Grammatical Variation in the Hutsul Dialects of Northern Bukovyna

The article is devoted to the study of grammatical variation in the modern Hutsul dialects of Northern Bukovyna. The aim of the study is to provide a detailed analysis of the variants of grammatical forms found in these dialects. The object of the study is the grammatical system of the Hutsul dialects under consideration. The material for the study consists of the author’s recordings from several dialects of the former Putyla district of the Chernivtsi region, in particular, spontaneous dialectal narratives. Based on a detailed analysis of these recorded dialect texts, the typical grammatical features of the dialects are characterized, with particular emphasis on the use of these features in the speech of dialect speakers—representatives of the older and middle generations. To collect factual material, the method of targeted interviews was employed, and to analyze grammatical features, descriptive, comparative, and juxtapositional methods were used. Among the grammatical features described are the gender and number of nouns (remnants of dual forms, honorific plural), degrees of comparison of adjectives, the use of pronouns (including ancient short forms), and specific forms of numerals. A number of dialect adverbs used in everyday speech are also presented. The frequency of variations in the inflection of nominal parts of speech is analyzed. The system of dialect verbs and their conjugation is described in detail. A comparison of these grammatical features at the present stage with data from previous studies demonstrates their dynamics over time. Special emphasis is placed on the preservation of archaic grammatical forms in the dialects studied. The article also outlines prospects for further studies of Hutsul dialects, in particular research into the frequency of grammatical variants in dialect texts and the influence of intralinguistic factors on the emergence of such variation.