Struktura i semantyka polskich i rosyjskich gniazd słowotwórczych z przymiotnikami wyjściowymi nazywającymi barwę

Abstract

The studies of word formation have become increasingly popular in recent years. Linguists working in the field of derivational morphology have been studying not only the relationships holding between the motivating and motivated words, but have also, taken into account more complex word formation units, such as the derivational category, the derivational type, the derivational paradigm, the derivational string and the derivational nest. This study is the description of Polish and Russian derivational nests of adjectives denoting basic colours. The analysis comprises 11 Polish nests motivated by the adjectives: biały, czarny, szary, niebieski, błękitny, fioletowy, czerwony, zielony, żółty, różowy, brązowy and 11 Russian nests derived from the adjectives: белый, чёрный, серый, синий, голубой, фиолетовый, красный, зелёный, жёлтый, розовый, коричневый. Two arguments speak in favour of such choice: firstly, it is a fairly coherent lexico-semantic group and secondly, the majority of units in both languages have similar structure and identical etymology, which allows determining the sources of structural differentiation of the nests compared and also defining the differences between the two languages. The main object of the study has been to find out how the meaning of the basic word influences the structure and semantics of the nests and how different senses of the basic word are realised in the semantic struci ure of the derivatives. We have also tried to determine whether the development of new meanings in the semantic structure of derivatives affects their derivational activity. Another problem is the structure of Polish and Russian nests in those cases where basic words are adjectives having identical roots and similar semantic structures, and their divergent development in both languages. This has enabled us to point out the similarities and differences in the structure and semantics of the nests compared. Since this is a synchronic study, we have taken into account those words whose membership in the group is unquestionable, i.e. those that have clear derivational structure and semantic connection with words motivating them directly. Such approach has allowed us to eliminate the words whose connection with the nest is based on the common root only while the semantic connection has been lost. The analysis includes not only “neutral” words, but also those that are qualified in dictionaries as “old-fashioned”, "archaic”, “dialectal”, “colloquial”, “poetic”, “rare”, etc. and neologisms. Taking into account only the “neutral” vocabulary would not give a full, satisfactory description and would not allow one to study the derivational potential of words and to determine the tendencies found in the two languages compared. Words occur in motivation relationships in their concrete meanings. Each of the senses that make up the semantic structure of the motivating word can become the basis for coining a derivative, sometimes even a whole string of derivatives organised within a given nest into subnests or micronests, in which derivatives of subsequent degrees of motivation realise only one semantic component of the semantic structure of the basic word. The analysis of the relationships holding between the derivatives that takes into account the lexical meaning helps one to properly locate derivatives in their nests and also to detect fairly complex lexical and grammatical dependencies between the elements which cannot be easily observed if one considers only the structure and meaning of derivatives. In some cases it helps one to distinguish polysemy from homonymy. The first step in the analysis was to determine the nests whose centres are adjectives of analogous colours in both languages - pairs of the type biały - белый, czarny - чёрный, czerwony - красный, etc. The only exception are the nests denoting the blue colour, because the words for ‘blue’ functioning in Polish and Russian are not equivalent. For this reason the nests that include basic adjectives niebieski, błękitny, синий and голубой are discussed in a separate chapter. The majority of colour adjectives are polysemous words, with rich connotational properties that can be reflected in the semantics of their derivatives (e.g. the meaning of the adverb zielono ‘green’ in Andrzej Dqbrowski’s song Zielono mi... ‘I feel green’ associated with the positive connotations of spring, joy attributed to the green colour), so the structural and semantic analysis of nests is always preceded by the comparison of the semantic structure and connotational properties of the basic words. In both languages the basic adjectives make derivatives belonging to one of the four parts of speech: adjectives, adverbs, nouns and verbs, which in turn motivate new strings of derivatives. In this way new branches are made, which are the, starting point for this analysis. This kind of description allows one to find out whether a concrete paradigm of basic words consists of similar groups of derivatives and how individual meanings of motivating words are realised at different stages of derivation. The analysis that has taken into account lexical meaning of words belonging to analogous Polish and Russian nests enables one to define derivational morphemes typical of both languages and having derivatives of the same category. We can also state whether the formal similarity of derivatives correlates with their semantic similarity and explain the intrasystemic and extrasystemic sources of differences between analogous Polish and Russian nests. The basic unit of description is the derivational nest, in whose centre we find the word together with all its semantic properties rather than its lexicosemantic variant. The method of analysing nests is based on the methods developed by both Polish and Russian linguists discussed in the first part of this monograph Theoretical foundations, where theoretical assumptions and the main objectives are presented, too. Part II is concerned with the detailed semantic and structural analysis of Polish and Russian nests of basic adjectives denoting: a) achromatic colours (biały, czarny, szary, белый, чёрный, серый)', b) chromatic colours (czerwony, żółty, zielony, niebieski, błękitny, różowy, fioletowy, brązowy, красный, жёлтый, зелёный, синий, голубой, розовый, фиолетовый, коричневый). The similarities and differences in the structures of the derivational nests compared are presented in the form of graphs made according to the rules defined by applicative-generative linguists. The conclusions are included in the summary. All the derivational nests are shown in the appendix following the notation worked out by A. N. Tikhonov, who wrote the derivational dictionary of Russian.