Morpheme-Grammar Dictionary of Russian Verbs as a Means of Forming Intuitive Knowledge of the Language

The study describes the principles of designing a morpheme-grammar dictionary of Russian verbs within the framework of systemic linguistics. As a working hypothesis for the creation of the dictionary the concept of G.P. Mel’nikov was chosen according to which the Russian verb, in addition to the binary category of aspect, also has a gradual “quantitative” category, which he proposed to name the category of action degree (CAD). The formal indicators of the grammatical meaning of the CAD are the suffixes -ну-, -Ø-, -e-, -и-, -ыва- . G.P. Mel’nikov believed that taking into account the CAD and highlighting a single stem in the verb paradigm after restoring the actual morphemic composition of each verb form would explain many irregularities in verb inflection and derivation. The analysis of the functioning of the CAD in modern Russian has shown that it has a great applied significance. Suffixes of CAD turned out to be a convenient criterion for dividing Russian verbs into morphological classes, which in turn have made it possible to present Russian verbs in an orderly manner in a lexicographic description. The article reveals the principles of morphemic analysis for identification of root and suffix allomorphs, provides a brief overview of morphological classes of verbs, and explains the structure of the dictionary entry which is a matrix. Matrix notation allows us to compactly represent all suffix and prefix forms of the verb in a systematic way, makes it possible to graphically show grammatical and morphological information as well as etymological and word-formation relationships within the verb system. Morphemic matrices have a high explanatory potential because they offer rich material for studying the mechanisms of word formation and observing the peculiarities of morpheme combinations. Morphemic matrices significantly expand the potential vocabulary, contribute to the development of a feeling for language, and facilitate the acquisition of morpheme-semantic intuition.