The prefix as a morpheme variant and the manifestation of its semantic nuclearity and parameters in the prefixed verbs of the modern Ukrainian language

Abstract

Relevance. The verb constitutes a highly complex and multifaceted element of the Ukrainian language. It is a subject of intense scientific inquiry, yet it simultaneously evades complete resolution amidst a multitude of contradictions and open issues. Each time new micro-problem areas emerged, the findings were presented in the context of established or evolving grammatical science. However, the results were not always indisputable, given the plurality of linguistic thought and approaches. In particular, the issue of the verbal prefix, including its identification, theoretical qualification related to the very nature of prefixed verbs, and a multitude of related and pivotal problems concerning the verbal prefix as a morpheme variant, represents a significant challenge. The objective of this article is to present the results of analysis of the system of verb prefixes in the Ukrainian language, focusing on the ways in which they manifest semantic features of nuclearity and the potential role they play as a parameter of authorial speech. The extensive scope of the research problem has led to the following main tasks: a) to identify the principal features of the prefix morpheme; b) to put forward a philosophical and methodological approach to the process of cognitive activity in primary and secondary forms and the formation of relevant terminology; c) to base the analysis process on information about a specific verb prefix and the corresponding prefix verb name. The procedural denotation is attested by explanatory dictionaries, as well as quantitative indicators of the author's file; d) to substantiate the notion of «seminal prefix nucleation» and to identify the means of its use (on the examples of several productive verb prefixes). Results. The paper delineates the semantic core of productive verb prefixes and explores the potential for some of them to serve as a parameter of authorial speech. The article puts forth the notion that the dynamics of scientific advancement are occurring at a faster and more qualitative pace than the static, particularly in the realms of heredity and the continuity of the general worldview, aesthetic and scientific progress. This leads to rapid changes in scientific paradigms. Even the fundamental stereotypes in the selection of scientific direction, and thus the verbal «coding» of the dominant themes of research, are evolving in accordance with the prevailing trends. This article includes numerous observations regarding the vast assortment of terms that have been derived from the nomination and metalinguistic ordering of concepts that are directly or indirectly associated with the prefix, which plays a crucial and sometimes contentious role in morphemics. The primary objective of the study was to substantiate the hypothesis that the prefix plays a pivotal role in the formation of verb names in the Ukrainian language. The prefix «ви-», identified and analysed on the basis of various features of semantic nuclearity, has been shown to provide new guidelines and approaches not only to this prefix, but also to the possibility of using them to study other prefixes. Furthermore, the article considers the potential for identifying the semantic nuclearity of other productive verb prefixes as a possible parametric factor of authorial speech. The texts by M. Kotsiubynskyi and S. Andrukhovych are presented as objective factors of the author's speech parameter based on a set of quantitative indicators of the functioning of productive prefixes in verb forms representing different variants of the verb category «proceduralism».