Variability of phraseological units in modern German and insular German dialects

The article considers variability as a general linguistic pattern inherent in all levels of the language, though it is particularly prominent in phraseological units. The article provides a detailed analysis of various types of phraseological variants in the German literary language and the dialects of Russian Germans. Phraseological variants of the German literary language exhibit partial or complete identity at the structural, lexical or semantic levels. Meanwhile, dialectal phraseological variants represent a combination of Russian and German cultural elements, thus demonstrating the national cultural specificity of the lexical and phraseological system within dialects of Russian Germans. Thus, one can observe a preservation of the old cultural heritage, along with a partial change of this heritage under the Russian language influence, and the emergence of completely new linguistic, in particular, phraseological, units, which reflect Russian realities that lack analogues in German culture.