Quantitative Examination of Dialectal Perception in the Vicinity of the Kaunas Lagoon

The article analyses two poles of dialectal data: the subjective one (emic) and the objective one(etic). 50 hours of recorded interviews with 52 inhabitants who were evicted from the Nẽmunas valley in the 1950s when the Kaũnas Hydroelectric Power Plant was being built (the Kaũnas Lagoon was formed...

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Main Author: Žydrūnas Šidlauskas
Format: Article
Language:deu
Published: Vilnius University 2024-12-01
Series:Lietuvių Kalba
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.journals.vu.lt/lietuviu-kalba/article/view/38710
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author Žydrūnas Šidlauskas
author_facet Žydrūnas Šidlauskas
author_sort Žydrūnas Šidlauskas
collection DOAJ
description The article analyses two poles of dialectal data: the subjective one (emic) and the objective one(etic). 50 hours of recorded interviews with 52 inhabitants who were evicted from the Nẽmunas valley in the 1950s when the Kaũnas Hydroelectric Power Plant was being built (the Kaũnas Lagoon was formed by flooding the Nẽmunas Valley) are analysed. The article quantitatively reveals the overlap (or no overlap) of data regarding informants, ordinary members of the language community, dialectal perception (emic) and objective (etic) data. This goal was achieved in three steps: 1) based on the features of the reconstructed local dialectal variant of the flooded settlements of the Kaũnas Lagoon, indicators of the dialecticism of the informants were determined; 2) having structured the dialectal perception responses, a quantitative model of dialect awareness was created; 3) having established the correlation between the emic and etic data, an examination of the dialectal perception and the actual usage was carried out on a vertical and horizontal continuum. The collected data shows that the language of the interviewed inhabitants is characterised by the features of the dialectal variant of the southeastern part of Western Aukštaitian of Kaũnas (Priedzūkis); however, only a part of the population considers themselves to be representatives of a dialect. The quantitatively measured level of dialecticism also varies (especially due to intermittent usage). When these indicators of dialecticism were compared with the categorised dialectal perception data, a (paradoxical) reality was determined: there is a mismatch between dialectal perception and actual usage. The mismatch results due to a variety of reasons, one of which is education: informants that have obtained higher education have a better knowledge of the dialect and/or admit it more readily (however, their language is not more dialectal).
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spelling doaj-art-21eef9d41591454e909dbbd8fca1e3442025-02-09T18:11:25ZdeuVilnius UniversityLietuvių Kalba1822-525X2024-12-011910.15388/LK.2024.19.9Quantitative Examination of Dialectal Perception in the Vicinity of the Kaunas LagoonŽydrūnas Šidlauskas0Lietuvių kalbos institutas The article analyses two poles of dialectal data: the subjective one (emic) and the objective one(etic). 50 hours of recorded interviews with 52 inhabitants who were evicted from the Nẽmunas valley in the 1950s when the Kaũnas Hydroelectric Power Plant was being built (the Kaũnas Lagoon was formed by flooding the Nẽmunas Valley) are analysed. The article quantitatively reveals the overlap (or no overlap) of data regarding informants, ordinary members of the language community, dialectal perception (emic) and objective (etic) data. This goal was achieved in three steps: 1) based on the features of the reconstructed local dialectal variant of the flooded settlements of the Kaũnas Lagoon, indicators of the dialecticism of the informants were determined; 2) having structured the dialectal perception responses, a quantitative model of dialect awareness was created; 3) having established the correlation between the emic and etic data, an examination of the dialectal perception and the actual usage was carried out on a vertical and horizontal continuum. The collected data shows that the language of the interviewed inhabitants is characterised by the features of the dialectal variant of the southeastern part of Western Aukštaitian of Kaũnas (Priedzūkis); however, only a part of the population considers themselves to be representatives of a dialect. The quantitatively measured level of dialecticism also varies (especially due to intermittent usage). When these indicators of dialecticism were compared with the categorised dialectal perception data, a (paradoxical) reality was determined: there is a mismatch between dialectal perception and actual usage. The mismatch results due to a variety of reasons, one of which is education: informants that have obtained higher education have a better knowledge of the dialect and/or admit it more readily (however, their language is not more dialectal). https://www.journals.vu.lt/lietuviu-kalba/article/view/38710emiceticdialectal perceptionKaunas LagoonWestern Aukštaitian subdialect of Kaunas
spellingShingle Žydrūnas Šidlauskas
Quantitative Examination of Dialectal Perception in the Vicinity of the Kaunas Lagoon
Lietuvių Kalba
emic
etic
dialectal perception
Kaunas Lagoon
Western Aukštaitian subdialect of Kaunas
title Quantitative Examination of Dialectal Perception in the Vicinity of the Kaunas Lagoon
title_full Quantitative Examination of Dialectal Perception in the Vicinity of the Kaunas Lagoon
title_fullStr Quantitative Examination of Dialectal Perception in the Vicinity of the Kaunas Lagoon
title_full_unstemmed Quantitative Examination of Dialectal Perception in the Vicinity of the Kaunas Lagoon
title_short Quantitative Examination of Dialectal Perception in the Vicinity of the Kaunas Lagoon
title_sort quantitative examination of dialectal perception in the vicinity of the kaunas lagoon
topic emic
etic
dialectal perception
Kaunas Lagoon
Western Aukštaitian subdialect of Kaunas
url https://www.journals.vu.lt/lietuviu-kalba/article/view/38710
work_keys_str_mv AT zydrunassidlauskas quantitativeexaminationofdialectalperceptioninthevicinityofthekaunaslagoon