Skuodiškiai - savitas sociokultūrinis žemaičių tipas

LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Savitas sociokultūrinis žemaičių tipas; Skuodiškiai; Sociokultūrinis tipas; Sub-etninė savivoka; Žemaitija (Samogitia); AS A UNIQUE SOCIO-CULTURAL TYPE; OF ŽEMAITIANS; SUB-ETHNIC SELF-PERCEPTION; Samogytia; Skuodiškiai; Socio-cultural type; THE RESIDENTS OF SKUODAS.

ENReferring to the questionnaire surveys of the residents of various regions of Žemaitija, including the Skuodas district, the author of the article aims to distinguish certain sociocultural features of the residents of Žemaitija in the Skuodas district and show their specific differences in comparison to the residents of other districts of Žemaitija. The data of the questionnaire survey shows that a certain specific feature of the residents of the Skuodas district is their their sub-ethnic self-perception and the stable understanding of their language as a special Lithuanian dialect: they did not demonstrate any efforts to turn their dialect into a mixture of dialect and standard language or to raise it to the status of a distinct Baltic language. The Žemaitians in the Skuodas district are also characterized by a much freer usage of their dialect in public situations. During the research, individuals who did not consider themselves Žemaitians or to whom the Žemaitian dialect was not the language spoken at home were not found in this district, unlike in the border districts of Žemaitija and Aukštaitija. Analysing the self-stereotypes of Žemaitians, one can see that the residents of Skuodas, on the one hand, quite openly and critically articulate their negative features, and on the other, do not avoid emphasizing the positive features of Žemaitians.From the standpoint of the understanding of Žemaitian ethnicity and ethno-political views, the residents of the Skuodas district were markedly distinguished from those of other districts of Žemaitija in their attitude to consider themselves an integral but unique part of the ethnic Lithuanian nation. The residents of this district, in comparison to Žemaitians of other districts, are characterized by an exceptionally strong attachment to the folk tradition, Žemaitian conservatism, and the efforts to hold on to their unchangeable identity of Žemaitians as different Lithuanians. Alongside, the survey showed that the Žemaitians of the Skuodas district do not share the moods of exceptionality and particularism. Researchers of customs and traditional lifestyle have also recorded certain specific features of the Žemaitians of this district. [From the publication]

• Etnologija / Ethnology
• Istorija / History