Semantic groups of derived names in the Udi language

Abstract

The present paper discusses the issues of nominal word-formation in the Udi language. This issue has not yet been the subject of independent study. The present paper attempts to separate out the semantic groups of derived names with more completeness than has ever been done before. Observing the material of the Udi language, we can separate out the following semantic groups of derived names: names of possession, non-possession, occupations and trades, names of origin, abstractness, purpose, diminutive, collective, substitute, as well as derivative numerals (ordinal and collective). The purpose of the paper is to study only nominal word-formation, which mainly implies the formation of substantives and attributes. Several new views on the etymology of some derivational morphemes are expressed in the paper, sometimes for comparison we address to the manifestation of cognate languages (most often the Caucasian Albanian language).