Unmarked Methods of Word-formation in Yenisei Inscriptions

Abstract

Yenisey's inscriptions are important written sources of Old Turkic. Semantic change, conversion, derivation, and compounding are word-formation methods in the Yenisey inscriptions language. While derivation and compounding are marked methods of word formation where new words are made by adding new affixes or words, semantic change and conversion do not have these explicit means that define them. The last two methods are based on changing meanings or forms of words without adding any new morphemes. Various types of semantic change include metaphor, metonymy, generalization, specialization, amelioration, and pejoration. Among them, metaphor, specialization, amelioration, and pejoration can be seen in Yenisei inscriptions. The words teŋri 'God', qara' ordinary people' and 'cattle', örüŋ' silver things' are formed by semantic change. Changing the parts of speech to which the words belong is called conversion. The noun bäŋgü' memorial, inscription', the adverbs tükäti 'totally', bašlayu 'firstly, to begin with, beginning', üzä 'above' and the functional parts of speech qata 'times', birlä 'with, together' are formed by conversion. Adjectives with the suffix -sïz can also become adverbs, including buŋusuz 'without a grief, happily'. The research shows that although Turkic languages are agglutinative and possess many derivational suffixes, other word-formation ways do not need adding any new morphemes to words. The products of these methods are relatively few, but they are among the words used frequently.