Phrasal lexemes and shortening strategies in Russian: the case for constructions

The paper aims at giving a descriptive and theoretical account of two types of lexical constructions in contemporary Russian. First, we explore the so-called phrasal lexemes, namely constructions that have a phrasal structure, but are lexical in nature. The paper concentrates on the identification and analysis of Russian nominal phrasal lexemes (i.e. phrasal nouns), distinguishing them formally from both free noun phrases and nominal compounds. Second, we discuss the relationship between phrasal nouns and shortening, a mechanism that is generally regarded as marginal (or even extra-grammatical), but is very active in Russian. After giving an overview of shortening strategies in Russian, we focus on a special way to shorten phrasal nouns of the adjective-noun type, namely: ellipsis of the noun plus truncation of the adjective by means of the suffix -ka. A formal and semantic description is offered of these formations. In the final part of the paper, we propose a theoretical analysis of both phrasal nouns and their shortened equivalents with -ka by using the tools of Construction Morphology and Construction Grammar, which allow us to represent in a formal way the relevant features of these constructions and the relation between full and shortened form.