Съпоставително описание на словообразуването на близкородствени езици

The article takes into consideration the two main methods that can be used in contrastive analysis of word-formation in related languages: from form to meaning and from meaning to form. The choice is determined by the purpose of the description and also by the degree of typological relatedness between the compared language systems. With Slavic languages, for example, the description starting from the means of word-formation and analysing their function gives wide opportunities for a more detailed analysis and a thorough description of the multifunctioning of the formants; for determining the similarities and differences in the means of wordformation. The second method from meaning to form is more universal; it aims mainly at revealing the semantics of the derivatives, and is thus applicable to the investigation of more than two languages. This method starts from definite semantic categories and searches for their realization. The basic unit in this method is the word-formation category. It can be used as tertium comparationis, for it unifies derivatives with identical word-formative meaning. The method allows the simultaneous analysis of all compared languages. It may facilitate a more thorough and precise classification of the derivative units by specifying the general and the specific national features of the related language systems.