Синтаксис говоров белорусско-литовско-латышского пограничья
The Syntax of Dialects of Belarus – Lithuania – Latvia Frontier Area

Summary/Abstract: The article gives an insight into some specific features of the language spoken in the Braslov and Postav areas of the Vitebsk region. The author analyzes syntactic constructions to demonstrate major tendencies in the development of modern dialects as well as identifies the factors due to which specific syntactic dialectal features are still used in the language spoken by the younger generation. These factors include: a) the marked semantic nature of the analyzed constructions; b) their innovative nature; c) the common Baltic-Slavic and West-Eastern Slavic linguistic area. The author attempts to trace changes in the dialect spoken by the inhabitants of the area in their development and for this purpose compares the one registered in “Dyjalectychny atlas belaruskaj movy” (1963) (Atlas of Dialects of the Belarusian language) and the materials of the author’s research done during the period between 1994–2002. The author establishes connections between the syntactic constructions and the areas where they are widely used. There are constructions the existence of which substantiates the theory about three chronological layers representing three transitional periods in the development of the dialects: the Baltic-Slavic, the West-Eastern Slavic and the Russian-Belarusian layers. The syntactic constructions observed in the vertical syntactic fields of the predicate, the subject and the object lead us to recognize a peculiar linguistic status of the area explored.

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