Suffix -chik or suffix -chek?
The suffix -chik is written in cases where the suffix remains unchanged in case declension:
Key - key - key; boy - boy - boy.
If a vowel drops out during case declension, then we write in the nominative case suffix -ek:
Lock - lock - lock.
Attention. There is no suffix -chek in Russian!
2) Suffix -enk- and -onk-.
If the noun stem ends in a soft consonant or consonants f, w, then the suffix is written -enk-:
The soul is a darling, the dawn is a dawn.
If the stem of a noun ends in hard consonants, except f, w, then the suffix is written -onk-:
A lip is a sponge, a fur coat is a fur coat.
Words to remember. Good girl, good girl, little bunny.
3) Suffixes -ich- + -k- get nouns whose stem ends in -its- (at the same time, alternation occurs -ts/-h-):
A bird is a bird, a button is a button.
The remaining nouns receive diminutive suffix -echk-:
Seed, Manechka, name.
Note. There is no unstressed suffix -yachk- in the Russian language!
4) Suffixes -in- + -k- are written in zh.r. nouns, the stem of which ends in -in- :
pea - pea; machine - machine.
The combination of suffixes -en- + -k- forms the diminutive form of nouns that end in -nya and -na (in which the plural form is gendered. not written soft sign):
Arable land - arable land - arable land; pine - pine - pine.
5) Suffix -ets(o) written in neuter nouns in which the stress falls on the ending:
Letter
If the stress in such nouns falls on one of the syllables of the base, then the suffix is written -its(e):
§ 47. -enk-, -onk-(in nouns). In nouns with suffix -enk- (-onk-) the initial vowel of the suffix, always unstressed, is written in letters e
(after paired soft consonants and sibilants, as well as after vowels) and O
(after paired hard consonants): daddy, daughter, little leg, darling, Petenka, Varenka, Seryozhenka, Mashenka, Zoenka; birch, baby, kitty, little teeth, Veronka. Exceptions: in words bunny And good boy, and also in the word bainki the letter is written in the suffix And
. Note 1. Among writers of the 19th century. spellings of proper names like Marfinka, Polinka, Fedinka(with letter And
), and Lisanka, lisanka(with letter A
; the latter - in folklore texts). Such spellings, although they deviate from the modern spelling norm, are preserved in reprints of the corresponding texts. Note 2. In texts focused on folklore tradition, there is also a spelling of this suffix with the letter that deviates from the modern norm s
after a hard consonant, for example: A cry is heard from the next stripe, / Baba is there - her kerchiefs are disheveled, / We need to rock the child!(Necr.); For Nadya the bride-to-be there is a dowry in the closet(Born.); It will roll and roll - that’s it, I think my death has come!(Shuksh.). Writing -ynk- -To(A) from nouns to -ynya: alms - alms, lady - lady.
§ 48. -points-, -points-. In nouns with suffix -points-(-echk-) the initial unstressed vowel of the suffix is represented by letters O (after paired hard consonants) and e (in other cases): bulb(from lamp), bath, vase, blouse, mommy, Ninochka, Allochka, Vovochka; auntie, Vanechka, Olechka, Raechka; for a while(from time), little name(from Name), seed, morning. Emphasis on the suffix - in a single word .
Nouns with a diminutive suffix have the same orthographic appearance -To- formed from nouns in -ka, -ko, -ki: baby(from Babe), spinning wheel, papilla, fence, sleigh(from sled); tiny, watering can, window(from window), etc. (in letters O And e a fluent vowel is transmitted, see § 64).
Note. Deviates from the modern norm of writing type auntie, Volodichka, Raichka(as well as the stylized writing traditional in modern texts Venichka Erofeev). Writing -ichk- at the end of stems (not under stress) normal for words formed with a suffix -To- from nouns with a stem on -its-, -hic-, eg: ladder - staircase, mill - mill, button - button, scissors - scissors, factory - factory, Edik - Edichka.
§ 49. -achiy (-yachiy), -echy, -ichy. It is necessary to distinguish between adjectives with a stressed suffix -achiya (-yachy) type and adjectives on -echiy with suffix -th, where the letter e an unstressed fluent vowel is transmitted (see § 64), for example: (from ), ( ), ( ), .
In words And unstressed vowel at the beginning of a suffix -ichiya transmitted by letter And .
§ 50. -ek, -ik. It is necessary to distinguish between diminutive suffixes of masculine nouns -ek(in unstressed position) and -hic, -chick(always unstressed). In the suffix -ek vowel (tested under stress in words like ) is fluent, and in suffixes -ik And -chick the vowel is preserved during declination. Thus, the fluent vowel is represented here by the letter e (see § 64), and non-fluent - with the letter And , eg: ravine - ravine, piece - piece, knife - knife, lamb - lamb, but table - table, roll - roll, glass - glass.
According to the same rule, formations characteristic of colloquial speech and vernacular are written in -ik with a non-fluent suffix vowel and a truncated stem of the producing word type (bike), telly (TV), video (video recorder), schizo (schizophrenic), as well as truncated diminutive personal names like Alik, Vladik.
§ 51. -ink-, -enk-, -ank- (-yank-). Nouns should be differentiated into -Inca and on -enka(with unstressed vowels before n).
Words on -Inca -To(A) from nouns to -ina, eg: dent - dent, thawed patch - thawed patch, straw - straw, or have a suffix -inc(A), e.g.: bead, hitch, cunning(see § 42).
Words on -enka or formed with a diminutive suffix -To(A) from nouns to -nya, -na having before n fluent vowel (see § 64), e.g.: cherry (cherries) - (songs) - (pine trees) - (the word is also spelled ), or have a suffix -enk(A) with the meaning of a female person: . In this suffix the letter is written without accent e , although under emphasis - A (I ), e.g.: Greek, Turkish, maid, mountain woman, Chinese, Kurdish, fugitive, noblewoman. Wed. options And .
Note. About names of female persons with a suffix -To(A) type Yalta, Penzenka see § 55.
-anyok, -anyok. In diminutive nouns kumanek And hubby at the beginning of the suffix before n an unstressed vowel is expressed in different letters - respectively A And e .
§ 52. -id-, -ets-. In the suffix of neuter diminutive nouns before ts a letter is written in place of the unstressed vowel And , if the stress precedes the suffix, and the letter e , if the stress comes after the suffix (at the end), for example: , But .
§ 53. -(m)en-. In the basics of indirect cases and plural forms. including nouns -me the suffix is written -en- with a letter e in place of an unstressed vowel, for example: time - time And times, name - name And names, seed - seeds And seeds. Letter e also written in adjectives with the suffix -n-, formed from the same stems and ending in -ny or -ennay: temporary And temporal(cf. time, time), fiery, tribal, nominal, seed, stirrup. However, under stress in the forms gender. p.m. hours of words per -me and in some words derived from them it is written (according to pronunciation) not only e or e , but also I : Wed , But: (noun), (option: ).
§ 54. -yshk-, -yshek, -eshek and -ushk- (-yushk-), -ushek. In suffixes of diminutive nouns -ysk-(in words of the middle gender) and -yshek(in masculine words) a letter is written after hard consonants without stress s , eg: speck, wing, piece of glass, nest, feather, peg, wedge, sparrow. In a word in the suffix before w letter is written e .
These nouns should be distinguished from nouns with affectionate suffixes -ushk- (-yushk-) And -ears, also unstressed: grass, volushka, grandfather, uncle, nightingale, kids, Annushka, Ivanushka, little pole, goryushko, bread, pebble. Letter options available s And at in suffixes: little sparrows And sparrow, pancakes And pancakes.
§ 55. -insk-, -ensk-. It is necessary to distinguish between adjective suffixes -insk- And -ensk-(with letters And And e in place of an unstressed vowel).
It is written -insk-
a) from the names of female persons on -A (-I), including personal female names, for example: sister - sisterly, Ekaterina - Catherine, Elizaveta - Elizabethan, Anna - Anninsky;
-A (-I), e.g.: Balashikha - Balashikha, Yelnya - Elny, Istra - Istra, Nakhodka - Nakhodka, Okhta - Okhta, Tynda - Tynda, Shilka - Shilka, Yalta - Yalta; exceptions: Penza - Penza, Presnya - Presnensky, Skhodnya - Skhodnensky;
c) from geographical names to -and, -s, eg: Gryazi - Gryazi, Mytishchi - Mytishchi, Sochi - Sochi, Tiksi - Tiksin, Tolyatti - Tolyatti, Khimki - Khimki, Shakhty - Shakhty.
It is written -ensk- in adjectives formed:
a) from geographical names to -ny, -ny, eg: Grozny - Grozny, Izobilny - Izobilnensky, Mirny - Mirnensky, Otradnoe - Otradnensky, Svobodny - Svobodnensky, Spornoye - Spornensky;
b) from geographical names to -But, eg: Grodno - Grodno, Molodechno - Molodechno, Rivne - Rivne, Tosno - Tosno;
c) from words with a base on -searching-(except for words on -look), e.g.: beggar - beggar, cemetery - cemetery, Gorodishche(city, town) - Gorodischesky, Zaimishche(village) - zaimishchesky.
Other adjectives do not form groups, for example: "Izvestia" - Izvestian, Lodz - Lodz, Ustye(village) - Ustinsky, But Christmas - Christmas, Kerch - Kerch, also spelled Nashenskiy(from our). Such spellings are defined in dictionary order.
Note 1. The stress in adjectives of this type is the suffix -insk-, eg: .
Note 2. From adjectives with suffixes -insk- And -ensk- adjectives like (from Kolomna, Ustyuzhna, Livny), where the suffix -sk-, and the letter e the fluent vowel of the root is transmitted (see § 64).
-Inets, -Enets; -ink(a), -enk(a). Just like in adjectives -Insky or -ensky, written And or e in nouns formed from them with suffixes -ets And -To(A), e.g.: Elizabethan, Yalta, Sochi, Izvestian, But Penza, Grozny, Kerch; Yalta, But Penzenka.
-instv-, -enstv-. Suffixes vary -inst- in words (with emphasis on the ending, in the version - on the suffix) and -ness- in a word (with emphasis on the root).
§ 56. -oshn-, -ashn-, -eshn-, -ishn-. In adjectives like there, present unstressed vowel of the suffix before a combination of consonants shn conveyed differently in writing. Letter O written in words (from evening‘yesterday evening’), letter A - V (options with hard n: true, truly); after soft consonants a letter is written e V And And - V (from mass). The stress in this suffix is the vowel And in a single word .
Note. In words like tomorrow, today, present, vowel before shn does not apply to the suffix.
§ 57. -iv-, -ev-(in nouns). Vowels are written And or e in suffixes -iv(O), -ev(O) verbal nouns of the neuter gender, denoting a product, substance, collective concept as an object or result of an action. Wed, on the one hand, , and on the other hand, . Writing And or e defined in dictionary order. Stress in words of this type occurs only And: .
§ 58. -ush- (-yush-), -ash- (-box-). In the suffixes of active present participles the same vowels are written as in the 3rd person plural forms. including the same verbs (see § 74):
at (Yu ) - in participles of verbs of the first conjugation, for example: plowing, hiding, fighting, stabbing, wavering, sowing, reading, drawing;
A (I ) - in participles of verbs of the second conjugation, for example: .
Exceptions: participles fastidious(from glimmer, glimmer) And building(Xia) (from build(Xia) are written with the suffix -ush-.
§ 59. -eat-, -im-. In the suffixes of passive present participles and correlative adjectives, the letter is written e - in formations from verbs of the first conjugation, letter And - in formations from verbs of the second conjugation, for example: fluctuated, read, organized, viewed, inexhaustible; visible, audible.
Exception: participle movable(from move, moves) is written with the suffix -them-.
-ability, -ability. The suffixes of verbal nouns are distributed similarly to the suffixes of passive participles. -ability And -cost. Letter e written as a suffix in formations from verbs of the first conjugation, letter And - in formations from verbs of II conjugation. Wed, for example: And . The stress in the suffix of nouns of this type is only the vowel And: .
§ 60. -ann- (-yann-) and -an- (-yan-); -enn- and -en-. It is necessary to distinguish between passive participles (as well as verbal adjectives) -anny (-yanny), - any (-yany), on the one hand, and on -en, -en- with another. Letter A (I ) is written in these participles and adjectives if the corresponding verb in the infinitive (indefinite form) ends in -at (-yat), e.g.: attached(from tie), knitted(from to knit), sculptured (sculpture), infused (insist), unpicked (pick open), sown (sow), dispelled (dispel), winnowed (winnow), felted (wallow).
Exceptions: in passive participles of verbs -equate And - level with prefixes the letter is written in the suffix e , eg: leveled (level out), equivalent (equate), aligned (level out), leveled (level out).
Letter e before NN (n ) is written in participles and adjectives formed from all other verbs, for example: seen (see), wounded (wound), wounded (injure), frozen (to freeze), frozen (freeze), painted (paint), painted (paint), measured (measure), measured (measure), tortured (torture), tormented (torment), oiled (oil), withdrawn (withdraw), shorn (cut off), defeated (bring down). Letter e in such formations (in the suffix -enn- or -en-) is checked by striking position, for example: boiled (cook), listed (bring in), given (bring).
In accordance with this rule, the spelling of such participles and adjectives differs, such as, for example, hung, hung(from hang up, hang up) And hung, hung(from hang up, hang up); mixed, stirred, kneaded, mixed(from mix, stir, knead, stir) And kneaded, kneaded, kneaded(from knead, knead, knead); pumped out, pumped out(from pump out, upload) And pumped out, pumped out(from roll out, roll out); shot(from shoot) And shot(from shoot).
Note. Words derived from such participles and adjectives are written in a similar way: cf., for example, dyed(from painted) And mishmash (mixed up).
§ 61. -yva- (-iva-), -ova- (-eva-). In verbs with a suffix -yva- (-willow-) (always unstressed), having the meaning of an imperfect form (sometimes also of multiple actions), are written before V letters s or And , eg: roll up, smear, see; overwhelm, talk over, jump up, hear, twist, beg, insist.
Verbs with suffix -yva- (-willow-) should be distinguished in writing from verbs with the suffix -ova- (-Eve-). Verbs of these two types form the present tense differently: verbs in -ow (-eat) have the form of the 1st person on -yy (-yuyu) (Without -oe-, -ev-), e.g.: I talk - to talk, I manage - to manage, I envy - to envy, I confess - to confess, I preach - to preach, I scourge - to scourge, I grieve - to grieve; verbs have the same -yat (-ive) the 1st person form ends in -I'm (-Ivayu) (with saving -y-, -iv-), e.g.: inspect - inspect, deploy - deploy, reconnoiter - reconnoiter, inspect - inspect.
§ 62. Vowels before -va -. In imperfective verbs with a suffix , having the form of the 1st person on , unstressed vowels before V are checked according to the general rule (see § 33), for example: ( ), ( ), ( ), ( ), ( ), ( ), ( ), ( ).
However, in the following verbs (in 1st person ) is written with a special suffix with a letter e in place of an untested unstressed vowel: (cf. ), (cf. ); .
§ 63. -e(t), -i(t). The verbs differ -there are And -it. Verbs to -there are(in 1st person -her) - intransitive I conjugations - have the meaning ‘to become something, acquire a characteristic’, for example: become weak, become weak‘become powerless, lose strength’, to numb, to harden‘become harsh’. Verbs to -it(in 1st person And absent) - transitive II conjugations - have the meaning ‘to make something, to endow with a characteristic’, for example: weaken, weaken‘to make someone powerless, to deprive someone of strength’, anesthetize, neutralize, numb, weaken. Wed. the same suffixes under stress in verbs like ( By) And ( By) , (O) , (once) .
-ene(t), -eni(t). The acquisition of some attribute, the transition to another state is also expressed in intransitive verbs of the first conjugation in , in which there is an unstressed vowel before n transmitted by letter e: freeze, ossify, stiffen, become numb, traverse, turf, become bloody, become glazed, become frenzied, dumbfounded, numb. Correlative transitive verbs of II conjugation in , denoting endowment with a characteristic, are also written with the letter e: freeze, numb, ossify, bloody, frenzied, numb and so on.
Note. Writing verbs in - nope And -enit does not agree with the spelling of the corresponding relative adjectives, in which (if any) is written in the suffix before
Lesson topic: Formation of nouns with diminutive
Affectionate suffixes –ochk, -echk, -chik.
Target: - learn to form nouns with diminutives
Suffixes -ochk, -echk -ichk;
Development of a sense of rhythm, attention, memory, general and fine motor skills.
Progress of the lesson.
- Org. moment.
Exercise "Fist-palm".
To the beat of the drum, children perform the following movements:
Clench your fingers into a fist, unclench your fist, and place your palms on the table.
The tambourine sounds either fast or slow.
- Formation of nouns with diminutive suffixes –ochk, -echk, -chik.
Well, think about it, boys and girls:
What is the difference between a squirrel and a squirrel?
Hare from the bunny,
A finger from a finger?
Children answer the question of the poem.
Right! Today we will talk about big and small objects. All small objects should be called affectionately.
Listen to one interesting story!
In one magical land there lived strange people. They were very, very small. And everything in this country was small. And the little men spoke a strange language. They called everything that surrounded them affectionately and tenderly. They spoke:
Not a cup, but a cup
Not a stick, but a wand
Not a Christmas tree, but a Christmas tree
The little people sent us a letter about how they live. But this is not a simple letter, a magical one. The sentences in the letter are not fully written. You yourself will have to finish the sentences with gentle words.
- Physical exercise.
A) on a lexical topic.
B) Exercise “Mushroom rain”.
When the speech therapist says: “Rain,” the children ring their bells. When he says: “Thunder,” they stomp their feet loudly. At the word “Silence,” everyone falls silent and quietly sits down in their seats.
- Formation of nouns with diminutive affectionate suffiuses –ochk, -echk, -chik.
The speech therapist reads the letter.
Hello, kids! We live in the most beautiful magical land of little people. Our names are the same as yours, only affectionately: Tanechka, Olechka, Kolechka, Lenochka, Vovochka.
Early in the morning we wake up and go to wash. myface, fingers, shoulders. Let's go have breakfast. We havecup, spoon, plate.And there’s also a little one living with us kitty, she really likes to drink milk and then falls on high chair and sleeps. After breakfast we go out to porch and let's go for a walk. They live in our yardgoat, sheep and dog. Dogloves to play with with a stick. And in our flowerbed we have a beautiful one growing rose. Then we go into the forest. There grows tall herringbone , a small one sits on its branches squirrel and eats a mushroom.
Russian diminutive names are given, formed from names of the first declension using suffixes -points-/-echk- And -onk-/-enk-. Next to each name it is indicated in how many texts included in the National Corpus of the Russian Language it appeared:
| Alla | Allochka - 53 | Allonka - 1 |
| Anya | Anechka - 122 | Anenka - 2 |
| Valya | Valechka - 68 | Valenka - 10 |
| Vasya | Vasechka - 9 | Vasenka - 145 |
| Volodya | Volodechka - 20 | Volodenka - 48 |
| Glasha | Glashechka - 1 | Glashenka - 16 |
| Dima | Dimochka - 24 | Dimonka - 0 |
| Klava | Klavochka - 23 | Klavonka - 0 |
| Kolya | Ring - 23 | Kolenka - 85 |
| Nadia | Nadechka - 7 | Nadenka - 129 |
| Peter | Petechka - 16 | Petenka - 89 |
| Sasha | Sasha - 7 | Sasha - 199 |
| Sveta | Svetochka - 45 | Svetonka - 0 |
| Senya | Senechka - 21 | Senenka - 0 |
| Seryozha | Seryozhechka - 8 | Serezhenka - 87 |
| Tanya | Tanechka - 146 | Tanenka - 0 |
| Tolya | Tolechka - 22 | Tolenka - 8 |
| Julia | Yulechka - 23 | Yulenka - 37 |
Task
Exercise 1. Describe the patterns that determine which names are more likely to add a suffix -points-/-echk-, and which ones - suffix -onk-/-enk-. For which names cannot you predict with certainty which suffix will be more frequent?
Task 2. Pairs of diminutive names are given:
Vitechka ~ Vitenka
Lidochka ~ Lidonka
Lyubochka ~ Lyubonka
Olechka ~ Olenka
Sonechka ~ Sonenka
Yashechka ~ Yashenka
For each of these pairs, guess which name appears more often in the National Corpus of the Russian Language.
Note. Statistical data is provided as of 03/03/2012.
Clue
Pay attention to which consonant comes last at the base of the name.
Solution
Let's divide names into two groups depending on which option is more common: with a suffix -points-/-echk- or with the suffix - onk-/-yenk-
-points-/-Echk-: Alla, Anya, Valya, Dima, Klava, Sveta, Senya, Tanya, Tolya
-onk-/-yenk-: Vasya, Volodya, Glasha, Kolya, Nadia, Peter, Sasha, Seryozha, Julia
We can assume that which suffix is more frequent depends on the final consonant of the stem, and get an answer to exercise 1:
For names whose stem ends in soft l’, the rules cannot be set: Valya And Tolya belong to the same group Kolya And Julia- to another.
Task 2. Applying the rules described in task 1, we get:
Vitechka < Vitenka, Lidochka > Lidonka, Lyubochka > Lyubonka, Sonechka > Sonenka, Yashechka < Yashenka.
Make a reliable prediction for a couple Olechka ~ Olenka impossible.
All these predictions will be confirmed if you check the answers from the National Corpus of the Russian Language. Moreover, it turns out that Olenka more frequently than Olechka:
Afterword
Having solved this problem, we did a little linguistic research, which would not have been easy to implement in the pre-computer era. Of course, for soft names n’ (Senya etc.) we could assume without any calculations that Senechka is used frequently and Senenka- no, but for many other names (for example, for names with soft consonants except n’: Vasya etc.) it would be difficult to do this.
In order to be able to evaluate a language not only on the basis of their own intuition, linguists create text corpora. A corpus is a large and representative collection of texts in a particular language (or languages), preferably equipped with linguistic markup. The largest and most popular such resource for the Russian language is the National Corpus of the Russian Language (NCRL). It contains a wide variety of texts, written and spoken.
Search queries to NKRJ can be very different. The easiest option is to look for the exact forms of words. For example, by one by one entering the queries on the NCRY search page I'll get well And I'll get better, you can see which of these forms is used more often ( I'll get well- 40 times, I'll get better- 33 times), and also try to understand whether there are any differences in the use of these forms. This approach, adopted in modern linguistics, contradicts the traditional idea of linguists as people who only establish the norm. In dictionaries option I'll get well preference is given ( I'll get better declared to be incorrect or colloquial at best), but describing which variants are actually used is actually much more important than imposing artificial norms on speakers.
Since the NCRL defines the initial form and grammatical characteristics for each word, more complex search queries can be set. For example, in Russian in quantitative combinations with numerals two, three, four, one and a half and feminine words there are two competing constructions: two new notebooks And two new notebooks. To find out which case of the adjective is most often used with the numeral two, let’s set a two-word query in the lexico-grammatical search: word two in the feminine nominative case and any adjective in the nominative or, respectively, genitive plural case. We will get 9209 examples for the nominative case of the adjective and 1265 examples for the genitive case. After this, you can analyze them and try to find some rules for using these constructions that are not obvious at first glance.
Of course, some of the functions of corpora can be performed by search engines. In fact, the Yandex or Google databases are very large corpuses, much larger in volume than both the NKR and any other existing corpus. But, firstly, these databases are devoid of linguistic markup (you cannot ask Yandex to search for adjectives in the genitive plural), and secondly, due to a number of technical reasons, search engine statistics must be treated with great caution (see, for example, Kilgarriff 2007). It is worth recognizing, however, that many problems arise when using corpora (see Belikov 2011).
Returning to the material of the problem, we note that the corpus is not the only possible source of information about the frequency of diminutive names. Similar results can be obtained by entering the same names into the search
