SOCIOLINGUISTIC DESCRIPTION OF VERNACULAR WORDS: SEMANTICS AND FUNCTIONING OF ADJECTIVES

Abstract

The paper describes vernacular lexis in the speech of standard Russian Perm speakers. 20 adjectives were selected to examplify the vernacular word status: 1) expressive seme, 2) usage in many local accents. The second part of the research considers functional and stylistic features of the adjectives on their way from venacular to standard. For this purpose, data from modern standard Russian dictionaries are used. As a result, the adjectives were classified into 2 groups according to the vernacular features: 1) wide use of a lexeme in the changed word-building pattern compared to standard (word-building doublets), 2) expression. The adjectives fell into groups in the proportion of 12/8. Data analysis enabled to conclude that the process of locating a word from one variety to another demonstrates the following pattern: dialect → vernacular → standard with the variations of dialect → vernacular or vernacular → standard.