The Stress Characteristics of the Russian Suffix -аж/-яж

Abstract

This paper analyses the complex stress properties of the Russian suffix -аж/-яж, in particular the apparent effects on it of the pragmatic factor and professional speech which are both features of A. A. Zaliznjak's work on Russian word stress. After examining other analyses of the suffix, Zaliznjak's is chosen as the most comprehensive. It classifies the suffix as having a dominant ending-stress pattern, but it also specifies fixed stem stress in nouns with polysyllabic stems or in non-assimilated nouns. The question of whether assimilation/non-assimilation correlates to actual data on frequency is answered positively by examining an extensive corpus of contemporary Russian. In this way the pragmatic factor is shown to have sound empirical foundations. The article concludes by examining the question of whether nouns formed with the suffix -аж/-яж are, in fact, more accurately described as underived nouns, since the effect of the pragmatic factor affects them, from the point of view of word stress, exactly as it affects other underived nouns.