On synonyms and suppletion another way, that is from the perspective of stems

The article deals with problems related to suppletion and demonstrates that, to some extent, these problems mirror phenomena which Ju.D. Apresjan qualified as redundant in the paradigms of verb stems entering into so-called aspect triplets. Both types of processes, those leading to suppletion and those conditioning an “overfill” of cells in assumed paradigms, require decisions concerning the relation between lexical units and grammar. Using this background, the article evaluates I.A. Mel’čuk’s classification of suppletion and a couple of claims concerning the notions of lexeme and paradigm. Eventually, reasons are formulated which make us revise the conceptions of morphological paradigms and their relation to the notion of the lexeme. Such a conception should account for verb stems as units which form the basis of functional oppositions with a key role in Russian grammar. Concomitantly, it is suggested that a typology of suppletion should account not only for the degree of regularity in the formal relation between the units which are connected paradigmatically, but also for the productivity of morphological patterns. This applies to both the connections between units in the lexicon and their realization on the discourse level (type vs. token frequency).