Synthetic and analytical way of expressing diminutivity in the Ukrainian language of the 11th–18th centuries

Abstract

The main means of diminutive word formation are suffixes, which are of the greatest interest to researchers of diminutival and affectionate vocabulary, however, when studying the problem of the history of diminutive word formation, it is worth taking into account the history of other means of expressing diminutiveness, as word-forming and syntactic ways of expressing diminutiveness have always functioned alongside and interacted. These are analytical and synthetic-analytic means of conveying diminutiveness. The paper presents the results of the analysis of diminutiveness in its pure form, the primacy of diminutiveness and the secondariness of expressive shades based on the example of synthetic-analytical constructions of the 11th–18th centuries. The author determined the synthetic-analytical way of conveying diminutiveness and its role in demarcating small and emotional formations as well. Each lexeme was analyzed in a specific lexical environment, since in diachronic research it is not always possible to be guided by the general meaning, which is the basis of the evaluative word and is established by the generalization of separate multiple contexts, since in past eras diminutiveness was transmitted not only by suffixes, as in affectionate formations, but also with the help of indicator words малъ (малыи) in the 11th–13th centuries, and in the following epochs by such words as невеликий, маленький, мілкий, менший, дрібний etc. These words enable to distinguish smallness from emotionality: горка та не велика, но мала (1106–1108, сп. ХV, ЖХД, 21). A greater role in the detection of diminutive semantics is played by textual clarifications when, for instance, the size of the object was determined: свѣтлочка мала, лав три; в кѣльици малѣ, яко четыре лакоть (КПП, 135) і под. When diminutiveness is conveyed with the use of indicator words in conjunction with a common noun, we are talking about the analytical method: городъ малъ (под 1097, ПВЛ, 234), малого воза (1552, АЮЗР, 1/VІІ, 112). The presence of indicator words великий, болшій in structures with diminutive formants signals dediminution. Without such indicator words, it is often impossible to practically divide lexemes into diminutive, emotional and dediminutive. The materials of the conducted research can be used by derivationists in the study of historical word-forms, the history of the Ukrainian language, teachers, and students in the study of the relevant subject. Keywords: word-form, historical word-form, diminutiveness, pettiness, syntactic means of word-formation