The Buryat component in the dialect vocabulary of the Yakut language (based on the names of wild animals)

The article examines the Buryat component in the dialectal zoonymic lexicon of the Yakut language, based on the names of wild animals. The relevance of the study is determined by the need to clarify the stratification of Mongolic borrowings in Yakut and to identify the role of the Buryat language as a source of the later layer of Mongolisms. The aim of the research is to identify, systematize conduct a comprehensive analysis of dialectal zoonyms of Buryat origin, as well as to determine their semantic, phonetic, and areal characteristics. The research material consists of dialectal data of the Yakut language recorded in lexicographic and dialectological sources, as well as comparative data from Buryat and other Mongolic languages. The study employs the comparative-hand semasiological methods, along with techniques of lexical-semantic and phonetic analysis and elements of areal linguistics. The results demonstrate that in a number of cases Buryat forms serve as the closest correspondences to Yakut dialectal animal names, which makes it possible to explain both semantic shifts and features of the phonetic adaptation of borrowings. It is established that the Buryat component is most clearly represented in the southern and western dialects of the Yakut language and reflects a later stage of language contacts. The borrowed units are shown to exhibit varying degrees of semantic transformation, ranging from preservation of the original meaning to metonymic and zoomorphic reinterpretations conditioned by a new natural environment. The findings refine current views on the mechanisms of Mongolic–Yakut language contacts, contribute to the stratification of Mongolic borrowings in the Yakut language, and expand the empirical basis for studies of dialectal zoonymy. The materials of the article may be used in further etymological and dialectological research, lexicographic practice, and in the digital documentation of dialectal vocabulary.