----- Original Message -----
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