CLIPPED ADJECTIVES IN RHYME POSITION

Traditionally clipped adjectives have been considered as a characteristic phenomenon of eighteenth-century poetry. It is believed that they appeared in the Russian poetic lan- guage due to the “requirements of rhythm and rhyme”. The collected material showed that short forms in the attributive function can be found in the syllabic poetry of the 17-th century, they continue to be used to this day. This calls into question the definition of them as a versification tool, brought to life by the imperfection of early Russian poetry. The paper is grounded on a collecting and the many-sided analysis of a material (i.e. ex- amples from Russian poetry of the different periods, since 17-th century and up to now): more than 30 thousand poetic texts were reviewed and about 15 thousand examples were collected. About 30 % of the examples, found in poetic texts of different periods, consist of clipped adjectives in the position of the end of the line. The forms used at the end of the line are also found in non-rhymed texts. I have to assume, the position of the end of the line is connected not only with rhyme, but also with logical stress. This proves the important role of the analyzed forms for the language of poetry.