The lexical composition of the Russian language is continuously enriched throughout its history. One of the most common parts of speech is the noun. New words are formed in this part of the speech using the four main, most productive ways of forming nouns. The most effective and simple of them is morphological. There is also a morphological-syntactic, lexical-semantic and lexico-syntactic method.
Suffix method
First, you should consider the types of morphological method of noun formation in Russian. The simplest and most productive among them is suffix. When using this method, a suffix is added to already existing nouns, verbs or adjectives, sometimes only to their foundations, and a new noun is obtained.
Most often, with this method of education, the suffixes are used — nick (student, excellent pupil), –shacker (coachman, bricklayer), –ik (most often with the help of this method, the formation of diminutive form of nouns, for example, a table), -ist (button accordion , anarchist), -tor (insulator, fixer), -ost (used in the formation of abstract nouns, for example, cowardice or courage), (s) (for nouns with a place value, for example, woodland or district) and some others .
Feminine nouns denoting a kind of activity or other characteristic are often formed directly from a verb or from a masculine noun. Often for this method of forming nouns, suffixes are used -nitsa (ruler, employee), -itsa-a (pitsa-a) (pilot, excavator), -itsa (singer, owner) and some others.
No way
The non-fixed method is one of the most difficult methods among those listed. It is with him that difficult cases of the formation of forms of nouns are often associated.
In fact, if you should properly master this type of morphological word formation, then it will not seem so complicated to you. Most often, the so-called verbal nouns form a non-fixed way . The initial form of the verb, which is also called the infinitive, is taken, after which part of the word is cut off, for example, from the verb "enter" by cutting off parts of the word -and-and-verb noun is formed. In Russian, you can find many similar words formed using this method.
A little less often you can find nouns formed from adjectives using the same non-fixed method and cutting off the end of a word. For example, the noun "far" is formed from the adjective far.
Prefix way
The prefixal (aka prefix) way of forming nouns in the Russian language is one of the simplest and at the same time widespread. When using this method, a prefix is added to an existing noun, which changes its meaning, but a new word always belongs to the same part of speech.
The most common cases of using this method: the prefix denotes the opposite of something, a new word often becomes antonym to the original word (sociality - asociality, sanity - insanity, advertising - anti-advertising, limit - lawlessness). The prefix denotes an increase in value (a person is a superman, a model is a supermodel, sound is an ultrasound). The prefix indicates the position below (heading - subtitle, president - vice president). The prefix indicates the repetition of the action (choice - re-election, broadcast - relay).
Prefix suffix method
In the prefix-suffixal way of forming nouns, the prefix and suffix are simultaneously added to the original word. We can conditionally distinguish two groups of prefixes and suffixes that participate in this method of word formation.
The first group. The prefix indicates the absence of something or the opposite direction, and the suffix means the distance or means against something. For example: faith - unbelief, work - unemployment, flu - anti-influenza.
The second group. Both the prefix and the suffix have spatial meaning. For example: interfluve, coast.
Composition
When using a compounding, two or more foundations of existing words are added up and as a result they get a new one. Using this method, complex nouns are often formed.
Here are the main cases of applying the word combination in Russian:
- Two stems are connected, the noun and the verb using the connecting vowel o or e, suffixes are rarely used. For example: vacuum cleaner, paint sprayer.
- Two nouns are combined, a connecting vowel or hyphen is used instead. For example: southeast, engineering.
- The foundations of the noun and adjective are connected using the connecting vowel o. For example: chernozem, Kislovodsk.
- Connect by using the suffix base of the noun and numeral. For example: pentagon, three-year plan.
- The foundations of the noun and pronoun are combined using the suffix. For example: self-criticism, self-control.
- The basis of the noun and the derivational elements of international use are combined. For example: agriculture, car club, cycle track, film club, livestock specialist.
Truncation
Truncation can hardly be attributed to the main ways of forming nouns, it is not used very often, and words formed by truncation are often used in colloquial speech.
When using this method, the base of the source word is truncated, for example: specialist - specialist, manager - manager.
Lexico-semantic way
The lexical-semantic method is more complex and less common in modern Russian. When using this method, the lexical and grammatical meaning of a noun already existing in the language is rethought, without changing its external form. Often such words are homonyms of existing ones, completely losing all lexical relations with the original word.
For example: brigadier (in the meaning of military rank) and brigadier (in the meaning of head of brigade at the factory).
Lexico-syntactic method
When using the lexical-semantic way of forming nouns, a new word arises due to the merger of an established phrase. For example: bloodshed, crazy.
In colloquial speech, you can often find nouns that are formed in such a pattern. Often these words are based on the name of the adjective when using the suffix -k. For example: high-rise, business card. Also very often this method of word formation is found in the names of products (buckwheat, stew, condensed milk).
Substantiation
Substantivation is also sometimes called the morphological-syntactic way. In such cases, the word passes from one part of the speech to another without changing its external form. Most often, adjectives go into the category of nouns . For example: teacher, bakery, friend.
Sometimes it is also possible to meet cases of substantivization of participles. For example: injured, smoking.
Pluralization of nouns
In addition to the formation of new words, in particular, nouns, difficulties can also cause their change in forms, gender, cases and numbers. Most often, native speakers and people learning it from scratch have problems with the formation of plural nouns.
The most basic rules are as follows: to the masculine nouns add the ending (s) in the plural, to the feminine nouns - the ending of the s or (and depending on the singular ending), to the middle nouns - the ending of the or I, also depending on the ending in the singular.
However, there are many words that do not lend themselves to the generally accepted rules of the Russian literary language in the formation of the plural form. The spelling of such words should be checked in dictionaries or other sources. The most common cases: director (correctly - directors), locksmith (correctly both locksmiths and locksmiths), cream (correctly - creams) and others.
Having mastered all the methods of word formation of nouns, you can easily create neologisms of the Russian language in spoken language, it will also help with grammatical analysis of sentences and changing words by cases, gender and numbers.