Kraynyak O. Elliptical Nouns in Present-Day German

The thesis deals with the study of the ways of structural and semantic development of elliptical nouns (EN) in modern German. The elliptical noun is regarded as a simple word formed from a composite via elimination of its designatum and semantically coincides with at least one of the lexico-semantic variants of the source composite. Marked and unmarked EN have been distinguished depending on their lexicographic registration. On the semantic level elimination of the designatum in substantive composites results in broadening the semantic structure of the derived elliptical nouns and in the development of polysemy and synonymy. Among the analysed marked units of elliptical origin there are words formed as a result of reduction of the designated composite via metaphorical and metonymical transfers. The dominating type of transfers in marked ellipses is metonymy, namely, a transfer of the type "the material - the product made of this material". On the structural level EN are coined from complete and incomplete compound words. Most elliptical nouns under analysis are monomorphemic units without any formant. The least productive type of the units in question are threemorphemic elliptical formations. Semantic classification of EN based on conceptual similarity/distinction of the designated objects or phenomena has been suggested. In the corpus of the lexical units under analysis 10 semantic groups and 17 sub-groups have been distinguished.