Approaches to determining the methods of formation of Old Russian adverbs

INTRODUCTION. The problem of linguistically reliable definition of the method of formation of adverbs in the Old Russian language remains relevant at the present stage of the development of Russian grammatical science. The article presents a synchronous word-formation analysis of Old Russian adverbs, which makes it possible to identify and describe the causes of errors in determining their formation methods. The purpose of the study is to prove that the main way of forming adverbs for the era of the Old Russian period is the prefixal method, with the primary adverb acting as the generating base.
MATERIALS AND METHODS. The research material is contexts containing adverbs of different lexical and grammatical categories from published (printed) monuments of ancient Russian writing and lexicographic data. Different approaches to the interpretation of the ways of formation of the studied units are investigated. The basis for interpretation is the word-formation and morphemic analysis of Old Russian adverbs in a synchronous section. Historical and comparative methods, contextual analysis techniques were used according to the task being solved.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION. The study found that incorrect conclusions about the formation of adverbs in the Old Russian language are based on their external similarity to the forms existing in the modern language; it is proved that the main way of forming adverbs for the era of the Old Russian period is the prefixal method, in which the primary adverb acts as the generating base. It is determined that in order to establish a real picture of the formation of adverbs in the Old Russian language, two conditions must be met: 1) to distance oneself from the theory of adverbialization as the only acceptable approach to understanding the way adverbs are formed; 2) to describe the word-formation types and lexico-semantic groups of adverbs strictly in a synchronous context, without relying on the transparent structurality of word forms in modern Russian.
CONCLUSION. The interpretation of the research results indicates that the most wellreasoned approach is one that objectively highlights the prefixed method of forming Old Russian adverbs, within the framework of which a word-formation type scheme “prefix + primary adverb → secondary adverb” is formed in the history of Russian language development.