Knyga žemaitiškai mokantiems ir besimokantiems

BENDRINĖ KALBA 94 (2021) http://journals.lki.lt/bendrinekalba ISSN 2351-7204 JŪRATĖ PAJĖDIENĖ Lietuvių kalbos institutas Review: Northern Zemaites of Kretinga: a teaching book, compiled by Jūratė Lubienė, Asta Leskauskaitė. Vilnius: Lithuanian Language Institute, 2020, 283 p. ISBN 978-609-411-273-7. In 2020, the publishing house of the Lithuanian Language Institute published several books dedicated to the Samogitian language: a collection of sermons by Jurgis Ambroziejus Pabrėža (1771–1849) and two educational books for understanding the distinctiveness of the Northern Samogitian Kretingiškiai and Southern Samogitian Raseiniškiai dialects. 1 If you want to learn the Žemaičių language or to study it, you can now get acquainted with all the Žemaičių (sub)dialects, their most prominent linguistic and cultural history features, because in the series Lithuanian language dialects for schools have already appeared and for every 2 3 Publications dedicated to the (pa)dialect: Vakarų žemaičiai (2006, edited by Jonas Bukantis, Asta Leskauskaitė, Vilija Salienė), Pietų žemaičiai varniškiai (2017, edited by Gintarė Judžentytė-Šinkūnienė, Vida Marcišauskaitė), Pietų žemaičiai raseiniškiai (2020, edited by Gintarė Judžentytė, Vida Marcišauskaitė), Šiaurės žemaičiai telšiškiai (2013, edited by Jonas Bukantis, Asta Leskauskaitė, Vilija Salienė). Juozas 1 Pabrėža, Vida Marcišauskaitė, Sermons on the Various Matters, namely Ambrosius’ Emphasis, prepared by Rita Šepetytė. Vilnius: Lithuanian Language Institute, 2020. 2 According to the traditional approach, when talking about the system of dialects of Lithuania, the Žemaičių dialect is divided into three – western, northern and southern – dialects (for the distinctive characteristics of these dialects see. : A chrestomaty of Lithuanian dialects, compiled by Rima Bacevičiūtė, Audra Ivanauskienė, Asta Leskauskaitė, Edmundas Trumpa. Vilnius: Lithuanian Language Institute, 2004, 195–284). Speaking of the language system of the Žemaičių area alone, three – western, northern, southern – Žemaičių dialects and two dialects can be distinguished: northern Žemaičių – Telšių and Kretingos – and southern Žemaičių – Varnių and Raseinių (about this relatively perceptible division of the Žemaičių area see: Juozas Pabrėža Žemaičių kalba ir rašyba, Šiauliai: Šiaulių universitetas, 2017, 47–48). 3 For a description of the features reflecting the current situation of the Žemaičių dialektas (dialect group), see : Daiva Aliūkaitė, Rima Bakšienė, Jurgita Jaroslavienė, Gintarė Judžentytė, Asta Leskauskaitė, Jūratė Lubienė, Violeta Meiliūnaitė, Dalia Pakalniškienė, Vilija Ragaišienė, Regina Rinkauskienė, Janina Švambarytė-Valužienė, Jolita Urbanavičienė, Daiva Vaišnienė. The density of the point network of the geolinguistic difference of the Highlands: from the Žemaičiai point of view. – Lithuanian dialects of the beginning of the 21st century: a geolinguistic and sociolinguistic study, ed. Danguolė Mikulėnienė and Violeta Meiliūnaitė, Vilnius: Briedis 2014, 129–146. JŪRATĖ PAJĖDIENĖ. A book for people who speak and learn Žemaičių kalba | 2 doi.org/10.35321/bkalba.2021.94.12 BENDRINĖ KALBA 94 (2021) http://journals.lki.lt/bendrinekalba ISSN 2351-7204 This is Leskauskaitė). In each of them we will find not only descriptions of distinctive (sub)dialectal 4 characteristics and the uniqueness of the cultural life of the region, a description of the area occupied by (sub)dialects, lists of places of residence (points) and maps, but also useful methodological advice, instructions, notes for teaching or learning dialectal speaking. These books contain transcribed and transposed versions of texts in Žemaičių kalba (in the electronic medium accompanying each book we also find audio recordings – this is the basis of the texts), artistic oral creation, information about writers and writers from that region – writers, linguists, historians – and examples of their work. The structure of the books is not exactly the same, it varies between the textbook and the chrestomaty. This extensive collection was supplemented in 2020 with another book – Northern Samogitians of Kretinga. Like other publications of the series Lithuanian language dialect school, so also Northern Zemgallians of Kretinga have two forms – this is a book prepared by doc. dr. Jurgita Lubienė, and electronic audio recordings prepared by Dr. Asta Leskauskaitė. When reading the book, it is obvious that the usual term author(s) in this case must be understood not literally, but somewhat broader, as encompassing not only the search, selection, preparation of texts and illustrations included in the book, but also the writing of a considerable volume of text, and thus the real authorship. J. Lubienė’s pen belongs to Pratarmė (p. 7–9), parts covering the general methodology of teaching dialect material Methodological advice (p. 10–25), Introduction (p. 26–51) and description of the Northern Samogitian Kretingian dialect revealing the specificity of the chosen dialect (p. 52–97), as well as questions and tasks presented after the frequent theoretical section (p. 44, 50–51, 62–65, 73, 76–80) and each dialect text (see Northern Samogitian Kretingian dialect texts, p. 98–189) or group of texts (see Dialectal poetry, p. 190–226), as needed, smaller or larger sections Do you know? crumbs (see, for example, pp. 43-44, 49-50, 102-103, 163-165). The latter sections, compared with the already mentioned books presenting the Žemaičių (pa)dialects, are a novelty conceived by J. Lubienė. The information contained in them attracts the attention of the reader – who wants to learn the dialect or knows it – and helps to draw attention to more special aspects of the history and language of the Žemaites (see, for example, the note on p. 72 about the Žemaites origin of some names common in the common language, p. 4 The above mentioned publications were published by the Lithuanian Language Institute. Support for the preparation and publication of the publications was provided by the State Lithuanian Language Commission from the Programme for the Preservation of Dialects and Ethnic Place Names 2001–2010 and Research on 2020 programme funds. JŪRATĖ PAJĖDIENĖ. A book for people who speak and learn Žemaičių kalba | 3 doi.org/10.35321/bkalba.2021.94.12 BENDRINĖ KALBA 94 (2021) http://journals.lki.lt/bendrinekalba ISSN 2351-7204 the Functioning and Change of Lithuanian Common Language, Dialects and Other Language Variants 2011–2015. Around the book scattered sections Did you know? allows the author to share not only general knowledge, but also her own vision, for example, the opinion about the often only agreement-based difference between 5 the concepts of language and dialect, the possible origin of the Northern Samogitian dialect (p. 72) and so on. It is true that, in accordance with the textbook principle, the general or specialist knowledge provided in these sections is not always accompanied by a reference to the source of information used. It seems that this is done only in those cases when reference is made to literature from the list of literature given at the end of the book (see Literature about dialects, pp. 282–283), because when presenting the interesting facts of ethnology, etymology, mythology research, references to literary sources used are provided (cf., for example, pp. 142; 154; 164–165). However, somewhat disturbing in their presentation is the method of general citation, when only the publication referred to is mentioned, which was also used in the book Vakarų žemaičiai (Western Semites) published in 2006. It is likely that this choice was determined by the authors’ very benevolent didactic assumption that, without specific references, readers will want to search and 6 find more information. Another novelty, which makes J. Lubienė’s book stand out among the group of Žemaitija educational books, is the Thematic Dictionary of Dialectal Words (pp. 265–279). Although the 7 vocabulary of Northern Samogitian with excellent illustrations of speech is quite thoroughly presented in two dictionaries (these are also mentioned in the book under discussion, p. 75), each dictionaries of Samogitian words, and especially thematic ones, is useful both for the 8 (learning) student and for the reader, for whom the dialect is his native language. Thematic vocabulary helps remember old, less common dialects 5 "The difference between language and dialect is a matter of agreement. In the past, the criterion was simple: if people no longer understand each other, then they speak different languages. In the modern world, especially in Europe, the prevailing view is that language and state are interconnected, that one’s own language is an essential feature of the state. So in Lithuania we speak Lithuanian, a language with various variants of use, including dialects. Lithuanian dialectology studies Lithuanian dialects, proverbs, spoken language, and dialects. However, if we do not mean the whole Lithuanian language, but only one dialect, for example, Žemaičių, we can call it a language. <...> When talking about home <...>, the native land, it is also said: my native language (instead of dialect) is Žemaičių <...>“ (pp. 49–50). 6 In the books Šiaurės žemaičiai telšiškiai (2013), Pietų žemaičiai varniškiai (2017), Pietų žemaičiai raseiniškiai (2020) accurate citation has been chosen, simplifying the search for the desired additional information. 7 The book Pietų žemaičiai varniškiai (2017, pp. 130–143) presents an alphabetical dictionary compiled by teacher Adele Urbaite (1926–2014) of words used and still used in Švėkšnos and its surroundings in the 20th century. 8 See. Juozas Aleksandravičius' Kretinga dialect dictionary (2011; edited by Danguolė Mikulėnienė, Daiva Vaišnienė, Vilnius: Lithuanian Language Institute) and Birutė Vanagienė's North-West Samogitian dictionary. Ylakių, Lenkimų, Mosėdžio, Skuodo, Šačių neighbourhoods, A–O; P–Z (2014–2015; scientific editors: Danguolė Mikulėnienė, Juozas Pabrėža, Vilnius: Lithuanian Language Institute). JŪRATĖ PAJĖDIENĖ. A book for people who speak and learn Žemaičių kalba | 4 doi.org/10.35321/bkalba.2021.94.12 BENDRINĖ KALBA 94 (2021) http://journals.lki.lt/bendrinekalba ISSN 2351-7204 269, 278), to understand the origin of some words (cf. pastaltės ~ pastálčius,stalčius‘, p. 274) or their interrelationships (cf.: krėtė – kr tė, pants bottom, back seat‘ and sosėkrėtiuotė – susikričióti, -ó(ja), -ójo, drabužio, ppr. 275), to note that, for example, not only the slightly rarer šondrėika ~ šùndrieka, pataisas‘, but also such common names of plants as trauklapis ~ traũklapis,gyslotis‘, vaivorā ~ vaivórai,girtuoklės (uogos)‘ are dialects (see p. 278). When reading about the peculiarities of lexical, semantic, morphological, constructive, morphonymic dialects (p. 74–75), it becomes obvious that dialect words are accepted by native speakers of the same 9 (sub)dialect or schnekt at different levels. An illustration of such different acceptability, and thus of different usage, is c rọlis / cīrolis ~ cėrulis,vyturys‘, which the author of the book in question perceives as an ordinary dialect (see p. 74, 278), although for others, even those from neighbouring regions, this word may be much less common, quite rare, foreign or at least perceived as a loanword. J. Lubienė herself writes about the naturalness of many of the borrowed words common to the Žemaites and her special efforts to almost avoid them in Thematic Dictionary of Dialectal Words (pp. 266–267). By the way, reading the book, it is obvious that 10 the thematic vocabulary arose very naturally, as the author gradually developed her own methodology of teaching the Žemaičių language, because the didactic sections of the book are full of individual and group work tasks that propose to build a dictionary of the native dialect (p. 104) or of Žemaičių words (e.g., p. 108, 114, 118) based on the read text. Regarding the dictionary, it is worth mentioning the somewhat too narrow definition of the meaning of the morphological dialect silkinis, -ė in the combination sėlkėnė košė ~ silkinė košė by simply describing,košė iš perlinių kruopų su pomidorų gražiais‘, without repeating the name,šilkinė‘ (the position of the words sėlkėnė košė ~ silkinė košė and sėlksoltė ~ sijųksultė, hernių rasalas‘ in the dictionary makes it 11 difficult to understand the connection of the word silkinis with sėlks ~ sijųkas,silkas‘, p. 275, mentioned in the previous thematic group). In the end, it is especially important to mention the most unique and significant part of the publication (as well as other textbooks on Žemaičių dialektai) – dialects. 9 For a more detailed list of thematic dialects, see Žemaitijos dialektai. : Emphasized by Juozas. I'm sick. 2017, p. 105–113. 10 About the origin of such words as cyrulis, vieversys, pylė, antis, pūrai, kūlis, akmuo and the large area of the words krupis, cyrulis, pūrai in the territory of Žemaitija and Latvia see: Emphasizes Juozas. I'm sick. 2017, p. 108. See also the description „cīrulis – vieversys, vyturys, cyrulis dial.“ in the publication Latvių-lietuvių kalbų žodynas / Latviešulietuviešu vārdnīca (2003; edited by Alvydas Butkus, Kaunas: ÆSTI, p. 141). 11 For the meaning of herring, see herring. : Vanagienė Birutė. I'm sick. 2015, p. 183. JŪRATĖ PAJĖDIENĖ. A book for people who speak and learn Žemaičių kalba | 5 doi.org/10.35321/bkalba.2021.94.12 BENDRINĖ KALBA 94 (2021) http://journals.lki.lt/bendrinekalba ISSN 2351-7204 texts. Obviously, they are selected for the target audience and meet the learning needs (the tasks accompanying the texts have already been mentioned). But they are most attractive not to those 12 conscious people who have come to their senses, but to the most sincere readers of this series of books – native-speaking emigrants who, as Algirdas Ruškys says, not only “move away from dialect to lure the big cities”, but also “miss it the most”, because for them “dialects in the world are different meanings of life” (pp. 247–248). Professionally presented dialect texts give them the greatest pleasure of reading (listening) and comfort that everything in the dialect and in their own perception of the native language is still as it used to be. The 24 conversations published in the section Texts of Northern Samogitian Kretingian dialects (pp. 98–189) are grouped according to the themes to which the storytellers’ attention is drawn – experiences of different stages of life (childhood, youth, maturity) and periods (war, exile), everyday life, customs, beliefs, wisdom, knowledge, reflections of mythological perception. The texts presented in the book reproduce audio recordings made in 1964 (3 pieces), 1973 (4 pieces), 1974 (5 pieces), 1980 (1 piece), 1993 (2 pieces), 2011 (7 pieces) and 2012 (2 pieces). The authors of these texts are representatives of the older generation: their age ranges from 51 to 92 years (born between 1890 and 1940), they are mostly women, only four narrators are men. All transcriptions are done 13 J. Lubienė, they are accurate, published for the first time. There is no doubt that these texts are 14 relevant not only for learning and reading or listening pleasure – their data will be used in scientific research. The texts perfectly reflect the peculiarities of the folk Žemaitian dialogue (with specific insertions, addresses, comparisons), sentence, phrase, and listening is a pleasure to catch barely perceptible (in the transcription completely or almost not reflected) respondents from different, more distant from each other points, which are thirty-five (see p. 280–281 list of Kretingiškiai residential places (points) and p. 53 map Northern Žemaitian Kretingiškiai). Here it would be fitting to 15 note that the tasks are sometimes (e.g., p. 136, 151) also linked to the reading of the texts presented in the section Lithuanian linguists – representatives of the Northern Žemaitian Kretingiškiai dialect 16 (p. 12 13 The date of birth of the authors of the records made in 1964 is unknown (not specified). 14 There are only a few discrepancies in the transcriptions: in the story About masks the phrase niès dat rẹs ’not experienced‘ is missing (see p. 171 and the passage 3:41–3:42 of the record); missing the word nuod ejẹ (p. 174) in the text First World War soldier’s memories in the phrase bàtọr ejâu nuod ejẹ ọnt‿sã˙ a gèrũo(s) sve˙kà˙tas ~ I lost my nodieją (‘hope’) on my good health (see the entry at 02:29); trūksta sakinio išbọvâu m enesi i kèl s t n savâitẹs / nepẹlnâ dọ mienesọ ~ I stayed there for a month and a few weeks. Less than two months after the end of the text About the Deportation to Germany (p. 188, cf. the recording in the section 04:30–04:35). Another proofreading error is the transposition of vaitsų (–> vaistų) (p. 148). 15 A proofreading error in the list: the last position is not 35, but 37 (p. 281). 16 If there was a possibility of repeating the permit, the error in the name of point 252 in the map transferred from another publication should be corrected. Elsewhere (p. 7, 281) Žadvaina (Plungės r., Pelaičių sen.) is written correctly. JŪRATĖ PAJĖDIENĖ. Knyga žemaitiškai mokantiems ir besimokantiems | 6 doi.org/10.35321/bkalba.2021.94.12 BENDRINĖ KALBA 94 (2021) http://journals.lki.lt/bendrinekalba ISSN 2351-7204 nuances of speech and pronunciation. It makes sense to publish dialect texts taking into account 17 different parameters – not only the specificity of the stories told, thematic expression, literary meaning, but also the different time of recording, respondents’ age, origin (place of residence), gender, etc. Significant are not only the records of the past, but also of the present period, which show the real situation of the language (dialect). Unfortunately, the genre of the textbook, the permissible and default volume reduced the number of such texts. We can only hope that the valuable texts that have not been included in this book and those that have not yet been discovered in the audio recordings repositories and archives or will be recorded in the future will be included in the field of J. Lubienė’s future creative endeavors. Received 29 December 2021 Adopted on 31 December 2021 17 The audio recording of the text Laumaliai village name (duration 2 min 33 s) is defective.