Language Contacts in the Oronymic Space of Southern Yakutia

The relevance of this study lies in the need to develop comparative models demonstrating how the type of economic development of the landscape determines the frequency of specific nominative acts. The oronymy of the South Yakut region represents a unique object for analyzing the stratification of three linguacultures that historically coexisted in the same territory. The purpose of this article is to identify the principles of nomination and conduct a comparative analysis of the oronymic systems of three districts of South Yakutia: Neryungri, Aldan, and Olekminsky. The study material was a sample of 165 oronyms extracted from the South Yakutia toponymy database, compiled in the Laboratory of Regional Toponymic Research of the Technical Institute (branch) of the M.K. Ammosov North-Eastern Federal University in Neryungri. Verification of linguistic affiliation and semantics was carried out based on an analysis of lexicographic and scientific sources, followed by testing during field expeditions with the participation of informants. The study utilized descriptive, comparative, statistical, and component analysis methods. The theoretical framework was based on the works of E.M. Murzaev, E.M. Pospelov, and F.K. Komarov, as well as the regional studies of M.S. Ivanov-Bagdaryyn Sulbe, B.I. Lekhanov, and P.S. Maksimov. The results demonstrated that the semantic profile of oronymy and the frequency of certain types of nominative acts (feature-based nomination, metaphorical transfer, transonymization, professional and sacred nomination) directly depend on the ethnodemographic structure and history of economic development of the territory. A stratigraphic model of the oronymic corpus was established, including an Evenki industrial substratum, a Yakut figurative-cult layer, and a Russian descriptive-professional superstratum. The scientific novelty lies in the comparative study of the three aforementioned regions and the demonstration that the proposed classification by nominative act type describes all three local contact systems. The practical significance of the results lies in their potential use in compiling regional toponymic dictionaries, standardizing cartographic names, and in teaching philological disciplines at universities and local history courses at schools.

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