The spelling of compound adjectives with quantitative numerals in the first part in the XVIII–XIX centuries

The subject of the research is the spelling of compound adjectives with a numeral as the first part in Russian writing of the 18th-19th centuries. The object of the research is Russian orthography of the 18th-19th centuries in its historical development, represented in grammars and texts from the subcorpus of the National Corpus of the Russian Language. Special attention is paid to identifying factors that influenced the change in spelling conventions. Variants of formations with and without the letter Ъ are examined. The only rule for the spelling of compound adjectives with a numeral as the first part in the 18th-19th centuries, formulated in A.Kh. Vostokov's grammar of 1831, is analyzed in detail. Compliance with this rule is checked in the usage represented in texts from the 18th-19th century subcorpus of the National Corpus of the Russian Language. Separate formations with a vowel and consonant at the beginning of the second part of compound adjectives are also considered. The study employs the following methods and techniques: methods of semantic and contextual analysis, inductive analysis of the material, methods of linguocultural analysis, as well as directed sampling from lexicographic sources and illustrative material, methods of extralinguistic interpretation of language facts, and methods of frequency-statistical characterization. The novelty of the research lies in the study of the establishment of the unified spelling of complex adjectives with quantitative numerals in the first part in diachrony over the 18th-19th centuries. A significant contribution of the authors to the development of the topic is the diachronic description of the main stages of the formation of the orthographic norm for these words. Based on the material of texts from the subcorpus of the National Corpus of the Russian Language and dictionaries, it was concluded that the unified form of compound adjectives of the specified group was already established in the 18th century. After a half-century period of variability in the second half of the 19th century, a fairly stable usage emerged under conditions of insufficient codification, which assumed the unified form of compound adjectives with a numeral as the first part. The rules of A.Kh. Vostokov's grammar are not followed in the part where hyphenated writing is recommended.

orthographic usage, diachrony, compound adjectives, numeral, morphological criterion, morpheme criterion, written as one word, hyphenated writing, variability, codification