How can a diachronic analysis of the linguistic landscape be used in dialectology (on the example of the Transcarpathian region)?

Abstract

This article was written as part of a diachronic analysis of the linguistic landscape of the Transcarpathian region (Zakarpattia oblast) in Ukraine. The diachronic approach is no longer a new method in this field of research, but for the first time, it is used here specifically for dialectological purposes. The main goal of this paper is to prove that works on the study of the linguistic landscape can be useful in a much wider range of linguistic (and not only) disciplines, and dialectology in particular. For this, two types of data were analyzed. The first type includes dictionaries and written documents in the local version of the Ukrainian language from different historical periods, starting with the 16th century and ending with independent Ukraine. The second one includes street signs of modern Transcarpathian cities where the dialect is used. By combining these two types of data, it is possible to analyze: 1) since when the dialectal elements that we have now on the streets begin to be recorded in historical materials; 2) which dialectal elements have survived to this day and continue to be actively used by the local population. It is important because the existence of local words on street signs itself automatically indicates their real use in the Transcarpathian region. No person or private enterprise will write something incomprehensible to the locals, because their profit depends on it. That is why the linguistic landscape of modern streets makes it possible to conduct the most objective analysis of the dialectal elements of Transcarpathia, and the diachronic approach allows us to support this material with data from historical documents. In addition, we will explain why such inscriptions appear more often on Transcarpathian streets and how this is related to the phenomenon of language commodification, that is, the process of turning a language (or, in our case, a dialect) into a commodity. We will also consider interesting examples and explain the difference between directly foreign words and transliterated Transcarpathian dialectal elements that were borrowed from Hungarian or other languages. The text is accompanied by photographs taken by the author of this article during trips to Transcarpathia in 2019-2021.