Specific features of the lexical inventory in the Dictionary of East-Steppe Ukrainian Dialects

This article offers a detailed examination of the inventory and interpretative principles underlying the Dictionary of East-Steppe Ukrainian Dialects. The analysis delineates the composition of the headword list, the structural organization of dictionary entries, and the semantic interpretative strategies applied to dialectal lexical units. Particular attention is devoted to the function and typology of areal markers, which encode the territorial specificity of the documented lexical material. The dictionary’s register encompasses lexical regionalisms; highly localized East-Steppe designations; items diverging from their standard-language counterparts in lexical, prosodic, phonological, word-formation, grammatical, or semantic properties; as well as lexemes associated with traditional modes of subsistence, domestic culture, and customary practices, even when partial overlap with standard forms is observed. Headword interpretation relies primarily on descriptive, synonymous, and combined (explanatory-synonymous) methods, whereas explanations through standard-language equivalents or structurally based techniques occur only sporadically. A particularly salient component of the dictionary entry is the extensive body of illustrative material, which enables the reconstruction of the semantic scope, grammatical behaviour, and functional load of the dialectal lexeme and its variants within the investigated speech communities. The findings refine our understanding of the lexicographic representation of the East-Steppe dialects and emphasize the significance of the dialect dictionary as an instrument for preserving the linguistic profile of the Donetsk region and the cultural and linguistic identity manifested in the Ukrainian dialects under study.