“Russian Dictionary of Language Expansion” of A. Solzhenitsyn: Unproductive Word-Formation Models

Abstract

Aim. The purpose is to analyze the common potentialities of the words chosen by the author of the dictionary. Methodology. The research relies on such methods as analysis, synthesis, and interpretation. Results. It is found that the "Dictionary" by A. I. Solzhenitsyn was created mainly on the basis of the V. I. Dal’ s Dictionary, from which, on a subjective basis, words were selected for linguistic expansion in order that archaic or dialect words could be used by writers and to a certain extent be revived. The proposed study examines a group of words with the suffix -ishch-, mainly with the ending -e, sometimes -а, and analyzes the extent to which "revived" words correspond to the developmental tendencies of the language itself, which, as is known, depend little on the will and desire of its carriers. This class is productive in many ways in the Old Russian period, but already in the Old Russian period it becomes unproductive. Most of the words that name an object, a tool of labor in modern Russian refer to book or archaic vocabulary. Due to the inconsistency of some formations with the grammatical laws of the language, that is, contradictions to the historical trends of language development, they cannot replenish the vocabulary of a modern native speaker, but they are able to be elements of artistic speech that form pictorial and aesthetic functions. Research implications. Observations and conclusions can be used in courses on word formation, as well as the study of the writer's creativity.