The Structure and Semantics of Dialect Phraseological Units (Based on the Dialects of Southern Tyumen Region)

Abstract

The authors analyse the structure and semantics of phraseological units as an integral part of the lexical system of the old dialects of Southern Tyumen Region. The analysis of the material shows that from the point of view of its grammatical structure, regional idioms, as well as nationwide idioms, fall into three structural types, i.e. word forms, phrases, and sentences. A significant portion of all the material studied (over 90 %) is made up by phraseological units that are verbal, substantive, adjectival, and adverbial phrases. The interpretation of the material shows that phraseological units can be divided into several lexico-semantic groups, including people’s physical, verbal, social, and professional activities, their mental and physical condition, behavior, moral qualities, evaluation of actions, various objects surrounding them, their ideas about labour, leisure, time, etc. The fact that such idioms are relatively isolated locally and exist mostly in oral speech affects the semantic content of dialect phraseological units, which represent the most significant components of the linguistic consciousness of the local residents of a certain region, illustrate the values dominating in the regional worldview, and indicate the uniqueness of the reflection of the denotative and connotative content of the concepts.