The Russian language is a developing phenomenon, so it is not surprising that we can observe the transitions of words from one part of speech to another. Consider the features of this linguistic process and give examples.
Definition
Substantiation in science is the transition from one part of speech to another. Most often, participles and adjectives become nouns, and new lexemes are formed.
A word whose part of speech changes does not undergo any further changes, retaining all its morphemes.
Reasons
The main reasons for the transition of adjectives into nouns include the fact that the adjective itself was often used in speech without a defined word, and therefore was rethought. This phenomenon is called by some eminent linguists the law of economy of forces. Sometimes it becomes possible to miss a noun and change the part of speech if the interlocutors understand what they are talking about. So, when we say school for the blind, we understand that we are talking aboutabout an educational institution for people, therefore we do not need this clarification.
Another example: "The sick man hasn't left his room for many days." In this sentence sick is an adjective and depends on the noun man. The meaning does not change if you say "The patient has not left the room for many days." The word sick in this case is a noun.
Or another example: "Anna, go to the dining room for plates" (dining room is an adjective). “Anna, go to the dining room for plates” (dining room is a noun). Native speakers will have no difficulty understanding the meaning of the sentence.
Views
Linguists distinguish two types of substantiation:
- Full. The original word finally turns into a new part of speech (orderly, tailor, architect, forester).
- Incomplete. Both the original and the newly formed words exist in parallel (teacher's room, sick room, canteen). There are two homonyms in the speech of native speakers.
Both those and others are very common in Russian.
Examples
Let's give examples of the transition from one part of speech to another:
Adjective to noun:
- The council of war was held in secret. – A stately military man proudly walked down the street.
- The clock mechanism worked smoothly. – The sentry stood at the post and vigilantly watched.
- The captive pilot turned out to be very persistent. – The prisoner gave important testimony.
- The Russian language is rich and interesting. – A Russian abroad felt confident.
- Familiar city, great places! – A friend told me that everything was sold out.
Participle - to noun:
- Resting in the clearing, teenagers played the guitar. – Vacationers enjoyed the warmth of the sun.
- The past century has brought many disappointments. – It is bitter to remember the past.
These examples of the transition from one part of speech to another show that the phenomenon of substantiation is very common. And often not realized by native speakers as such.
Features
The phenomenon of substantiation is used by two disciplines of the linguistic cycle - word formation and morphology. As a way of forming new words, the transition from one part of speech to another refers to non-affix and is characterized by a change in grammatical features.
Participles or adjectives that have become nouns can be extended by a consistent definition (pistachio ice cream, lavish dining room, modern teachers' lounge).
The change of such nouns in numbers and cases occurs according to the model of an adjective. For example:
- I.p. Cherry ice cream.
- R.p. Cherry ice cream.
- L.p. Cherry ice cream.
- V.p. Cherry ice cream.
- Tv.p. Cherry ice cream.
- P.p. (Oh) cherry ice cream.
As you can see, the noun ice cream changes in cases in the same way as the adjective cherry.
However, the Russian language is rich in exceptions. So, when changing the part of speech, individual words lose their ability to certain forms of change:
- Only the feminine gender is in the words living room, teacher's room, dining room, maid, if these are nouns. Adjectives have all three genders (dining room - cutlery - silverware).
- Marsupials (n.) only used in the plural.
- Sick (n.) is not neuter. In this case, you can say a sick animal, but the part of speech in this case is an adjective.
As you can see, the word loses certain grammatical features when substantivized, while retaining others.
Nouns
Let's consider the transition of nouns to other parts of speech and give examples of this phenomenon. The information is presented in the form of a table.
| Part of speech into which the name of the noun has passed. | Examples |
| Adverb (formed from the same case form) | Trotting, head over heels, groping, around, for nothing |
| Adverbs (fusion of a noun with a preposition) | Just right, crosswise, forever, from afar, afterwards, for show, up |
| Conjunctions (most often compound, combined with other words) | While, due to the fact that, due to the fact that |
| Introductory words | Fortunately,good, in a word, surprisingly |
| Prepositions | During, in order, in continuation, depending, like |
| Interjections | March! Guard! Fathers! Horror! |
Such processes are characteristic of the Slavic languages in general and lead to the appearance of new words. The language is getting richer.
The transition from one part of speech to another is an interesting phenomenon of Russian grammar, which is one of the ways of word formation.
