Structural and Derivational Typology of Russian Northwestern Hydronyms

The article describes some preliminary results of a structural and derivational analysis of river, brook and lake names of the Russian Northwest presenting a list of the main formants proper to the Slavic hydronymy of the region and lists of structural elements proper to non-Slavic hydronyms. The author analyzes the notion of derivation as applied to hydronymy, draws a typology of formants, observes preferences for choosing formants depending on hydro-object classes, and, finally, focuses on onymization and transonymization processes, microsystemic relations, ways of hydronyms formation, their variation, etc