Derivational potential of the suffix -ак in the modern Russian language

The research aims to identify and describe the functional-semantic features implemented by the formant -ак (-як) in derivative nouns emerging in the most recent period of the Russian language. Within a broad synchronic-diachronic perspective, the article describes the functions performed by the suffix across various historical epochs and characterizes the productivity of typical word-formation models. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the fact that this autochthonous suffix is being described in terms of its derivational activity for the first time in Russian linguistics, particularly against the backdrop of current linguistic research that focuses predominantly on formants borrowed from English. The study established that the vector of the suffixal morpheme’s word-formation development has shifted from its original nominative function toward the pragmatization of meaning. Using representative linguistic material, it is demonstrated that in contemporary Russian, the formant -ак has moved into the sphere of colloquial word formation, including occasionalisms, acting as a marker of stylistic lowering or pejoration. The primary models identified include: the formation of colloquial equivalents from stylistically neutral nouns; the creation of colloquial univerbs from adjectival-substantive and adverbial-substantive phrases; the functioning of neoderivatives with the formant -ак within colloquial phraseological units and interjectives; and the suffix’s role in adapting borrowed lexical units to the Russian morphological system. It was revealed that in all recent derivatives, the formant functions as a colloquial and evaluative-intensive marker with an exclusively negative axiological orientation.