Wybrane problemy słowotwórstwa nazw kobiet we współczesnym języku rosyjskim

Abstract

The article is devoted to selected issues of derivation and perception of women’s names in contemporary Russian. The author points out the changes that have taken place in Russian over the last twenty years, i.e. since the publication of Kolesnikov’s Dictionary of Women’s Names. She states that in the modern Russian language women’s names are derived with the help of word-forming formants well known from the Ruthenian language. However, some of them are used less frequently due to semantic and stylistic connotations (-š(а), -k(а)), others have started to be used in a previously unobserved way (-nic(а)). Also word-forming formants considered obsolete and unproductive (especially -еss(а)) have become active. Only the suffix -ŝic(a)/-čic(a) does not change its meaning and/or stylistic character, preserving its productivity.