The Stress Characteristics of the Russian Suffix -azh/-iazh

Abstract

This paper analyses the complex stress properties of the Russian suffix -, in particular the apparent effects on it of the pragmatic factor and professional speech which are both features of A. A. Zaliznjak's work on Russian word stress. After examining other analyses of the suffix, Zaliznjak's is chosen as the most comprehensive. It classifies the suffix as having a dominant ending-stress pattern, but it also specifies fixed stem stress in nouns with polysyllabic stems or in non-assimilated nouns. The question of whether assimilation/non-assimilation correlates to actual data on frequency is answered positively by examining an extensive corpus of contemporary Russian. In this way the pragma..