LIETUVIŲ KALBOTYROS KLAUSIMAI, XXXI (1994)

KALBOS NORMALIZACIJOS KLAUSIMAI

VIDA RUDAITIENĖ

ON THE USE OF SUFFIXAL DERIVATIVES IN THE LITHUANIAN LANGUAGE

The material used for this article was collected by the author in 1987–1989 using the “Lexical Research Questionnaire,” also compiled by the author. It reveals the use of certain lexical variants, both standard and nonstandard. Written language was also taken into account.

The questionnaire raises the following key issues: 1) the use of international words (which word—Lithuanian or international, when their meanings coincide—informants tend to use most often); 2) the figurative use of Lithuanian and international words; 3) the diversity of word meanings—the same word can have various meanings, for example, guolis—for some informants, only “a place to lie down,” and for others, “a particular supporting part of a mechanical assembly”; siūlas—“a thinly twisted yarn,” “surgical suture,” “technical term for a screw thread,” etc.; 4) the use of phraseological expressions (which expressions are used more often and which informants tend to use them more frequently); 5) the use of compound words and various abbreviations; 6) the use of prefixal and suffixal derivatives.

The study examined the actual language used by people from different fields and with varying levels of education. The informants surveyed worked in science, manufacturing, culture, medicine, public services, education, agriculture, communications, and transport.

The questionnaire presented several alternatives for words or expressions, and informants had to choose one of them. They were asked: “Underline the word or phrase that you use.” It turned out that informants often tend to use various barbarisms, hybrids, and calques; they also frequently make mistakes when using compound words, various abbreviations, and prefixal and suffixal derivatives. This time, we focused on the language of people working in science. A total of 98 employees in the scientific sphere were surveyed. They included philologists, lawyers, economists, specialists in engineering, agriculture, and the natural sciences, as well as planning and accounting specialists working at institutes of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences, the Klaipėda Maritime Museum and Aquarium, the Šiauliai Pedagogical Institute, and the design office of Šiauliai’s “Nuklon” (designers and engineers, generally engaged in scientific work). All had completed higher education, and many held academic degrees or titles. Lithuanian was the native language of all participants. Thus, the study examined users of contemporary standard Lithuanian, whose average age was 37.

The use of suffixal derivatives was also investigated. The aim was to determine which of them people tend to use more often and what the main trends in their use are. Suffixal derivatives are also assessed from the standpoint of language norms. Thus, the suffixal derivatives that were included—

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in the questionnaire were selected with regard to the productivity of individual suffixes and the most characteristic errors associated with the formation and use of derivatives with certain suffixes.

One of the most productive and flexible methods of word formation in standard Lithuanian is suffixation. Unlike a prefix, a suffix follows the main stem and precedes the ending with which it is associated, since “in Lithuanian, a suffix can relatively rarely, only in invariable words, serve on its own as a derivational formative, cf. kit-aip, vien-u¹.”

Suffixation has also expanded the vocabulary of standard Lithuanian. This method is highly productive today in forming new nouns and adjectives.

In Lithuanian, “derived words are considerably more numerous than simple words among nouns. Most of these derived words are affixal derivatives, and only a small proportion are compound nouns. Suffixal derivatives are the most numerous—their number alone is several times greater than that of all the remaining derived words”².

In standard Lithuanian, suffixation is highly productive in forming nouns that denote people. Some are names of agents and bearers of verbal characteristics (nomina agentis). These are nouns formed from verbs by means of suffixes or endings and denoting those who perform actions. Some of the most productive suffixes in this group are -tojas, -a and -ėjas, -a. Others are names of bearers of nominal characteristics (nomina atributiva), that is, nouns formed with suffixes or endings from adjectives, nouns, or other words similar to nouns, and denoting a person according to some characteristic. One of the most productive suffixes for these derivatives is -ininkas, -ė; among international suffixes, it is -istas, -ė.

In standard Lithuanian, suffixation is also productive in forming nouns that denote people by their profession, specialty, or occupation. They are formed with suffixes or endings from nouns, especially those denoting the object of a person’s trade or work. The most productive suffix for these derivatives is -ininkas, -ė; the most common suffix in international words is -istas, -ė. New derivatives of this kind are generally all formed with the suffix -ininkas, -ė, and the need for them is also determined by extralinguistic factors: new professions, specialties, and occupations emerge.

The number of nouns denoting people by their origin and affiliation is also increasing in Lithuanian. They are most often formed with suffixes from other common or proper nouns. The suffix -ietis, -ė is very common in the formation of these nouns.

In standard Lithuanian, derivatives with the suffixes mentioned above are often used synonymously with derivatives formed with other suffixes or with nouns formed by other means.

We will discuss the questionnaire data on the use of suffixal derivatives.

The questionnaire included the sentence: The young man works at the port (as an unloader, loader, loa-

der), where respondents had to choose one of the alternatives given in parentheses. It turns out that the most popular of these is krovikas: of the 95 respondents, 56 (57.1%) selected it, while 32 (32.7%) chose krovėją. In this case, the unsuitable option iškrovėjas was selected by 7 respondents (7.1%).

¹ Urbutis V. Žodžių darybos teorija. V., 1978. P. 214.

² Taip pat jo. Daiktavardžių daryba // Lietuvių kalbos gramatika. V., 1965. T. 1. P. 252.

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Respondents: 5 specialists in technical sciences and 2 in law. The derivative iškrovėjas is justified in Lithuanian only when a line of work needs to be specified. For example, if the same workers perform loading tasks in an organization, they may be called krovikais, krovėjais (cf. pakrovėjas—iškrovėjas).

In contemporary Lithuanian, designations for people by profession, specialty, or occupation vary between the Lithuanian suffix -ininkas, -ė and the international suffix -istas, -ė. It was interesting to find out whether speakers more often tend to use derivatives with the suffix -istas or -ininkas. The alternatives offered in the questionnaire were: motociklininkas—motociklistas, kranininkas—kranistas, traktorininkas—traktoristas. It turns out that derivatives with the suffix -ininkas are more popular: 44.73% of our respondents chose them, while 26.37% chose derivatives with the suffix -istas. Thus, a tendency to avoid derivatives with the international suffix -istas is apparent. Among the derivatives with the suffix -ininkas presented, kranininkas was selected most often—it was chosen by 74 (75.5%) of the 97 respondents; among derivatives with the suffix -istas, the most popular were futbolistas, selected by 36 (36.7%) of the 98 respondents, and traktoristas, selected by 33 (33.7%) of the 98 respondents. It is also worth noting that the derivatives with the suffix -istas presented in the questionnaire were chosen more often by specialists in agriculture (22.37%; -ininkas—7.38%), economics (15.6%; -ininkas—8.9%), and law (14.08%; -ininkas—11.4%).

Derivatives with the suffix -ininkas, -ė are quite common in Lithuanian, both in writing and in speech. They tend to outnumber derivatives with other suffixes. Accordingly, among the alternatives offered in the questionnaire, prozininkas—prozaikas, our respondents prefer prozininkui: 67 (68.4%) of the 98 respondents chose it, while 31 (31.6%) chose prozaiką. The largest group among those who chose the lexical variant prozaikas comprises philologists³: 9 of the 20 selected it (29%), while 11 (16.4%) chose prozininką.

The abundance and popularity of derivatives with the suffix -ininkas, -ė in Lithuanian are also attributable to the fact that these derivatives can be formed from words of varied morphological structure, usually nouns. They are especially numerous when formed from compound nouns containing the element -tyra and serving as names of academic disciplines, e.g.: dirvotyra—dirvotyrininkas, -ė, kraštotyra—kraštotyrininkas, -ė, menotyra—menotyrininkas, -ė, mokslotyra—mokslotyrininkas, -ė, tautotyra—tautotyrininkas, -ė. The element -tyra can also be compounded with an international word, e.g.: patentotyra, teatryra. Nouns with the suffix -ininkas, -ė: patentotyrininkas, -ė, teatrotyrininkas, -ė are also derived from these compounds. The nouns formed by the derivational suffix -ininkas, -ė generally serve as designations for scholars. Alongside them, purely international names for academic disciplines are also used, especially those containing the compound element -logija (-log- + -ija), e.g.: kultūrologija, literatūrologija, patentologija, teatrologija. Nouns containing the element -logas, -ė serve as designations for scholars, e.g.: kultūrologas, -ė, literatūrologas, -ė, patentologas, -ė, teatrologas, -ė. The elements -logija, -logas, -ė can also be compounded with a Lithuanian noun, for example, dainologija, dainologas, -ė.

Thus, in Lithuanian, nouns with the suffix -ininkas, -ė, derived from compounds containing the element -tyra, are often used synonymously with nouns containing

³ Most of the philologists we surveyed are specialists in Russian.

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the element -logas, -ė. It was interesting to know which of these nouns our informants preferred. Of the options provided in the questionnaire, teatotyrininkas—teatrologas, patentotyrininkas—patentologas, our informants were more inclined to use nouns with the element -logas: these were indicated by 77.5%, while -ininkas was chosen by 16.35%. Of the 93 respondents, 79 (83.6%) chose the derivative teatrologas, and 14 (14.3%) chose teatotyrininkas; of the 88 respondents, 70 (71.4%) marked patentologą, and 18 (18.4%) marked patentotyrininką. The largest proportion of those who selected the indicated derivatives with the suffix -ininkas were specialists in technical sciences (50%; for -logas, 18.8%).

More and more branches of science are emerging and will continue to emerge. New names for these branches of science and for their scholars will also be needed. Neologisms of the type mentioned (especially those with the elements -logija, -logas, -ė) have long been used in some languages. Through language contact, they have spread into Lithuanian as well.

Hybrids with the suffix -orius (giedrius, pasakorius) remain fairly well established; the derivative with the suffix -auninkas, keliauninkas (= keliautojas, keleivis), is used somewhat less often. This is because many of them have a specific meaning and are not easily replaced. pasakorius is especially popular: of the 97 respondents, 54 (54.1%) chose it; 43 (43.9%) chose pasakotoją. Giedrius was indicated by 48 (49%). The hybrid keliauninkas was marked in their responses by 29 (29.6%) of the 96 respondents.

Hybrids with the suffix -adėjas are still used in the language. Among the options presented in the questionnaire—piktadarys—nenaudėlis—niekadėjas—13 (13.3%) of the 94 respondents chose the ill-formed derivative with the suffix mentioned, niekadėjas. These were 7 of 23 specialists in technical fields, 2 of 15 economists, 2 of 16 lawyers, 1 of 28 philologists, and 1 of 10 natural scientists.

Derivatives with the suffix -ietis, -ė are used fairly often in contemporary standard Lithuanian. Both in dialects and in standard Lithuanian, names for people are formed with the suffix -ietis, -ė from the names of the cities, towns, and villages where they live or have lived, e.g.: birštonietis, -ė DLKŽ 81, sasnavietis, -ė LKG I 411, vilkaviškietis, -ė DLKŽ 939, vilnietis, -ė DLKŽ 940.

Suffixes -iškis, -ė, -ėnas, -ė are also used for the same purpose, e.g.: kuršėniškis, -ė LKŽ VI 972, mažeikiškis, -ė DLKŽ 389, molėtiškis, -ė DLKŽ 407, skuodiškis, -ė DLKŽ 716, šilališkis, -ė DLKŽ 812, vilniškis, -ė DLKŽ 940, kupiškėnas DLKŽ 345, r okiškėnas DLKŽ 671, vabalninkėnas LKG I 412.

In standard Lithuanian, almost all derivatives denoting people according to their place of origin or residence are formed with the suffix -ietis, -ė. In the *Grammar of the Lithuanian Language*⁴, besides this meaning, two other cases of derivative formation with the suffix -ietis, -ė are given. With this suffix, names for people are formed: 1) from the proper names of continents, states, and regions, e.g.: amerikietis, -ė DLKŽ 13, europietis, -ė DLKŽ 152, suvalkietis, -ė DLKŽ 794; 2) from common nouns denoting places, e.g.: kaimietis, -ė DLKŽ 274, miestietis, -ė DLKŽ 399, pajūrietis, -ė DLKŽ 485, užsienietis, -ė DLKŽ 899.

The *Grammar of the Lithuanian Language* also mentions nouns with the suffix -ietis, -ė that denote not a person’s connection with a place, but rather their affiliation (with their ide-

⁴ Lietuvių kalbos gramatika. V., 1965. T. 1. P. 411.

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ology, activity...) to some collective or group of people⁵, e.g.: ansamblietis, -ė, giminietis, -ė, gvardietis, -ė, pasaulietis, -ė, tautietis, -ė. There are more examples of this kind, e.g.: armietis, -ė LKŽ I 309, tėvynietis, -ė DLKŽ 848.

In the “Grammar of the Lithuanian Language,” two types of derivatives with the suffix -ietis, -ė are considered normative: some designate people according to their place of origin and residence, while others designate them according to their membership in a collective. In standard Lithuanian, nouns formed with the suffix -ietis, -ė from the names of workplaces and work collectives are becoming more numerous. The suffix -ietis, -ė is now highly productive and tends to become the most universal means of forming personal designations, both according to a person’s place of origin and residence and according to membership in some collective. The worst thing is that derivatives with this suffix are used even to the point of being obtrusive, displacing derivatives with other suffixes. Much has been written about this⁶. Our questionnaire data also confirm this: 65.31% of our respondents tend to use derivatives with the suffix -ietis, -ė, while 30.43% choose derivatives with other suffixes.

As we have already mentioned, the suffixes -iškis, -ė, -ėnas -ė have long been used in Lithuanian to form personal designations according to place of origin and residence. Of the variants presented, vilnietis—vilniškis, 91 (92.9%) of the 98 respondents said they used vilnietį, 5 (5.1%)—vilniškį, and 2 (2%) indicated both variants. Among the variants kuršėniškis—kuršėnietis, kuršėnietis also proves more frequent: 50 (51%) of 97 respondents said they used it, 45 (45.9%) chose kuršėniškį, and 2 (2%) indicated both variants. Likewise, among the other variants presented, preference is given to derivatives with the suffix -ietis, -ė: of 97 respondents, 64 (65.3%) chose mažeikietį, 31 (31.6%)—mažeikiškį, and 2 (2%) indicated that they used both; of 95 respondents, 53 (54.1%) indicated skuodietį, 41 (41.8%)—skuodiškį, and 1 (1%)—both.

Although local residents are also more accustomed to saying kupiškėnas, rokiškėnas, our informants are more inclined to say kupiškietis: 67 (68.4%) of 97 respondents selected it, 29 (29.6%) selected kupiškėną, and 1 (1%) chose both variants. Even among the variants australas—australietis, 62 (63.3%) of 98 respondents said they used the latter, 35 (35.7%)—australą, and 1 (1%)—both.

Of the variants given in the questionnaire, geležinkelietis—geležinkelininkas, 73 (74.5%) of 97 chose geležinkelietį, while 23 (23.3%) chose geležinkelininką (one informant marked both), although derivatives with the suffix -ininkas, -ė should be used when designating someone by specialty, profession, or occupation.

According to the questionnaire data, derivatives with the suffix -ietis are more often chosen by specialists in technical sciences (-ietis—30.11%, other suffixes—11.98%), whereas philologists tend more often to use derivatives with other suffixes (-ietis—21.21%, other suffixes—26.64%).

The spread of nouns with the suffix -ietis, -ė has negative consequences. These nouns are now being abundantly formed from the names of any production or artistic collective, organi-

⁵ Ibid. P. 412.

⁶ Žr. Paulauskienė A., Tarvydaitė D. Gramatikos normos ir dabartinė vartosena. K., 1986. P. 44—46; Simonait ytė V. Priesagos -ietis, -ė daiktavardžiai tarybinių metų raštų kalboje // Kalbos kultūra. 1979. Sąs. 36. P. 38—44; Venckutė R. Senos ir naujos bėdos // Mūsų kalba. 1980. Nr. 4. P. 15—17 ir kt.

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…of the organization’s name. Their formation and use may possibly be encouraged by other languages, especially Russian. For example, many new nouns with the suffix -ietis, -ė are formed from the symbolic names of companies and other entities: baltijietis, -ė (“Baltijos” shipyard) T 1985 3, ekranietis, -ė (“Ekranas” factory) T 1987 100, elektronietis, -ė (“Elektronas” production association) VN 1988 76, jiesietis, -ė (“Jiesia” experimental fine-ceramics factory) T 1989 99, mastietis, -ė (“Mastis” knitwear factory) T 1989 12, vairietis, -ė (“Vairas” bicycle factory) T 1989 13; from the symbolic names of sports societies and teams: dinamietis, -ė (“Dinamo” sports society) T 1985 4, kibirkštietis, -ė (“Kibirkštis” basketball team) T 1987 70, žalgirietis, -ė (“Žalgiris” basketball team) T 1989 200; from the symbolic names of newspapers and publishing houses: tiesietis, -ė (the newspaper “Tiesa”) T 1990 254, moksl ietis, -ė (publishing house “Mokslas”) rš.; from the symbolic names of artistic and other collectives: sakalietis -ė (the men’s choir “Sakalas”) LR 1990 10, versmietis, -ė (the “Versmė” club) T 1987 40, žinijietis, -ė (“Žinija” society) MG 1986 4 19, and others.

In Russian, nouns with the suffix -ец are formed from symbolic names; they are most often translated into Lithuanian by derivatives with the suffix -ietis, -ė, e.g.: динамо́вец (футбольная команда „Динамо“) П 1978 53 — dinamietis, спарта-ковец (футбольная команда „Спартак“) ВМ 1976 257 — spartakietis, торпе-довец (команда по хоккею „Торпедо“) — torpedietis, мосфильмовец („Мосфильм“) ВМ 1975 156 — mosfilmietis. Such calques encourage the formation of similar nouns from symbolic names used in Lithuanian. A certain proportion of these nouns are occasional (nonce) formations and, when they enter written language, acquire a journalistic-jargon flavor. Moreover, these derivatives should not be used in place of derivatives formed with other suffixes. In this way, nouns with the suffix -ininkas were formerly formed from newspaper names, e.g.: aušrininkas, varpininkas.

In Lithuanian, derivatives of this kind, formed with the suffix -ietis, -ė from the names of people given to a company, school, or other collective, are becoming more numerous. These derivatives with the suffix -ietis, -ė denote a person’s membership in a collective named after a famous person, e.g.: čiurlionietis, -ė (M. K. Čiurlionis Secondary Art School) LM 1989 13, janonietis, -ė (J. Janonis Paper Mill) T 1986 10. This is a new and unusual linguistic phenomenon.

The worst thing is that nouns with the suffix -ietis, -ė, formed from the names of various collectives and organizations, are used in standard Lithuanian. Some of them are very cumbersome, for example those formed from derived nouns: leidykl- lietis, -ė “publishing-house employee” LM 1987 9, švietimietis, -ė “education-sector employee” T 1989 12; from compound nouns: bendrabutietis, -ė (rš.), literatūrmenietis, -ė LM 1989 10, which is formed from the slang word literatūrmenio; and from two words: naujaakmenietis, -ė (resident of Naujoji Akmenė) T 1989 200, naujavilnietis, -ė (resident of Naujoji Vilnia) VN 1990 242, and others. In keeping with the norms of Lithuanian, there is no need to use nouns with this suffix instead of derivatives formed with other suffixes. For example, when designating people by their place of origin or residence, one should not forget the suffixes -iškis, -ė and -ėnas, -ė. To designate people by their membership in a collective, the suffix -ininkas, -ė. is more appropriate than -ietis, -ė.

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In Lithuanian, suffixal nouns denoting machines, mechanisms, equipment, devices, or their parts are highly productive. They are usually called instrument names (nomina instrumenti). These are understood as “nouns formed from verbs (most often transitive ones) by means of suffixes or endings, which denote an object (an instrument, tool, device, or some other means) intended to perform the action expressed by the base word”⁷. Instrument names are mostly formed with the suffixes -tuvas, -iklis. In terminology, it is true, the functions of these suffixes are usually differentiated: names of larger technical devices and various machines and apparatuses are most often formed with the suffix -tuvas, while names of smaller technical devices, machines, and mechanisms are formed with the suffix -iklis, less often -eklis. But sometimes, in technical terminology, derivatives with the suffixes -tuvas and -iklis are used in parallel to denote the same concept.

The questionnaire survey was designed to determine which suffix’s derivatives—-tuvas or -iklis—informants tend to use when their meanings coincide. The questionnaire presented variants with both suffixes, e.g.: Nusipirkau sodui (purškiklį, purkštuvą). Of the variants in parentheses, 91 (92.9%) of the 97 respondents chose purkštuvą, while 6 (6.3%) chose purškiklį. Other variants were presented in the same way: gaudiklis ir gaudytuvas—of 80 respondents, 62 (63.3%) indicated gaudytuvą, 17 (17.3%) gaudiklį, and 1 (1%) chose both variants; tiekiklis ir tiektuvas—42 (42.9%) of 70 chose tiektuvą, 28 (28.6%) tiekiklį. Likewise, between the variants rinkiklis ir rinktuvas, preference went to rinktuvui: it was selected by 64 (65.3%) of the 81 respondents, while rinkiklį was selected by 17 (17.3%).

Thus, as many as 66.1% of those surveyed indicated derivatives with the suffix -tuvas, while 17.33% indicated derivatives with the suffix -iklis. The popularity of derivatives with the suffix -tuvas in contemporary standard Lithuanian has also been influenced by the fact that this suffix is more productive than all other suffixes with the same meaning. In addition, nouns with the suffix -tuvas are usually terms, and “in terminology, only instrument names are formed with this suffix. This essentially coincides with the derivational tendencies of this suffix in literary and folk language. On the other hand, in folk language its derivatives usually name only various tools”⁸.

In spoken Lithuanian (and often in writing as well), the formation of names for various tools, rather than persons, with the suffixes -ėjas, -tojas has become more frequent, e.g.: skleidėjas, smulkintojas (of fodder). Derivatives with the suffixes -ėjas, -tojas are also used to name various chemical substances, e.g.: skleidėjas, minkštintojas, tirpintojas. Slavic languages, especially Russian, also influence this phenomenon, since derivatives with the same suffixes in those languages can name both people and tools, e.g.: водитель ir водоналиватель, питатель. In Lithuanian, the meanings of derivatives with the suffixes -ėjas, -tojas and -iklis, -tuvas have long been distinguished. The former name persons, agents, while the latter name tools, devices, and substances with which an action is performed. Thus, the Russian words распространитель, кормоизмельчитель, растворитель, мягчитель into Lithuanian

⁷ Urbutis V. Daiktavardžių daryba // Lietuvių kalbos gramatika. V., 1965. T. 1. P. 381.

⁸ Keinys S. Priesaginė lietuviškų terminų daryba // Lietuvių terminologija: Lietuvių kalbotyros klausimai. V., 1975. T. 16. P. 20.

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into the language must be translated as disperser, feed chopper, solvent, thinner, softener.

As already mentioned, derivatives with clear agent-denoting suffixes are often used with meanings other than their own. People say and write išėmėjas (of stains) instead of valiklis, pakėlėjas instead of keltuvas, kėliklis, and so on. This is also evident from our questionnaire data. Of the options provided—valiklis, ėmiklis, išėmėjas (of stains)—most respondents (as many as 68 (69.4%) of the 97 who answered) chose the nonstandard išėmėjas, which, with the suffix -ėjas, is used even to name materials on which an action is performed. Only 24 (24.5%) respondents indicated that they use the normative derivative valiklis, while 3 (3.1%) chose ėmiklis.

Among the respondents, the derivative išėmėjas was most often named by specialists in technical sciences—19 out of 23; agriculture—10 out of 14; and economics—11 out of 15. To our surprise, this derivative was also chosen by as many as 11 of the 20 philologists (although, as noted, most of the philologists surveyed are specialists in Russian).

Far fewer respondents chose the nonstandard derivative skiedėjas than the derivative išėmėjas: 24 (24.5%) of the 95 respondents indicated that they use it, while 61 (61.9%) chose the normative skiediklis. Among those surveyed, specialists in technical sciences seem to have taken the greatest liking to this uncodified lexical variant: 12 of the 23 respondents chose it.

The derivatives with the suffixes -ėjas, -tojas that we are examining sometimes also have a prefix that is not very characteristic of Lithuanian. The awkward formation pagreitintojas is fairly common in Lithuanian. The questionnaire survey revealed that as many as 64 (65.3%) of the 90 respondents tend to use it, whereas 26 (26.5%) use the normative variant greitintuvas. The form pagreitintojas, which is not recommended in Lithuanian, is especially popular among specialists in agricultural sciences (10 of the 12 respondents named it) and technical sciences (16 of the 19 respondents chose it).

Most respondents also chose the nonstandard pakėlėjas—as many as 65 (66.3%) of the 86 respondents (instead of the normative variant kėliklis provided in the questionnaire, which 26 (26.5%) respondents selected in their answers). One respondent does not perceive a difference between pakėlėjas and kėliklis and therefore chooses both.

The awkward formation autopakrovėjas is also often used in our language instead of the normative autokrautuvas. This is also evident from our questionnaire data: of the 93 respondents, as many as 70 (71.4%) chose autopakrovėjas, while 23 (23.5%) chose autokrautuvas. The formation autopakrovėjas is also very cumbersome: alongside the first international element auto- it also contains the Lithuanian prefix pa-. The form autopakraut(u)vas is also used in writing and speech. Such formations are not recommended in standard Lithuanian and in many cases should be used without the Lithuanian prefix. These nouns are justified with a Lithuanian prefix only when, without the prefix, they have a different terminological meaning.

Thus, the norm of the Lithuanian language requires that derivatives with the suffixes -ėjas, -tojas denote persons and agents, and not be used to name tools, devices, machines, or materials on which an action is performed⁹.

In contemporary standard Lithuanian, nouns with abstract meanings are becoming widespread. They are particularly common in scientific and journalistic styles. Many nominal abstracts, or names of qualities, are used, which with suffixes and

⁹ For more on this, see Keinys S. Min. work. P. 24–27.

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They are most often formed with endings from adjectives, less often—from nouns, and sometimes from other inflected words¹⁰.

The most productive suffix for abstract nouns is -umas; among the remaining ones, -ybė and -ystė should also be mentioned. The suffixes -umas and -ybė are most often used to form abstract nouns from adjectives, while the suffix -ystė is used for abstract nouns from nouns.

Some nouns with the suffix -ystė are close in meaning to nouns with the suffixes -umas and -ybė. The most characteristic difference between abstract nouns with the suffixes -umas and -ybė is that “derivatives with the suffix -ybė are especially favored when the quality being denoted needs to be emphasized or intensified—in other words, when referring to a very pronounced, strongly manifest quality¹¹.”

An attempt was made to determine which suffixal derivatives our informants tend to use more often. The questionnaire included the derivatives: antrametystė—antrametiškumas. Of the 92 respondents, 80 (81.6%) reported using the variant antrametystė, while 12 (12.2%) reported using antrametiškumas. Words with the suffixes -ystė and -ybė were also given: pilnametystė—pilnamet ybė, neturtystė—neturtybė. Of the 97 respondents, 91 (92.9%) selected pilnametystę, while 6 (6.1%) selected pilnametybę; of the 72 informants, 25 (25.5%) chose neturtystę, while 46 (46.9%) chose neturtybę.

Under the influence of Russian, nouns with the prefix nu- and the suffix -imas are appearing increasingly often; they are usually terms, for example: nudžiūnimas — обезгазование, nukenkinsminimas — обеззреживание, nuriebalinimas — обезжиривание, nuskausminimas — обезболивание, nuvandeninimas — обезвоживание.

These words for processes have not been approved by linguists, but in specialist literature and general usage they have been quite common in recent decades. In our survey, too, respondents preferred anestezavimas—anestezija—nuskausminimas among the options provided: of the 96 respondents, 53 (54.1%) chose nuskausminimui; 12 (12.2%) indicated anestezavimą, and 19 (19.4%) anestezija. It is interesting to note that as many as 11 of the 20 philologists chose the derivative nuskausminimas; it was also preferred by 13 of 23 specialists in technology, 10 of 15 in economics, and 7 of 10 in the natural sciences.

Adjectives are also becoming more numerous in Lithuanian. The development and increased use of these forms have also been influenced by advances in science and technology, which have called for complex terms often denoted by an adjective and a noun. In contemporary standard Lithuanian, the most productive adjective suffixes are -inis, -ė, -iškas, -a, -ingas, -a. The largest number of adjectives are formed with the suffix -inis, -ė. The productivity of this suffix in adjective formation has also been influenced by the fact that such adjectives can be formed from nouns, adjectives, numerals, participles, adverbs, prepositional constructions, and so on.¹² Thus, the suffix -inis, -ė can be added to base words of varied structure and meaning.

¹⁰ Plačiau žr. Urbutis V. Daiktavardžių daryba // Lietuvių kalbos gramatika. V., 1965. T. 1. P. 306—316.

¹¹ Ibid. P. 308.

¹² For more detail, see Kniūkšta P. Adjectives with the suffix -inis: formation, meanings, grammatical synonyms. V., 1976. P. 7—55.

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The productivity of forming adjectives with the suffix -inis, -ė is one of the main reasons why these adjectives are used so widely and continue to increase in number in contemporary Lithuanian. They are abundant in both spoken and written language, especially in journalistic writing and scholarly literature.

External factors also influence the formation and use of adjectives with the suffix -inis, -ė. One such factor is the influence of Russian. Russian adjectives with the suffixes -енный, -ский encourage the formation and use of adjectives with the suffix -inis, -ė in Lithuanian, cf.: gamybinis — производственный, kokybinis — качественный, mičiurininis — мичуринский, ūkinis — хозяйственный, etc.

A number of problems arise from the use of adjectives with the suffix -inis, -ė in Lithuanian, especially from their competition with descriptive genitives. Not all adjectives with the suffix -inis, -ė are necessary, particularly since they are often unjustifiably used in place of a noun in the genitive¹³.

An attempt was made to determine whether our respondents were more inclined to use adjectives with the suffix -inis, -ė or the genitive of a noun (of course, where the meanings of these grammatical forms coincide). The questionnaire included the sentence: A folklore evening was held at the Culture House (kraštotyrinė, kraštotyrininkų). Respondents had to choose one of the options in parentheses. Of the 96 respondents, 90 (91.8%) chose the less desirable option, kraštotyrinė vakaronė, while 6 (6.1%) (philologists) chose kraštotyrininkų vakaronė. Of the alternatives įrankinis cechas — įrankių cechas, įrankinis cechas also turns out to be the most popular: it was selected by 78 (79.6%) of the 97 respondents, while įrankių cechą was selected by 19 (19.4%). The recommended option, įrankių cechas, was marked by 18 of the 19 philologists and one natural scientist.

Of the alternatives metodinis kabinetas and metodikos kabinetas, metodinis kabinetas is more popular: of the 95 respondents, 69 (70.4%) said they used it, while 25 (25.5%) used metodikos kabinetą; 1 (1%) marked both options.

Lithuanian also uses adjectives with the suffix -inis, -ė and the initial elements bendra- or visa-. Their emergence was also encouraged by Russian (cf. Russian обще- and все-). Most often, these adjectives are calques from Russian. Such adjectives are unacceptable in Lithuanian and are usually corrected by dropping bendra- and visa-. Word combinations are also used instead of these adjectives. However, adjectives formed in this way are common in our language, for example: bendraliaudinis turtas LR 1990 199, bendra-valstybinė reikšmė T 1989 12, visaliaudinis patriotizmas R 1990 270.

In contemporary standard Lithuanian, adjectives with the suffix -inis, -ė are often formed from prepositional constructions¹⁴, especially from nouns combined with the preposition tarp. In Russian, adjectives containing the element меж- (между-) also began to proliferate at almost the same time. Russian linguists state that this derivational trend became particularly pronounced around the middle of our century¹⁵.

Adjectives formed in this way often displace the genitive case, which is more appropriate in Lithuanian. This is also evident from the data of our questionnaire survey. The questionnaire

¹³ See Kniūkšta P. Cited work. P. 123—158.

¹⁴ For more detail, see Kniūkšta P. Cited work. P. 36—43.

¹⁵ See Belchikov Yu. A. On the development of Russian vocabulary in the Soviet era // Russian Language at School. 1965. No. 6. P. 3—9.

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The following variants were presented: agreement between governments — intergovernmental agreement. Of the 96 respondents, 47 (48%) chose the variant agreement between governments, while 49 (50%) chose intergovernmental agreement. Among those preferring the less acceptable variant were specialists in technology (14 of 23 indicated it; 9 chose agreement between governments) and agriculture (9 of 14 said they use intergovernmental agreement, while 5 use agreement between governments). In addition, 5 of the 18 philologists who responded also indicated intergovernmental agreement in their answers.

Adjectives formed in this way are also abundant in the press, although the genitive of a noun is often even better suited to expressing the intended meaning. Cf.: interdepartmental relationship VN 1989 20 and relationship between departments; inter-national hostility VN 1989 223 and hostility between nations, peoples, international accord VN 1989 223 and accord between nations, peoples, international alienation VN 1989 223 and alienation between nations, peoples, intergovernmental agreement LA 1990 133 and agreement between governments.

As the questionnaire survey data show, 60.02% of our informants tend to use adjectives with the suffix -inis, -ė, while 34.88% tend to use the genitive of a noun. Among our informants, the highest percentages tending to use adjectives with the suffix -inis, -ė are specialists in technology (52.18%; genitive of a noun, 16.38%) and agriculture (18.63%; genitive of a noun, 7.2%). In Lithuanian, the descriptive genitive is preferable for denoting a property of an object. Thus, it is also better to use methodology office, an evening gathering of local-history researchers, tool workshop.

In contemporary Lithuanian, adjectives with the suffix -inis, -ė often tend to displace adjectives with the suffix -ingas, -a from usage. There are differences in meaning between these adjectives. Adjectives with the suffix -ingas, -a denote possession of a property in abundance or the markedness of a property, whereas adjectives with the suffix -inis, -ė primarily describe the kind of object. Sometimes these adjectives are used synonymously, but, as P. Kniūkšta states, “among adjectives with the suffix -inis that express a relative sense of possession, only those adjectives with the suffix -ingas that denote the simple possession of a property can be synonymous”¹⁶. It should be remembered that adjectives with the suffix -ingas, -a are better suited to expressing abundance or intensity. Unfortunately, this is disregarded in many cases. This is also evident from our questionnaire survey.

The questionnaire included the following sentence: We received a lot of (protein-rich, protein) feed; of the variants in parentheses, as many as 52 (53.1%) of the 95 respondents chose the less acceptable variant protein, while 43 (43.9%) chose protein-rich. The less acceptable variant is more often chosen by specialists in technology (15 of 23), law (10 of 16), and natural sciences (7 of 10).

The greatest problem with adjectives formed with the suffix -inis, -ė is that they greatly overshadow other means of expression in Lithuanian. The use and standardization of these derivatives is one of the most complex issues in language culture¹⁷.

¹⁶ Kniūkšta P. Min. veik. P. 185.

¹⁷ Žr. Pupkis A. Kalbos kultūros pagrindai. V., 1980. P. 119—120.

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In Lithuanian, adjectives with the suffix -iškas, -a also quite often overshadow other means of expression, especially the genitive of a noun. This is also evident from our questionnaire data. The questionnaire included the sentence: Pupils choose (workers’, worker-like) professions. Of the variants in parentheses, a majority—51 (52%) of the 98 respondents—chose worker-like, workers’; 46 (46.9%) chose the other variant, while 1 (1%) indicated both variants. Among those surveyed, the largest numbers choosing the variant worker-like were specialists in technology (15 of 23 indicated it) and economics (9 of 15). In Lithuanian, when expressing belonging as a defining characteristic, it is better to use the descriptive genitive rather than an adjective with the suffix -iškas. Thus, in the sentence cited above, one should use the variant workers’ professions, since otherwise it would seem that the pupils are choosing professions similar to those of workers.

In contemporary usage, compound adjectives whose second component is a complete word with the suffix -iškas, -a are becoming increasingly common, e.g.: multinational, -a, equal-shouldered, -a, old-fashioned, -a, etc. It is often better to use derivatives with the ending -is¹⁸ instead. However, of the variants presented in the questionnaire, lygiatėsiškas—lygiatėsi, most of our informants chose the first: 60 (61.2%) of the 98 respondents indicated it, while 37 (37.8%) chose the preferable variant lygiatėsi; 1 (1%) informant said they used both variants. The largest number choosing the variant lygiatėsiškas (16 of 23) were specialists in technology.

The questionnaire included the sentence: I like this (old-fashioned, old-style) dress. Again, the most popular choice was old-fashioned: as many as 76 (77.6%) of the 93 respondents said they used this artificial variant, while 16 (16.3%) chose the recommended variant old-style.

Hybrids ending in -avas are also still used (especially in colloquial speech), e.g.: ružavas (= pink), smėliavas (= sandy-colored). The questionnaire survey also shows this. The hybrid ružavas is especially popular: 42 (42.9%) of the 96 informants say they use it. It is particularly favored by specialists in technology (chosen by 14 of 23), agriculture (8 of 14), and economics (8 of 15). As many as 6 of the 19 philologists also indicated the hybrid in their answers.

The hybrid smėliavas is receding from usage. In its place, the standard lexical item smėlinis is becoming increasingly established in the language. This is also evident from our questionnaire results. Only 14 (14.7%) of the 95 respondents indicated Smėliavą in their answers: 8 specialists in technology, 4 in agriculture, and 2 in economics.

In Lithuanian, especially in colloquial speech, adverbs formed incorrectly are often used, e.g.: spiritually (= spiritually) constantly, I view life philosophically (= philosophically), physically (= physically) lagging behind, etc. This is also apparent from the questionnaire data.

The questionnaire included the sentence: Tickets were sold out in a (record-breaking, record-fast, very, exceptionally) short time. As many as 47 (48%) of the 98 respondents said they used the incorrectly formed adverb record-breaking, 39 (39.8%) used record-fast, and 12 (12.2%) used very, exceptionally.

¹⁸ Plg. Kalbos praktikos patarimai. V., 1985. P. 109.

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In standard Lithuanian, adverbs are not formed from relative adjectives with the suffix -inis, -ė. This type of derivation arose under the influence of other languages. When correcting adverbs formed in this way, J. Jablonskis often also noted the incorrectness of the entire construction in which these adverbs were used¹⁹.

To summarize the use of suffixal derivatives in contemporary Lithuanian, one can conclude that nouns, adjectives, and adverbs formed incorrectly are still frequently used. This is also borne out by the questionnaire data: 57.65% of informants tend to use nonstandard suffixal derivatives, while 37.75% use standard ones. The questionnaire data also show that the highest proportion of those surveyed who chose nonstandard suffixal derivatives were specialists in technical sciences: 63.73% of them chose the incorrect forms, while 34.35% chose the correct ones. As we have seen, some suffixal derivatives are also used inappropriately.

ABBREVIATIONS

DLKŽ — Dabartinės lietuvių kalbos žodynas / Ats. red. J. Kruopas, 1972.

LA — Lietuvos aidas (newspaper).

LKG — Lietuvių kalbos gramatika / Vyr. red. K. Ulvydas. 1965. T.1.

LKŽ — Lietuvių kalbos žodynas / Ats. red. J. Kruopas. 1968. T.1; 1969. T.2.; 1962. T.6.

LM — Literatūra ir menas (newspaper).

LR — Lietuvos rytas (newspaper).

MG — Mokslas ir gyvenimas (magazine).

R — Respublika (newspaper).

rš. — writings without separate abbreviations.

T — Tiesa (newspaper).

VN — Vakarinės naujienos (newspaper).

ВМ — Вечерняя Москва (newspaper).

П — Правда (newspaper).

Note: The numbers indicate the years and issue numbers of newspapers, and the years, issue numbers, and pages of magazines. Roman numerals indicate book volumes; Arabic numerals indicate pages.

ON THE USAGE OF CERTAIN DERIVATIVE SUFFIXES IN LITHUANIAN

Summary

The present paper is based on the data collected by using a special questionnaire of lexical investigation “Leksikos tyrimo anketa”, which was compiled by the author of this report in 1987—1989. This study enables us to determine the usage of some lexical units both in standard and non-standard Lithuanian. Written language was also made use of.

The speech of individuals with different educational levels and living in different regions has been studied. The respondents were people from different spheres of activity: science, production, culture, medicine, services, education, agriculture, transport and communications.

The questionnaire contained several versions of the word or saying, and the respondent had to make his choice. It turned out that the respondents tended to choose barbarisms and hybrids; word-for-word translation mistakes were made in using complex words, shortened forms, or prefixes and suffixes.

¹⁹ See Jablonskis’ writings / Edited by J. Balčikonis. K., 1936. Vol. 5. P. 10, 88.

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The majority of people with special and even higher education have a bad command of the Lithuanian language. We were mostly interested in the language used by people engaged in science.

A total of 98 respondents have been questioned: philologists, lawyers, economists, engineers, specialists in agriculture, natural sciences, planning and book-keeping. They all are graduates from higher schools, some of them with academic degrees in corresponding fields of science. All of them are native speakers of Lithuanian. The average age of the respondents amounted to 37 years.

We were interested in the usage of certain suffix derivatives, and tried to determine to which of them the priority was given. Suffix derivatives were also evaluated in the light of standard Lithuanian.

As is known, in standard Lithuanian nouns denoting the names of professions, specialities and occupations have the greatest number of suffixes. The nouns of this kind with the Lithuanian suffix -inkas, -ė were chosen by 44.73% of the respondents, while the nouns with the international suffix -istas, -ė by 26.37%.

In Lithuanian, suffixes such as -orius, -atninkas, -adijas are also common in these cases. There are very well established hybrids, especially with the suffix -orius (giedorius, pasakorius). A total of 54 (54.1%) respondents chose the noun pasakorius and 48 (49%), giedorius.

In modern Lithuanian, derivatives with the suffix -ietis, -ė are also commonly used. Just one thing wrong, they are overused. According to our findings, 65.31% of the respondents preferred the suffix -ietis, -ė and 30.43% other corresponding suffixes.

In Lithuanian, the suffixes denoting names of tools are very productive. The following suffixes — -tuvas, -iklis — are most common. Sometimes in technological terminology to denote the same concept, derivatives with -tuvas or -iklis are used simultaneously. Our aim was to determine which suffixes our informants tend to use on condition that the suffixes have the same meaning. Consequently, 66.1% of our respondents claim to use the derivatives with the suffix -tuvas and 17.33% the derivatives with the suffix -iklis.

We have observed that in spoken Lithuanian and often in written Lithuanian the nouns denoting tools but not professions are more common with the suffixes -ėjas, -tojas. In this respect, the norm of the Lithuanian language is violated, according to which derivatives with the suffixes -ėjas, -tojas denote doers of the action but not tools or materials by means of which the thing is made.

In contemporary Lithuanian, abstract nouns become more common. In this case, the most productive suffix is -umas. The influence of the Russian language being very strong, there is an increasing number of nouns with the prefix nu- and suffix -imas; as a rule, they are terms, such as nudijimas, nukenkseminimas, nuskausminimas, nuvandeninimas. Linguists do not approve the usage of these terms, but in scientific literature and everyday use they are very frequent. 54.1% of the respondents chose exactly this variant.

In Lithuanian, the number of adjectives, particularly with the suffix -inis, -ė has also increased. They are often misused instead of a noun in the genitive case. This has been confirmed by our findings, namely 60.02% of our respondents preferred adjectives with the suffix -inis, -ė and 34.88% used a noun in the genitive case.

Summarizing the data obtained, we may state that 57.65% of our respondents tend to use certain derivatives with suffixes that do not conform to the norms of the Lithuanian language, and only 37.75% of them use the correct language. We may also draw a conclusion that specialists of technical sciences violate the norms more frequently; even 63.73% of our respondents chose the wrong variants and only 34.35%, the right ones.