The morphemic composition of the word during the development of the language did not always remain unchanged. The historical transformations that have taken place in the language have been strongly reflected in the foundations. The morpheme composition changed as a result of the action of certain processes, which we will discuss in this article.
Historic base change
The main element of word formation in modern Russian is the stem, both derivative and non-derivative. The way of its formation in the course of the history of the development of the language has undergone changes. And in some cases, even the morphemic composition of the word changed. At the base, many morphemes have lost their meaning. Let's take an example. At the base of the word west, the morpheme had previously acquired the meaning of a prefix. She lost it in the course of history. Thus, the basis turned into a non-derivative.
More about the change in morphemic composition
The morphemic composition of the word did not necessarily change in the course of history, as in the above example. Only in some cases can one speak ofthis. In modern language, many words are divided into morphemes in the same way as in the past. But today there are many examples of when they lose touch with the original basis from which they were formed. In addition, it may be that the word begins to correlate only with a part of the generating stem, and not with it in its entirety. Morphemic composition in these cases has changed. Let's talk about the reasons why such transformations occur.
Reasons for changing morphological composition
Firstly, the lexical meanings of the stems, previously correlated as generating and derivative, become different. For example, in the Russian language today there is no semantic correlation of such words as a porch (part of a house) and a wing (birds), since they are currently different in meaning. However, in Old Russian it was observed. The stems of these words do not correlate as derivative and generating.
Another reason why changes in the morphemic structure are observed is the sound composition of words, which also does not always remain unchanged. Let's give examples. The words envelop, pillowcase, veil, cloud, shell have the same root, but they have a different morphological structure. Derivative bases - envelop (envelop-iva-t), pillowcase (on-drag-to-a), drag (on-drag-a). And the cloud and the shell have become non-derivatives, since their basis has changed due to the loss of the sound "in". The modern and historical morphemic composition of the word, therefore, is not the same in these cases.
Another reason is the loss of related words or correlative generating stems from the dictionary. Here are some examples of non-derivative bases that can be given in modern Russian - a coachman, a winch, a shirt. Correlative derivatives of the bases have now fallen out of the dictionary (yam - a stop on the road; swan - a shaft with a crank handle; rub - a piece of cloth).
The modern and historical morphemic composition of a word in some cases does not coincide due to the influence of the productive type of structure on the structure of words of etymologically isolated, that is, non-productive types. For example, the umbrella has a foreign language origin. At first, this word was understood as a root. However, over time, by analogy with the Russian words mouth, ponytail, etc., it began to divide into the stem umbrella- (non-derivative) and the suffix -ik.
Observed historical changes in the morphemic composition of the word in certain cases are called complication, re-decomposition and simplification of the stem. Let's talk about each of them.
Simplification
It represents the transformation into a non-derivative derivative of the stem of the word. In this case, the latter loses its articulation into morphemes. Simplification plays an important role in language. Thanks to him, he is enriched with root non-derivative words. New centers of word formation appear in the language. Examples: success - successful, etc., hasty, hasty, etc., sing - ripe, etc. On the other hand, thanks to simplification, word-building suffixes become unproductive. Sometimes it is observedtheir complete disappearance, which further changes the morphemic composition. Example: in the stems of the words old, kind, which are non-derivative in the modern language, the suffix -r- is not singled out. The same suffix fell out in the word brother.
Reason for simplification
The basics of the words shame, red, palace have undergone simplification. They became non-derivatives because they lost in the process of use the connection in meaning with the words from which they were once formed. Examples: shame - vigilant, red (color) - beauty, palace - courtyard.
The morphemic composition of parts of speech has changed due to phonetic processes in the stems of the following words: motley, oar, deceased. They lost touch with the bases from which they originated, and individual morphemes ceased to stand out (variegated - write, paddle - carry, deceased - asleep).
The reasons that lead to simplification can act simultaneously, intersect. As a result of all these processes, the modern and historical morphemic composition do not coincide. For example, the lack of correlation between the core - food - poison, sound - ringing, bonds - knot - union - language - is the result of not only the semantic gap observed between these words, but also the result of phonetic changes that have occurred in their bases.
Redecomposition
Redecomposition is a redistribution of individual morphemes within the word, which leads to the fact that the stem (remaining derivative) in its composition highlights other morphemes. So, for example, living creatures, ardor have a suffix -part (and not -ost), iftalk about living word-formation connections. The fact is that the adjectives from which they are formed (living, hot) are not used in the modern language. The suffix -ost- in relation to the suffix -ost- is a derivative. It is a combination of the following two suffixes: - n, which was cut off from the stem of the adjective, and - awn.
Formation from -ost derivative -nost is an expression of a peculiar process that accompanies the re-decomposition of bases in Russian. It consists in the fact that one word-formation element is absorbed by another, or in the dissolution of one or another of them at the root. For example, in the basis of a rod, we can single out the suffix -lisch-, which includes another, -l-. The last suffix refers to the word bit, lost in modern language.
Re-expansion can also be between the root and the prefix. For example, in the verb to remove, there used to be a prefix sn- and the following root -i-. Today, this word is divided as follows: s-nya (t).
Redecomposition value
The process of re-decomposition enriches the language by the fact that new word-formation patterns and affixes appear, which become productive over time. Most often, new suffixes are formed in this way: - points- (cost-points-a), -ink- (dust-ink-a), -nost (essence). Prefixes (bez-, not-bez-, under-) appear much less often, which are the result of the merger of two other prefixes (bez-will, not without-talented, under-look).
Analogy
Different types of analogy are very often used to re-decompose and simplify the foundations. Under the lastIt implies the likening of the forms of one word to the forms of another, grammatically related. Thanks to it, the historical morphemic composition of the word is often subject to change. Analogy is a natural process that is observed in language. Unproductive types of form and word formation, by virtue of its action, are likened to certain productive types of forms and words. At the same time, the former articulation into morphemes or their derivative character is lost.
In modern Russian, a number of forms owe their origin to the action of analogy. In particular, these are the endings of neuter and masculine nouns -ah, -ami, -om (sel-ah, house-ah, house-ami, village-am). They appeared as a result of the action of the analogy of the forms of feminine nouns (books-am - table-am, not table-om). Its result was the re-decomposition of the basis (instead of book-m - books). This is how the historical morpheme composition has changed.
The word open was formed from the root thief. This happened through the prefix from-. This word was influenced by another - to create. As a result of the open-to-create analogy, the first basis underwent a re-decomposition. She began to be comprehended as a formation with the prefix o-. Thus, a new base of word formation appeared in the language (pre-create, over-create, dissolve, etc.).
Complication
In some cases, the action of analogy or the emergence of words that are related to having a non-derivative stem leads to the complication of the latter. Because of this, it becomes a derivative, that is, it begins to segment.
The process of complication is opposite to the process of simplification considered by us. This is the transformation into a derivative basis of that which was previously non-derivative. In particular, the word engraving, borrowed by Russian from French, was initially understood as non-derivative. But after the later borrowings of the engraver and engraving appeared in the system of our language, it "became more complicated". This word has become derivative. The root grav- stands out in it, as well as the suffix -ur-. Many borrowed words have undergone similar changes. For example, anarchy, Greek in origin, used to have a non-derivative basis. However, due to the fact that the language was related to her anarchist, anarchist, anarchist, etc., she began to divide. This is how the non-derivative stem anarch- was formed, as well as the suffix -and j-.
Morpheme overlap
Stands out, in addition to the above phenomena, and the imposition of morphemes. It occurs when the parts of those that are combined coincide. For example, this is possible between the stem and the suffix (Dynamo - Dynamo + sheep; Sverdlovsk - Sverdlovsk + sky). However, overlap cannot occur when it comes to the root and the prefix (Irtysh, Trans-Amur).
All of the above changes in the structure of the word (complication, re-decomposition, simplification) indicate that the morphemic composition has changed in the process of the historical development of the language. All these changes are studied by etymology. In conclusion, let's say a few words about her.
Etymology
Etymology is the study of the origin of various words. Their origin can be established by etymological analysis. It makes it possible to find out historical word-formation connections, what was the initial morphemic structure of a particular word, as well as the reasons why it has changed since its inception.
