Частотность и применение некоторых терминообразующих суффиксов монгольского языка

Abstract

The article calculates the meanings and frequency use of some Mongolian term-forming suffixes by the aid of TextStat program. The present paper deals with meanings, functions, frequency and application of some Mongolian term-forming suffixes, such as -тан4 , -нцар2, -гана4, -лзай3, -ж, ‑жин, -ч, -чин, -ийнхан2. The study examines terms to denote plants, animals, minerals and geological objects related to natural sciences in the Russian-Mongolian Terminological Dictionary (editions of 1964, 1970, and 1979) containing 120,000 terms. The study includes two main sections. Firstly, it summarizes works by scientists to have studied the meanings of the suffixes mentioned above, and examines which of the meanings are more frequently used to create terms. Among the scientists who have investigated the Mongolian suffix -тан, T. A. Bertagaev described its meaning as follows: 1. ‘massive’, e.g., цэргийн эрхтэн ʽmilitary authorities, militaristsʼ; 2. ‘singular / plural’, e.g., цагаантан ʽwhite guardsman, white guardsmen; 3. ‘singularity’, e.g., сэхээтэн ʽintellectualʼ. In term formation, -тан4 is commonly used to create terms denoting plant and animal species. For example, in animal names — битүү тууртан ʽodd-toed ungulatesʼ (1); in plant names — Луулийн язгууртан ʽChenopodiaceaeʼ; in names of microorganisms — багц шилбүүртэн ʽlofotrihiʼ (1); in bird names — жигүүртэн ʽbirdsʼ, etc. The suffix -нцар is primarily used to form terms with meaning ‘diminutive’, e. g., үндсэнцэр ʽsmall rootʼ, навчинцар ‘leaflets’ (7); and meanings of similarity, e.g., манинцар ‘hermaphroditism’ (3), болронцор чулуу ‘quartzite’ (2), and the meaning ‘piece of a big thing’, e. g., элэгний хэлтэнцэр ‘hepatic lobule’ (2), etc. Thus, those are suffixes used for semantic extension of the vocabulary. The study also reveals that the suffix -гана4 contains 5 different meanings when it comes to term formation: a) the suffix is mostly added to a noun to create one characterized by specific terminology of the subject. For example, улаагана ‘red currant’ (3), хонхорт харгана ‘cingil silver’ (3), алтгана ‘golden karagana’; b) it is used to create terms denoting shape and form. For example, өргөст бударгана (өргөст хамхуул) ‘Salsola pestifera Nels’ (2); c) it is added to onomatopoetic words imitating animal sounds, such as tsuur tsuur, hed hed to create corresponding terms. For example, цүүргэнэ ‘locust’ (3), хэдгэнэ ‘wasp’ (3), etc. d) it is used to create term with the meaning of similarity. For example, сүүгэнэ ‘Euphorbia’ (1), салаагана ‘chorispora’ (2), гичгэнэ ‘Potentilla bifurca’ (1), e) it is added to roots of loan words to create new plant and fish names. For example, тавилгана — (tavolga + гана) (1), Суладай, нагана — Нагана (Suladai, Nagana — Nagana) (1), etc. The second section of the paper mainly focuses on the frequency of the suffixes -тан4, -нцар2, -гана4, -лзай3, -ж, -жин, -ч, -чин, -ийнхан2 in the Russian-Mongolian Terminological Dictionary analyzed using the TextStat corpus linguistic software. The study concludes the suffix -тан4 to be traced 292 times in the structure of single and compound terms; -нцар — 218; -гана — 68; -ч, -чин — 53; -ж, -жин — 45; -ийнхан — 11.