Na Kubani dobre zhyt': odyn robe, sim lezhyt' (Speakers of Kuban Region Sub-Dialects on Laziness and Lazy People)

The article examines linguistic means of representing laziness in traditional culture of the Kuban region Cossacks and non-Cossack population inhabiting territories of the Krasnodar region. The object for analysis is units of the lexical-phraseological system of Kuban region sub-dialects with South Russian and Ukrainian language base. It establishes the ambivalent attitude towards laziness and point-blank negative attitude towards lazy people in the Cossack environment backed by folklore traditions and demonstrates similarities between the notion of “laziness” in linguistic consciousness of the Kuban region inhabitants as well as notions of “idleness”, “heavy drinking”, “diseconomy”, “meaningless blather”, and, interestingly, the notion of “wealth”. The paper reconstructs the established verbal image of a sluggard, which reflects stereotypical images common for various ethnicities, by means of analyzing the semantic structure of dialect units and their inner form, as well as relying on statements of the Kuban region sub-dialects speakers. The article demonstrates that the ethnocultural features, which reveal particular aspects of the Kuban region Cossacks’ worldview, manifest themselves in creation of localisms (words and phraseological units), in uniqueness of their inner form, in detailed elaboration of the idleness process. By means of language material from recently-formed sub-dialects, it proves the conclusion that the positive ideal, i. e. respect for labor, is cultivated within the traditional Cossack culture by way of rejection and mockery of laziness.