Sociolinguistic research into the regional vocabulary of Tver

The article analyses the data of a sociolinguistic experiment that was conducted in 2015-2016 among the citizens of Tver, Moscow and St. Petersburg. The aim of the research was the regional vocabulary of Tver (Tver regionalisms, Tver local vocabulary). The term means geographically specified words used by the citizens of Tver and "marked" in their speech. The author aimed to test the hypothesis which claimed that some extralinguistic social factors (such as gender, age, mobility and education) had impact on the recognition of regional vocabulary and its usage in Tver citizens' speech, especially among the youth. Moreover, another aim was to verify the current condition of the local vocabulary in Tver. The regional vocabulary of Tver has never been studied before from a sociolinguistic point of view, though there was some similar research in other regions (Novosibirsk, Vyatka, Pskov) and it often targeted a concrete social group. A sociolinguistic questionnaire was the leading method in the research; it consisted of the question-form (with questions about age, gender, origin etc.) and two check-lists. The experiment was implemented in two steps. Each stage had its own question-form and check-lists which were presented to two different samples of informants. The first sample was made up of only Tver citizens (divided in two groups: younger than 25 years old and older than 25 years old). The second sample consisted of young women who lived in Tver, Moscow and St. Petersburg. The data were analyzed in the statistical program R (the main instrument was regression analysis) so that to reveal the correlation between social factors, usage and recognition of Tver regionalisms. The author came to the following conclusions: (а) no extralinguistic factors of the initial hypothesis influenced the usage of local vocabulary so that it could be called a significant impact, the older generation and the younger generation of Tver both used and recognized 'their' regionalisms in a very similar way; (b) the regional vocabulary of Tver still functions today, it is included in the regional norm and is recognized by speakers from other regions (Moscow, St. Petersburg), and is used by Tver citizens in their everyday speech; (c) the model of the experiment (sociolinguistic two-staged questionnaire with a check-list) can be reputed as a satisfying one, yet more concrete questions to display the influence of some social factors that formed the parameter "Social Nets" can reveal more statistically significant results.

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