From the earliest descriptions and studies, the Prussian Lithuanians, or Lietuvininkai, and their sung folklore have usually been treated as one unit. However, the ethnographic region of Lithuania Minor is a vast territory stretching over 200 kilometres from north to south. Two distinct areas of ethnic Lietuvininkai music can be identified within it. This article aims to investigate the musical features of the folklore that existed in the Klaipėda district, and to reveal its uniqueness in the context of Lietuvininkai sung folklore.
Before the mid-20th century, the Jews in Žemaitija were the most numerous and economically and culturally significant minority, with close contacts with the Žemaitijans. The paper focuses on the stereotypical characteristics of Jews as reflected in Žemaitijan dialect texts from an ethnolinguistic point of view. The analysis of these characteristics provides knowledge about the evaluated nation from the perspective of the evaluating nation. The research into stereotypical images of Jews rests on the view that they consist of a specific set of certain common characteristics and traits, and an analysis of linguistic expression provides more detailed information about them. The research has revealed that the ethnic stereotype of Jewish people in Žemaitijan dialect texts is quite positive.
Journal:Acta Historica Universitatis Klaipedensis
Volume 15 (2007): Baltijos regiono istorija ir kultūra: Lietuva ir Lenkija. Karinė istorija, archeologija, etnologija = History and Culture of Baltic Region: Lithuania and Poland. Military History, Archaeology, Ethnology, pp. 241–252
Abstract
The article is devoted to present the results of ethnomusicological research on parallels in folk song melodies of the Prussian ethnic minorities: Lietuvininkai, Masurians, Kashubians. In the history of ethnic groups of the south part of the West Prussia and East Prussia speaking dialects of the Polish language – Kashubs and Masurs – you may distinguish quite a lot of parallels with the history of the lietuvininkai (residents of Lithuania Minor). A more detailed analysis of the melodies of investigated ethnic groups permits to state that the melodies of the lietuvininkai evidently differ from Polish melodies by the character of intonation, rhythm and performance. Nevertheless, they have intonation complexes, rhythmic elements that are alien to the melodic lines of the lietuvininkai folk songs and could be absorbed from the Polish ethnic music.