The Buryat component in the dialect vocabulary of the Yakut language (based on the names of wild animals)

The article examines the Buryat component in the dialectal   zoonymic  lexicon of the  Yakut  language, based on  the  names  of  wild  animals. The  relevance of the study is determined by the need to clarify the stratification of Mongolic borrowings in Yakut  and  to  identify the role of the Buryat language as a source of the later layer of  Mongolisms. The  aim  of  the  research  is  to  identify,  systematize conduct a  comprehensive analysis  of  dialectal  zoonyms  of  Buryat  origin, as well as  to  determine their semantic,  phonetic,  and  areal  characteristics. The  research material consists of dialectal data of the Yakut language recorded in lexicographic and  dialectological sources,  as  well  as  comparative  data  from  Buryat  and  other Mongolic languages. The study employs the comparative-hand semasiological methods, along with techniques  of lexical-semantic and phonetic analysis and elements of areal linguistics. The results demonstrate that in a number of cases Buryat forms serve as the closest correspondences to Yakut dialectal animal names, which makes it possible to explain both semantic shifts and features of the phonetic  adaptation  of  borrowings.  It  is  established  that  the  Buryat  component  is most clearly represented in the southern and western dialects of the Yakut language and  reflects  a  later  stage  of  language  contacts.  The  borrowed  units  are  shown  to exhibit  varying  degrees  of  semantic  transformation,  ranging  from  preservation  of the  original  meaning  to  metonymic  and  zoomorphic  reinterpretations  conditioned by a new natural environment. The findings refine current views on the mechanisms of Mongolic–Yakut language contacts, contribute to the stratification of Mongolic borrowings  in  the  Yakut  language,  and  expand  the  empirical  basis  for  studies  of dialectal zoonymy. The materials of the article may be used in further etymological and dialectological research, lexicographic practice, and in the digital documentation of dialectal vocabulary.

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