RUSSIAN DIALECTS OUTSIDE OF RUSSIA: THE WORD IN THE CONTEXT OF UKRAINE’S DIALECTAL ARCHIPELAGO

In this paper I propose a classification of Russian dialects in the Ukraine, which also takes into account their genetic connections with the maternal dialect from which they originate. The study is based on recorded material gathered in 1992–2011, supplemented with manuscripts and printed sources. I introduce the concept of “microdialectal unit”, by which is understood all extra- and intralinguistic features that constitute a certain dialect. I build a model of the lexical system of every microunit, and then of every macrounit. Each model is based on the schema CONTAINER and the direction of its construction is from the center to the periphery. Nine levels, including the center, are distinguished. They can be labelled in the following way: 1. man; 2. clothing (also shoes, jewelry, etc); 3. house (and everything in the house); 4. yard (and everything belonging to a country yard); 5. field (including garden and grounds); 6. nature (i.e. wild nature beyond the “field”: woods, flowers, mushrooms); 7. space (landscape); 8. time; 9. weather. A separate, neutral level (10) is constituted by asemantic words.