Information on the thesis

In thesis, for the first time in Ukrainian linguistics, a systematic description of the
sound system of modern dialects under conditions of non-compact migration to the
western Ukrainian region is given on the basis of own records of North Lemkian
immigrants’ coherent speech. The influence of non-dialectal environment and literary
language on the speech of North Lemkian speakers is taken into account.
On the basis of the processed factual material the phonemic oppositions are
investigated, the distribution of phonemes is revealed, the positional and combinatorial
sound changes are clarified, the specificity of paroxitonic stress is characterized.
The urgency of the topic is due to the need for comprehensive fixation and
professional processing on a synchronous section of a special Ukrainian dialect
(Lemkivskyi) in the dialect space of Ukraine. Accordingly, the most important task for
researchers is to find informants, the number of which is decreasing every year. Dialect
speakers are conditionally combined into the following three groups: 1) respondents, who
still consistently retain speech features; 2) respondents, who have a shaky speech system;
3) respondents, who have lost the ability to use their nativespeech. Representatives of the
first group are the oldestpersons (born in the first half of the ХХ century), who mastered
the dialect before or immediately after the resettlement and had the opportunity to use it
freely, being in a new language environment. This group also includes individuals who
have consciously learned the dialect. The second group includes individuals of the middle
(born in the 50–60’s) and the youngest (born in the 70–90’s) generations. In the third
group are situated people of different ages who identify themselves as Lemky, but do not
speak due to various linguistic and non-linguistic factors (in Soviet times, the so-called
policy of “unprestigious” dialect, media, studying or working conditions, etc.).
The ability of some respondents to switch code (literary language) / subcode
(dialectal speech) according to the communicative situation was revealed. The notion of
the dialects prestige is introduced, which directly follows from the self-identification of
dialect speakers. That is why the functioning of the Lemkian dialect depends on the
conscious mastery of dialectal features, popularization of their dialects and identification
of themselves as Lemkos – speakers, one of the archaic dialects of Ukrainian language.
Dialect material is collected by the expedition-field method, using the method of
direct observation (listening and recording live spoken speech formed during the
conversation) with the use of “included observation” (the researcher is transformed into a
participant in a speech situation, minimizing certain inconveniences presence of a
dialectologist). The analysis of documentary sources is applied: handwritten, printed, and
also oral in the form of recordings on a dictaphone.
Thesis summarizes the stages of studying the Lemkian dialect in the linguistic
works of the late XIX – early XXI centuries and outlines the state of modern Lemkian
settlement in the western Ukrainian area. The specifics of the sound system of the studied
migratory dialects is characterized, based on modern theoretical approaches. A map of the
surveyed Lemkos settlements has been created. A separate resource for further
dialectological elaboration of today North Lemkian dialects will be its own unique library
and organized text library, a selection of texts from which is represented in the appendices
of the proposed study. A new approach to the interpretation of sound dialectal features of
the respondents is formed: the description of phonemes is structured against the
background of presenting extensive illustrative material, which is grouped by partial
linguistic affiliation. The stability of the use of paroxytonic accent (before resettlement it
is a western type of accent), specific sounds [ы] and [л·], dorsal-palatal pronunciation [з′],
[ц′], [с′] was observed within different age groups.
Preserved sound features of the analyzed North Lemkianimmigrants’ dialects gave
grounds to assert that the phonological-phonetic level remains the most resistant to
changes. The application of the developed methodology of studying the phonological and
phonetic level North Lemkian immigrants’ dialects, as well as the creation of a unique
phono- and text library determines the possibilities of research in this aspect of the entire
dialect space of Ukraine.
Key words: North Lemkian immigrants’ dialects, phoneme, sound expression,
phoneme distribution, positional phoneme expression, combinatorial phoneme expression,
paroxytonic stress, assimilation, dissimilation, epenthesis, prosthesis, prestige speech,
code / subcode.