Re: Question

Some linguists working with the Karaim community in Trakai were
attempting to put together a language-maintenance CD. Their website
is still up at http://www3.aa.tufs.ac.jp/~djn/karaim/kCDlang.htm, but I
don't know if they've actually produced anything--site doesn't seem to
have been revised since 1998.

Jim Rader

>
> 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
>