Language etiquette in villages of Suvalkija and Žemaitija: the expression of ethno-cultural identity in 1930-1990

LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Etiketas; Etninė kultūra; Etnologija; Verbalinė ir neverbalinė kalba; Žodinė, nežodinė komunikacija; Ethnic culture; Ethnology; Etiquette; Lithuania; Verbal and non-verbal language; Verbal, non-verbal communication.

ENThis article analyses the etiquette and the expression of ethno-cultural identity of the villagers in south-western and western Lithuania in 1930-1990. Regional peculiarities and differences in language etiquette are revealed via the comparison of villagers’ communication in a verbal and non-verbal manner. In addition, the local identity of the above-mentioned regions is presented in traditional and modem culture of a Lithuanian village. The subject of the article is the Lithuanian etiquette in the villages of Suvalkija and Žemaitija in the 1930s-1990s and the expression of ethno-cultural (local) identity. The objective is to reveal the etiquette of folk language and the features of the expression of ethno-cultural (local) identity reflected in the regions of Suvalkija and Žemaitija in 1930-1990. Due to the objective, the following tasks are set: to indicate the rules of behaviour that people kept in a verbal and non-verbal communication in the villages of Suvalkija and Žemaitija in the 20th century; to look for the identity of the fonns of local language etiquette between the two ethnographical spheres; to specify the peculiarities and differences of folk etiquette dominating in village culture in southwestern and western Lithuania in 1920-1990. The methods: comparative and historical ethnographical.The main data of the work is a field research carried by the author in 1998-20001. 69 respondents, born in the period between 1907 and 1970, have been questioned in each region of the present Suvalkija (i.e. Šakiai, Vilkaviškis, Marijampolė) and Žemaitija (Tauragė, Telšiai, Plungė, Mažeikiai, Skuodas, Šilutė, Kretinga and Klaipėda). Besides, the work is based on the material of the archive of the Ethnology Department, Institute of Lithuanian History, as well as on the works of the Lithuanian ethnologists. The article sets a hypothesis that political and economical life conditions of the nation and the change of traditions in 1920-1990 have transformed the fonns of langitage etiquette and the succession of the villagers’ ethnic culture in south-western and western Lithuania partly. [From the publication]

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