Regional urban names of children's ball game “semeika” or “sem'ia” [lit. ‘family']

The current study aims to reveal and analyze the local distribution, lexicological parameters and etymology of Russian regional urban names for the children's outdoor game “semeika” (‘family') by examining online usage with various Web search options applied. On the basis of the lexical data acquired, we consider such types of game nomenclature as quotational names and terminological names, and analyze the principles of nomination in comparison with other game names: “blind man's buff” off the ground, “traffc lights”, “edible or inedible”, tag, etc. Comparison of various names of the game reveals oppositely directed processes of language change in children's language: (1) desemantisation and transformation of meaningful words into “gibberish” and (2) resemantisation and convergence with meaningful words, due in part to the inclusion of game terms into the conceptual feld of childhood subculture. An attempt is made to explain the high regional variability of names for certain games.

urban regionalisms, children's outdoor games, game of “semeika” (“my family”), “edible or inedible”, “blind man's buff” off the ground, game of “traffc lights” (“colours”), red rover (“boyars”), hide-and-seek, game terms, lexicographical description, word distribution area, distribution analysis, web corpus, online usage, search engine, combinational search, mention frequency, game exclamation, signal word, etymological analysis, metonymical term, children's jargon, jargon language norm, argotic corruption, desemantisation, gibberish (“zaum'”), resemantisation