Northern Russian Isoglosses in Middle Volga Region

This study examines the lexicon of the Middle Volga region through the lens of inter-dialectal correspondences. It draws upon materials from regional atlases and dictionaries, as well as recordings and observations made during dialectological expeditions. The relevance of this research lies in its ability to diagnose a range of specific lexical-semantic characteristics of secondary dialects with northern roots in the Middle Volga area based on linguistic geography data. Phonetic evidence indicates that the Middle Volga dialects are connected to northern roots not directly with Northern Russian dialects, but rather with Vladimir-Volga type dialects, known for their transitional nature. The paper presents evidence of parallelism in phonetic and lexical features between the studied dialects and those of the VladimirVolga group. It is noted that, at the lexical level, secondary dialects often exhibit loss and semantic transformation of Northern Russian vocabulary. Additionally, for certain lexemes, the presence of stable areas with preserved dialectal affiliations is observed among the dialects dialects with okanye that have developed under new living conditions. The conclusion drawn is that, on one hand, there has been a weakening of genetic ties in the lexicon of dialects with Northern Russian roots; on the other hand, a number of common lexical-semantic features have emerged due to the integration of migrant dialects.

dialect, Northern Russian dialects, isogloss, lexicon, Middle Volga