Klaipėdos universitetas

Over recent decades, speaking in dialects has lost its aspect of comic expression, and attained a much greater degree of prestige. In fact, owing to processes of globalisation, dialects are no longer tied to a clearly defined habitat: they have transcended traditional geographical boundaries, and have become an instrument of creative work and communication on social media. Furthermore, the public have a clear inclination to abandon the dichotomy of the dialectological and ethnographic segmentation of Lithuania, and to match dialects to ethnographic regions as closely as possible. Therefore, by distancing ourselves from perceiving a dialect as a static and closed-ended system, we can assume that dialects have every opportunity to survive and evolve, if they adapt to the needs of modern society.

Principles of State Protection of Ethnic Culture defines the ethnographic region as a historically formed part of the country in which a distinctive dialect, traditions and customs have been preserved, and the heritage of the Baltic tribes has been integrated, it is difficult to coordinate the data and attitudes of linguists, historians and ethnologists. The article shows the difference between ethnographic maps (which are based on the values of traditional culture), most of which attribute Vilnius to the ethnographic region of Dzūkija, and the view of the people living in these areas that the Vilnius area belongs to the ethnographic region of Aukštaitija.