General designations of weeds in Russian dialects of the Perm region: a motivational aspect (based on dialect dictionaries)

The article examines lexical units being general designations of weeds in Russian dialects of the Perm region. Data from dialect dictionaries of the region were used as research material. The aim was to study the motivational semantics of these lexemes. In the course of research, the motivational characteristics underlying the general names of weeds were identified, motivational models according to which these lexemes are formed were constructed, the general principles of designating weeds in Perm dialects were determined. It has been proven that phytonyms in Perm dialects can have multiple motivations. The study explores the ideas of Russian residents of the region about weeds reflected in dialect phytonyms. The main one is the idea of the uselessness of weeds on the farm (pustaya trava, sornyak, sornaya trava, sor, khlam, dudora, shelobon', batarma, chashcha, durnina, durnotrav'e, durnyak, durman; in this case the semantics often develops according to the model ‘waste, garbage, trash, rubbish’ → ‘weeds’; this is the most frequent semanticmotivational model in the considered group of vocabulary); designations reflecting objective characteristics of plants (features of the structure of the stem and leaves (dubinnik, batozh'e, dudka), properties of weeds (deryuga, deryaga, deryazhka, lipuchaya trava, suvolotka, suvoloka)) are less frequent in the study area and are of a concrete nature (trail along the ground, stick to other objects, etc.); in a single case, the name of a weed reflected ideas about the quality of a person leading to its appearance (bab'ya len', which can be roughly translated as a woman’s laziness; with this method of naming, not only the plants themselves but also this personal quality, through association with the plants, receive a negative cultural assessment). The obtained conclusions testify in favor of the anthropocentric, evaluative, concrete-sensual nature of the dialect speakers’ worldview.