Lexical Parallels in Smolensk and Vitebsk Dialects (Non-Derived Vocabulary)

Abstract

Close interaction of Smolensk dialects with borderline Vitebsk and Mogilev ones is caused, on the one hand, by the common historical processes of the region, on the other hand, it is determined by the similarity of the cultural heritage
 of the Russian-Belarusian borderland. Throughout the Russian-Belarusian border, which runs through the territory of Smolensk region, there are a number of lexical formations that are a part of the existing language continuum that is of great interest to researchers from the standpoint of studying the existing dialect
 systems in synchrony and diachrony.
 It is expedient to oppose the existing dialect systems to the Russian and Belarusian standard languages in order to exclude possible facts of coincidence with a codified form from the description of the dialect language material. The found
 nouns with specific subject semantics are considered as lexical correspondences, i.e. regardless of the history of distribution or these units borrowing, from the standpoint of their synchronous existence in particular dialect systems.
 All dialect lexical correspondences can be divided into three groups, taking into account the similarity or degree of lexical meaning divergence. These
 groups are equivalent in different accounts and they correlate to each other on this criterion. This fact lets the study speaks in favor of the stability of the lexical meaning of non-derived nouns with specific subject semantics so that these nouns exist as lexical parallels in Smolensk and Vitebsk dialects.