„Baltu valodu atlants. Prospekts = Baltų kalbų atlasas. Prospektas = Atlas of the Baltic languages. A prospect“

CHRISTIANE SCHILLER Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin Research fields: Prussian Lithuanian lexicography, onomastics, Baltic-German linguistic, literary, and cultural relations. ATLAS OF THE BALTIC LANGUAGES. A PROSPECT = ATLAS OF THE BALTIC LANGUAGES. A PROSPECT = ATLAS OF THE BALTIC LANGUAGES. A PROSPECT Editors and authors of the introduction: Danguolė Mikulėnienė, Anna Stafecka; authors of the map commentaries: Ilga Jansone, Anna Stafecka, Rima Bacevičiūtė, Asta Leskauskaitė; the computer version of the maps was prepared by Edmundas Trumpa. Riga: Institute of the Latvian Language, University of Latvia, Vilnius: Institute of the Lithuanian Language, 2009, 183 p. ISBN 978-9984-742-49-6 The prospectus for an atlas of the Baltic languages reviewed here is, as its multilingual title already makes clear, a Latvian-Lithuanian joint work. It is the responsibility of Anna Stafecka of the Institute of Latvian Language at the University of Latvia in Riga and Danguolė Mikulėnienė of the Institute of the Lithuanian Language in Vilnius. It is a pilot volume intended to demonstrate the need for such a joint project and to show possibilities for its content and cartographic realization. Given that Lithuanian and Latvian dialects and subdialects are increasingly being leveled under the influence of the standard languages, the editors aim to document the lexicon of the dialects and present its distribution cartographically. Recenzijos / Reviews 187 CHRISTIANE SCHILLER The atlas’s data base draws on the Lithuanian and Latvian language atlases: Lietuvių kalbos atlasas (vol. 1: Leksika. Vilnius, 1977) (LKA), Latviešu valodas dialektu atlants (Leksika. Rīga, 1999) (LVDA), as well as data gathered for the Atlas Linguarum Europae (ALE) by the Institute of Latvian Language at the University of Latvia in Riga and the Institute of the Lithuanian Language in Vilnius. These data are based on surveys carried out since the 1960s. Accordingly, the language maps presented reflect the dialect situation of the second half of the 20th century. The consistently trilingual edition (Latvian, Lithuanian, English) provides a thorough introduction to the issues. It begins with an overview, Living and Extinct Baltic Languages (pp. 15–29), which first presents the classification of the Baltic languages and then discusses in detail, in particular, the extinct Baltic languages: Curonian, Semigallian, Selonian, Old Prussian, Yotvingian, and Skalvian. The living languages Lithuanian, Latvian, and Latgalian are treated comparatively briefly here. This is followed by descriptions and classifications of Latvian (pp. 25–29) and Lithuanian dialects (pp. 30–34), as well as an overview of the development of geolinguistic research relating to Latvian (pp. 35–39) and Lithuanian (pp. 40–44). The introduction concludes with a description of the design principles for the maps and commentaries (pp. 45–49), followed by an account of the principles of phonetic transcription for Latvian (pp. 50–53) and Lithuanian dialects (pp. 54–57). The commentary section occupies a substantial part of the volume (pp. 61–134). The commentaries present the etyma relevant to each semantic field, together with their equivalents in the individual languages; describe their distribution; provide etymologies; and present comparative material from other Indo-European languages, drawn mainly from the etymological dictionaries long regarded as authoritative, namely Ernst Fraenkel’s Litauisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg 1955–1965, and Latviešu etimoloģijas vārdnīca, Rīga 1992. Evidence from historical lexicographic works and dialects supplements the presentation. At times, for example in the commentary on STORCH, the mythological significance of the term is discussed. The map section begins on p. 135. It is preceded by overview maps of the Latvian (p. 137) and Lithuanian dialects (p. 139), showing the data collection points. Depending on the phenomena to be represented, the maps are presented as coloured point-symbol maps, area maps, or a combination of the two. The point-symbol maps mark the central data collection points in each case; for the area maps, these can be identified using the accompanying overlays bearing the grids of data collection points 188 Acta Linguistica Lithuanica LXX Baltu valodu atlants. Prospekts = Baltų kalbų atlasas. Prospektas =Atlas of the Baltic languages. A prospect that can be placed over the respective map. Only the maps for HIMMEL and STORCH are designed exclusively as point-symbol maps. This is due to the fact that the data underlying both maps were collected primarily in connection with the Atlas Linguarum Europae (ALE), for which a much sparser network of survey points was used, making it impossible to determine the isoglosses precisely. In addition to the territories of the larger cities—which are not represented in the dialect maps of either country and are marked in white (in Latvia these are Riga and Daugavpils; in Lithuania, Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipėda, Šiauliai, and Panevežys)—the maps also leave unmarked the entire area west of Vilnius, as well as areas south of Daugavpils and in southwestern and western Latgale, because of their majority populations speaking other languages. By contrast, in keeping with the tradition of Lithuanian dialectology, Lithuanian-speaking areas and language islands outside Lithuania are included in the maps. Finally, the appendix contains an overview of the data collection points for the Latvian Language Atlas (LVDA) (pp. 167–169) and the Lithuanian Language Atlas (LKA) (pp. 170–177), a bibliography (pp. 177–182), and a list of abbreviations (p. 183). Twelve linguistic concepts were selected for the prospect, intended to cover as broad a semantic range as possible. Specifically, these are: HIMMEL (Latvian mākoņis, Lithuanian debesīs), (TREE)TOP (Latvian (koka) galotne, Lithuanian (medžio viršūnė), JUNIPER (Latvian paeglis/kadikis, Lithuanian kadagys), TOAD (Latvian krupis, Lithuanian rupūžė), DOVE (Latvian balodis, Lithuanian karvelis), SKYLARK (Latvian cirulis, Lithuanian vieversys), STORCH (Latvian stārķis, Lithuanian gandras), KOHLRÜBE (Latvian kālis, Lithuanian griežtis), WINTER WHEAT (Latvian (ziemas) kvieši, Lithuanian (žieminiai) kviečiai), GRAIN BIN (Latvian apcirknis, Lithuanian aruodas), HAYSTACK (Latvian stirpa, Lithuanian stirta), BLACKSMITH (Latvian kalējs, Lithuanian kalvis). Each map is paired with the corresponding standard-language equivalents and a photograph illustrating the linguistic concept represented cartographically. In addition to demonstrating the semantic breadth of the linguistic concepts, the selection documents the diversity and complexity of the phenomena to be represented, which must be taken into account by adapting the available means of representation. Thus, the prospect presents the map for WINTERWEIZEN as an area map, using two colours to show the distribution of the two etyma in the Lithuanian- and Latvian-speaking areas. Latvian pūri/pūri and Lithuanian pūrai occur in the Latvian dialects spoken in Courland and in a few enclaves in Vidzeme and Latgale, as well as in areas of the Western and Northern Samogitian dialects in Lithuania; Latvian (ziemas) kvieši and Lithuanian (žieminiai) kviečiai are used across the rest of the Latvian- and Lithuanian-speaking areas. A similarly low level of complexity is shown by the map for Recenzijos / Reviews 189 CHRISTIANE SCHILLER TAUBE, which is likewise designed as a two-colour area map to show the distribution of the two etyma (Latvian baluodis/Lithuanian balandis for the entire Latvian-speaking area and the Samogitian dialects in Lithuania; Lithuanian karvelis for the Aukštaitian-speaking area in Lithuania), with hatching additionally used for a mixed area of Lithuanian karvelis/balandis along the boundary between the Aukštaitian- and Samogitian-speaking areas. At the other end of the complexity scale is the map for HEUSCHOBER, designed as a combined area and point-symbol map, using areas in eight colours and shades, as well as 18 point symbols. Area maps, or maps combining area and point-symbol representations, provide the most striking graphic displays in language atlases. Accordingly, it would be desirable if the maps so far produced only with point-symbol representation, based on data from the Atlas Linguarum Europae (ALE), could be supplemented with information from the missing survey points, so that, in time, maps of these linguistic concepts could also be produced as area maps or combined area maps. Considering the first results of the collaboration between Latvian and Lithuanian dialectologists presented in the prospectus, one quickly concludes that such a joint project was long overdue. Although the single-language language atlases underlying the project, LKA and LVDA, remain important and invaluable tools for dialectologists and linguists, it is only the presentation of Lithuanian and Latvian data on a single map, showing cross-border isoglosses for individual etyma, that makes the visualization of linguistic relatedness possible. This type of representation also makes the effects of language contact tangible, as in the map for SCHMIED, which documents the spread of the Slavic loanword Lithuanian kavõlius/kavõlis < Polish kowal, Belarusian каваль, within the original cross-border distribution area of kalvis. Its consistently trilingual presentation makes the atlas accessible to a broad readership. Like the existing language atlases LKA and LVDA, its graphic presentation does not limit its audience to linguists, but also enables teachers, pupils, and other non-specialists in linguistics to benefit greatly from it. The present volume is not only useful but also an exceptionally appealing book typographically. Its design, in the well-established tradition of Lithuanian book art, is the work of Lithuanian book artist Alfonsas Žvilius. According to the editors, the Baltic language atlas project is planned to cover 500 linguistic concepts. In addition to a more user-friendly presentation of language data than that found in the existing reference works for both languages, the LKA and LVDA, it promises many new insights into the history of the Baltic languages. 190 Acta Linguistica Lithuanica LXX Baltu valodu atlants. Prospekts = Baltų kalbų atlasas. Prospektas = Atlas of the Baltic languages. A prospect compared with the existing reference works for both languages, the LKA and LVDA, it promises many new insights into the history of the Baltic languages through its more user-friendly presentation of language data. It remains to be hoped that this ambitious project can continue and that many more volumes will follow this prospectus. Submitted on 21 May 2014. C H R I S T I A N E S C H I L L E R Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin Institut für deutsche Sprache und Linguistik Unter den Linden 6, D-10099 Berlin, Deutschland [email protected] Recenzijos / Reviews 191