Expression of attributive word prases in Lithuanian

Abstract

The study discusses the grammatical forms used to create attributive word phrases in the Lithuanian language and analyzes the tendencies manifested in expressing the dependent component of a phrase - the attribute. The expression of attributive word phrases is diverse. Their common grammatical feature is the noun, as the main component. The expression of an attributive component creates a quite harmonious system both with its centre (firstly, adjectives - kreivas medis, šilkinė skara; other adjectival words - verkiantis vaikas, pirmi metai, tas namas) and periphery (infinitive - vieta sėdėti, participle with the suffix -ant- nuotykiai keliaujant, adverb - pasakymas juokais). The case of a noun often acts as an attribute (genitive is especially frequent there) - lauko gėlė, lentyna knygoms, miegas dieną, kelionė laivu, suolelis parke, seldom as a prepositional construction - spinta iki lubų, kelias aplink ežerą, vežimas su šienu. The concreteness / abstractiveness of the main component in a word phrase also plays a certain role in determining the tendencies of expression of the attribute. Attributive word phrases with a verbal noun show a particularly broad diversity of expression. Synonymous relations play an important role in the field of attributive word phrases: mėlynų akių vaikas - vaikas mėlynomis akimis; visuomenės nuomonė - visuomeninė nuomonė; dainos apie apeigas - apeiginės dainos; noras kurti - kūrybos noras.