CHANGES IN THE PRODUCTIVITY OF THE FEMININE SUFFIX -ισσα IN GREEK (DIACHRONIC ANALYSIS)

This article examines the changes in the productivity of the derivational suffix -ισσα of feminives in the Greek language. In the Modern Greek, this suffix is the most productive and is represented in 887 lexemes. In Ancient Greek, on the contrary, the suffix -ισσα is quite rare, limited to 8 lexemes. During the diachronic analysis, we find that a sharp increase in the productivity of the suffix -ισσα occurs during the Hellenistic Koine period. In subsequent periods, its productivity continues to increase. In the Modern Greek, the suffix -ισσα in most cases is involved in the formation of katoikonyms, but the high productivity of the suffix contributes to its active participation in the formation of feminitives-neologisms of other semantic fields.