Yuri A. Dzitstsoity
South Ossetian State University
Tskhinvali, Republic of South Ossetia
On Criss-crossing Isoglosses in the Vocabulary and Toponymy of South Ossetia
Voprosy onomastiki, 2018, Volume 15, Issue 3, pp. 78–104 (in Russian)
DOI: 10.15826/vopr_onom.2018.15.3.030
Received 2 October 2017
Abstract: The paper examines the facts of phonetic interference between the Kudar and Iron dialects of the Ossetian language on the basis of dialect vocabulary and toponymy of South Ossetia. Being a residual phenomenon, they testify to the dialect mixing that occurred in the earlier times of language development. The most striking indicator of interference is that most characteristic sounds of one dialect have been used in the other for emphatic purpose. In Iranian studies, the described phenomena are generally referred to as “criss-crossing isoglosses” (V. I. Abaev, D. I. Edelman, and others). However, the term is subject to varying interpretations and, in some studies, criss-crossing isoglosses may refer to inter-dialectal (in some cases also interlingual) lexical borrowings of the most ancient periods. While not disputing the abovementioned approach, the author proposes to address criss-crossing isoglosses as evidence of interdialectal phonetic interference. As suggested by E. A. Grantovsky, this kind of isoglosses originates from the inter-dialectal interaction and even confusion that took place in the distant past. The criss-crossing isogloss problem also correlates with the issues of substrate/superstrate and adstrate relations between cognate languages or dialects of one language. Thus, the task of specifying criss-crossing isoglosses is relevant not only for history (and historical phonetics, in particular) and dialectology of a given language, but also for shedding light on ethnogenesis and ethnic history.
Keywords: South Ossetia, Ossetian language, Kudar dialect, Iron dialect, Chisan dialect, toponymy, expressive vocabulary, phonetic interference, criss-crossing isoglosses
References
Abaev, V. I. (1945). Drevnepersidskie elementy v osetinskom iazyke [Ancient Persian Elements in the Ossetian Language]. In V. I. Abaev (Ed.), Iranskie iazyki [Iranian Languages] (Vol. 1, pp. 7–12). Moscow; Leningrad: Izd-vo AN SSSR.
Abaev, V. I. (1949). Osetinskii iazyk i fol’klor [Ossetian Language and Culture] (Vol. 1). Moscow; Leningrad: Izd-vo AN SSSR.
Abaev, V. I. (1963). Vvedenie [Introduction]. In G. S. Akhvlediani (Ed.), Grammatika osetinskogo iazyka [Ossetian Grammar] (Vol. 1, pp. 9–36). Ordzhonikidze: NII pri Sovete ministrov Severo-Osetinskoi ASSR.
Abaev, V. I. (1968). O perekrestnykh izoglossakh [On Criss-Crossing Isoglosses]. In O. N. T rubachev (Ed.), Etimologiia 1966 [Etymology 1966] (pp. 247–263). Moscow: Nauka.
Abaev, V. I. (1986). Kak mozhno uluchshit’ etimologicheskie slovari [How to Improve Etymological Dictionaries]. In O. N. T rubachev (Ed.), Etimologiia 1984 [Etymology 1984] (pp. 7–27). Moscow: Nauka.
Abaev, V. I. (1995). Izbrannye trudy [Selected Works] (Vols. 1–2). Vladikavkaz: Ir, 1995.
Akhvlediani, G. S. (1960). Sbornik izbrannykh rabot po osetinskomu iazyku [Selected Works on the Ossetian Language]. Tbilisi: Izd-vo Tbilisskogo gos. un-ta.
Bailey, H. W. (1980). Ossetic (Nartä). In A. T. Hatto (Ed.), Traditions of Heroic and Epic Poetry (Vol. 1, pp. 236–267). London: MHRA.
Bailey, H. W. (1998). Zolaq and Colaq. In Studia Iranica et Alanica. Festschrift for Prof. Vasilij Ivanovič Abaev on the Occasion of His 95th Birthday (pp. 27–30). Rome: Istituto Italiano per l’Africa e l’Oriente.
Bgazhba, Kh. S. (1988). Trudy [Collected Works] (Vol. 2). Sukhumi: Alashara.
Dzitstsoity, Yu. A. (2008). Ocherk chisanskogo govora osetinskogo iazyka [An Essay on the Chisan Subdialect of the Ossetian Language]. Tskhinval, 2008.
Dzitstsoity, Yu. A. (2017–). Voprosy osetinskoi filologii [Issues in Ossetian Philology] (Vols. 1–3). Tskhinval: Respublika.
Edelman, D. I. (1986). Sravnitel’naia grammatika vostochnoiranskikh iazykov [Comparative Grammar of East Iranian Languages]. Fonologiia. Moscow: Nauka.
Edelman, D. I. (2002). Iranskie i slavianskie iazyki: Istoricheskie otnosheniia [Iranian and Slavic Languages: A Historical Perspective of Relations]. Moscow: Vostochnaia literatura.
Edelman, D. I. (2007). Eshche raz o kavkazskom nazvanii pluga [Revisiting the Caucasian Name for Plough]. In Zh. Zh. Varbot (Ed.), Etimologiia 2003–2005 [Etymology 2003–2005] (pp. 327–333). Moscow: Nauka.
Edelman, D. I. (2009). Rol’ minoritarnykh ariiskikh iazykov v rekonstruktsii istorii iazykovoi sem’I [The Role of Minority Aryan Languages in the Language Family Reconstruction]. In I. I. Chelysheva (Ed.), Minoritarnye iazyki Evrazii: Problemy iazykovykh kontaktov [Minority Languages of Eurasia: Problems of Linguistic Contacts] (pp 10–51). Moscow: Tezaurus.
Gamkrelidze, T. V., & Ivanov, V. V. (1984). Indoevropeiskii iazyk i indoevropeitsy [Indo-European and the Indo-Europeans] (Vols. 1–2). Tbilisi: Izd-vo Tbilisskogo un-ta.
Gazov-Ginzberg, A. M. (1965). Byl li iazyk izobrazitelen v svoikh istokakh? [Could the Language Be Figurative from its Beginning?]. Moscow: Nauka.
Gershevitch, I. (1965). Dialect Variation in Early Persian. Transactions of the Philological Society, 1–29.
Gershevitch, I. (1991). The Ossetic 3-rd Plural Imperative. Transactions of the Philological Society, 89 (2), 221–234.
Gershevitch, I. (1992). Linguistic Geography and Historical Linguistics. In F. Gabrieli et al. (Eds.), La posizione attuale della linguistica storica nell’ambito delle discipline linguistiche [The Current Position of Historical Linguistics among the Linguistic Disciplines] (pp. 165–181). Roma: Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei.
Gershevitch, I. (1998). Fossilized Imperatival Morphemes in Ossetic. In Studia Iranica et Alanica. Festschrift for Prof. Vasilij Ivanovič Abaev on the Occasion of His 95th Birthday (pp. 141–159). Rome: Istituto Italiano per l’Africa e l’Oriente.
Grantovskii, E. A. (1970). Ranniaia istoriia iranskikh plemen Perednei Azii [The Early History of Iranian Tribes of Western Asia]. Moscow: Nauka.
Grantovskii, E. A. (1998). Iran i irantsy do Akhemenidov. Osnovnye problemy. Voprosy khronologii [Iran and Iranians before the Achaemenids. Main Problems. Chronology Issues]. Moscow: Vostochnaia literatura.
Harmatta, J. (1970). Studies in the History and Languages of the Sarmatians. Széged: [s. n.].
Holmer, N. (1977). On the “Crosswise Intersectant” Aspect of Phonetic Evolution within Two Linguistic Families of the Oceanian Area. In N. Ia. Gabaraev (Ed.), Voprosy iranskoi i obshchei filologii [Issues in Iranian and General Philology] (pp. 297–304). Tbilisi: Metsniereba.
Isaev, M. I. (1959). Smeshannoe ironsko-digorskoe narechie zhitelei Uallagkoma [Mixed Iron-Digor Dialect of the Inhabitants of Uallagkoma.]. Izvestiia Severo-Osetinskogo NII, 21(4), 85–100.
Isaev, M. I. (1976). K interferentsii blizkorodstvennykh iazykovykh sistem (na osetinskom iazykovom materiale) [On the Interference of Closely Related Language Systems (Based on the Ossetian Language Material)]. In V. S. Rastorgueva (Ed.), Iranskoe iazykoznanie: istoriia, etimologiia, tipologiia. K 75-letiiu prof. V. I. Abaeva [Iranian Linguistics: History, Etymology, Typology. On the 75th Anniversary of Prof. V. I. Abaev] (pp. 64–70). Moscow: Nauka.
Isaev, M. I. (1981). Territorial’no-funktsional’naia kharakteristika osetinskogo literaturnogo iazyka [Territorial and Functional Characteristics of the Ossetian Literary Language]. Izvestiia Iugo-Osetinskogo NII AN GSSR, 26, 12–21.
Isaev, M. I. (1987). Osetinskii iazyk [Ossetian Language]. In V. S. Rastorgueva (Ed.), Osnovy iranskogo iazykoznaniia. Novoiranskie iazyki: vostochnaia gruppa [Basics of Iranian Linguistics. New Iranian Languages: Eastern Group] (pp. 537–643). Moscow: Nauka.
Kaloev, B. A. (1999). Osetinskie istoriko-etnograficheskie etiudy [Studies in Ossetian History and Ethnography]. Moscow: Nauka.
Khromov, A. L. (1987). Iagnobskii iazyk [The Yaghnobi Language]. In V. S. Rastorgueva (Ed.), Osnovy iranskogo iazykoznaniia. Novoiranskie iazyki: vostochnaia gruppa [Basics of Iranian Linguistics. New Iranian Languages: Eastern Group] (pp. 644–701). Moscow: Nauka.
Kullanda, S. V. (2016). Skify: iazyk i etnogenez [Scythians: Language and Ethnogenesis]. Moscow: Russkii fond sodeistviia obrazovaniiu i nauke.
Kuydzoity, A. (2014). Iron nykhasy kul’turæ [The Culture of the Iron People]. Dzæudzhykh”æu: Izd-vo SOGU.
Oranskii, I. M. (1977). Fol’klor i iazyk gissarskikh par’ia [Folkore and Language of the Hissar Parya]. Moscow: Nauka.
Pakhalina, T. N. (1983). Issledovanie po sravnitel’no-istoricheskoi fonetike pamirskikh iazykov [A Research into Comparative Historical Phonetics of the Pamir Languages]. Moscow: Nauka.
Rastorgueva, V. S. (1990). Sravnitel’no-istoricheskaia grammatika zapadnoiranskikh iazykov. Fonologiia [Comparative Historical Grammar of Western Iranian Languages. Phonology]. Moscow: Nauka.
Shegren, A. (1844). Osetinskaia grammatika s kratkim slovarem osetinsko-rossiiskim i rossiisko-osetinskim [Ossetian Grammar with a Concise Ossetian-Russian and Russian-Ossetian Dictionary]. Saint Petersburg: Tip. Imp. Akad. nauk.
Tokhtasyev, S. R. (2005). Problema skifskogo iazyka v sovremennoi nauke [Scythian Language as a Problem of Contemporary Scholarship]. In F. Solomon (Ed.), Ethnic Contacts and Cultural Exchanges North and West of the Black Sea from the Greek Colonization to the Ottoman Conquest (pp. 59–108). Iaşi: Trinitas.
Trubachev, O. N. (1972). Zametki po etimologii i sravnitel’noi grammatike [Notes on Etymology and Comparative Grammar]. In O. N. T rubachev (Ed.), Etimologiia 1970 [Etymology 1970] (pp. 3–20). Moscow: Nauka.
Tsagaeva, A. D. (1975). Toponimiia Severnoi Osetii [The Toponymy of North Ossetia] (Vols. 1–2). Ordzhonikidze: Ir, 1975.
|