Klaipėdos universitetas

The article investigates the source of the historiographical topic of heroic paganism in the laments/elegies of Dionizas Poška (1764–1830). It is known that Poška read the manuscript of the first history of Lithuania (1822) by Simonas Daukantas (1793–1864). The article hypothesises that the choice of Poška’s written language ‘to lean towards the Samogitian dialect’, and the increase in a lexicon characteristic of the historiographical genre in the laments, are connected with his reading Daukantas’ manuscript. Since until now researchers into Daukantas’ legacy do not agree on the date of the completion of his first manuscript history, it is believed that research of this kind will make it possible to clarify it. The research leads to the conclusion that Poška read the ‘History of Lithuania’ by Daukantas in 1824, because in verse dating from that year we find a lexicon which is characteristic of Daukantas’ work. In elegies written after 1824, Poška found Lithuanian equivalents of the traditional topics of the heroic and lost nation, which are often taken from the text of Daukantas, and are not literal translations of Polish literature. Daukantas’ text inspired Poška to talk about a lost Golden Age, and so he can be considered a pioneer of Lithuanian historical elegy. Following Daukantas, the poet learned to replace rhetorical writing with an authentic expression of thought characteristic of Romantic authors.

The article examines the sermon of the famous early 19th century Lithuanian preacher Jurgis Ambroziejus Pabrėža (1771–1849) to East Prussian Catholics, named “Sermon on great Happiness”, given on the occasion of the Great Jubilee on June 29, 1827 in Drangauskine (near Tilsit). This is the only known sermon of J. A. Pabrėža given in Prussia. The language and spelling of this sermon differ from other texts of the same period. The word Gylukys (in German: das Glück) used in the title of the sermon indicates that the author was prepared to adapt the text to the addressee. The article examines which Prussian Lithuanian publications J. A. Pabrėža used to prepare the sermon in a language understood by the addressee.

The emotions impact every single process in an individual’s life. An analysis of the scientific works selected by a Google search based on the terms ‘emotions, Vygostky, Leontiev’ shows that the complexity of the topic is multiplied by the complexity, mixture and fragmentary nature of the approaches applied to the investigation of the emotions. The aim of this work is to revisit the works of Vygotsky and Leontiev relating to the emotions underpinning the identification of notions, features and functions of the emotions. A novel research methodology, the development of the system of external and internal perspectives, was implemented. The investigation into the emotions was based on the theories of Vygotsky and Leontiev: activity theory, law of development, psychological system, word meaning, concept formation, and the unity of language. The theoretical analysis resulted in the definition of notions, features and functions of the emotions. The limitations of the research were identified. Further research directions are proposed.

The presented here article analyses the features of a language occurring in the border. The results were achieved by using the ethno-linguistic method, which is based on the systematic analysis of the ritual structure and vocabulary. The object of the analysis was a little fragment of the spiritual culture – the winter period of the ritual year. The structure of the ritual was established according to the methodology as well as the terminology of rituals, which includes several lexical-semantic microfields, was analyzed. The research was carried out nearby Vilnius (region of Vilnius, partly Širvintai and Molėtai) and also in the regions close to Byelorussia (Šalčininkai and Švenčionys).