Simple, derived and weakly derived verbal stems in the Koryak language

The paper describes the frequency of simple, derived and weakly derived verbal stems in the corpus of texts in the Koryak language, recorded from one native speaker. The Chukchi-Koryak languages are two-sided agglutinating languages. The possibility of placing the stem in the medial position in the word entails a wide phonetic variability of the verb stems and can lead to the loss of the semantic connection of the stem with its base. From all types of stems, simple verbal stems, equal to roots, have the greatest phonetic variability; they have narrow and wide synharmonic allomorphs, their initial and medial allomorphs often have phonetic difference. In the medial position, consonant emergence, loss, alternation or metathesis can occur. In the derived stems, phonetic variability is observed both in roots and in verbalizers. There are several types of verbalizers according to their semantics and functions. Some verbalizers of the Koryak language are compound. The specificity of the Chukchi-Koryak languages is a large number of «weakly derived» stems with bound roots that appear accompanied by the verbalizer only in derived stems. This is also a consequence of the two-sided agglutination and loss of independence of the roots in the medial position of the word. Weakly derived stems can contain the same verbalizers as the derived stems. The significant part of weakly derived stems are causative and antipassive transforms with bound roots. The frequency of different types of stems in texts reflects their linguistic history. The most frequent are the oldest simple stems. The less common are the weakly derived stems where semantic connection with nominal or adjectival roots is lost during their functioning but word formation patterns are preserved. The least frequent are derived stems demonstrating the on-going processes of word formation in the modern Koryak language. Secondary causative derivation from derived and weakly derived stems can be accompanied by the verbalizer substitution, which provides additional complexity in the linear structure of verbal forms.