A brief comparative study of noun suffixes in Chinese and Russian
Jin Lijie, student master's degree
Guangdong University of Foreign Studies (Guangzhou, China)
Whether in Russian or Chinese, the suffix for expressing people is widely used. And with the development of the times, the number of human suffixes in a language will increase, allowing language to innovate and develop. We analyze the usage characteristics of human suffixes commonly used in Russian and Chinese by comparing their frequency of occurrence, and conduct comparative research to explore the differences in the use of human suffixes in Russian and Chinese. Studying the suffixes of Russian and Chinese characters is of great significance for bilingual learning of Russian and Chinese; For language learners, it will promote systematic learning and mastery of Russian and Chinese.
Keywords: Russian; Chinese; the suffix for expressing people; contrastive study.
Короткое сравнительное изучение для суффиксов существительных в китайском и русском языках
Цзинь Лицзе, студент магистратуры
Гуандунский университет иностранных языков и внешней торговли (г. Гуанчжоу, Китай)
Как в русском языке, так и в китайском суффиксы со значением лица широко используются. Кроме этого, с развитием времени количество данных суффиксов увеличивается, что позволит самому языку бурно развиваться. В настоящей статье мы проанализируем использование суффиксов со значением лица в русском и китайском языках, сравнив частоту проявления в данных двух языках, и совершив сравнительный анализ для разницы в использовании таких суффиксов в двух яхыках. Изучение суффиксов со значением лица в двух языках, играет немаловажную роль в билингвальном обучении. Для тех, кто изучает китайский и русский языки, это способствует систематическому изучению и освоению этих двух языков.
Ключевые слова: русский язык, китайский язык, суффиксы со значением лица.
1. Background
A suffix refers to an affix morpheme located after the root (usually to the right of the root in position) and before the end (if a word has an end). The suffix of a person refers to the word formation suffix used to refer to a person. [7] In any language, there are a large number of human suffixes that people use. For example, in Chinese, common suffixes for expressing people (class suffixes) include: «-者», «-户», «-人», «-师», «-家», «-员», «-士», «-仔», etc. In Russian, common suffixes for expressing people include: «-тель», «-ец», «-ница», «-тор», «-щик», «-лог», «-ник», «-ист», etc. By consulting materials such as the Modern Chinese Dictionary, Chinese Corpus, and Russian Corpus, we have found that the number and productivity of human suffixes in Chinese and Russian are different. [2] Therefore, it is worth taking a brief inventory to list the approximate number of human suffixes and their frequency of use in Russian and Chinese. By comparing the characteristics of using human suffixes in Russian and Chinese, we can identify the differences in the use of human suffixes in Russian and Chinese, in order to promote language learners' systematic learning of Russian and Chinese. By listing the commonly used human suffixes in Russian and Chinese, it can effectively promote the efficiency of language learners in learning and memorizing vocabulary, expand their vocabulary, enhance their ability to understand and construct word models, and also promote their understanding and cognition of the language and culture they are learning. Overall, it has profound and extraordinary significance for language learning.
This article is divided into four parts for discussion. The first part briefly elaborates on the current status of comparative research on the suffixes of Russian and Chinese characters; The second part concisely discusses the common suffixes for expressing people in Chinese and their frequency of occurrence; The third part discusses the common suffixes for expressing people in Russian and their frequency of occurrence in short; The fourth part focus on comparing the frequency and characteristics of the human suffix in Russian and Chinese, and draw corresponding conclusions.
2. Literature review
Many scholars have previously explored and proposed important views on the study of Chinese affixes. The earliest linguist of the late Qing Dynasty, Ma Jianzhong (1898), mentioned in his work Ma Shi Wen Tong that there are words such as «然», «如», and «乎» added after the words to be emphasised. There are various characters that can be used as expressions, such as «然», «焉», «如», «乎», «耳», «若», and «斯». Although the concept of «affixes» is not directly mentioned in this book, it has accurately explained similar concepts of affixes in detail.
The modern linguist Lv Shuxiang (1979) further refined and supplemented this concept, not only recognizing and proposing the concept of «affixes», but also for the first time proposing the concept of «quasi affixes» and making a simple comparison between «affixes» and «quasi affixes». And there has been significant controversy in the academic community regarding the classification of quasi affixes, and there are different classification standards.
Famous linguist and ancient philologist Sun Changxu (2006), in his book Fu Zhui Zao Ci, discussed common prefixes in Chinese such as «阿-», «第-», «老-», and common suffixes such as «-者» and «-家», and drew an important conclusion that the origin of Chinese affixes lies in ancient texts and will be innovatively developed in the future.
Famous modern linguist and philosopher Zhao Yuanren once devoted himself to studying the concept of Chinese affixes. He described suffixes in his work Chinese Oral Grammar (1968) as follows: suffixes in Chinese are virtual morphemes, mostly used to produce light tones and appear at the end of words to highlight their grammatical functions. It is worth mentioning that he once proposed that the prefix «老-» in the Chinese word «老虎» and «老师» has lost its basic direct semantics and has been transformed into a prefix. Although the focus of this article is on expressing human suffixes, it is evident from this example that Mr. Zhao Yuanren has a profound understanding and interpretation of various Chinese affixes, including suffixes.
There have been many research achievements on the suffix of people in Russia, and many scholars have published many papers or literature on the issue of suffix of people. Russian academician А. I. Superancky published a paper «Noun suffixes referring to person» (1953). In it, the issue of the suffix for expressing people in Russian is discussed in detail. Russian linguist V. P. Neroznak (1939–2015) detailed the Russian suffixes used to indicate a person's profession in his paper (1970). [5]
Meanwhile, Russian scholar N. V. Morozova discussed and listed common Russian suffixes used to refer to people from a universally applicable perspective in her paper (1969). At the same time, there has been extensive research on the concept of the suffix for expressing people not only in Chinese and Russian, but also in other languages. Moreover, the openness and development of the concept of the suffix for expressing people continue to attract many domestic and foreign scholars to conduct in-depth research and discussion on this topic.
Taking all factors into consideration, many scholars in China have studied the suffix of Chinese characters and have successfully systematized this concept; Many scholars abroad have also discussed and studied the suffix for indicating person in Russian, and have achieved considerable results. However, there are few scholars in China who can combine bilingual analysis of human suffixes in both Chinese and Russian, and there are few scholars in China who systematically focus on human suffixes in Russian. It requires us to integrate existing research results for further development and research.
3. The suffixes for expressing people in Chinese
3.1 Examples and statistics of Chinese character suffixes
In Chinese, there are a large number of suffixes for expressing people, which have successfully entered our daily lives and are widely used by people. With the development of the times, many new suffixes for expressing people have emerged.
Among them, the common table person suffixes that we are familiar with include:
«-者»：学者，舞者，医者，作者，老者，长者，强者，弱者
«-人»：艺人，军人，诗人，词人，商人，国人，族人，成人
«-员»：海员，演员，教员，文员，委员，船员，党员，生员
«-家»：作家，专家，画家，冤家，书法家，歌唱家，文学家，外交家
«-手»：帮手，杀手，能手，射手，助手，扒手，跟手，选手
«-师»：军师，老师，讲师，巫师，恩师，拳师，律师，医师
«-工»：瓦工，泥工，钳工，电工，力工，焊工，童工，技工
«-户»：佃户，农户，客户，猎户，屠户，住户，黑户，储户
With the development of the times, new suffixes for expressing people have emerged, including:
«-族»：打工族，留校族，啃老族，上班族，熬夜族，恨嫁族
«-二代»：拆二代，富二代，官二代，穷二代，军二代，红二代
«-控»：手机控，拍照控，丝袜控，电脑控，游戏控，盲盒控
«-党»：飞车党，上班党，熬夜党，K歌党，足球党，美的党
«-奴»：孩奴，房奴，车奴，股奴，女儿奴，卡奴
«-领»：白领，蓝领，金领，粉领，绿领，灰领
«-友»：驴友，山友，跑友，淘友，票友，吧友
«-搭子»：吃饭搭子，跑步搭子，旅行搭子，考研搭子，爬山搭子，健身搭子
The suffixes used in Chinese to express people have the ability to produce and fill in boxes. Based on the existing suffixes, new vocabulary can be developed and created, and these new vocabulary can be understood and accepted by the public. The same word suffix can lead to many different words, and with the development of the times, its scale has also continued to grow and integrated into the daily lives of ordinary people.
The specific number of human suffixes in Chinese is difficult to accurately calculate and is constantly expanding, changing, and developing. The suffixes in Chinese are very rich and may have different uses and meanings in different contexts and cultural backgrounds. In her master's thesis «A Study on Chinese Human Suffixes for Russian Language Learners» (2021), Hui Xuan used two foreign teaching textbooks, «HSK Level 6 5000 Words (Russian Edition)» and «Russian High Frequency 6000 Words», as examples to analyze and list commonly used vocabulary composed of human suffixes in teaching, in order to analyze the similarities and differences in Chinese Russian word formation. The statistical results of the number of traditional Chinese human suffix word formation are shown in the table below: [3]
Table 1
Statistics on the number of Chinese word formation with human suffixes
|
Suffixes |
-者 |
-员 |
-家 |
-师 |
-手 |
-户 |
-生 |
-星 |
|
Amount |
62 |
47 |
35 |
14 |
12 |
8 |
7 |
5 |
Based on the results shown, we can draw the following conclusion: in Chinese, the number and scale of suffixes are extremely large, and the productivity of each suffix varies. In terms of the productivity of derived vocabulary, there are significant differences among various suffixes. Among them, the productivity of the human suffixes «-者», «-员», and «-家» is the highest and most commonly used, while the productivity of the human suffixes «-户», «-生», and «-星» is lower, resulting in relatively fixed collocations and fewer quantities. The reason is that the last three suffixes for table people were generated relatively late, resulting in a limited number of fixed combinations derived from them. However, the first three suffixes for table people were generated earlier, and their traces can even be seen in ancient Chinese. Therefore, the number of fixed combinations derived from them is naturally higher.
In summary, the suffix system for expressing people in Chinese is relatively developed and is also in the process of continuous development and improvement. In the process of development, some of the suffixes used in the table gradually become concrete after filling in words, and their meanings have been widely applied in practical life.
3.2 The Basic Definition and Origin of Chinese Suffixes for Expressing People
Based on the Chinese suffixes listed in the above table, and by consulting the Modern Chinese Dictionary, we have provided a basic explanation for these suffixes: «-者» refers to people who engage in a certain work or believe in a certain ideology; «-员» refers to a member of a group or organization; «-家» refers to individuals who have achieved certain accomplishments in a certain field; «-师» refers to a person who masters a certain skill or technique and inherits it; «-生» refers to people who learn; «- 户» refers to households or residents with certain characteristics; «-手» refers to a person who is skilled in a certain area; «-星» refers to a celebrity who excels in a certain aspect.
It is also worth noting that the sources of suffixes for expressing people in Chinese are very diverse. In general, there are four types of sources: suffixes that refer to the virtualization of human nouns, suffixes that represent the virtualization of kinship words, suffixes that come from metaphorical metaphors, and suffixes that localize foreign words. [4]
In Chinese, many suffixes referring to people are derived from the virtualization of nouns referring to people. For example, suffixes such as «-师», «-匠», «-奴», «-员», «-人», «-夫», «-仔», etc. are used to represent people. Some of these suffixes originally refer to people engaged in certain professions, some originally refer to someone's social status, and some simply refer to people. They also have strong productivity and have evolved many new vocabulary with the development of the times. For example, the suffix «-仔» is the most versatile in Cantonese, and the words it forms usually include: “靓仔», «衰仔», «叻仔», «耳仔», «孙仔», «狗仔», «二五仔», and «反骨仔»; With the development of the times and the occurrence of social events, many new words have emerged, such as «打工仔» and «猪仔».
The suffixes formed by the virtualization of words expressing kinship relationships also have a significant number in Chinese. Common representative suffixes are: «-哥», «-嫂», «-爷», «-姐», «-妹», etc. As these words are constantly used, the meaning of their affixes themselves is constantly being abstracted. If «空姐» are not sisters themselves, «倒爷» are not grandfathers themselves, and «军嫂» may not necessarily be sister-in-law to the speaker.
The same noteworthy suffix type in Chinese is derived from metaphorical metaphor. Metaphor refers to the process of wanting to talk about something, first talking about something else, and then finding common features between «this thing» and «other things» to establish a certain connection. For example, «盲» originally referred to being blind and invisible, but later people expanded it to include the suffix «human», referring to people who are completely ignorant in certain aspects, such as legal, illiterate, color blind, road blind, music blind, and so on. «鬼» originally referred to the soul that a person becomes after death, but later gave rise to the suffix of «personhood», which has a contemptuous and disapproving color, such as the words «烟鬼», «酒鬼», «小气鬼», «淘气鬼», «讨厌鬼», and so on. Metaphor refers to the use of one entity to refer to another entity, also known as «metonymy». In Chinese, we usually believe that the suffix «-手» and «-棍» are evolved through metaphor. The original meaning of «手» refers to the upper limb components of the human body, which later evolved into people who are very skilled in certain aspects, such as «能手», «熟手», «老手»«,多面手», «高手», and «好手».
Similarly, many suffixes in Chinese are derived from loanwords. The suffixes «- 族» and «-达人» in the table are derived from Japanese. In Japanese, there are expressions for «食草族» and «御宅族», which were once widely popular in Chinese and closely related to the widespread dissemination of Japanese culture in China; The suffix «-客» in modern Chinese has been greatly influenced by English, for example the new words «黑客» and «博客» have emerged in recent years.
In summary, the suffixes for expressing people in Chinese have a wide range of sources and a large number, and with the development of the times, new expressions with the same basis are constantly emerging.
4. The Suffixes of Person in Russian
4.1 Examples and statistics of suffix for Russian characters
In Russian, the number of suffixes used to represent people is also very large, and the number of words formed is also very rich. Some people have conducted rough statistics, and in Russian, the number of suffixes used to represent people exceeds a hundred. And the suffixes for people in Russian are derived from other languages such as English and French. The common Russian suffixes for people are listed as follows:
«-тель»: водитель, учитель, преподаватель, писатель, слушатель, зритель
«-ник»: помощник, спутник, защитник, любовник, лесник, дачник
«-ист»: пессимист, коммунист, оптимист, журналист, артист, экономист
«-ец»: молодец, катаец, комсомолец, армеец, партиец, мариец
«-ор»: агрессор, инспектор, автор, архитектор, директор, доктор
«-щик»: спорщик, наборщик, сварщик, бетонщик, обманщик, носильщик
«-лог»: филолог, антрополог, кардиолог, биолог, социалог, зоолог
«-ёр»: шофёр, режиссёр, актёр, гравёр
Among the suffixes listed above, the suffixes «-ор» and «- ист» are derived from English affixes; The suffix «-ёр» is derived from French affixes. From this, it can be seen that the production sources of the suffix «person» in Russian are more diverse, and it has learned to replicate the languages of other countries and ethnic groups, with the characteristic of inclusiveness.
Huixuan also conducted a rough statistical analysis of the number of word constructions of commonly used human affixes in Russian in her master's thesis «Research on Chinese affixes for Russian language learners» (2021). The results are as follows: [3]
Table 2
Statistics on the number of commonly used affixes and word constructions in Russian
|
Suffixes |
-тель |
-ник |
-ист |
-ец |
-тор |
-щик(чик) |
-ант |
-лог |
|
Amount |
26 |
23 |
18 |
15 |
15 |
12 |
11 |
11 |
Based on the results shown, we can draw the following conclusion: the number of affixes used to represent people in Russian is also very large, with the highest productivity of affixes «-тель» and «-ник». However, compared to the affixes used in Chinese, the difference in productivity between the affixes used in Russian is not significant. Thanks to the fact that Russian itself belongs to the inflectional language, Russian words are composed of various affixes (prefixes, roots, suffixes, suffixes, interjections, etc.), so the root and affix systems in Russian are relatively developed, affixes have a high degree of virtualization, and overall, their productivity is higher than that of Chinese.
4.2 The Basic Definition and Origin of Russian Suffixes for Expressing People
At the same time, in Russian, each person suffix has its unique expressive meaning. As shown in the table, the suffix «-тель» refers to a person who engages in a certain activity and has a certain profession. For example, the Russian word «слушатель» means «the person who is listening», that is, «the listener». The suffix «- ник» refers to a person with a certain characteristic or belonging to a certain faction, for example, the Russian word «защитник» means «protector», «person specifically used to protect someone or something». The suffix «-ист» refers to a person who has a certain profession and is engaged in certain activities, such as the Russian word «журналист» which means «journalist», that is, a person engaged in interviewing, photography, and recording. The suffix «-ец» refers to people from a certain place or community, for example, the Russian word «американец» refers to Americans. The suffix «-тор» refers to a person who engages in a certain activity, such as the Russian word «композитор» referring to a person engaged in composition activities, that is, a composer. Other Russian suffixes that have the same meaning include «-ант», «-щик», etc. The suffix «-лог» refers to professionals in a certain field, such as the Russian word «антрополог» refers to individuals who have conducted profound research in anthropology, namely anthropologists.
It is obvious that in Russian, these suffix names cannot fully correspond to the suffix names in Chinese.
In the above list, the Russian words corresponding to the human suffix derived from English are:
«-ist»: pessimist, communist, optimist, journalist, artist, economist
«-or»: agressor, inspector, author, architector, director, doctor
The Russian words corresponding to the human suffix derived from French are:
«-eur»: chauffeur, réalisateur, acteur, graveur
In summary, we can draw the following conclusion: in Russian, there is a relatively large number of suffixes for people, and their origin and development are closely related to the same era and history, and they are constantly refined and developed with the emergence of specific professions. The formation of human suffixes in Russian is deeply influenced by other languages such as English and French.
5. Comparison of the Characteristics of Suffixes in Russian and Chinese Characters
By comparing and analyzing the characteristics of human suffixes in Russian and Chinese, we have drawn the following conclusions:
Firstly, the productivity of various affixes in Russian is more evenly distributed compared to Chinese, and there is less problem of significant differences in productivity between affixes in Chinese. The reason is due to the nature of Russian itself, where various affixes are highly virtualized and each Russian word is composed of various affixes (morphemes). Its own affixes system is highly developed, and the concept of affixes has been deeply imprinted in the genes of Russians. However, the affixes system in Chinese is relatively underdeveloped, and it is still in the process of development and improvement. Some affixes are generated relatively late, so their collocation and combination functions are relatively limited.
Secondly, the sources of affixes in Russian are as extensive as those in Chinese. In fact, there are many vocabulary sources in Russian that come from English, French, Latin, and even Greek. In terms of language development, they are relatively diverse, so the forms and sources of affixes are more abundant. In Chinese, there are many new words that come from Japanese or English, which is related to the widespread popularity and dissemination of Japanese and Western culture in China. Therefore, the formation and development of a language are also influenced by the external environment, and no language is absolutely isolated from the outside world.
Thirdly, both Russian and Chinese have strong productivity in expressing human suffixes. Through a glimpse of popular Chinese phrases, we can find that with the development of the times, many trendy human suffixes will also appear in Chinese. Through these new human suffixes, many new vocabulary expressions will be generated. The emergence of these human suffixes enriches Chinese expression, making it more vivid and specific, and pleasing to people. The number of words generated by various affixes in Russian is not fixed, and various new expressions will also emerge with the development of the times, which also have reasoning and logic. Therefore, we can draw a simple conclusion that language is not static. Language will develop with the development of the times and can reflect people's thinking activities and cognitive structures during a certain period. Language is the language of the masses, and it can also reflect their preferences in expression. Through language, especially popular phrases, we can analyze a lot of information.
6. Conclusion
After a profound comparative study and analysis of the suffixes used to indicate people in Russian and Chinese, it is not difficult to find that these suffixes are widely present, with diverse forms and meanings, and will continue to develop with the development of the times. Through the comparative study of human suffixes in Russian and Chinese, it can help language learners fully understand the logic and characteristics of language learning, and promote memory and thinking by drawing analogies, thereby efficiently mastering the target language to be learned, and deeply understanding the word formation logic and reasoning of the language to be learned, in order to better serve the bilingual teaching of contemporary Russian and Chinese. This research has significant significance and importance for language teaching and acquisition.
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