AREAL DESCRIPTION OF MUROM DIALECTS

The authors describe unique features of Murom dialect in comparison with other dialects of the central dialectal zone. The Russian dialects of central territories were analyzed by dialectologists many times and this work continues studies in the same direction. The article investigates and describes isoglosses on different lingual levels covering phonetics, morphology and some items of the dialect lexis as well as their geographical distribution shown in the map appended. The phenomena examined characterize the dialects of Volga-Oka area, including Murom dialect. On the scale of the Russian language the described area belongs to the central zone, being at the same time a distant marginal zone on the scale of the whole Slavia. This accounts for the occurrences of both dialectal innovations and archaisms which date back to the late Common Slavic period.