All words in Russian are grouped according to certain criteria. Morphology deals with the study of words as parts of speech. In the article, we consider in more detail mutable and immutable parts of speech.
Definition and features
Part of speech is a group of words having the same morphological and syntactic features. As a rule, in all world languages, the name denoting something associated with the subject and the verb denoting action are contrasted.
The main condition for defining words in one part of speech is that they have a common grammatical meaning. So, for nouns, the general grammatical meaning will be the value of the subject (window, sky, person). For the adjective - a sign of the subject (white, tall, kind). For a verb, the meaning of the action (open, watch, walk). Morphological features common to each part of speech are gender, case, number, face, declination, time, conjugation, or immutability. Words included in one part of speech have the same role in the phrase (is the main or dependent) and the sentence (is the main or secondary member of the sentence), that is, they have the same syntactic features.
Independent (significant) and official
Parts of speech in the Russian language are divided into independent (significant) and official.
The independent parts of speech in the Russian language are words denoting objects, their signs and action. It is possible to ask a question to them, and in the proposal they are its members. The following independent parts of speech in Russian are distinguished:
- a noun that answers the question "Who?", "What?" (child, home);
- a verb that answers the question “What to do?”, “What to do?” (educate, build);
- the name of the adjective that answers the question “Which?”, “Whose?” (small, cat);
- a numeral name that answers the question “How much?”, “Which?” (seven, seven, seventh);
- an adverb that answers the question “How?”, “When?”, “Where?” etc. (fast, today, far away);
- a pronoun that answers the question “Who?”, “Which?”, “How much?”, “How?” etc. (he, such, so much, so)
- the sacrament answering the question “What?”, “What is he doing?”, “What has he done?” (playing, raising)
- participle answering the question “How?”, “What are you doing?”, “What are you doing?” (drawing, destroying).
It is worth noting that a certain group of scholars considers participles and participles as special forms of the verb and do not distinguish them in a separate part of speech.
Unlike independent parts of speech, official words cannot name an object, sign or action, but are only able to indicate the relationship between them. It is impossible to ask a question to them, and they cannot be members of the proposal. With their help, independent words are combined with each other in phrases and sentences. The auxiliary parts of speech are the preposition (s, po, from, etc.), the union (and, and, if, since, etc.), the particle (whether, would, not, even etc.) .
A special role is played by interjections. They are designed to express human feelings and emotions (eh, ah, oh, etc.) and at the same time they cannot name objects, signs and actions or denote the relationship between them.
Variable and immutable parts of speech
Some words of the Russian language are changing, others are unchangeable. Variable words have several forms. For example, a cow - cow - cows, white - white - white, read - read - read, etc. When the form changes, its grammatical meaning changes, but the lexical meaning remains unchanged. The following means are used to form word forms: ending (brother - to brother, green - green, writing - writing), ending with a preposition (to brother, brother, brother), suffix (writing - writing, beautiful - prettier), auxiliary words (write - I will write, I would write, let him write, the strong - the stronger, the strongest).
The unchangeable independent parts of speech include all official words, interjections.
Adverb and state words
An adverb is a significant, unchanging part of speech that expresses a sign of action (to stand close, fly high) or a sign of another sign (far-sighted, very cold). Adverbs cannot conjugate or bow and, accordingly, have no ending. However, some may have several degrees of comparison (good - best - best of all). Adverbs are distinguished by value:
- a way of action (how? how?): fun, loud, four;
- measures and degrees (to what extent? how? to what extent?): completely, very, twice;
- places (where? where? Where from?) on the right, back, in the distance;
- time (when? how long?): today, early, summer, long;
- reasons (why? why?): by accident, by accident;
- goals (why? for what?): in spite, for show.
Adverbs in a sentence usually fulfill the role of circumstances (the boy quickly crossed the road.). Also, adverbs can be part of a compound predicate (Waiting for a train was boring.). Quite rarely, adverbs can be an inconsistent definition (A light walk awaited us.).
Some scholars distinguish state words (light, crowded, hot, sad, cold) into a separate, unchanging part of speech.
Communion
The participle is the part of speech that does not change, expresses an additional action in relation to the predicate and combines the signs of both the verb and the adverb. From the verb, it inherited the following features:
- view: perfect / imperfect (passing, passing);
- transient (crossing the road, watching a movie);
- return (peering - peering, shoe - shoeing);
- the ability to be determined by an adverb (quickly running away, screaming cheerfully).
Declined Nouns and Adjectives
The immutable parts of speech also include some non-reflexive nouns and adjectives.
Such words have no word forms and are devoid of endings. Among non-declining nouns, there are:
- foreign proper and common names that end in a vowel (Dumas, coffee, Tokyo, piano, etc.);
- foreign names of female persons ending in a consonant (miss, Marilyn, etc.);
- surnames of Ukrainian origin ending in -ko (Pavlenko, Derevyanko);
- some Russian surnames (Thin, Borzykh, Beetle, etc.);
- abbreviations and compound words ending in a vowel (CIS, SPbU, transenergo, etc.).
Immutable adjectives are divided into:
- names of languages (Hindi);
- designation of nationalities (Khanty, Mansi);
- names of styles (Rococo, Baroque);
- designation of clothing styles (flared, mini, maxi);
- designation of varieties (cappuccino, espresso);
- designations of flowers (indigo, burgundy, beige);
- other qualifying features (lux, net, gross).
To understand which part of speech is immutable, it is necessary to analyze the behavior of each in different contexts, without word forms will be immutable.