----- Original Message -----
From: Juozas Rimas
To: phoNet@egroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, April 18, 2000 8:09 PM
Subject: Re: RE: [phoNet] Russian
 
Dear Juozas,
 
You're always bound to offend SOMEBODY if you say that some group of people have "no language at all" but a "lingo". Any code of communication which works satisfactorily in everyday life is a fully fledged language. The Germanic purity of Old English was spoiled by Romance influence in the late Middle Ages -- so what? The process produced a very successful language, certainly not a lingo.
 
No amount of phonological analysis can decide whether a given dialect is Polish or not. What would you think of an attempt to use British pronunciation norms to determine that what people speak in the USA is not English, but a corrupt lingo? Lithuanian Poles cannot be expected to speak standard Polish but a regional dialect heavily influenced by the neighbouring East Slavic dialects as well as Lithuanian. It may have many phonological features in common with Lithuanian or Belarusian, and lots of words borrowed from Russian. I'm most familiar with the urban dialect of Vilnius, and only to a limited extent with the rather understudied rural dialects. They are mutually comprehensible with the kind of Polish I speak, and their speakers call them Polish. As a linguist, I can only classify them as Polish.
 
I'm sure the Lithuanian authorities will eventually come to terms with the fact that they have a Polish-speaking minority who deserve the same respect and rights as any substantial minority in any country. Lithuania is not only for Lithuanians but also for its Russian and Polish citizens. On the other hand, the Lithuanian Poles will have to understand that the best guarantee for their rights is loyalty to democratic Lithuania and that no-one in Poland is going to support activities that could empoison the relations between our countries. I believe the process has already begun and will continue despite all the occasional tensions and frictions stirred up by irresponsible fools. Xenophobia on either side can only cause harm to all the parties involved.
 
Piotr
 

 
I'm sorry that some of my thoughts were based exclusively on
practical observation and looked like politically incorrect. Indeed I
really didn't mean to offend anyone. When asking Piotr about the
people of Polish decent in the South-Eastern Lithuania, I was hoping
he has devoted some time in the past to phonologically analyze the
language spoken in the region (I wondered if the language  could be
really called Polish, with no offence intended; from what I've
practically heard - I'm incompetent in theory: that's why I'm
participating in this interesting list - it could not). As to the
depalatalized dental stops in Russian, I thank Sergey that he didn't
limit himself with justly criticizing my poor choice of terms
(inevitable due to my incompetency) and provided some very valuable
information about the subject (something I actually aimed at by
writing the initial message, unfortunately, with some bad
connotations that should've been avoided). Thanks again and I'll
proof-read my messages in the future.

Juozas Rimas