Lietuvių kalba eISSN: 1822-525X
2024, vol. 19, pp. 94–113 DOI: https://doi.org/10.15388/LK.2024.19.7
Word Formation Patterns of Place Nouns in English and Lithuanian: A Case Study of a Novel by M. Katiliškis “Miškais ateina ruduo” and Its Translation into English
Danguolė Straižytė
Department of Foreign Language Teaching and Research,
Institute of Foreign Languages, Vilnius University
E-mail: danguole.straizyte@flf.vu.lt
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-0214-9893
https://ror.org/03nadee84
Justė Ganusauskaitė
Department of Foreign Language Teaching and Research,
Institute of Foreign Languages, Vilnius University
E-mail: juste.ganusauskaite@amston.eu
https://ror.org/03nadee84
Santrauka. Šio straipsnio tyrimo tikslas – išanalizuoti iš M. Katiliškio lietuviško romano „Miškais ateina ruduo“ išrinktų vietos pavadinimų (toliau – Nomina Loci, NL) žodžių darybos ypatybes ir jų atitikmenis, rastus knygos vertime į anglų kalbą. Nors ši daiktavardžių darybos kategorija yra produktyvi ir dažnai vartojama kasdieniame diskurse, tačiau NL darybos ypatybės lietuvių ir anglų kalbose mažai tyrinėtos. Tiek lietuvių, tiek anglų kalbose yra produktyvių žodžių darybos būdų, tokių kaip sufiksacija, prefiksacija ir dūryba, bet jų pasirinkimas NL darybai skiriasi. Šiuo tyrimu siekiama išsiaiškinti šių dviejų kalbų NL darybos būdų panašumus ir skirtumus bei palyginti originalaus lietuviško teksto NL darinius su NL dariniais, rastais vertime į anglų kalbą.
Raktažodžiai: vietos pavadinimai, Nomina Loci, žodžių daryba, vediniai, dūriniai, vertimo ekvivalentai.
Vietos pavadinimų darybos ypatumai anglų ir lietuvių kalbose: M. Katiliškio romano „Miškais ateina ruduo“ ir jo vertimo į anglų kalbą analizė
Abstract. The research aim of this paper is to compare and to analyze word formation properties of place nouns (hereinafter – NL) extracted from the Lithuanian novel “Miškais ateina ruduo” by M. Katiliškis, and their respective equivalents found in the English translation of the book.
Although this noun category is productive and often used in everyday discourse, little research has been done to define the word formation properties of NL in Lithuanian and English languages with a special focus on a base word and its derivational capacities. Both Lithuanian and English languages have productive word formation processes such as suffixation, prefixation and compounding, although they vary significantly. The aim of this study is to find out similarities and differences in word formation processes between these two target languages and to compare word formation patterns of NL extracted from the Lithuanian text and their equivalents found in the English translation of the novel.
Key words: place nouns, Nomina Loci, word formation, derivatives, compounds, translation equivalents.
Received: 2024-10-25. Accepted: 2024-11-25
Copyright © 2024 Danguolė Straižytė, Justė Ganusauskaitė. Published by Vilnius University Press. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licence (CC BY), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
1. Introduction
The concept of a location stands as a cornerstone in both language and cognition, and it can manifest through various lexical, grammatical, and word formation methods across languages. Haselow describes place as “lexical units that refer to a location in space that is associated with a particular activity and/or a location that surrounds individuals in certain situations” (Haselow 2011, 66). The term Nomina Loci refers to the morphological category that in the English language is called place nouns.
In recent years, there has been a growing focus on the study of word formation alongside the intensified research in morphological and lexical typology worldwide. Seminal works such as Müller et al. (2015–2016), Lieber and Štekauer (2009), and Booij et al. (2000, 2004) exemplify this trend. Reiner and Luschützky (2013) have examined the derivation of place nouns (Nomina Loci) from both a typological and historical perspective. These scholars provide a general description of place, contenting themselves with the dictionary definition of place, which is very general in nature. They attempt to justify their approach by explaining that it is impossible to successfully define a philosophical concept such as this one – place, which is a fundamental aspect of human cognition and therefore cannot be defined (Wierzbicka 1996, 58 in Rainer & Luschützky 2013, 1302).
In English, the term “place noun” is used to distinguish it from “name of a place”, or toponym, which specifically denotes the name of a location. This differentiation helps to avoid confusion between the two concepts. Both terms – Nomina Loci (NL) or place nouns will be interchangeably used in this paper, as established by Urbutis in the Grammar of Modern Lithuanian (DLKG 1997, 133).
The derivation of NL of the current Baltic languages has not been analysed monographically, but only described in general terms by Urbutis (LKG 1965, 396–406), Keinys (1999), Stundžia (2016), Navickaitė-Klišauskienė (2016), etc. The NL of the Lithuanian language has been studied from a diachronic point of view by Ambrazas (1993, 208–218; 2000, 63–70). Insights into English nominal derivation can be obtained from comprehensive descriptions of word formation systems, such as those provided by Adams (2001), Plag (2005), Marchand (1969), and Dixon (2010).
The novel “Miškais ateina ruduo” by Marius Katiliškis and its translation into the English language “Fall Comes from the Forest” was selected for this research paper purposefully. This novel is one of the most important and famous representatives of the Lithuanian literature of the 20th century and it has not been analysed from the perspective of place nouns. This book depicts realistic rural life in interwar independent Lithuania, describing images of nature, social life, and relationships between people at that time. The content of the novel and the period in which it is set, influence the vocabulary used, and, inevitably, the choice of place nouns. The abundant use of place nouns in this novel reveals Lithuania’s typical and picturesque natural landscape, and moreover, expresses the richness of the Lithuanian language.
The hypothesis of the paper is that English and Lithuanian languages employ different word formation patterns in the category of place nouns, which are more productive in one language than in the other.
The subject of the paper is NL found in the Lithuanian novel “Miškais ateina ruduo” by Marius Katiliškis and its translation into the English language “Fall Comes from the Forest”.
The aim is to conduct a comparative analysis of the word formation patterns of place nouns in Lithuanian and English, using material from the novel “Miškais ateina ruduo” by Marius Katiliškis and their equivalents in the English translation “Fall comes from the forest”.
In order to achieve the aim, the following objectives were set:
1. To review the scientific literature on NL and word formation patterns of NL in the English and in the Lithuanian languages.
2. To compile a register of the most common formatives from the original Lithuanian text used to produce NL in English and Lithuanian.
3. To determine and analyze the most frequent word formation patterns of NL identified in the Lithuanian version of the novel and compare them with their equivalents in the English translation of the novel.
1.1 The concept of place nouns (NL)
This chapter focuses on the theoretical insights into place nouns and the word formation patterns of this semantic category in the Lithuanian and English languages. It provides insights into the understanding of the concept of place nouns, reviews the processes of word formation and their differences between English and Lithuanian, and presents differences between NL and other semantic categories.
Szymanek (2015, 1327) provides a definition of place nouns as words that denote the name of a specific location. He further categorizes derived locative nominals as falling within the scope of place nouns. The scholar claims that many languages in their word formation systems use the concept of NL, particularly those, which have overt morphological markings (e.g., affixes) in the formation of place nouns, derived from verbs. Likewise, Plag (2002, 109) states that suffixes are attached to verbs, adjectives, and nouns with the purpose to form abstract nouns denoting place. The author maintains that the places indicated by these nouns are intricately linked to the semantics of the base word to which the suffix is attached. Ambrazas (2000, 63) argues that the semantic category of collectives laid the foundation for the emergence of the nominal category of place nouns in the Lithuanian language. In Dabartinės lietuvių kalbos gramatika – DLKG (Grammar of Modern Lithuanian) (2006, 133) it is stated that NL belong to a medium-sized group of derivational category in the Lithuanian language and place nouns are defined as nouns that usually follow denominal, deverbal or deadjectival nominalisation, and describe a location where things are kept, where the action is performed, or some of them defines its quality. Furthermore, it is stated that the marker location can be both open (a natural outdoor location) or closed (an artificially created place or space). NL in Lithuanian are considered to belong to the category of medium productivity, whereas in English, they are classified as unproductive. In Lithuanian, the primary role is played by suffixation, while in English, it is likely compounding. The results of novel’s study on NL confirm these statements: among Lithuanian NL, suffix derivatives prevail, while English equivalents show only a small portion of derivatives. Instead, simple words and phrases, as well as prepositional constructions, seem to dominate. This is determined not only by the differences in NL derivation systems between the languages but also by the difference in grammatical structures: Lithuanian is a synthetic and inflectional language, while English is analytic. Luschützky and Rainer (2013, 1301) argue that place nouns can denote places related to the action expressed by the base verb, or they can be derivative forms whose significance is not explicitly tied to the action itself. Instead, it is implicitly understood that they denote the place where a specific action is intended to occur. Furthermore, researchers support their analysis by suggesting that place nouns exhibit various distribution patterns, signifying that they can manifest as primary nouns, compounds, or derivatives. The scholar Keinys (2005, 50) maintains that within the Lithuanian language, place nouns adhere to denominal or deadjectival nominalization structures. However, when elucidating this linguistic category, he characterizes them primarily as suffix-derived forms originating from verbs. The author justifies his statement by giving an example of the Lithuanian NL maudykla and provides a definition of this word: “bathing area with certain facilities” (ibid.). Consequently, he suggests that locations designed for specific activities or processes, such as production or other endeavors, are frequently denoted using the linguistic construct of place nouns. Gaudinskaitė (2005, 16) claims that the use of place nouns usually corresponds to the literal meaning of the word. While studying place nouns, the author notices that a large number of place nouns have synonyms with a similar pattern of word formation. Therefore, she focuses on synonymous place nouns and their sequences, taking into account whether the place noun has a stylistic mark or not, and distinguishes two groups of place nouns: those lacking stylistic attributes and those possessing them. Furthermore, the author emphasizes that the context is integral to understanding and analysing the meaning of place nouns. All the researchers contribute to the expansion of the NL category and the field of analysis when their research discovers and analyses the characteristics of the category of place nouns and their different distribution. Nonetheless, in this study, the relevant definition of place nouns aligns closely with that elucidated by numerous authors, suggesting that place nouns are nouns denoting locations typically associated with certain activities. The emphasis lies on the derivation and compounding properties of place nouns.
1.2 Word formation patterns of place nouns in the Lithuanian language
Each semantic category possesses specific characteristics that are taken into account when considering word formation. Place nouns, which are abundant in the Lithuanian language, are no exception, and have their distinctive patterns of word formation. Having regard to the DLKG (2006, 133), the formation of place nouns in Lithuanian is primarily characterized by suffixation. The Lithuanian language features specific affixes, such as -ynas, -ynė, -inė, -ykla, -uma, which are commonly used to create place nouns. Furthermore, the DLKG (ibid.), differentiates the presented suffixes based on the part of speech they usually are attached to when forming place nouns. It is indicated that in general, the suffixes -ynas, -ynė, -inė are used to form place nouns, and only the suffix -ynė, among the other affixes that combine with nouns, can occur with other parts of speech. The suffix -ykla is provided as specific to word formation associated with verbs, and the last of the most productive suffixes provided is -uma, which is the most widely used suffix for forming place nouns using adjectives. Likewise, Urbutis (2009, 297) indicates that place nouns in Lithuanian follow denominal, deadjectival and the deverbal word formation pattern. He argues that when categorizing place nouns based on specific Lithuanian suffixes, prefixes, and paradigmatic derivatives, further subdivision into part-of-speech groups is irrelevant. To support this claim, the author provides an example of place nouns with the Lithuanian suffix -ynas: derivatives formed from nouns like alksnynas (: alksnis) – ‘alder grove’, raistynas (: raistas) – ‘thicket’, adjectives such as klampynas (: klampus) – ‘swampy ground, area’, tankynas (: tankus) – ‘thicket’, or verbs like liulynas (: liuliuoti) – ‘quagmire’, raizgynas (: raizgyti) – ‘tangle’. Urbutis suggests that their division into denominal, deadjectival, or deverbal derivatives creates an artificial distinction.
Keinys (2005, 50) states that the suffix -ykla is the most productive suffix for the formation of place nouns. The base verb of a place noun is usually transitive and generally in the past tense (Lith. būtasis kartinis), following a deverbal derivation pattern, e.g. audykla (: audė, austi, audžia) – ‘textile factory’, leidykla (: leido, leisti, leidžia) – ‘publishing house’, siuvykla (: siuvo, siūti, siuva) – ‘sewing workshop’. In addition, the author, based on the dictionary data, provides less frequently used suffixes for the formation of place nouns such as -einė, -imys, -ynas, -klė, -lis, -ta, -tas, -tinė, -tinis, -tuvė, by excluding only the suffix -tuvė as more productive. Referring to deverbal nominalisation, Gaudinskaitė (2005, 19) emphasizes that both transitive and intransitive verbs can be used to form place noun derivatives.
As reported by DLKG (2006, 137), in the Lithuanian language, the abundance of paradigmatic derivatives is low. The inflectional paradigm -a is one of the most productive paradigms for the word formation of deverbal paradigmatic derivatives of place nouns, while -is, -ė, and the less common -as are also noted, with -is and -ė following a deadjectival formation pattern. Furthermore, prefixation is not categorized as an independent method of forming place noun derivatives in the Lithuanian language. However, DLKG provides a list of prefixes, including pa-, už-, ant-, prie-, į-, apy-, po-, prieš-, at-, nuo-, and pra-, which can be employed in the process of prefixation to form place nouns.
Furthermore, Lietuvių kalbos gramatika, I tomas (Grammar of Lithuanian, Volume I) (LKG, 1965 437–439), defines compounds in Lithuanian as combinations of two elements, with one element defining the other. While compounds are not explicitly categorized as a distinct group of place nouns, the LKG provides a list of compound nouns denoting purpose, including those related to place, which can be considered as NL. Specifically, compounds expressing the location of growth or presence of plants, creatures, or objects are highlighted, such as kalnapievė (kalnas+pieva) – ‘mountain meadow’, kalnakelis (kalnas+kelias) – ‘mountain path’, and others. Conversely, Aleksaitė (2022, 81), in her examination of the formation of place nouns in the Lithuanian language using the Database of Lithuanian Neologisms, refutes the assertion that the suffixes identified by the Dabartinės lietuvių kalbos gramatika (DLKG) as the most productive in the formation of NL retain their productivity. The author indicates the suffix -inė as a productive suffix in the formation of place nouns, but the other suffixes, distinguished and presented in the Lithuanian grammar books as the most productive, are no longer frequently used to form new place nouns.
1.3 Word formation patterns of place nouns in the English language
Both Lithuanian and English languages have descended from the proto-Indo-European language, employing similar features of word formation, as it has been discussed in the previous chapters. In general, as reported by Biber et al. (2021, 318), the processes of derivation and compounding are applied to form nouns in the English language. The authors describe the process of derivation as the addition of derivational affixes to nouns, while the compound nouns are produced by the combination of two words. However, the formation of the category of NL differs significantly in English and Lithuanian languages. In contrast to the productive processes of suffixation to form place nouns in the Lithuanian language, in the English language suffixation is not such a productive way of forming place nouns. Plag (2002, 109–112) while presenting nominal suffixes, describes only two of them as suffixes related to the formation of nouns that denote place. He identifies the suffix -age as typically used to form nouns that refer to actions or quantities, but it also has a secondary use in creating place nouns. As an example, the author provides an English word orphanage, which, according to the Cambridge Dictionary, has a definition of “a home for children whose parents are dead or unable to care for them”. Given that this definition contains a word home, it can be acknowledged that the provided word expresses a place. Another suffix given by the author related to the formation of NL in English is -(e)ry. Introducing this suffix and its association with a locative meaning, the author indicates what is characteristic to NL category. He emphasizes the significance of the base meaning underlying word formation with this suffix, as it directly correlates with the location that the resulting derivatives denote, e.g. bakery, brewery, fishery, pottery, cakery, carwashery, eatery (Plag 2002, 112), which all represent locations where some action associated with the base word are carried out. Likewise, the authors Biber et al. (2021, 320–321) present each of the derivational suffixes used in the English language, indicating which part of speech it usually combines with and what meaning the newly formed word acquires. Two introduced suffixes related to the formation of nouns indicating place are -age and -ery, as provided by Plag. The authors provide examples of formed place nouns such as hermitage, orphanage, vicarage, whose base nouns respectively are hermit, orphan, and vicar, and all three of them, when the given suffix is added, indicate place. Similarly, the scholars indicate that the suffix -ery follows denominal derivation pattern, e.g. nunnery, piggery, and also a deverbal derivation pattern, e.g. bakery, cannery, refinery. In addition, Blevins (2006, 527), when presenting derivational suffixes and prefixes, indicates the suffix -dom as referring to territory, e.g. kingdom. Nevertheless, NL formed with the suffix -ment (encampment, settlement) also occurs, Kastovsky (1985, 225). Moreover, to produce NL in English, conversion can be employed, e.g. a stop (: to stop), as well as compounding, e.g. with the second constituent shop (book-shop), house (slaughter-house) (Marchand 1969, 375).
Furthermore, Greenbaum (1996, 447–449) provides prefixes that are associated with the word formation of nouns indicating place, although he specifies that some of them refer to time rather than place, or the meaning of location is conveyed only in a metaphorical sense. The author suggests that the prefixes potentially productive in the formation of place nouns include: ante-, fore-, in-, mid-, out-, under-, e.g. antechamber, forecourt, inland, infield, indoor, outskirts, outfield, underground, underwater, underpass.
2. Research Methodology
This research paper focuses on the synchronical analysis of word formation patterns of place nouns in the Lithuanian novel “Miškais ateina ruduo” and their equivalents in the English translation “Fall Comes from the Forest”. In order to conduct the analysis, the methodological procedure comprised three stages:
1. An establishment of a design of a research tool, i.e. a classification of place nouns according to the word formation patterns.
2. Extraction of NL from the Lithuanian version of the novel and identification of their equivalents in the English translation of the novel.
3. Simultaneous analysis and comparison of NL derivatives from the Lithuanian text and their respective equivalents, including NL formations in the English translation of the novel.
To achieve the aim and objectives set, the methodological approach applied for the investigation was a combination of both qualitative and quantitative methods. The qualitative approach was employed to categorize identified place nouns based on their respective word formation patterns, while the quantitative method was utilized to determine the frequency of the most prevalent word formation patterns of place nouns in both Lithuanian and English. This combined research methodology aimed to elucidate which word formation patterns of place nouns were most frequently used in both the Lithuanian novel “Miškais ateina ruduo” and its English translation, “Fall Comes from the Forest”.
The data collection process involved reading both the original Lithuanian novel “Miškais ateina ruduo” and its English translation “Fall Comes from the Forest” simultaneously to identify place nouns. Place nouns were extracted from the original Lithuanian text, and their English equivalents, which could be translated as derivatives, simple words, phrases, or sometimes omitted, were noted from the translated version. Data collection was guided by the characteristics of place nouns outlined in the theoretical insights chapter, including both open and closed place denoting nouns, and ambiguous cases were also included for interpretation. The hypothesis that Lithuanian exhibits greater productivity in Nomina Loci formation than English guided the selection of Lithuanian as the source language. The suitability of each word as a place noun was confirmed using the online Lithuanian Dictionary (LKŽ), and the examples were organized using Microsoft Word. Contextual sentences from the novels were collected for each place noun to aid in categorization. Following Urbutis’ (2009) classification place noun derivatives in Lithuanian were categorized into four main types: prefix, suffix, paradigmatic derivatives, and compound words. The word formation patterns of place nouns in English were indicated alongside with their Lithuanian counterparts. The analysis process involved cross-checking collected data against the online Lithuanian Dictionary (LKŽ) definitions to ensure accuracy. Initially, 142 NL were identified in the Lithuanian novel, which are going to be referred to in the tables as ‘type frequency’ – the number of distinct words or forms (types) that occur in a given dataset. The total number of occurrences of NL or forms (tokens) in a given dataset, including repetitions, are going to be reffered to later as ‘token frequency’. Each category of NL was analyzed proportionally to its frequency in the novel, with suffix derivatives being the most abundant, followed by prefix derivatives, compound words, and paradigmatic derivatives. The definitions of affixes were sourced from the DLKG (2006) and Volume I of LKG (1965).
However, a limitation of the paper lies in the exclusive reliance on data derived from a single novel, rendering the analysis incapable of fully representing the prevalent word formation patterns of place nouns in Lithuanian and partly in English, due to the translation choices of the author.
3. Research Results and Discussion
Initially, the NL derivatives were extracted from the Lithuanian version of the novel, followed by identifying their equivalents in the English translation of the novel. The most abundant type, suffix place noun derivatives, is analyzed first, followed by prefix derivatives, compound words, and paradigmatic derivatives. Each category is examined starting with the most frequently used suffix, prefix, or paradigmatic derivative, extracted from the Lithuanian version of the novel. Subsequently, the results of each group are then compared to highlight word formation patterns of NL in Lithuanian and English. Ambiguous cases are addressed in the conclusion. The sample size for analysis in the Lithuanian language are 74 suffix derivatives, 52 prefix derivatives, 11 compound words, and 5 paradigmatic derivatives. Figure 1 illustrates the total number of NL found in the novel “Miškais ateina ruduo”, categorized by word formation patterns.
The figure indicates that the predominant form of NL discovered in the novel is suffix derivatives, making up nearly half of all the derivatives found. Prefixation constitutes around one-third of the instances, while compounds represent 14%. Paradigmatic derivatives have the smallest share, at 3%.
Figure 1. Distribution of NL in Lithuanian
3.1 Lithuanian suffix derivatives and their equivalents in the English language
The analysis focuses on the prevalence of suffixation in forming place nouns in Lithuanian, with a total of 74 established suffix place noun derivatives found in the novel. The identified suffixes used for this purpose include: -ynas, -inė, -ynė, -ykla, -uma, -tuvė,-ybė, -imas, -mė, -elis, -iškė, -ovė, -vė, -uva, -idė, -ystė, as outlined in the DLKG (2006, 133–136).
The table provided below shows the type frequency of each suffix in the dataset, as well as the token frequency and their percentage.
Table 1. Original number and percentage of each suffix in the dataset
|
Suffix |
Type frequency |
Percentage |
Token |
Percentage |
|
-ynas |
26 |
35,1% |
55 |
15,5% |
|
-inė |
13 |
17,6% |
107 |
30,1% |
|
-ynė |
6 |
8,1% |
13 |
3,7% |
|
-ykla |
7 |
9,5% |
30 |
8,5% |
|
-uma |
6 |
8,1% |
24 |
6,8% |
|
-tuvė |
3 |
4,1% |
57 |
16,1% |
|
-ybė |
2 |
2,7% |
8 |
2,3% |
|
-imas |
2 |
2,7% |
4 |
1,1% |
|
-mė |
2 |
2,7% |
7 |
2,0% |
|
-elis |
1 |
1,4% |
34 |
9,6% |
|
-iškė |
1 |
1,4% |
5 |
1,4% |
|
-ovė |
1 |
1,4% |
3 |
0,8% |
|
-vė |
1 |
1,4% |
3 |
0,8% |
|
-uva |
1 |
1,4% |
2 |
0,6% |
|
-idė |
1 |
1,4% |
2 |
0,6% |
|
-ystė |
1 |
1,4% |
1 |
0,3% |
|
Total: |
74 |
100% |
355 |
100% |
DLKG (2006, 133) indicates that the suffix -ynas is the most productive suffix in word formation of this semantic category and the findings from the novel prove that. Mainly, NL derivatives with this suffix follow denominal derivation pattern and indicate places of plant growth or open spaces, e.g. alksnynas (: alksnis) – grove of alder trees1, dilgėlynas (: dilgėlė) –‘nettle growth, atžalynas (: atželti) – new growth, vyšnynas (: vyšnia) – cherry orchard, avietynas (: avietė) – raspberry bush, eglynas (: eglė) – fir trees, fir grove, cluster of fir, purvynas (: purvas) – mud, viržynas (: viržis) – heath, varputynas (: varputis) – sedge, brūzgynas (: brūzgas) – thicket. Deverbal or deadjectival derivation with this suffix used in NL formation is quite rare. As regards the type frequency data of the suffix -ynas, there are 26 cases, noted with this suffix. However, as can be seen from Table 1 the suffix -inė has twice as many token frequency cases (107) compared to the suffix -ynas (55), which is likely due to the theme of the novel. As noted in DLKG (2006, 134) the second most frequent suffix -inė defines enclosed space within dishes, bags, boxes, and other similar things, such as muilinė (: muilas) – ‘soap box’, peleninė (: pelenai) – ‘ashtray’, piniginė (: pinigai) – ‘wallet’, or special enclosed, larger places e.g. daržinė (: daržas) – ‘barn’, pieninė (: pienas) – ‘dairy’, raštinė (: raštas) – ‘office’, varpinė (: varpas) – ‘belfry’, durpinė (: durpė) – ‘sward’, kavinė (: kava) – ‘café’. Notably, Aleksaitė in her study on the formation of neologisms, states that based on the results of the study on the synchronous productivity of affixes (see Urbutis 2009, 311), it is evident that one type of derivation (-inė) is highly productive, while the productivity of others (-ynas, -ynė, -ykla) has significantly decreased, Aleksaitė (2022, 82).
DLKG (2006, 135) provides for that not many known place nouns with the suffix -tuvė exist in the Lithuanian language. Usually, NL derivatives with this suffix are made from the stem of a verb participle. Similarly to the place nouns with the suffix -inė, Nomina Loci with the suffix -tuvė expresses a place that is related to the action denoted by the base verb, e.g. krautuvė (: krauti) – ‘store’, ‘shop’, virtuvė (: virti) – ‘kitchen’, parduotuvė (: parduoti) – ‘shop’.
The DLKG (2006, 136) does not distinguish the suffixes -ybė, -imas, -mė as productive for the formation of place nouns. However, it indicates that the derivatives of place nouns formed with the suffix -mė express a location that is related to a feature denoted by the base adjective, e.g. they express spaciousness, flatness, density: ertmė ‘cavity’, lygmė ‘flat land’, tankmė ‘thicket’. The suffixes -ybė, -imas, -mė appear relatively less frequently compared to others as seen in Table 1. Each of them have only two cases in the original text, e.g. kalėjimas (: kalėti, -jo) – prison, skynimas (: skinti, -ė) – clearing, tankmė (: tankus) – thicket, dense, grain, thick, plotmė (: platus) – space, tolybė (: tolis) – distance, platybė (: platus) – expanse, far away. The percentages for these suffixes are also relatively low, indicating their limited contribution to the total number of derived words in the dataset. For instance, -ybė, -mė and -imas each contribute only 3% to the total. This suggests that these suffixes are less commonly used in forming derived words. Suffixes such as -elis, -iškė, -ovė, -vė, -uva, -idė, and -ystė are among the least frequently used suffixes in the dataset, suggesting that they play a minor role in forming derived words compared to other suffixes.
Figure 2. Lithuanian suffix NL and their English equivalents
Figure 2 provides an overview of the English equivalents for Lithuanian place nouns (NL) formed with various suffixes. It should be noted that the examples of “other word units” provided in the figures and subsequent translation equivalents of the Lithuanian NL illustrate a form of lexical syntagmas, where words are combined in a specific order to form a meaningful unit, e.g. bog’s edge, outlying fields, family home, open space, open area, flat field, confessional screen. It shows that the Lithuanian suffix place noun derivatives were most frequently translated as simple words (39%), e.g. smėlynas (: smėlis) – shoal, kelmynas (: kelmas) – stump, daržinė (: daržas) – barn, pieninė (: pienas) – dairy, raštinė (: raštas) – office, landynė (: landa) – den. Slightly fewer equivalents were translated as other word units (28%), e.g. alksnynas (: alksnis) – alder groves, alder trees, skiedrynas (: skiedra) – woodchopping yard, woodcutting yard, gyvatynas (: gyvatė) – snake nest, den of snakes, pieninė (: pienas) – milk station, velnynė (: velnias) – godforsaken place, klampynė (: klampus) – muddy road. Furthermore, 20% of found equivalents were compound words, e.g. durpynas (: durpė) – peat bog, peatland, pelkynas (: pelkė) – swampland, dykynė (: dykas) – wasteland, daržinė (: daržas) – hay barn. Only 10% of the equivalents were translated as suffix derivatives, e.g. vaistinė (: vaistas) – pharmacy, giluma (: gilus) – depth, glūduma (: glūdus) – depth, toluma (: tolis) – distance, karalystė (: karalius) – kingdom. The least number of found NL equivalents in English were prefix derivatives, adverbial constructions, and prepositional constructions (only 1% of each), e.g. tolybė (: tolis) – far away, lūžtvė (: lūžti) – under a deadfall (see Figure 2).
The analysis of suffix place noun derivatives has revealed that many of them have multiple translations in English. For instance, the frequently encountered derivative daržinė (: daržas) was translated as ‘barn’ 42 times and as ‘hay barn’ twice in the novel. The choice of translation, particularly in compound words like ‘hay barn’ seems to be at the discretion of the translator, as it does not alter the word’s meaning significantly. Interestingly, derivatives with the suffix -inė uncovered words specific to old Lithuanian dialects, offering insights into rural life in the 20th century. Examples include viralinė (: virti, -ė), defined as ‘a separate kitchen’ or ‘summer kitchen’, and šeimyninė (: šeima) translated as ‘cookhouse’ and ‘bunkhouse’, respectively, in English compounds that align closely with the original Lithuanian meanings. It can be noted that some of the NL, e.g. eglynas (: eglė) have both equivalents of simple words and other word units found in the English language: firs, spruce (simple words), fir grove, fir trees, cluster of fir (other word units). Interestingly, the collectiveness here is expressed by the plural form of the noun ‘firs’.
3.2 Lithuanian prefix derivatives and their equivalents in the English language
Based on the word formation patterns of place nouns in the Lithuanian language, the second largest group of place nouns established in the novel is prefix place noun derivatives. The most commonly used prefixes in the Lithuanian language to form NL derivatives found in the novel are as follows: pa-, už-, po-, prie-, nuo-, iš-. The total number of NL prefix derivatives is 52.
The table below presents the type and token frequency of each prefix in the dataset, and their respective percentage.
Table 2. Original number and percentage of each prefix in the dataset
|
Prefix |
Type frequency |
Percentage |
Token |
Percentage |
|
pa- |
40 |
76,9% |
167 |
86,5% |
|
prie- |
5 |
9,6% |
15 |
7,8% |
|
už- |
3 |
5,8% |
5 |
2,6% |
|
nuo- |
2 |
3,8% |
3 |
1,6% |
|
po- |
1 |
1,9% |
2 |
1,0% |
|
užuo- |
1 |
1,9% |
1 |
0,5% |
|
Total: |
52 |
100% |
193 |
100% |
The prefix pa- is indicated as the most productive prefix in the formation of NL prefix derivatives in the Lithuanian language (DLKG, 2006, 145), and it also signifies the largest group of prefix derivatives found in the novel., e.g. pagirys (: giria) – by the forest, pakelė – roadside, panamė (: namas) – by the house and paupys (: upė) at the river, alongside the river and acquires the meaning of a place that is located along that indicated thing.
The second group includes derivatives such as paąžuolis (: ąžuolas) – a mushroom which grows under the oak tree, pagalvis (: galva) – pillow and palazdys (: lazdynas) –name of a specific flower, which grows under a hazelnut. When combined with the prefix pa-, these derivatives convey the notion of a place located beneath or below the object indicated by the base word.
As illustrated in Table 2, prefix pa- appears in 40 derivatives, accounting for 77% of the total derivatives, which were most frequently translated as prepositional constructions in the English language, e.g. paupys (: upė) – by the river, along the bank, along the river, by the riverside, pamiškė (: miškas) – alongside the forest, next to the woods, toward the edge of the forest, by the forest, by the forest’s edge, along the woods, by the woods, alongside the woods, pažemė (: žemė) – close to the ground, along the ground, palangė (: langas) – by the window, under the window. The prefix pa- is significantly more common than any other prefix in both type and token frequencies. This suggests that it is a very productive prefix in the data analyzed, forming many unique words and appearing frequently within the text. It is evident, that the translation of the same place noun, e.g. pamiškė (: miškas) or paupys (: upė) varies depending on the context, leading to multiple possible translations.
The analysis reveals that the prefix prie- constitutes 10% of all NL derivatives, with type frequency of 5 cases found and included in the study (see Table 2). The DLKG (2006, 146) indicates that the derivatives of NL with the prefix prie- follow denominal derivation. By adding the prefix to a base noun referring to an object, the resulting derivative expresses a place whose location is close or near that object, e.g. priepirtis (: pirtis) – sauna’s entryway, priemenė (: pritrypti, -ė) – entry room, entry way, prieklėtis (: klėtis) – grain barn, granary’s entry. As indicated in Table 2 the number of found NL derivatives with the Lithuanian prefix už- is significantly lower than the number of derivatives found with the prefix pa-. Už- constitutes 6% of the total with 3 derivatives, e.g. užtakis (: takas) – backwater, užkampis (: kampas) - backwater, užstalė (: stalas) – table. Nuo- makes up 4% of the total with 2 derivatives, e.g. nuošalis (: šalia) – farther away and nuokalnis (: kalnas) – down the hill. Po- represents 1% of the total with 1 derivative, as does užuo-, e.g. poakis (: akis) – under his eyes and užuovėja (: vėjas) – shelter from the wind.
The figure presented below includes word formation patterns for all English equivalents of the Lithuanian prefix NL found in the translation of the novel (see Figure 3).
Figure 3. Lithuanian prefix NL and their English equivalents
The analysis reveals that many NL prefix derivatives in English can be translated using both prepositional constructions and simple words. Prepositional constructions make up 45% of all the translated data, e.g. panamė (: namas) – past the house, alongside the house, next to the house, near the farmstead, by the house, pašonė (: šonas) – next to him, in the side, in the ribs, pakalnė (: kalnas) – down the hillside, down the hill, below the hill. For instance, the Lithuanian derivative pastogė (: stogas) has 10 English equivalents, with 4 being prepositional constructions, e.g. under the eave, into the loft, under the roof, in the loft and 6 simple words, e.g. gable, crown, eave, loft, rafter, roof. The context suggests that the choice of translation depends on the declension system in Lithuanian; if a place noun derivative employs the locative case in Lithuanian, it is often translated into English using a prepositional construction.
Furthermore, the second largest group of Lithuanian prefix place nouns and their equivalents in English are translated as simple words (24%), e.g. pasaulis (: saulė) – world, pastogė (: stogas) – gable, crown, eave, loft, rafter, roof, pakalnė (: kalnas) – hill, valley, slope, prieširdis (: širdis) – heart. Moreover, 14% of the English equivalents for the Lithuanian place noun prefix derivatives are compound words, e.g. paupys (: upė) – riverbank, paširdys (: širdis) – midsection, pašventorius (: šventas -a) – churchyard, pakrantė (: krantas) – riverbank. Another 14% of equivalents are rendered as other word units, e.g. palaukė (: laukas) – edge of field, outlying field, patamsis (: tamsa) – low light, half light, priepirtis (: pirtis) – sauna’s entryway, priemenė (: pritrypti, primindžioti) – entry room, prieklėtis (: klėtis) – granary’s entry, užuovėja (: vėjas) – shelter from the wind. The most rarely found equivalents of place nouns are adverbial constructions, e.g. nuošalis (: šalis) – farther away (3%).
3.3 Lithuanian compound place nouns and their equivalents in the English language
The third most frequent group of the Lithuanian NL found in the novel, based on the word formation patterns is compound nouns. Unlike English, Lithuanian language does not have a rich variety of nominal compounds, which make up only about 5 percent of all registered words in the Lithuanian Dictionary of Contemporary Language. The most productive type of compounds is N+N (noun + noun) in Lithuanian, while other types of compound nouns are less common, Stundžia, Jarmalavičius (2019, 26–28, 53). However, it should be noted that compound nouns, presumably, occur less frequently than derived nouns and may be found now and then in contemporary language. The data found of in the novel comprises 11 Lithuanian compound place nouns, with 18 equivalents in the English language.
Figure 4. Token frequency of the Lithuanian compounds
Figure 4 illustrates that the compound vienkiemis (vienas+kiemas) – LKŽ “vienos šeimos ūkio sodyba, esanti toliau nuo kitų sodybų” (a family farmstead located away from other homesteads) is the most frequently occurring term, with 18 repetitions accounting for 29.5% of the total. This indicates that the concept of a vienkiemis is a central theme in the text. Besides vienkiemis, other high-frequency compounds such as turgavietė (turgus+vieta) – marketplace and tarpdurys (tarp+durys) – doorway, each appearing 9 times, and tarpmiškė (tarp+miškas) – between the forest, appearing 10 times, suggest these are significant elements within the narrative or discussion.
The majority of equivalents in the novel were rendered as compound words (47%), e.g. vienkiemis (: vienas+kiemas) – farmstead (: farm+stead), turgavietė (: turgus+vieta) – marketplace, (: market+place), market square (market+square), tarpduris (: tarp+durys) – doorway (: door+way), kryžkelė (: kryžius+kelias) – crossroad (: cross+road), tarpvartė (: tarp+vartai) – gateway (: gate+way). Respectively, 20% of the data was translated as simple words, e.g. tarpvartė (: tarp+vartai) – gate, tarpvartis (: tarp+vartai) – gate, tarpmiškė (: tarp+miškas) – wood. Other word units and prepositional constructions each represent 13% of the found equivalents in English, e.g. tarpmiškė (: tarp+miškas) – between the forest, between the woods, between the woodlands, šalikelė (: šalia+kelias) – beside highway, ugniakuras (: ugnis+kurti) – dying fire, tarpmiškė (: tarp+miškas) – forest clearing, tarpdurys (: tarp+durys) – door opening. Additionally, suffix derivatives comprise only 7% of the data found, e.g. gyvenvietė (: gyventi+vieta) – settlement, (see Figure 5).
Figure 5. Lithuanian compound NL and their English equivalents
The analysis indicates that the majority (47%) of Lithuanian compound NL have been translated into English as compounds. However, exceptions exist, such as tarpvartė, which was translated both as a compound word and as a simple word in English. Interestingly, while tarpvartė appeared in both feminine and masculine gender in the Lithuanian novel, it was consistently translated as the simple word ‘gate’ in English. Another example, tarpmiškė has equivalents in English following three different patterns: simple word, prepositional construction, and syntagma. Although most equivalents in the novel were compound words, 20% were translated as simple words, and 13% each were translated as other word units and prepositional constructions. Additionally, suffix derivatives represented only 7% of the translated data.
3.4 Lithuanian paradigmatic derivatives and their equivalents in the English language
The least common group of NL found in the Lithuanian version of the novel are paradigmatic derivatives, DLKG (2006, 137). The most frequently used paradigmatic derivatives in Lithuanian to form noun locative (NL) derivatives are -a, -ė, and -as. These paradigms play a key role in the formation of Lithuanian NL in the novel.
In total, the novel contains five paradigmatic NL derivatives, which have six equivalents in the English translation. This slight variation between the Lithuanian and English versions suggests some flexibility in translation, where a single Lithuanian term may correspond to multiple interpretations in English.
The distribution of these paradigmatic derivatives in the novel is shown in Table 3, which highlights how often each derivative occurs and their respective English equivalents. The paradigmatic derivative -a is the most common, making up 60% of the data and 50% of the total derivatives. The paradigmatic derivative -ė accounts for 20% of the type frequency of paradigmatic derivatives but has a slightly higher total percentage of 33.3% due to multiple occurrences. The paradigmatic derivative -as is the least common, with both type and token frequency percentages being 20% and 16.7%, respectively.
Table 3. Type and token frequency of each paradigmatic derivative in the dataset
|
Suffix |
Type |
Percentage |
Token |
Percentage |
|
-a |
3 |
60,0% |
3 |
50,0% |
|
-ė |
1 |
20,0% |
2 |
33,3% |
|
-as |
1 |
20,0% |
1 |
16,7% |
|
Total: |
5 |
100% |
6 |
100% |
Almost all of the found paradigmatic derivatives were translated as simple words (80%) in the English version of the novel, e.g. įlanda (: įlįsti) – manhole, hole, perėja (: pereiti) – crossing, prieplauka (: priplaukti) – dock, patalpa (: tilpti, tilpo) – place, ištaka (: ištekėti, ištekėjo) – source, plynė (: plynas) – ground, plain (see Figure 6). Notably, only 1 place noun in the novel with the inflectional paradigm -a was translated as a compound word (20%) in the English language, e.g. užtvara (: užtverti) – paddock.
Figure 6. Lithuanian NL derivatives and their English equivalents
3.5 Equivalents of the Lithuanian NL in English
In analyzing the equivalents of Lithuanian NL in the English translation of the novel “Fall Comes from the Forest” it was found that most NL were translated into English as simple words (35%), other word units (20%), prepositional constructions (17%), and adverbial constructions (1%) (see Figure 7). In contrast, in the Lithuanian version of the novel, 52% of NL were suffix derivatives, while their English equivalents comprised only 6% of the data. The second most common category in Lithuanian was prefix derivatives (35%), but in the English version, they made up just 1%.
Meanwhile, in English, the second largest categories were compounds (20%) and other word units (20%). In Lithuanian, compounds made up 9% of the analyzed words, placing them third in frequency. Prepositional constructions accounted for 17% of the English equivalents. Interestingly, paradigmatic derivatives, which are a unique category in Lithuanian (4%), do not have a direct equivalent in English but can be related to the process of conversion. Both adverbial constructions and prefix derivatives represented only 1% of the English translations.
Overall, the analysis shows that the word formation patterns of place nouns in Lithuanian, as seen in the novel “Miškais ateina ruduo,” differ significantly from their equivalents in the English translation “Fall Comes from the Forest”.
Figure 7. Lithuanian NL and their English equivalents
4. Conclusions
Place nouns follow deverbal, denominal or deadjectival word formation patterns and typically indicate a place where activities occur. In Lithuanian, NL are notably more prevalent compared to English, which has fewer place noun word formation means. Word formation processes like compounding, suffixation, prefixation are vital for analyzing place noun formation in both languages.
The analysis of word formation patterns in the Lithuanian novel “Fall Comes from the Forest” shows that Lithuanian uses highly productive patterns, especially suffixation, for creating place nouns. Suffixes such as -ynas, -ynė, -inė, -ykla and -uma are commonly used to form NL in Lithuanian. In contrast, English, with its less productive category, primarily employs suffixes like -age, -ery and -dom. Most Lithuanian suffix derivatives had equivalents in English as other word units, simple or compound words. Fewer equivalents were found for certain suffix place nouns, often translated using suffixes like -cy, -th or as prepositional constructions in English. Equivalents of Lithuanian suffix derivatives are typically translated as simple words. A few suffix derivatives with -ment were also identified.
Lithuanian prefix place noun derivatives are often translated into English as prepositional constructions. The register of prefix derivatives in Lithuanian highlighted pa- as the most common prefix, while others like prie-, už-, nuo-, etc., were less frequent. English equivalents included simple words, compounds, and other word units.
Compounds are the third most frequent category in Lithuanian, with English equivalents predominantly being compounds as well. Compounds found in the Lithuanian version of the novel and their equivalents in the English language are translated as compounds, simple words, prepositional constructions, other word units, and a low number of suffix derivatives with the suffix -ment.
Lithuanian paradigmatic derivatives characterised by inflectional paradigms -a, -ė, -as are the least frequently used category in Lithuanian, with English equivalents mostly consisting of simple and compound words.
Sources
Katiliškis, Marius. 2021. Miškais ateina ruduo. Vilnius: Lietuvos rašytojų sąjungos leidykla.
Katiliškis, Marius. 2022 (1957). Fall Comes from the Forest. Translated by Birutė Vaičjurgis Šležas. New York: Pica Pica Press.
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1 English equivalents of the Lithuanian NL are provided in small caps format