Patterns of Ellipsis in Russian Compound Noun Formations [Reprint 2019 ed.] 9783110822182, 9789027924742

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SLAVISTIC P R I N T I N G S AND R E P R I N T I N G S edited by C. H. V A N SCHOONEVELD Indiana

University

278

PATTERNS OF ELLIPSIS IN RUSSIAN COMPOUND NOUN FORMATIONS

by

STEVEN J. MOLINSKY

1973

MOUTON THE HAGUE • PARIS

© Copyright 1973 in The Netherlands Mouton & Co. N.V., Publishers, The Hague No part of this book may be translated or reproduced in any form by print, photoprint, microfilm, or any other means, without written permission from the publishers

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOG CARD NUMBER: 72-94527

Printed in the Netherlands, by ZND, 's-Hertogenbosch

PREFACE

I have presented in this book a morphological and syntactic analysis of compound noun formation in Russian - the process by which phrases are rearranged, restructured, and reduced to single compound lexical units. The major portion of the book deals with athematic abbreviated compounds (so-called sloznosokrascennye slova) such as part-bilet, kol-xoz, prof-tex-skola and political and industrial trade names such as Gor-zdrav, Mos-prod-snab, Glav-vost-bum-prom. Athematic types are contrasted with inherited thematic forms such as beton-o-mesalka, trub-o-cist, star-o-modnost' in terms of morphological patterning and underlying syntactic structure. I have also traced the historical basis of thematic compounding in Russian beginning with early borrowings from Greek, with special emphasis on later borrowings from French and German in the realm of scientific and technical vocabulary such as bio-ximija, aero-statika. I have shown how the incorporation of these borrowed models led to a restructuring of the constraints which had previously operated on compound formation in Russian. Finally, I have attempted to interrelate the thematic and athematic types (sport-baza: avto-baza: kit-o-baza) and in so doing account for the emergence of new models of compound formation in twentieth century Russian. I have included a great number of examples in the book in order to demonstrate the extent of productivity of certain compounding models. This book originated in 1969 as a Harvard University doctoral dissertation. I am very grateful to the members of the Linguistics and Slavic Departments of Harvard University (especially Professors Horace G. Lunt and Henning Andersen) for their encouragement and constructive suggestions. Steven J. Molinsky

CONTENTS

Preface

5

Examples cited have been taken from the following sources . . .

11

PART A THE MORPHOLOGICAL AND SYNTACTIC STRUCTURE OF ATHEMATIC ABBREVIATED COMPOUNDS

Introduction

15

I. Non-Oblique Underlying Phrases of a Structure [X-Y]. . . 1. Partial Truncation 2. Full Truncation 3. Grammatical Characteristics of Full T r u n c a t i o n s . . . . 4. Grammatical Characteristics of Partial T r u n c a t i o n s . . . 5. Productivity of x- and xy-models

18 18 28 35 39 41

II. Non-Oblique Underlying Phrases of an Expanded [...X-Y] Structure 1. Complex Modifiers 2. Specified Major Constituent 3. Y-Deletion

43 43 45 51

III. Reformulated Oblique Underlying Phrases 1. Notation 2. Oblique Complement Patterns 3. Rules for Reformulation 4. Reformulation of Oblique Complements (Y-Retained). . 5. Reformulation of Oblique Complements (Y-Deleted). . 6. Y'-Restructuring 7. Y'-Deletion

54 54 54 55 57 62 69 70

8

CONTENTS

8. 9. 10. 11.

Constraints on Reformulation of Oblique Complements. Transposition of Oblique Specifiers Reformulation of an Oblique Complement [ + Institution] Grammatical Characteristics of Y-Deleted Compounds.

72 74 77 79

IV. Non-Reformulation of Oblique Complements 1. Animate 2. Inanimate 3. Grammatical Characteristics of Compounds with an Internal Structure [...Y%...]

82 82 86

V. Non-Compounded (Simple) Truncations 1. Decompositions 2. Student Jargon Summary

89 93 93 94 95

PART B MODELS OF THEMATIC COMPOUND FORMATION

Introduction

109

I. Typology of Inherited Thematic Compound Formations in Modern Russian 1. Verbal-Based Compounds 2. Substantival-Based Compounds

113 113 130

II. The Historical Basis of Thematic Compound Formation: Early Borrowings from Greek 1. Introduction 2. V-Compounds 3. S-Compounds 4. Summary

138 138 141 146 148

III. Borrowings from Western European Languages into Russian. 1. Introduction 2. Borrowing of Scientific and Technical Terminology. . .

153 153 156

IV. Borrowed Compound Patterns in Twentieth Century Russian 1. Extension of I-Formant and I-Replacement Models. . .

163 163

CONTENTS

2. The I-Formant as an Element in Russian Abbreviated Compounds

9

171

Conclusion

176

Appendix: Athematic Partial Truncations

187

Bibliography

223

Index

229

EXAMPLES CITED HAVE BEEN TAKEN FROM THE FOLLOWING SOURCES

Glossary of Russian Abbreviations and Acronyms Library of Congress (Washington, 1967). Russian Abbreviations - A Selective List (ed.) Alexander Rosenberg (Washington, 1957). Russian-English Dictionary of Social Science Terms (ed.) R. E. F. Smith (London, 1962). Slovar' nepriznannyx slov (ed.) Alex A. Kramer (Trenton, 1965). Slovar'' russkogo jazyka v öetyrex tomax Akademija Nauk SSSR, Institut russkogo jazyka (Moskva, 1957-1961). (When designating the source for an example - abbreviated S-4.) Slovar' sokraSienij russkogo jazyka (ed.) D. I. Alekseev (Moskva, 1963). Slovar' sovremennogo russkogo literaturnogo jazyka, Vols. 1-17 Akademija Nauk SSSR, Institut russkogo jazyka, (Moskva-Leningrad, 1948-1965). (Designated in citations: S-17) Sokrasienija v sovetskix izdanijax (ed.) Alex A. Kramer (Trenton, 1965). D. I. Alekseev "Abbreviatury kak novyj tip slov", Razvitie slovoobrazovanija sovremennogo russkogo jazyka (Moskva, 1966), pp. 13-37. Astrid Baecklund Die univerbierenden Verkürzungen der heutigen russischen Sprache (Uppsala, 1940). Andrej i Tatjana Fesenko Russkij jazyk pri sovetax (New York, 1955). A. I. Mel'nikova "Starye i novye modeli imen suäCestvitel'nyx bez soedinitel'nyx glasnyx v sovremennom russkom jazyke", Ulenye zapiski Moskovskogo gosudarstvennogo pedagogiceskogo instituta, 158 (I960), pp. 139-174. I. P. Muönik "Kategorija roda i ee razvitie v sovremennom russkom literaturnom jazyke", Razvitie sovremennogo russkogo jazyka (Moskva, 1963), pp. 39-82. L. V. Nikolenko "Imena suäöestvitel'nye obrazovannye iz ustojöivyx substantivnyx slovosoöetanij, i ix stilisticeskie osobennosti", Ucenye zapiski Moskovskogo gosudarstvennogo pedagogileskogo instituta (Sovremennyj russkij jazyk - sintaksis i morfologija) (Moskva, 1965), pp. 104-114.

12

EXAMPLES CITED

A. M. Seliscev Jazyk revoljucionnoj epoxi: iz nabljudenij nad russkim jazykom poslednix let (1917-1926) (Moskva, 1928). G. O. Vinokur KuVtura jazyka (Moskva, 1929). V. L. Voroncova "Processy razvitija morfologiceskix elementov stojascix na grani morfemy i slova", Razvitie sovremennogo russkogo jazyka (Moskva, 1963), pp. 93-105.

PARTA

THE MORPHOLOGICAL AND SYNTACTIC STRUCTURE OF ATHEMATIC ABBREVIATED COMPOUNDS

INTRODUCTION

The Soviet political revolution of 1917 was accompanied by what many scholars have described as a "linguistic revolution" in the Russian language. In an attempt to "sovietize" the language, to create a new political and social jargon, the process of condensing phrases into single nouns to designate new governmental institutions and functions became extremely widespread. A few such abbreviated formations are attested earlier. For example, names for industrial organizations early in the twentieth century: Proda-met 1

(Obsdestvo dlja prodazi izdelij russkix msiallurgiceskix zavodov) (in 1901) (Society for the Sale of Products of Russian Metallurgical Factories)

Prod-ugoF

(Obscestvo dlja prodazi uglja) (in 1903) (Society for the Sale of Coal)

Xa-top

(Xar'kovskoe toplivo) (Kharkov Fuel)2

Also military terminology during World War I (created for use in telegraphic communication):

1

u-vo-so

(upravlenie voennyx soobscenij) (military communication administration)

is-kom-zap

(ispolniteVnyj komitet z&padnogo fronta) (executive committee of the western front)

Russian forms will be transliterated from Cyrillic to Latin letters according to the following correspondences: Cyrillic. a 6 B r f l e 6 » 3 H I T K J I M H o n p c T y i J u m m i m u b S i o a Latin: a b v g d e e z z i j k l m n o p r s t u f x c £ S 56 " y ' b ju ja 2 Dennis Ward, The Russian Language Today. System and Anomaly (London, 1965), p. 156.

16

STRUCTURES OF ATHEMATIC ABBREVIATED COMPOUNDS

de-gen-verx

(d ezurnyj general pri stabe verxo vnogla vnokomandujuscego) (general on duty at the headquarters of the supreme commander-in-chief)

na£-re-si-dun (naZaVnik recnyx si/ Duna/a) (chief of naval power of the Danube) 3 In contrast to these rather sporadic and unsystematic constructions, at the time of the revolution the formation of so-called sloznosokrascennye slova (abbreviated compounds) became a regularized process of nominalization in the narrow lexical spheres of political, economic, social, and military terminology, with the crystallization of productive morphological and syntactic patterns of ellipsis for forming both [ + common] nouns and [ + proper] names of organizations and institutions. The stimulus for such formations was the desire to create a new style of Soviet nomenclature - to designate political and social concepts po revoljucionnomu. The major portion of this book will be devoted to a structural analysis of abbreviated compound constructions - an examination of their morphological and syntactic patterns in relation to inherited nonabbreviated or "historical" models of compound formation. It will be shown that divergence in surface patterning (the presence of the thematic marker in inherited compounds and its absence in most abbreviated formations) is conditioned by a difference in underlying syntactic structure. The historical basis for thematic compound formation in Russian will be examined by analyzing the structure of compound nouns in Old Church Slavonic and Old Russian, also later influence from western European languages. It will be demonstrated that borrowed compound patterns belonging to the sphere of scientific and technical terminology have led to a restructuring of the constraints on thematic compound formation in Russian.

DEFINITIONS

A compound noun is a single lexical unit to which one inflectional ending 3 A. M. Suxotin, "Problema sokrascennyx slov v jazykax narodov SSSR", Sbornik: Pis'mennost' i revoljucija (Moskva-Leningrad, 1933), p. 153.

INTRODUCTION

17

is attached, consisting of two or more stems - conjoined either athematically or thematically (by the {o} compound marker). The stems which are fused as a compound unit always mirror some internal grammatical relationship of a phrase. It must therefore be assumed that the lexicon will contain rules which operate on phrasal structures, reducing them to single lexical units, which are then inserted into the preterminal string of the phrase marker under the node N. An abbreviated compound noun may be defined as the athematic concatenation of two or more stems,4' a compound derivative standing as a (secondary) elliptical replacement for a (primary) explicit noun phrase, which undergoes reduction through the interrelated processes of CONDENSATION (coalescence of the phrase into a single noun) and ABBREVIATION (morphological truncation of one or more members of the phrase). Motivation for the process of reducing phrase to word is most likely the resolution of the contradiction between multiplicity of form and singularity of concept - i.e. to achieve a correlation of unit form: unit meaning.5 The basic phrasal pattern which condenses is the structure X + Y, where Y represents the head noun, and X a subordinate or modifier syntactically marked as an adjective (however, most often a substantival derivative). The phrase may be submitted to two degrees of ellipsis: PARTIAL or X-TRUNCATION, where the first member of the phrase is truncated and joined to the unabbreviated second member; and FULL or XY-TRUNCATION, where both elements are truncated and fused to form a single noun. Most often a phrase undergoes either x- or xy-truncation; however, occasionally both degrees of ellipsis may take place. Compounds of an expanded structure are also formed: a head noun modified by more than one adjective, or an adjective secondarily modifying a primary X-Y compound; patterns of reformulation, where a head noun + oblique complement construction is transposed to the basic "immediate constituent" X-Y pattern; also formations in which the underlying head noun 0 , with reformulation of the remaining elements of the phrase according to an X-Y structure.

4

This definition will be further modified in Part B. A. V. Isaienko, "K voprosu o strukturnoj tipologii slovarnogo sostava slavjanskix literaturnyx jazykov", Slavia, 27 (1958), p. 339. 5

I

NON-OBLIQUE UNDERLYING PHRASES OF A STRUCTURE [X-Y]

1 PARTIAL TRUNCATION

With relatively few exceptions, the morphological structure of the abbreviated X is predictable: it most often takes the form [(C)VC] (where C = one or more consonants; V = one or more vowels). In all of the Soviet studies on abbreviations, the truncation is defined as "syllabic" consisting of the first (phonetic) syllable of X or the first (phonetic) syllable + following consonant(s). However, there would seem to be greater motivation for such a structure, due to the fact that this pattern {CVC} is also the canonical form of most Russian roots. The root is that portion of the word which contains the basic notion, the basic semantic kernel; thus, abbreviation may be viewed as the process of reducing X to a "root approximation", which functions as a replacement for the full explicit word in a specific environment: //-Y. (Whether the truncation coincides with the actual root or stem depends upon the structure of the particular underlying word.) 1.1 Neutralization of Underlying Semantic Differentiation. In most X + Y phrases which are submitted to truncation, X is a relational adjective, derived by the transformation of an underlying phrase of the general structure N-Complement (designated N : N ' - N "in relation to" N'). The complement N' is transposed to prenominal position in the form: {N' stem - Adj formant - Adj inflectional ending} The process of abbreviation reduces the relational adjective to a structure [CVC], which most often signals only the lexical information inherent in the underlying N' stem, and not the grammatical information supplied by the adjectival derivative of that noun. 1 For example: 1

X-truncations which include grammatical along with lexical information are few

NON-OBLIQUE UNDERLYING PHRASES OF A STRUCTURE [X-Y]

(explicit) (elliptical)

19

cex-ov-aja jacejka (shop cell) cex-jacejka

Morphological marking of syntactic function in the explicit construction ({-ov-} = 'in relation to') is superseded by positional marking in the compound formation. Thus, the truncated "root approximation" [X] is understood as standing in a relationship to Y which is explicitly indicated by a relational adjective + noun, and elliptically, solely by its positional relationship to Y - immediately preceding. 1.11 The adjectival derivational formant of the explicit stage is usually indication of a general unspecified relationship between X and Y. For example: mex-ov-aja fabrika byt-ov-oj sektor bort-ov-oj inzener which might be derived from an underlying N-Complement structure: fabrika :mex (fabrika dlja obrabotki mexa) (factory for the treatment of fur) sektor: byt (sektor svjazannyj s bytom) (sector associated with daily life) inzener: bort (inzener na bortu \samoleta\) (engineer on board [an airplane]) This neutralization of underlying semantic differentiation is common to both the explicit and elliptical constructions: mex-fabrika, byt-sektor, boit-inzener. Each Rel Adj + N construction is idiomatic in the sense that the specific syntactic relationship uniting N and N' is determined by the particular N (i.e. the meaning of X is bound to that of Y). For example: in number. For example: (a) the abbreviation of voen-n- (military, related to war) ->• [voen], where vocalic insertion of /e/ in the derived relational adjective {voj/e/n} (cf. N' stem {voj/n}) is part of the truncation (voen-inzener < voen«>y inzener 'military engineer'); (b) Also those instances where the [ ± sharping] feature of the final consonant of the underlying noun stem differs in the derived relational adjective: sel'-sk- (rural, village) ->• [seP] (sel'-iover < sel'skij sovet 'village soviet') (N' stem {sel}). det-sk- (children's) (det-dom < detskij dom 'orphanage') (N' stem {det'}). kon-n- (horse) (kon-zavod < konnyj zavod 'stud farm') (N' stem {kon'}).

20

STRUCTURES OF ATHEMATIC ABBREVIATED COMPOUNDS

molocnyj zavod = zavod dlja obrabotki moloka (milk factory) (factory for processing milk) but molocnye produkty = produkty sdelannye iz moloka2 (milk products) (products made from milk) -•mol-zavod, -produkty politiceskaja beseda = beseda o politike (political discussion) (discussion about politics) but politiceskaja rabota = rabota v politike (political work) (work in politics) -•polit-beseda, -rabota pionerskaja baza = baza dlja pionerov (pioneer base) (base for pioneers) but pionerskoe zveno = zveno pionerov3 (pioneer team) (team of pioneers) ->pioner-baza, -zveno The derivational formant of the relational adjective may therefore be considered non-essential information in that it most often leaves unspecified the particular complement structure which underlies. The 2

However, compare: kozevennyj zavod (zavod dlja obrabotki kozi) (tannery) kozannaja obuv' (obuV sdelannaja iz kozi) (leather footwear) in which the specific relationship N sdelann(yj) iz N ' (made from) is morphologically designated by the formant {-an-}. In this instance the abbreviated formations - kozzavod, koi-obuv' - fail to make the semantic distinction overtly expressed in the explicit formations; positional marking in these elliptical derivatives indicates only the general property of X being related to Y. Similarly, where the head noun is specified as being related to N ' by a process (i.e. N:Vb NO: vinodeVteskij zavod (distillery); pivovarennyj kombinat (beer brewing combine). The secondary derivative leaves this verbal relationship unspecified: vinzavod, piv-kombinat. 3 These are only rough approximations. Certainly more detailed analysis of these constructions would reveal more uniform and general underlying complement structures.

NON-OBLIQUE UNDERLYING PHRASES OF A STRUCTURE [X-Y]

21

essentials of the construction are the N' stem and its position preposed to the head noun. This is precisely the information which the derivative compound retains, whose formation would thus seem to be motivated by the elimination of redundancy and retention of essential elements in varying degrees of economical recoding. 1.12 There is some evidence that the configuration RelAdj 4- N does not function syntactically as other Adj + N phrases, but rather is some sort of COMPLEX NOUN, derived in the lexicon as an expansion of the lexical category N, by a rule N -» N Comp. 4 This assumption is based on the following: (a) The highly idiosyncratic relationship holding between the particular N and N'. (b) Word order fixed: the relational adjective always directly precedes the noun. (i.e. Qualitative Adj + RelAdj -I- N, never *RelAdj + QualAdj + N): novaja cexovaja jacejka (new shop cell) *cexovaja novaja jacejka (shop new cell) (c) No conjunction: a qualitative adjective is never conjoined with a relational (although two of each may be). *novaja i cexovaja jacejka (new and shop cell) (d) Modifier Shift: in the reduced relative clause transformation, the modifier always moves around N, not NP. èta jaSejka kotoraja nova ètcù'jacejka novaja -* èia novaja jaSejka (this new cell) also: èta cexovaja jaiejka kotoraja nova èta'cexovaja jacejka novaja èta novaja cexovaja jacejka (this new shop cell) Here cexovaja jacejka functions as N and not NP. If the interpretation of RelAdj + N as a noun proves to be correct, this would provide even greater impetus for reducing X + Y compound [X-Y]: a "complex" noun ( = Adj + N) is reduced to a compound noun equivalent (N); a construction which functions syntactically as a single noun is replaced by one which has the configuration of a single noun. 1.2 Degree of Ellipsis in [X~\. Assuming the removal of explicit grammati4

I am indebted to Leonard Babby for these syntactic arguments, which he proposes in A Transformational Grammar of Russian Adjectives (forthcoming).

22

STRUCTURES OF ATHEMATIC ABBREVIATED COMPOUNDS

cal marking, truncations may be classified according to the degree of ellipsis of elements which convey lexical information in the underlying X. 1.21 X Relational Adjective. 1.211 The truncation coincides with a noun stem of the structure {CYC} (where stem s root): RUSSIAN STEMS:

byt-sektor dym-zavesa mex-fabrika trud-kolonija sten-gazeta kraj-sojuz

(byt-ov-o/ sektor) (domestic sector) (dym-ov-aja zavesa) (smoke screen) (m ex-ov-aja fabrika) (fur factory) (trud-ov-aja kolonija) (labor colony) (sten-n-aja gazeta) (wall newspaper) (kra[j]-ev-o/ sojuz) (territorial union)

FOREIGN STEMS:

sport-oborudovanie bort-inzener

(sport-iv-n-oe oborudovanie) (sports equipment) (bort-ov-oj inzener) (flight engineer)

The formation of compounds of the structure (N(stem)-Noun} is significant in relation to inherited non-abbreviated compound patterns, since in these partial truncations the first member is a noun stem joined athematically to a second noun, while in "historical" compounds a noun stem is united thematically by the compound marker {o} to the following member. Interrelationships between the two models will be discussed in Part B. 1.212 The truncation coincides with the root: jun-dvizenie (junos-e-sk-oe dvizenie) (cf. jun-oj-a) (youth movement) jav-punkt (javoc-n-yj punkt) (cf. jav-A>a) (registration station) zem-fond (zemeP-n-yj fond) (cf. zem-l-ja) (land fund)

NON-OBLIQUE UNDERLYING PHRASES OF A STRUCTURE [ X - Y ]

23

1.213 The truncation comprises only a portion of the stem or root: RUSSIAN STEMS:

bum-trest den-znak gor-sovet dor-otdel mol-kombinat xoz-tovary proz-odezda

(bumaz-n-yj trest) (cf. bumag-a) (paper trust) (dtnez-n-yj znak) (cf. den'g-i) (banknote) (gorod-sk-oj sovet) (cf. gorod) (city soviet) (doroz-n-yj otdel) (cf. dorog-a) (road department) (moloc-n-yj kombinat) (cf. molok-o) (dairy combine) (xoz:jajstv-en-n-ye tovary) (cf. xozjajstv-o) (household goods) (proizvodstv-en-n-aja odezda) (working clothes, overalls)

(the only instance of V-V truncation).

V [proiz -> proz] to form a single syllable

The process of abbreviation is especially productive for non-Russian stems. In fact, a greater number of x-truncations are formed from borrowed than from Russian stems. This is due first of all to the fact that the lexical sphere of political, social, and military terminology contains a great many borrowings from western European languages; also, their stems are longer and lack the transparency and relative simplicity in internal structure of Russian stems (perhaps motivation for their replacement by substitutes of the Russian root structure {CVC}): FOREIGN STEMS:

brig-inzener div-vraô med-pomosô vet-leòebnica rev-tribunal

(bngad-n-yj inzener) (brigade engineer) (divizion-n-yj vrac) (division doctor) (medicin-sk-aja pomosc) (medical aid) (yeterinar-n-aja lecebnica) (veterinary hospital) (revoljucion-n-yj tribunal) (revolutionary tribunal)

24

STRUCTURES OF ATHEMATIC ABBREVIATED COMPOUNDS

(literatur-n-yj kruzok) (literary circle) (partiy-M-jy bilet) part-bilet (party card) tub-sanatorij (tuberkulez-n-yj sanatori}) (tuberculosis sanatorium) fin-inspektor (finans-ov-yj inspektor) (financial inspector) (cement-n-yj zavod) cem-zavod (cement plant) (muzykaV-n-aja komedija) muz-komedija (musical comedy) (dietic-esk-aja stolovaja) diet-stolovaja (dietary dining room) koop-ob"edinenie (kooperativ-n-oe oV edinenie) (cooperative union) lit-kruzok

1.214 Deviations from the canonical [CVC] structure are common in truncations from non-Russian stems: agit-lozung

(agitacion-n-yj lozung) (agitation slogan) inform-bjuro (informacion-n-oe bjuro) (information bureau) polit-kruzok (polxtic-esk-ij kruzok) (political circle) konsul't-punkt (konsul'tacion-n-yj punkt) (consultation station) anil-zavod (zmlin-ov-yj zavod) (aniline dye plant) ekonom-komissija 5 (dkonomic-esk-aja komissija) (economic commission) A multisyllabic truncation may be formed to coincide with the N' stem: util'-zavod (util'-n-yj zavod) (scrap factory)

Occasional fluctuations in the morphological form of an x-truncation are attested: t£°n0m

| otdel (¿konomiceskij otdel 'economic department')

akadem-sektor ak-teatr

(akudemiceskij sektor 'academic sector') (akademiceskij teatr 'academic theater')

NON-OBLIQUE UNDERLYING PHRASES OF A STRUCTURE [ X - Y ]

natur-oplata

tekstil'-syr'e 6 pioner-dom

25

(natur-aV-n-aja oplata) (payment in kind - payment by goods instead of money) (tekstil'-w-oe syr'e) (textile raw material) (pioner-jAr-iy dom) (pioneer house)

In all such formations the abbreviation terminates in [...CVC]. 7 1.215 In most partial truncations where X is a borrowed stem it functions as a relational adjective derivative of the corresponding foreign noun: dez-kamera (dezinfekcionnaja kamera) (cf. dezinfekcija) (disinfection chamber) mul't-fil'm (mul'tiplikacionnyjfiVm) (cf. muVtiplikacija) (animated cartoon) However, a small set of x-truncations are formed from borrowed adjectives which function not as relational derivatives from foreign nouns, but as synonymic replacements for Russian adjectives (both relational and non-relational): spec-kurs

(speciaVnyj kurs) (special course) gen-plan (gen eraVnyj plan) (general plan) soc-obespeSenie (sociaUnoe obespecenie) (social maintenance)

(= osobyj) ( = obSSij) (= obscestvennoe)

1.22 X Verbal Adjective. Relatively few compounds are formed in which the truncated X expresses a relation between Y and an action or process denoted by a verb complement: 8 6 Influence of the written language in the formation of abbreviations is evident in truncations terminating in [-1'], since sharping of {1} before a consonant is indicated graphically by a soft sign (6): TeKCTHJib-H[tekstil'], yrajib-H- ->• [utiT], cejib-cic- -» [sel']. Sharping before a vowel is indicated by the vowel letter itself; this is never reflected in the morphological form of the truncation: [zel]-doroga ( < {zel'ez-n-aja}), spelled in Cyrillic acejie3Han. 7 Exceptions:

8

tea- (tea.tral'n-): (tea-kollegija 'theater board') dia- (Ainpozitiv-n-): (dia-fiFm 'slide')

Only three truncated Participial Adj + N phrases are attested: plav-baza (plavajuscaja bazalp\axucaja baza 'floating base') org-nabor (organizovannyj nabor 'organized recruitment) ukrep-rajon (ukreplennyj rajon 'fortified region')

26

STRUCTURES OF ATHEMATIC ABBREVIATED COMPOUNDS

sber-kassa stroj-materialy ssyp-punkt

(sberegateVnaja kassa) (savings bank) (stro[j~\iteVnye materialy) (construction materials) (ssypnoj punkt) ([grain] pouring station)

1.3 Potential for Ambiguity. 1.31 In most instances x-truncations may be termed "semantically motivated", in the sense that the [CVC] root approximation coincides with the root or stem of X or a portion of the stem which is sufficient to differentiate it from others which may possibly combine with the following Y. It has been noted that foreign stems, which generally lack the transparency and relative simplicity in internal structure of Russian stems, may deviate from the canonical pattern and form [... CVC] truncations. This tendency is also characteristic of prefixed Russian stems, which are often abbreviated as [prefix + CVC]: (verbal adjectives) zagot-kontora isprav-dom razved-rota raspred-punkt

(zagoto viteVnaja kontora) (procurement office) (ispravitel'nyj dom) (reformatory, house of correction) (razvedyvateVnaja rota) (reconnaissance company) (rasprede/i?