Names of Young Cones of Coniferous Trees in the Russian Dialects of Perm Region

Abstract

This article examines dialect names of immature cones of coniferous trees recorded in the Russian dialects of Perm Region. There are no lexical units to denote this culture-specific element in the literary language and in various Russian dialects, while in Perm dialects they are numerous. The author carries out an analysis of this group of vocabulary in linguo-geographic and semantic-motivational aspects, which makes it possible to draw conclusions about the peculiarities of the nomination of units, identify foreign lexemes, and establish areal connections between Perm dialects and other Russian dialects. It is established that throughout the territory of Perm Region, there are lexical units naming young cones of coniferous trees, which is due to their widespread use as a dietary supplement. Most of these linguistic units refer to spruce and pine strobili, less often there are special names for cedar and fir (Abies) cones. For the most part, these names are Russian in origin, the motivation is based on such features as shape, structural features, and color. There are borrowings from the Komi-Permyak language — козоль (козолька), кузёнка (гузёнка), which are found in the dialects of the northern areas of Perm Region. The greatest overlapping in this group of vocabulary is observed with the Vyatka dialects, which border on the Perm dialects in the northwest. The names of immature cones of coniferous trees can be attributed to the periphery of the lexical system of Russian dialects, which is reflected in phraseology. There is only the word шишка, which means the ripened fruit of coniferous trees in idioms, proverbs, and sayings. The lexeme often denotes something useless in phraseology, since in most conifers, this part of the plant is inedible.