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KHANTY-ORIGIN LEXEMES WITH FIGURATIVE MEANING IN RUSSIAN WRITTEN SOURCES, 1870–1930 // Tomsk Journal of Linguistics and Anthropology. 2021. Issue 1 (31). P. 64-76

The study examines Khanty lexemes with figurative meanings recorded as borrowings in Russian written sources from 1870 through 1930. Analysis objectives: 1) Establish nomination methods and semantic characteristics of recorded lexemes; 2) Add new content to the etymological dictionary by W. Steinitz; 3) Show reasons for lexemes’ emerging lexico-semantic variations and specifics of how Khanty words get recorded in Russian texts. The study’s methodology incorporates general scientific (analysis, synthesis, comparison) and specific linguistic methods: descriptive, etymological, comparative, as well reconstructive and statistical processing of materials. Figurative meanings of words are presented in the source context, accompanied by their etymologies from the Steinitz dictionary, as well as literal translations. The study lists lexemes and their graphical variants chronologically, in groups based on the nomination approach: metaphoric transference according to 1) form (6 units); 2) color (2); 3) spatial orientation (3); 4) function (2); examples of metonymic transference (4) and synecdoche (1). Included multicomponent lexemes are used for naming animals and including the words “man” (2), “woman” (4), and “beast” (4). The study lists new lexemes, which complement the dialect data of the Steinitz dictionary taking into account various geographic variants and dialects. They include 4 compound words not recorded in the above dictionary. The study analyzes the causes of emerging lexico-semantic variability as presented in the examined materials: 1) compared to those recorded in the Steinitz dictionary, some lexemes show new components and therefore semantic facets of a compound word (3 units); 2) polysemy of the Khanty language in lexemes with component ЮХ “tree” includes cases with one of the metonymy-based meanings being “a wooden utensil” (4). The study points out specific ways, in which Russian written texts recorded figurative meanings of borrowings from the Khanty language before it became a written language. The study shows cognitive and linguistic processing, on the part of creators of examined sources, of the inner form of complex lexemes when translating them: using a more general literary term; shortening one of the word components while preserving its figurative meaning; literal translation; describing an object (in combination with translation or without it). The article introduces new material to the scientific domain and could be of interest for linguists, ethnographers, historians and archeologists.

Keywords: Khanty-Russian language interoperability, Russian written sources 1870-1930, Khanty lexicon, associative values, semantics, new information to the dictionary of W. Steinitz