Suffixes of Oriental Origins in the Bosnian Language

Adaptation, Functionality, Meaning, Frequency, Fertility

Abstract

The paper deals partly with a contrastive analysis of suffixes of Oriental origins in the Bosnian language, among which in terms of number, producti- vity and fertility, as well as in terms of their strikingness (which in a way marks the Bosnian language vis-a-vis other varieties of the South Slavonic languages) štand out suffixes of Turkish origin. In contrast to the Arabic language, which did not leave any remarkable traces in our formation system, Persian suffixes are not infrequent, but compared to Turkish formation morphemes, they are less productive and less fertile; therefore, they have been paid less attention in the paper.

Naturally, not ali suffixes of Turkish origin have the same status in our language, so that the most frequent ones {-luk, -čijaf-džija, -li, and -lija) have been given the most space, which štand out indeed by their productivity, ferti- lity and integration into our formation system, therefore by their usage frequen- cy/topicality, too. Beside these, dealt with have also been less productive Oriental suffixes which are, nevertheless, recognizable and fertile whether they are of Turkish {-džik, -suz, -ile) or of Persian origins {-ana/-hana, -dar/-tar, -ćar/-ćer), while other suffixes of Oriental origins - which were taken over into our language, but did not separate from their stems they had been imported with, therefore they did not become independent, and thus did not become to- pical as formation morphemes (we do not even recognize or record them as such) - have not been specifically analyzed (Tur. -ki/-gi, Ar. -i, etc.).

In the paper, we have given a theoretical basis for the phenomena being analyzed in detail (from the aspect of sociolinguistics, contact linguistics, standard, etc.), and then we have marked the suffixes of Oriental origins in our language analyzing them from the point of view of interference, adaptation and integration into the system of the receptor language, productivity and fertility, stylistic properties, formation meanings and formation synonymity, and possi- bilities of hybrid formation. Each of the suffixes dealt with has been abundant- ly illustrated by examples - on the one hand by proper Orientalisms (when suffixes are added to Oriental stems), and on the other hand by pseudo-Orientalisms (when Oriental suffixes added to the non-Oriental stems participated in the so-called hybrid formation).