Re: Question

From: Sergejus Tarasovas
Message: 26796
Date: 2003-11-01

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "tolgs001" <george.st@...> wrote:
> But no Turkish group remained as continuing to speak the
> turanic idiom, except for the Karaites (I don't know whether
> in the 20th c. they ceased to speak Turkish and replace it
> with Yiddish. Gotta Google. :-)

No, they haven't done so, since they don't identify themselves with
the Jews at all. But most of them have indeed replaced Karaite with
Lithuanian and/or local Polish-Belarusian-Russian vernacular. The
Lithuanian government has been making some effort to help them retain
their national (including linguistic) identity, but my impression is
the full linguistic assimilation is inevitable, unfortunately. On the
other hand, a trip to Trakai (some 25 km. from Vilnius) to have a
snack of kibinai (Lith. <kibi`nai>, Kar. <kibinlar>) on the shore of
a lake is a usual part of the summer weekend parcel of a Lithuanian
metropolitan, so we can speak of Karaite influence on Lithuanian
culture as well...

Sergei