Abstract
The aim of this research is to identify the main structural patterns of affixes of Lithuanian inflective words, their productivity and frequency. We present a survey of the structural diversity and productivity of these morphemes rendered in The Dictionary of Modern Lithuanian and in The Grammar of Modern Lithuanian. The frequency data was collected from The Database of the Morphemics of the Lithuanian Language. The morpheme analysis has revealed the following tendencies: 1) while prefixes are always monosyllabic, suffixes and flexions can vary from non-syllabic to trisyllabic, 2) within these morphemes, consonant clusters are not frequent. Prefixes in Lithuanian can have C0-2VC0-2 structure. The most productive and frequent pattern is C1V. Suffixes have structures C1-2, C0-2V(W)C0-3 and C0-1VC1-2VC0-2. The most productive are VC1 of nominal words and C1, VC0-1 verbal suffixes. In usage, VC1 suffixes of nominal words and V, C1 as well as VC1 verb patterns dominate. Flexions can have the following structures: C1, VC0-2, VC1VC0-1 or VC1VC1VC0-1. The most productive patterns are simple VC0-1, which also dominate the usage. The analysis has revealed the influence of a root on the structure of other morphemes. The most typical root structure C1-2VC1-2 entails a C1V structure prefix on the one side, while on the other - a suffix or a flexion with VC0-1 structure. The result of such combination is quite a consistent a consonant + a vowel + a consonant (+ a consonant) + a vowel + a consonant (+ a consonant) + a vowel (+ a consonant) chain: C1V + C1-2VC1-2 + VC0-1.
Highlights
We present a survey of the structural diversity and productivity of these morphemes rendered in The Dictionary of Modern Lithuanian and in The Grammar of Modern Lithuanian
We provide a survey of the structural diversity of affixes rendered in The Dictionary of Modern Lithuanian (DML) and in The Grammar of Modern Lithuanian (GML), thereby establishing the productivity of structural patterns
The word parašas cannot be included into the list of prefixed nouns, because it is a derivative of the flexion -as; it is necessary to single out a prefix in the morphemic analysis, and it was done so in this study
Summary
The quantity of V(W) structure depends on the fact that many verb forms are made from an infinitive where a suffix is just one vowel which remains in derivative forms, too, e.g., važiuoti ‘to go’ → važiuotų ‘he would go’ Sbjv, važiuočiau ‘I would go’ Sbjv, važiuodavo ‘he used to go’ Pst Freq, važiuos ‘he will go’ Fut, etc This group contains examples only of verbal derivational suffixes. In Lithuanian, flexions can be derivational (new words are formed, e.g., bėga ‘he runs’ → bėgis ‘a rail’, puodas ‘a pot’ → puodžius ‘a potter’) and inflectional morphemes (they express grammatical categories of case, gender, number, tense, person, mood, etc., e.g., Nom Sg puodas, Gen Sg puodo, Dat Sg puodui, etc., Pres 1 Sg einu ‘I go’, Pres 2 Sg eini ‘you go’). The assumption was correct: pattern V(W) prevails (even half of all nominal words); pattern V(W)C1 is frequent, too (one-third of the nominal words)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
