The words styd, sram and pozor in Arkhangelsk dialects: semantic crossroads

Abstract

Uses lexical and semantic analysis of the words styd, sram and pozor (close to shame and
disgrace), their compatibility in the dialects of the Arkhangelsk region, as well as the key zone of
synonymy – the predicates stydno, pozorno and sramno – on the basis of paper card files and the
electronic database of the Arkhangelsk Regional Dictionary. The purpose of the research is to consider
the semantic area, united by the semes ‘committing an unseemly act’ and ‘feeling guilty’, represented by
the above words in a literary and dialect language; to characterize people’s ideas about this aspect of
morality. In the dialects under study, a clear distinction is made between concepts: styd means only
individual feeling, pozor and sram (stram) – an external assessment of a person’s actions by the
collective. At the same time, the word pozor is ambiguous and its semantics (like in dialecticism
pozoraм) is more inclined to the field of hard mental experiences and physical hardships of rural life
(semes ‘torment’, ‘hard work’, ‘difficult living conditions’). In a situation where a person evaluates an
immoral act, the predicates, being polysemantic, in one of their meanings enter into a relationship of
synonymy. The results of this research can be used in courses on dialectology, lexicology,
ethnolinguistics, as well as in the study of Russian mentality and the language picture of the world.