Knyga žemaitiškai mokantiems ir besimokantiems

JŪRATĖ PAJĖDIENĖ Institute of the Lithuanian Language A BOOK FOR SPEAKERS AND LEARNERS OF SAMOGITIAN Review: Northern Samogitians of Kretinga: a textbook, compiled by Jūratė Lubienė, Asta Leskauskaitė. Vilnius: Lietuvių kalbos institutas, 2020, 283 p. ISBN 978-609-411-273-7. In 2020, the publishing house of the Institute of the Lithuanian Language published several books devoted to the Samogitian language: a collection of sermons by Jurgis Ambraziejus Pabrėža (1771–1849)1 and two textbooks intended to help readers understand the distinctive features of the Northern Samogitian Kretinga and Southern Samogitian Raseiniai subdialects. Those wishing to learn or study the Samogitian language can now explore in greater detail all Samogitian dialects and subdialects2, together with their most prominent linguistic features and the distinctive aspects of Samogitian cultural history3, since volumes devoted to each dialect and subdialect have now appeared in the series Lithuanian Dialects for Schools: Western Samogitians (2006, comp. Jonas Bukantis, Asta Leskauskaitė, Vilija Salienė), Southern Samogitians of Varniai (2017, comp. Gintarė Judžentytė-Šinkūnienė, Vida Marcišauskaitė), Southern Samogitians of Raseiniai (2020, comp. Gintarė Judžentytė, Vida Marcišauskaitė), Northern Samogitians of Telšiai (2013, comp. Juozas Pabrėža, Vida Marcišauskaitė, Sermons on Various Subjects, Preached by Ambroziejus Pabrėža, prepared by Rita Šepetytė. Vilnius: Institute of the Lithuanian Language, 2020. According to the traditional view, when discussing the dialect system of Lithuania as a whole, the Samogitian dialect is divided into three subdialects—Western, Northern and Southern (for the distinguishing features of these subdialects, see: A Reader of Lithuanian Dialects, compiled by Rima Bacevičiūtė, Audra Ivanauskienė, Asta Leskauskaitė, Edmundas Trumpa. Vilnius: Institute of the Lithuanian Language, 2004, 195–284). When considering only the language system within the Samogitian area, three Samogitian dialects—Western, Northern and Southern—and two subdialects may be distinguished: Northern Samogitian, comprising Telšiai and Kretinga, and Southern Samogitian, comprising Varniai and Raseiniai (for such a relatively conceived classification of the Samogitian area, see: Juozas Pabrėža The Samogitian Language and Spelling, Šiauliai: Šiauliai University, 2017, 47–48). For a description of features reflecting the current situation of the Samogitian dialect (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. Density of the network of survey points in terms of the geolinguistic distinction Highlanders: Samogitians. – Lithuanian Dialects at the Beginning of the 21st Century: A Geolinguistic and Sociolinguistic Study, ed. Danguolė Mikulėnienė, Violeta Meiliūnaitė, Vilnius: Briedis, 2014, 129–146. BENDRINĖ KALBA 94 (2021) http://journals.lki.lt/bendrinekalba ISSN 2351-7204 JŪRATĖ PAJĖDIENĖ. Knyga žemaitiškai mokantiems ir besimokantiems | 2 doi.org/10.35321/bkalba.2021.94.12 Asta Leskauskaitė)4. In each of them we find not only descriptions of distinctive dialect features and the uniqueness of the region’s cultural life, accounts of the area covered by the dialects, and lists and maps of settlements (localities), but also useful methodological advice, instructions, and notes for teaching or learning to speak in the dialect. These books contain transcribed and transposed versions of texts in the Žemaitian dialect (the electronic media accompanying each book also contain audio recordings—the basis for the texts), examples of creative oral literature, information about writers and other authors, linguists, and historians from the region, and examples of their work. The books’ structures are not entirely uniform, varying between textbook and reader. In 2020, this substantial collection was supplemented by another book—Northern Žemaitians of Kretinga. Like the other publications in the series Lithuanian Dialects for School, Northern Žemaitians of Kretinga comes in two formats: a book prepared by Associate Professor Dr. Jūratė Lubienė and an electronic audio-recording medium prepared by Dr. Asta Leskauskaitė. Reading the book makes it clear that the conventional term compiler(s) should be understood here not literally, but more broadly, as encompassing not only the search, selection, and preparation of the texts and illustrations included in the book, but also the writing of a substantial amount of text—in other words, genuine authorship. J. Lubienė wrote the Preface (pp. 7–9), the sections outlining the general methodology for presenting dialect material, Methodological Advice (pp. 10–25) and Introduction (pp. 26–51), as well as An Account of the Northern Žemaitian Kretinga Subdialect (pp. 52–97), which reveals the specific features of the subdialect selected. Also included are Questions and Exercises, designed to engage the reader’s attention and placed after many theoretical sections (pp. 44, 50–51, 62–65, 73, 76–80), after each subdialect text (see Texts in the Northern Žemaitian Kretinga Subdialect, pp. 98–189), or after groups of texts (see Dialect Poetry, pp. 190–226). Scattered throughout the book, as needed, are short or longer snippets from the section Did You Know? (see, e.g., pp. 43–44, 49–50, 102–103, 163–165). Compared with the books on Žemaitian dialects and subdialects mentioned above, these sections are a novelty devised by J. Lubienė. The information they provide stimulates the attentiveness of readers who intend to learn the dialect or already speak it, and helps draw their attention to distinctive aspects of Žemaitian history and language (cf., for example, the note on p. 72 about the Žemaitian origins of some names commonly used in standard language, and the remarks on pp. 159–160 4 The publications mentioned were issued by the Institute of the Lithuanian Language Press. The State Commission of the Lithuanian Language provided funding for their preparation and publication through the 2001–2010 Programme for the Preservation of Dialects and Ethnic Place Names and the 2011–2020 Programme for Research into the Functioning and Change of Standard Lithuanian, Dialects, and Other Language Varieties. BENDRINĖ KALBA 94 (2021) http://journals.lki.lt/bendrinekalba ISSN 2351-7204 JŪRATĖ PAJĖDIENĖ. Knyga žemaitiškai mokantiems ir besimokantiems | 3 doi.org/10.35321/bkalba.2021.94.12 on Jewish life in Žemaitija). The sections Did You Know?, scattered throughout the book, allow the author to share not only general knowledge but also her own perspective—for example, her view that the distinction between the concepts language and dialect is often merely a matter of convention5, and on the possible origins of the Northern Žemaitian subdialect (p. 72), among other topics. Admittedly, in keeping with the textbook approach, these sections do not always cite the sources consulted for the general or specialized information they provide. It seems that sources are cited only when the information comes from works listed in the bibliography at the end of the book (see Literature on Dialects, pp. 282–283), since references are provided for sources used to present interesting findings not from dialectology but from ethnology, etymology, and mythology (cf., e.g., pp. 142; 154; 164–165). Nevertheless, the generalized citation method used here is somewhat troubling: it identifies only the publication consulted. The same method was also used in the book Western Žemaitians6, published in 2006. This choice was presumably prompted by the authors’ particularly generous pedagogical assumption that, without specific references, readers would be motivated to seek out and find further information. Another innovation that distinguishes J. Lubienė’s book among the group of Žemaitian teaching books mentioned above is the Thematic Glossary of Dialect Words (pp. 265–279)7. Although the vocabulary of Northern Žemaitian is presented quite thoroughly, with excellent speech illustrations, in two dictionaries (which are also discussed in the book under review, p. 75)8, every glossary of Žemaitian words—and especially a thematic one—is useful both to learners and to readers for whom the dialect is their mother tongue. A thematic glossary helps recall archaic and less frequently used dialect words 5 Cf.: “<...> the boundary between language and dialect is a matter of convention. In the past, the criterion was simple: if people no longer understood one another, they were speaking different languages. In the modern world, especially in Europe, the prevailing view is that language and state are connected, and that one’s own language is an essential feature of a state. Thus, in Lithuania we speak Lithuanian, which has various forms of use, including dialects. Lithuanian dialectology studies the dialects, subdialects, local varieties, and micro-varieties of the Lithuanian language. However, if we mean not the whole Lithuanian language but just one dialect, for example Žemaitian, we may call it a language. <...> Speaking of home <...> and one’s birthplace, people also say my mother tongue (instead of dialect)—Žemaitian <...>” (pp. 49–50). 6 In the books Northern Žemaitians of Telšiai (2013), Southern Žemaitians of Varniai (2017), and Southern Žemaitians of Raseiniai (2020), precise citations were used, making it easier to find the desired additional information. 7 Knygoje Pietų žemaičiai varniškiai (2017, p. 130–143) pateiktas mokytojos Adelės Urbaitės (1926–2014) sudarytas abėcėlinis žodynėlis Švėkšnoje ir Švėkšnos apylinkėse XX a. vartoti ir tebevartojami žodžiai. 8 See Juozas Aleksandravičius’s Dictionary of the Kretinga Dialect (2011; eds. Danguolė Mikulėnienė, Daiva Vaišnienė, Vilnius: Institute of the Lithuanian Language) and Birutė Vanagienė’s Dictionary of Northwestern Žemaitian: The Local Varieties of Ylakiai, Lenkimai, Mosėdis, Skuodas, and Šatės, A–O; P–Ž (2014–2015; scientific editors: Danguolė Mikulėnienė, Juozas Pabrėža, Vilnius: Institute of the Lithuanian Language). BENDRINĖ KALBA 94 (2021) http://journals.lki.lt/bendrinekalba ISSN 2351-7204 JŪRATĖ PAJĖDIENĖ. Knyga žemaitiškai mokantiems ir besimokantiems | 4 doi.org/10.35321/bkalba.2021.94.12 words (e.g.: geronkštis ~ geránkštis ‘molar’, kondouls ~ kánduolas ‘kernel of a nut’, pp. 269, 278), to understand the origins of some words (cf. pastalčios ~ pastalčius ‘drawer’, p. 274) or the connections between them (cf.: kretė – kritė ‘the bottom of trousers, the rear seat’, and sosekrėtuotė – susikričioti, -ó(ja), -ójo ‘to tuck the edges of a garment, usually a shirt, into trousers’, p. 275), and to notice that, for example, not only the somewhat rarer šondrėika ~ šùndrėika ‘patch’, but also such familiar plant names as trauklapis ~ trauklāpis ‘plantain’, vaivorā ~ vaivórai ‘bilberries (berries)’ are dialectal forms (see p. 278)9. Reading about the distinctive features of lexical, semantic, morphological, derivational, and morphonemic dialectal forms (pp. 74–75) makes it clear that native speakers of the same (sub)dialect or speech variety accept dialect words to differing degrees. An illustration of this variation in acceptability, and consequently in usage, is čīrolis / čīrolis ~ čỹrulis ‘lark’, which the author of the book under discussion regards as a common dialectal form (see pp. 74, 278), although for other Samogitians, even those from nearby areas, the word may be much less familiar, quite rare, foreign, or at least perceived as a loanword10. J. Lubienė herself also writes about how natural many loanwords familiar to Samogitians are, and about the special effort made to include almost none of them in the Thematic Glossary of Dialect Words (pp. 266–267). Incidentally, reading the book makes it clear that the thematic glossary emerged quite naturally as the author gradually developed her own methodology for teaching the Samogitian language: the book’s sections devoted to didactics contain many individual and group work assignments that propose compiling a glossary of the native dialect (p. 104) or Samogitian words (e.g., pp. 108, 114, 118) based on the text read. Regarding the glossary, it is worth noting that the meaning given for the morphonemic dialectal form silkinis, -ė11 is somewhat too narrow in the phrase sėlkėnė košė ~ silkine košė, being defined only as ‘porridge made from pearl barley with grated potatoes’, without repeating ‘silky’ from the name. (The adjacent placement in the glossary of sėlkėnė košė ~ silkine košė and sėlkšoltė ~ šiīksultė ‘herring brine’ makes it difficult to see how the word silkinis is connected to sėlks ~ šiīkas ‘silk’, listed in the preceding thematic group, p. 275.) Finally, it is particularly important to mention the section that is the most distinctive and significant part of the publication under discussion (as of other teaching books about Samogitian dialects): the terms 9 For another thematic list of Samogitian dialect words, see: Pabrėža Juozas. Min. veik. 2017, pp. 105–113. 10 On the Curonian origin of such words as cyrulis ‘lark’, pylė ‘duck’, pūrai ‘stone’, akmuo, and on the extensive contiguous area of the words krupis, cyrulis, pūrai across the territories of Samogitia and Latvia, see Pabrėža Juozas. Min. veik. 2017, p. 108. Cf. also the entry “čīrulis – lark, cyrulis dial.” in Latvių-lietuvių kalbų žodynas / Latviešu-lietuviešu vārdnīca (2003; comp. Alvydas Butkus, Kaunas: AESTI, p. 141). 11 Apie silkinis ‚šilk inis‘ reikšmę žr.: Vanagienė Birutė. Min. veik. 2015, p. 183. BENDRINĖ KALBA 94 (2021) http://journals.lki.lt/bendrinekalba ISSN 2351-7204 JŪRATĖ PAJĖDIENĖ. Knyga žemaitiškai mokantiems ir besimokantiems | 5 doi.org/10.35321/bkalba.2021.94.12 texts. Clearly, they have been selected for a target audience and meet teaching and learning needs (the exercises accompanying the texts have already been mentioned 12). But they appeal most not to those self-aware, conscious readers, but to the most heartfelt readers of the books in this series—native-speaking emigrants, who, as Algirdas Ruškys says, not only “grow distant from the dialect, lured by big cities,” but also “miss it most,” because for them “the world of the dialect holds other meanings of life” (pp. 247–248). The professionally presented dialect texts give them the greatest pleasure in reading (or listening) and the comfort of knowing that everything—in the dialect and in their own understanding of their native language—remains as it was. The 24 conversations published in the section Texts in the Kretinga subdialect of North Samogitian (pp. 98–189) are grouped by the themes that capture the storytellers’ attention: experiences from different stages of life (childhood, youth, adulthood) and periods (war, deportation), everyday life, customs, beliefs, folk tales, ingenuity, and reflections of mythological understanding. The texts in the book reproduce audio recordings made in 1964 (3), 1973 (4), 1974 (5), 1980 (1), 1993 (2), 2011 (7), and 2012 (2). The authors of these texts are members of the older generation: they range in age from 51 to 92 (born between 1890 and 1940)13; most are women, with only four male storytellers. All the transcriptions were made by J. Lubienė; they are accurate14 and published for the first time. There is no doubt that these texts are valuable not only for teaching and learning and for the pleasure of reading or listening—their data will also be used in scholarly research. The texts excellently reflect the features of vernacular Samogitian dialogue (with its specific insertions, forms of address, and comparisons), sentences, and phrases; while listening, it is a pleasure to catch the subtle features of respondents from different, more widely separated localities—there are thirty-five of them15 (see the List of Kretinga speakers’ settlements (points) on pp. 280–281 and the map North Samogitians of Kretinga16 on p. 53), 12 It would also be appropriate to note here that the exercises are sometimes (e.g., pp. 136, 151) linked to reading texts presented in the section Lithuanian linguists—speakers of the Kretinga subdialect of North Samogitian (pp. 227–264). 13 The dates of birth of the contributors to the recordings made in 1964 alone are unknown (not given). 14 The transcriptions contain only a few discrepancies: in the story About the kaukai the phrase nėsi datiręs ’you have not experienced‘ is missing (cf. p. 171 and the 3:41–3:42 segment of the recording); the word nuodėje is missing from the phrase Memories of a soldier of the First World War, in the phrase bâtoriejâu nuodìeję ąnt są́ua gėrô(s) sveikất’s ~ beturėjau nodieję (‘hope’) ant sávo gerôs sveikâtos (cf. the recording at 02:29); the sentence išbovâu mienesi i kèlės tėn savaĩtės / nepėlnà do mieneso ~ Išbuvau mėnesį ir kelias ten savaites. Nepilnai du mėnesiu(s) is missing at the end of the text About deportation to Germany (p. 188, cf. the 04:30–04:35 segment of the recording). A proofreading error should also be noted in the transposition vaitsu (→ vaistu) (p. 148). 15 In the list there is a proofreading error: the last entry indicates position 37, not 35 (p. 281). 16 If the book is reprinted, the error in the name of point 252 that crept into the map copied from another publication should be corrected. Elsewhere (pp. 7, 281), Žadvainai (Plungė District, Pėlaîčiai Eldership) is written correctly. BENDRINĖ KALBA 94 (2021) http://journals.lki.lt/bendrinekalba ISSN 2351-7204 JŪRATĖ PAJĖDIENĖ. Knyga žemaitiškai mokantiems ir besimokantiems | 6 doi.org/10.35321/bkalba.2021.94.12 the distinctiveness of speech and nuances of pronunciation17. It is meaningful to publish dialectal texts with regard to different parameters—not only the distinctiveness of the stories told, their thematic expression, and literary significance, but also the different times when the recordings were made, the respondents’ age, origin (place of residence), gender, and so on. Recordings from both earlier and present periods are significant, as they show the actual situation of the language (dialect). It is unfortunate that the genre of a teaching book, as well as its permitted and intended length, reduced the number of such texts. We can only hope that the valuable texts already discovered but not included in this book, as well as those still unnoticed in sound-recording repositories and archives or to be recorded in the future, will become part of J. Lubienė’s future creative projects. Received 2021 12 29 Accepted 2021 12 31 17 Audio recording of the text the name of Laumaliai village (duration: 2 min 33 s) is defective on the storage medium. BENDRINĖ KALBA 94 (2021) http://journals.lki.lt/bendrinekalba ISSN 2351-7204