Vocabulary of modern dialects as an indicator of their complex internal organization

The monographic study Vocabulary of Samara Dialects by T. E. Bazhenova provides a full description of the region’s lexical system. Our article is a review of this book. The history of Samara dialects and the complexity of their formation, the unusual history of the settlement of the region cause objective difficulties in determining the typology of these dialects. When addressing the issues of areal-typological characteristics of Samara dialects, the author of the monograph points to a number of features of the lexical system prevailing in the region. Systematically analyzing the vocabulary of Samara dialects, T. E. Bazhenova identifies numerous thematic groups. Her identification is based on the principles and traditions that have developed in Russian linguistics, in particular in Russian dialectology and areal linguistics, updated in such major scientific projects as Lexical Atlas of Russian Folk Dialects. In addition, the author takes into account the thematic groups that traditionally developed in the dialects of the region and reflect its specificity. Such a multidimensional approach allows a linguist to look at the vocabulary of one territorial entity as an integral continuum. Moreover, Bazhenova uses the principle of consistency not only in the identification of thematic groups but also when considering individual lexical units, their semantics and the relations in which these lexical units are with other elements of the system under study. The author comes to a conclusion that the lexical system can be an indicator of the аreаl-typological characteristics of a group of dialects. The vocabulary of Samara dialects clearly demonstrates the complexity of interlacing dialect traits, genetically marked as opposite and diverse. The monograph is an open study having good prospects for obtaining new results.