G. Kačiuškienė, I. Kruopienė. Vernacular Identity: Lithuanian Students’ Viewpoint

SUMMARY

Based on 140 questionnaires completed by the first year students of Šiauliai University and the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre (Vilnius), a couple of higher education institutions in Lithuania, the paper discusses the Humanities (Arts) students’ notion of a native dialect. The study aimed to find out the following relevant issues of native dialect usage and attitude to the native dialect: whether students spoke in the vernacular, under what circumstances they spoke in their native tongue, whether they knew the most important features of their dialect, if there existed any dialectal features that they avoided when speaking, what they liked / disliked about their native tongue. The study demonstrated the following: 1) the students of both Lithuanian higher education institutions expressed sufficiently positive attitudes towards use of dialect. 94% of Žemaitian students and 91% of Aukštaitian students at Šiauliai University were active or frequent vernacular speakers. 72% of the respondents of the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre were active vernacular speakers; according to 66% of the representatives of the vernacular and 44% of the representatives of major Lithuanian cities, dialect should be spoken even on the theatre stage; 2) the students of both Šiauliai University and the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre make a clear distinction between vernacular and non-vernacular settings, are active speakers of the dialect, and are well enough aware of the importance of dialects to communication, culture, and language education.

 

Find all article in Lithuanian language: https://www.lu.lv/fileadmin/user_upload/lu_portal/apgads/PDF/BaltuFilologija-XXI_2_.pdf