On the graphical features of handwritten materials in connection with data verification problems in dialect dictionaries

In light of data verification challenges in dialect dictionaries, this article examines several principles for working with handwritten materials that contribute to the accuracy of the graphical representation of lexical entries in dictionary publications. It outlines graphological approaches designed to facilitate the reading of handwritten texts in archival and card index collections. Drawing on graphonomic theory, a classification of handwriting features significant for grapheme identification is presented. This classification accounts for both general and specific characteristics, such as typical movement forms, handwriting speed, degree of grapheme connectivity, structural complexity of graphemes, movement form, element length, and others. Using concrete examples, the application of this classification for systematizing error types in determining the graphical form of words is demonstrated. Observations on handwritten variants of graphic signs are summarized, highlighting how the misidentifi-cation or faulty decomposition of their elements leads to errors in representing lexical entries in dialect dictionaries. Phenomena such as the uniform execution of typical strokes when writing heterogeneous graphic elements (graphemes), complexified and simplified spellings of similar letterforms, individual peculiarities in writing specific letters, the degree of connectivity between letter elements, and the conflation of letter and non-letter graphic elements are illustrated. Errors made by compilers of dialect card files are specifically noted. These theoretical foundations and observations are linked to V. V. Shapoval's term, "position of letter neutralization". As a result of synthesizing the author's and predecessors' lexicographic experience, sets of letters and letter combinations most frequently subject to neutralization during reading are presented. For ease of use, these sets are organized in an alphabetized register and subdivided into groups based on the number of neutralized graphemes. Current methods for preventing errors in word identification from handwritten materials are discussed. Using a single dialect word as a case study, the article demonstrates the considerable complications lexicographers face when the accuracy of a record is suspect, necessitating additional research and deeper etymological analysis of the unit in question. It substantiates the possibility of an erroneous lexical entry: tsepushka (the wall of the Russian oven), presented in one regional dictionary, potentially being a misrepresentation of tselushka (one of the two vaulted holes in the front wall and the wall of the furnace, between which the smoke from the furnace passes into the chimney). Conclusions are drawn regarding the high degree of responsibility borne by dialect lexicographers and the critical importance of "graphical vigilance" in their work. The author declares no conflicts of interests.

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