Antanas Baranauskas apie žemaitišką ir lietuvišką tapatybę
LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Antanas Baranauskas; Tarmės (Dialektai); Kalba; Lietuviška tapatybė; Lietuvių ir žemaičių tapatybė; Literatūra; Nacionalinė tapatybė; Poezija; 19 amžius; Žemaitiška tapatybė; 19 th. century; Antanas Baranauskas; Dialect; Language; Lithuanian Literature; Lithuanian identity; National identity; Poetry; Samogitian and Lithuanian Identity; Samogitian identity.
ENThe paper discusses the formation of integrated Lithuanian national identity, as well as the reflections of the existence and demise of partial Samogitian identity in literary and other works. It begins with an overview of the variety of terms employed to designate national adherence in the declarations of intellectuals in the first half of the 19th century. It further considers mid-19th century poetical texts and a treatise in linguistics by Antanas Baranauskas. It is shown that in his latter work, written in Polish concerning the Lithuanian language, Baranauskas consistently employs a fairly complex system of concepts that define national identity. In his synchronic assessment of the situation, Baranauskas identifies two peoples and two dominant dialects, Samogitian and Lithuanian, or Highlanders’. Nevertheless, whenever he uses an attribute with the words ‘nation’ or ‘state’, he employs only one ethnonym - ‘Lithuanian’. Baranauskas, when he speaks of future perspectives, mentions only one language, and clearly has in mind the standard form of Lithuanian. The analysis of Baranauskas’ poetry likewise reveals similarly consistent usage of ethnonyms. In the scenes pertaining to the beginning of historical time, both the Samogitians and the Lithuanians are mentioned; while in the perspectival scenes partial ethnonym is never used. One may identify the point where the shift occurs from vaiying expressions of national identity towards the integral notion of being a Lithuanian. [From the publication]
- Regioninės knygos apibrėžtis ir samprata (Žemaitijos knygos pavyzdžiu) / Tomas Petreikis. Knygotyra. 2009, t. 53, p. 85-111.
- The Pre-1914 creation of Lithuanian "national territory" / Darius Staliūnas. Spatial concepts of Lithuania in the long nineteenth century / edited by Darius Staliūnas. Brighton (Mass.): Academic Studies Press, 2016. P. 189-238.
