SPACE AND TIME IN THE REGIONAL LANGUAGE PICTURE OF THE WORLD (ON THE EXAMPLE OF VORONEZH MICROTOPONYMY)

Aim. The purpose of the work is to study the features of the regional linguistic picture of the world, associated with ideas about time and space, on the basis of Voronezh microtoponymy.
Methodology. The material of the study was microtoponyms representing the categories of “space” and “time”, functioning in 28 settlements of the Voronezh region. The main methods used in the study were the descriptive method, the comparative method, the method of component analysis (analysis of actualized semes of microtoponyms), and linguistic and regional commentary.
Results. It is found that the considered microtoponyms quite fully reflect a person’s ideas about space, to a lesser extent – about time. The paper characterizes two levels of microtoponymic units that give an idea of the space. At the first level, the following groups of onyms are distinguished: 1) microtoponyms that characterize a person’s ideas about a space that has a horizontal extent; 2) microtoponyms that characterize a person’s ideas about a space that has a vertical extent; and 3) microtoponyms that characterize a person’s ideas about space, reflecting the radial connections of objects. At the second level, groups of microtoponyms are distinguished, differentiated in accordance with semantic features. The following groups of geographical names reflecting a person’s idea of time are characterized: 1) microtoponyms, which include ordinal numbers; and 2) microtoponyms that include nominations with the semes 'late', 'old', 'new'. The concepts of space are most often expressed with the help of a geographical concretizer in a microtoponym, about time – with the help of a component represented by an ordinal number. All microtoponyms that reflect a person’s idea of time are in a certain “time series” that make up binary or multicomponent oppositions. The characterization of space in the regional linguistic picture of the world (according to the Voronezh microtoponymy) quite clearly reflects the geographical features associated with the specifics of the landscape of the Voronezh region, a feature of which is the presence of a significant number of hills and ravines.
Research implications. The method of analysis of microtoponymic units presented in the paper can be further applied to study of the regional linguistic picture of the world, including using local history data. The empirical material of the study can be useful for compiling a dictionary of microtoponyms of the Voronezh region and for carrying out ethnolinguistic research related to the study of the categories “space” and “time”.

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