Dialect Phytonyms in Terms of Ethnocultural Information

The article discusses the folk phytonymic tradition represented in the lexis of the Middle-Ob dialect. The material includes plant names, which are different in structure: one-word nominations, two-word nominations, and compound words spelled with a hyphen. There are direct non-metaphorical names, figurative names proper, and language metaphors within each type of lexical units. The aim of the study is to reveal structural and content-related features of the ethnocultural information actualized by dialect phytonyms. The analysis allowed revealing the system of semantic coordinates representing features of the plant world perception by speakers of the national linguaculture. These coordinates are arranged in the form of semantic oppositions. As for the spatial coordinate, the most important opposition is the "familiarity" or "foreignness" of a place where certain flora objects grow. Places and plants growing in them are considered to be cultural and cultivated or wild and natural. The pragmatic coordinate is connected with several oppositions. Phytonyms express the ability of a plant to heal or cause ailments ("helpful"/"harmful"); to threaten, to be a guide of the world hostile to people or not to carry any threat ("dangerous"/"safe"); to be suitable for eating or not ("edible" / "inedible"). The aesthetic coordinate is represented by the opposition "beautiful"/"ugly". The analysis found out an uneven verbalization of the opposition poles. For instance, the pole "dangerous" has a linguistic expression in the dialect phytonyms, while the pole "safe" remains unmarked, although the similar pole "edible" is represented in plant names. "Beautiful" is represented by a wide range of names, whereas "ugly", as a rule, remains unnoticed. The ethnocultural information, which is basic for the phytonymic field, is identified and described in the article. The information concerns the place of vegetation, physical appearance, characteristics of vital activities, smell, and taste. These features can be reflected in both direct and metaphorical names of plants. Most of dialect phytonym metaphors embody the donor sphere "human". The information encoded in them covers almost all facets of human existence: the structure of the organism, social characteristics (professions, estates, kinship relationships, sex, age), emotions, names, etc. The study of anthropomorphic names of plants showed that the linguaculture is also selective with regard to fixing thematically homogeneous data in the internal form of phytonyms. It is manifested in (1) the choice of the nominative sign from a number of equivalent properties of the plant and (2) the filling of metaphorical models with specific reference images, some of which are used frequently, others occur rarely or never. Thus, elements of the phytonymic field accumulate important features of national mentality.

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