On the coincidence of some Yakut words with toponyms of the Irkutsk region: a search based on multimetric analysis
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: This article conducts a multimetric analysis of Yakut-language word correspondences to Irkutsk Oblast toponyms with lost meanings. The relevance of this work stems from the insufficient study of the Yakut (Sakha) ethnogenesis and the need to identify possible linguistic traces of their migrations through the Baikal region. The aim of the study is to identify correspondences between Irkutsk Oblast toponyms and Yakut vocabulary. The study utilizes the “Linguist's Search” module of the “Linguist's Assistant” program, which compares wordlists using paired metrics of Ratcliffe-Obershelp (RO), Longest Common Subsequence (LCS), and Levenshtein distance (Lev). These metrics are used to calculate an overall ranking by summing them. RO identifies the proportion of common sounds in words relative to their length, LCS finds the maximum length of the longest common subsequence of two words, and Lev displays the number of string operations (insertions, replacements, deletions) required to transform a source word into another. To account for diachronic changes in word phonetics, words are converted into A.B. Dolgopolsky's consonant classes. A brief overview of the program's operation is provided, describing the main functionality of the “Linguist's Search Engine” module: loading wordlists, filtering by the RO metric value, viewing and exporting calculation results. The data for the study consisted of a set of 900 basic Yakut words from P.A. Sleptsov's dictionary and 572 toponyms from the Irkutsk region. Multimetric analysis revealed approximately 150 matches with a word distortion level of up to 30 % (i. e., when RO >= 0.7). Of these, 20 words with the highest similarity ratings were selected as examples. Cases of direct phonetic parallels were identified, as well as probable cases of semantic coincidences or borrowings that require further verification. Several toponyms were also examined, in which connections to the Yakut language were identified based on the meanings of their parts: Berikul, Biryusa, Bodaibo, Sakhyurta, and Aransakhoy.
Authors: A. V. Borovsky, F, E. Mosorkin
Institution: Baikal State University
Language: English
Subfield: Language and Linguistics
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W7214540355