Regiolect vs dialect: new searches of ethnolinguists (reflections on the book: Donetsk Regiolect: monograph / edited by V.I. Terkulov. – Donetsk: Folio, 2018. – 265 p.)

We consider the relationship between the terms regiolect and dialect, and note that the regiolect has the following features: 1) geographically limited, found only on the territory of the subethnos’ residence; 2) socially limited, is the speech of people who consider themselves as a subethnos; 3) has homogeneous linguistic features; 4) may have prestige associated with positive ideas of native speakers about their subethnos; 5) has its own onomastic space consisting of special models of onym formation and onyms characteristic only for this subethnos; 6) includes dialects with some specific linguistic features, but do not destroy the homogeneous unity of folk speech; 7) presented in folklore, artistic and publicistic texts. In the book review of Donetsk linguists “Donetsk Regiolect” we note that the authors convincingly prove the existence of analyzed idiom., which: 1) is limited to the territory of Donbass; 2) is based on the professionally colored speech of miners; 3) is quite homogeneous, distributed throughout the region; 4) is positively evaluated by native speakers who are careful about the words and phrases of their Donetsk speech; 5) has a rich onymic space; 6) has a consistently used katoikonym донбассовцы (and донбассцы), which reveals ethnonymic features; 7) operates outside of Russia; 8) includes some phenomena of the neighboring Ukrainian language; 9) is convincingly presented in folklore, artistic and publicistic texts.