Abstract

Considering an effective Russian vocabulary learning method

Title

employing derivational affixes – Based on linguistic analysis offrequency data from corpora –NameGota Sayama

Abstract
This paper examines an effective vocabulary learning method of Russian language employing
derivational affixes as the language abounds with morphological methods in word formation.
Therefore, vocabulary can be efficiently extended by learning its derivational affixes. This paper
discusses four research questions (RQs) to linguistically verify the learning effect and develop thedescription of Russian derivational affixes:

RQ-1: Quantitative confirmation of vocabulary expansion by learning derivational affixes(Chapter V)
RQ-2: Selection of derivational affixes worth learning (Chapter VI)
RQ-3: Selection of the meanings of the verbal prefix про-/pro- worth learning (Chapter VII)
RQ-4: Description of image schema and radial category of the verbal prefix про-/pro(Chapter VII)

This paper comprises eight chapters: chapters I to IV introduce and explain necessary information
regarding latter analyses (the above-mentioned RQs are discussed in chapters V to VII).
Chapter I introduces the background and RQs of this paper in terms of the necessity to learn
derivational affixes to expand Russian vocabulary. Chapter II examines word counting units(“token”, “type”, “lemma”, and “word family”). In chapter III, Russian language corpora and theirfrequency dictionaries are mentioned. Chapter IV discusses which corpus to employ for our RQs.

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Hence, the main (written) and spoken corpora of “Russian National Corpus” (“RNC-M” and“RNC-S”) are employed in the analyses.
Chapter V discusses RQ-1; compared to English, Russian is a more synthetic language inproducing concepts and lexemes (they are primarily formed using prefixes and suffixes). Therefore,
it is estimated that learners’ vocabulary can be efficiently expanded by learning derivational affixes(5.1., 5.2.), because Russian contains an extensive amount of derivational words. To confirm that
linguistically and quantitatively, data of 5,000 most frequent lemmas in RNC-M and RNC-S are recounted by the “word family” unit and the degree of increase in text coverage is calculated (5.3.).
Results reveal that the text coverage of a specific number of words such as 1,000, 2,000, greatly
increases by using “word family.”

Table 1. Text coverage by “lemma” and “word family” in RNC-M/RNC-S

500
1,000
1,500
2,000
2,500

Lemma
53.0%
60.9%
65.9%
69.4%
72.0%

RNC-M
Word family
63.3% (= 1,212 lemmas)72.1% (= 2,533 lemmas)
76.1% (= 3,627 lemmas)78.2% (= 4,397 lemmas)79.3% (= 4,927 lemmas)

Lemma
69.4%
75.3%
78.3%
80.3%
81.7%

RNC-S
Word family
76.2%(= 1,132 lemmas)
81.4%(= 2,364 lemmas)
83.5%(= 3,400 lemmas)
84.6%(= 4,206 lemmas)
85.3%(= 4,801 lemmas)

This result demonstrates the effectiveness of learning derivational affixes for expanding Russian
vocabulary as it implies that derivatives are contained within high frequency words.
However, Russian has innumerable derivational affixes. From the applied linguistics perspective,
they are divided into “more frequently used,” “frequently used,” and “less frequently used” in actual
language usage. Therefore, chapter VI is devoted to acquiring objective evidence of which
derivational affixes are frequently used (affixes learners often encounter that are effective forvocabulary expansion). In order to select affixes worth learning, we calculate the frequency (totalfrequency of derivatives that contain the affixes) and productivity (total number of derivatives withthem) of each affix recorded in 5,000 high frequent words in the RNC-M and RNC-S (6.2.). The
following derivational affixes indicate a high value of the two criterions: prefixes – по-/po-, с-/s-, в/v-, вы-/vy-, при-/pri-, про-/pro-, у-/u-, не-/ne-, ни-/ni-; suffixes – -o/-o (adverb), -a-/-a-, -ва-/-va-, ива-/-iva- (verb), zero suffix (noun), -н-/-n-, -ск-/-sk-, -ов-/-ov- (adjective), and so on. The list
obtained from this analysis is a basis for considering which affixes to learn for vocabulary
expansion.

2However, Russian derivational affixes, particularly verbal prefixes, are exceedingly ambiguous(learning their meanings are important in order to understand the derivatives since they display
quite a high frequency and productivity in our analysis). While considering a truly effective
vocabulary learning method, it is desirable to select not only derivational affixes with high learning
priority, but also the meanings with which the affixes are frequently attached to base words.
Therefore, in chapter VII we select the meanings worth learning for the prefix про-/pro- whose
frequency and productivity are very high in the previous chapter’s analysis, describing the semantic
classification of про-/pro- in detail, ultimately presenting nine meanings (7.1., 7.2.).

Table 2. Nine meanings of the prefix про-/pro- in our analysis
TermMeaningsBase verbs and Prefixed verbs

1

THROUGH

Action of moving through somethingor penetrating something

2PASS

Action of passing by something

3

MISS

Action of missing something due todoing other things or not doing it well

4

DISTANCE

Action of moving through a certain
distance

5

DURATION

Action of continuing during a given
period6

EXTENSION

Action of extending (something)

7

THOROUGH

8EXPEND

9HARM

Actionofdoing
somethingthoroughly
Action of exhausting or spending allmoney
Action of doing harm to somethingломатьbreakехатьgoспать
sleepбежатьrunсидеть
sitтянуть
pullваритьboilпитьdrinkстудить
coolпроломать
boreпроехать
go by…
проспать
miss…due to being asleepпробежать
run through a certain distanceпросидеть
sit for a certain timeпротянуть
extendпроварить
boil enoughпропить
waste money on drinking
простудить
let catch cold

Subsequently, we identify prefixed verbs with про-/pro- recorded in the self-made corpus with one
million words. Finally, measuring the frequency of each meaning in the corpus, we confirm whichпро-/pro- meaning is attached to these verbs based on the context (7.3.). The results are provided
below.

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Table 3. Frequency of each про-/pro- meaning in a one million words corpus
Meanings
1. THROUGH
2. PASS
3. MISS
4. DISTANCE
5. DURATION

Frequency
688
6860
459
228

Meanings
6. EXTENSION
7. THOROUGH
8. EXPEND
9. HARM
10. UNKNOWNFrequency
219
1,066
532
41

Results reveal that the meanings “THROUGH,” “DISTANCE,” and “THOROUGH” should be firstpresented to learners given their high frequency. The subsequent meanings to be introduced are“DURATION” and “EXTENSION”, followed by “PASS” and “MISS”. The analysis results are thebasis for the order in which to present meanings.
Furthermore, we describe the image schemas and radial category employed in cognitive
linguistics (7.4.) for the prefix про-/pro- in order to reduce the learning burden of studying
individual meanings. Image schemas and radial category can be employed to learn ambiguous
language units such as prefixes. The description of про-/pro- in this chapter is significant for futureempirical research.
Chapter VIII summarizes the above-mentioned results and states future tasks.

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