“Facing New Routes…”: Reflections on the Work of Ural University Toponymic Expedition in the 1st Decade of the 21st Century

Abstract

The article analyzes the fieldwork carried out but the Toponymic Expedition of Ural University in the 1st decade of the 21st century, along with the contemporary state of things in Russian toponymy. The author states that toponymy disappearance has augmented drastically in the past 10-15 years following the destruction of the system of management (as compared to periods of similar length in the 20th century). The article reveals changes in the toponymic items range, registered by the Expedition (with the number of collected oikonyms rising and that of hydronyms and microtoponyms lowering). Estimating the correlation between the old and the new in the toponymic systems of the Russian North and the Vetluga Basin, the author concludes that the systems retain significant conservatism with new coinages ceasing to appear as frequently. Additionally, the author analyzes methodic innovations in the Expedition’s fieldwork.

Keywords

• Russian language
• toponymy
• dialectology
• field research
• toponymy field collection methods
• Russian North
• Vetluga basin