The life cycles of the suffix -ost’- in Russian

Abstract

The research summarises the general framework of N. M. Shansky’s PhD thesis which initiated a range of historical lexicological and synchronic linguistic studies. The paper provides arguments and examples showing the development of the scientist’s ideas on the lexical material of the 19th century. An example is N. M. Shansky’s concept of "semantic centres" in the process of filling in important socio-cultural lacunae. Involving a range of lexemes in structuring the concept "Social Environment" through the formation of relevant connotative components in them (kazarmennost’ – salonnost’ – kabinetnost’ – berlozhnost’ – keleinost’ / Engl. barrackness – salonness – cabinetness or officeness – denness – secrecy) provides a good illustration of the scientist’s idea. The average (relative) number of derivatives with ­ost’­ in the modern language is 3 500 – 4 000 lexemes. The paper examines the lexical and word-formation innovations that expand the field of derivational bases (foreign vocabulary, calques or loan translations, and semi-calques as well as low colloquial vocabulary). Additionally, the study analyses the mechanisms of interaction between the formal and the semantic criteria with the supremacy of the latter as it contributes to the removal of the previous morphonological limitations (derivation from relative adjectives ending in ­skiy). Deriving lexemes with the double ­ost’ suffix has become possible within the word-formation pattern ending in ­ost’: one suffix is in the derivational base, the other – in the stem of the derived word (skorostnost’, lichnostnost’ / Engl. high­speedness, personhood). The paper also outlines the chronological dissonance in the formation of adjectival nouns ending in ­skost’ in Russian abroad half a century ahead of the time they appeared in the language of the metropole. The ­skost’ pattern expands the nominative field by means of including surname derivatives (dostoevskost’, chekhovskost’, stalinskost’, khrushchevskost’, and others). The semantic-motivational stimulus is the "semantic increment" formed in relative adjectives due to the strong pragmatic connotation of particular precedent surnames. Thus, lexemes with the derivational suffix ­ost’­ in the modern language show ample opportunities for development both on the basis of intralingual potentials and as a result of fo reign language influence. The research employed critical-analytical, constructive-synthetic methods, definitional analy sis, the method of distinguishing between synchronic and diachronic word-formation, multiple motivation, the method of analysing usual and occasional words.