Ukrainian Border Dialects in Belarusian-Russian Contact Areas: Characteristics and Trends

This book presents a contemporary, primarily synchronic, linguistic analysis of the essential dialectal features characterizing the dialects spoken in the Ukrainian-Belarusian-Russian border area.

Utilizing sociolinguistic and unique focus-group data, Salvatore Del Gaudio analyzes specific local dialects at the crossroads of Ukraine, Belarus, and the Russian Federation, both locally and cross-regionally, to best highlight stable characteristics and ongoing tendencies over the span of a decade (2012-2022). The individuality of this area is also examined within a broader sociolinguistic context, which accounts for language attitudes, habits, and the identity of local speakers, as well as the linguistic landscape of the border area. The findings presented in this book are valuable for further dialectological research and related linguistic subfields. Moreover, they contribute to the establishment of a more accurate typology of (East) Slavic languages, offering valid insights into areal linguistics, as is often required in similar studies.

Salvatore Del Gaudio is Associate Professor of Slavic Philology and Linguistics in the Department of Humanities at the University of Salerno, Italy.