Geographical lexicon of the konovalovsky dialect of the Erzya-Mordovian language

Abstract

The article introduces into scientific circulation and analyzes the geographical lexicon of the Erzya-Mordovian dialect of the village of Konovalovka in the Borsky district of the Samara region. The content of this lexical cluster of the konovalovsky dialect is compared with the lexemes of the respective clusters of other Mordovian dialects of the Samara region and other territories. The analysis is carried out taking into account the Zavolzhsky period of the history of speakers of this dialect of the Erzya-Mordovian language, the natural and geographical conditions of their residence, and the ethno-linguistic environment. The study revealed a number of common isoglosses of the geographical terminology of the konovalovsky dialect with the corresponding terminology of other Mordovian dialects of the region, primarily those that are related to villages founded before the beginning of the XVIII century. The composition of geographical vocabulary of konovalovsky dialect of the Erzya-Mordovian language, in general, is typical of Erzya Mordovian dialects of the Samara Volga region — it retains Erzya-Mordovian terms for the designation of forests, ravines, mountains, fields, occurring also in the vast majority of Erzya dialects, as in the Samara Volga region and beyond. A number of geographical terms that exist in the konovalovsky dialect are unique for the Mordovian dialects of the Samara Volga region and are not found anywhere else in the region, in any of the meanings. The work is based on the author’s materials obtained during field research in 2015–2019.