Areas of lexical differences between Western and Eastern dialects of the Serbo‐Croatian dialect continuum

The paper proposes an analysis of the incidence areas for 35 interdialect native or borrowed synonyms demonstrating the difference between the western and eastern parts of the Central South Slavic territory: hitit — baciti ‘to throw’, puhati — duvati ‘to blow’, tjedan — nedelja ‘week’, kruh — hleb ‘bread’, delati — raditi ‘to do, work’, obed — ručak ‘lunch’, cesta — put ‘road’, mučati — šutjeti, ćutati ‘to be silent’, železo — gvožđe ‘iron’, ovas — zob ‘oats’, nosnica — nozdrva ‘nostril’, prsi (prsa) — grudi ‘chest’, mati — majka ‘mother’, punica — tašta ‘mother-in-law’, šogor — šurjak ‘brother-in-law’, dvorište, dvor — avlija ‘yard’. The areas of these lexemes’ distribution are mapped and interpreted based on the dialect lexicography data and on my questionnaires filled out by speakers of Serbian and Croatian dialects (seventeen maps in total). My analysis shows that the subsections of the Serbo-Croatian continuum conventionally subdivided into western and eastern regions and into central and peripheral zones often intermingle where western dialects often prove to be peripheral (archaic), while eastern dialects show central (innovative) features, with the exception of Eastern Serbia dialects that can also demonstrate peripheral, archaic characteristics. The localization of differential lexemes presents a variegated picture. Only three of the pairs addressed demonstrate clear boundaries: tjedan — nedelja, delati — raditi, obed — ručak, with only the first two pairs showing a strict West — East opposition (Kajkavian vs. North Chakavian dialects), while obed — ručak reflect the opposition between the center and the periphery of the Serbo-Croat territory. All other lexeme pairs addressed represent diffuse areas where one lexeme of the pair predominates over the other in, correspondingly, western or eastern regions. As a rule, the concentration of both lexemes is higher in the west of the Serbo-Croatian territory. The eastern border of the ‘western’ lexemes distribution runs through the territory of Serbia much further to the east of Drina, encompassing Vojvodina, Shumadia and Kosovo.