The article examines the use of dictionaries in the language worldview research. It raises questions about the limitations of the “lexicographic worldview“, presents researchers’ doubts about the ...objectivity and scientificity of this type of research, and provides arguments in favor of the research. The second part of the article introduces and discusses the procedure of lexicographic analysis in more detail. Examining the image of the MOTHER concept reflected in Lithuanian lexicography, the thought is put forward that the reliability of such an analysis is guaranteed by its complexity. At the same time, it is emphasized that analysis of the concept should in no way be based solely on lexicographic sources, drawing conclusions about the structure of the concept on the basis of only a few examples, possibly accidentally included in the dictionary. An important role in the reconstruction of the concept is played by the stability of the distinguished features, their regular repetition in various texts, the constancy of the lexemes / phrases / phrasemes conveying these features, and their persistence in speech.
The study aims to present certain methodological approaches used in the research of dialect narratives. In the introductory part of the article, the author discusses the links between the related ...sciences, analysing oral text: traditional dialectology, oral history and ethnolinguistics. The concept of cultureme as the unit describing realia, deeply entrenched in a certain type of culture, composing a certain identity of an ethnic group, is also introduced. The notion of a cultureme is very close to the notions of a keyword, described by Anna Wierzbicka, and a stereotype or concept, described by the ethnolinguistic school of Lublin. The difference, however, is that that the description of concepts is aimed at reflecting the folk or nationwide worldview and human view, while culturemes are used to identify a specific community, show the specificity of a certain region and its values. The example of the description of one cultureme (the manor) is used to provide the complicated structure of dialect narrative, its stylistic values, types of a narrator, and subjective way of perceiving and assessing the reality.
The Lithuanian picture of house/home is deeply rooted in folk tradition – the ideal home is the rural home of a person’s childhood. In Lithuanian, there are two expressions that are used to ...designate the concept, the singular namas – which dictionaries tersely define as a building – and the plural namai, which stands for a broader space and a family staying together. The author discusses synonyms (and quasi-synonyms), antonyms (accenting the opposition between familiarity and strangeness), derivatives and collocations of these words. She reports the results of a questionnarie, which show that namas/namai is often mythicised as a paradise on earth, with the important motif of returning home. Proverbs keep guard over patriarchal relations in the family and portray home as a stronghold. Journalistic texts introduce the concept of a cosmopolitan home, open to the world. The features of the Lithuanian base picture of namas/namai are discussed according to the basic semantic aspects: social, psychosocial (sacralisation of home), mental, physical and functional (home as a shelter protecting individuals from the strange world they fear). Two profiles of the Lithuanian home are identified in the study: a romantic rustic profile grounded in the lasting relationship with the family, and a European, intelligentsia profile located wherever there are (any) people.
The article performs the analysis of the concept of mother through the cognitive questionnaire methodology developed by Jerzy Bartmiński, pioneer of Polish ethnolinguistics. According to the ...methodology only one open question is asked to respondents: „What do you think is the essence of the true X?“ The modifier „true“ included in the question directs respondents’ attention specifically to subjective imaginations, rather than to the actual (objectively) existing typical object. Mentioning the „essence“ directs focus to the most important rather than subordinate features.During the study, the students of Vilnius University were questioned – Philology, Philosophy, History, Law, Economics and Business Administration, Medical, Physics, International Relations and Science, Mathematics and Informatics Bachelors and Masters, as well as students from Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Antanas Gustaitis’ Aviation Institute. A total of 100 questionnaires were selected for the study: 48 questionnaires of Science dysciplines (male – 18, female – 30) and 52 questionnaires of the Humanities dysciplines (male – 20, female – 32).As the results of the analysis show, the „true mother“ is characterised in particular by psychosocial and social aspects, less often by mental, biological, household aspects. The least often the mother is characterised by physical, ethnic, religious, ethical and ideological aspects. The most common were descriptions such as: Raises, educates (S); 77, 9.2 %; Loves (A); 70, 8.4 %; Cares about (A); 65, 7.8 %; Sacrifises (A); 38, 4.5 %; Gives birth (G); 28/3.3 %; Childbirth (alone) does not constitute the presence of the mother (G); 26/3.1 %. According to the students’ opinion, it can be said that the maternity still remains a value, and its core consists of a public duty of a mother to bring up a virtuous and worthy citizen. Quite a private link between a mother and a child, which manifests in a provision of warmth and love to one another, remains important, a purely humane relationship is highly valued. Human attention does not deviate completely into sociality, his own hapiness and the happiness of his closest people is important to him.
The article addresses the constructions tai yra/to jest in the text of the sermons by Konstantinas Sirvydas. In the contemporary research of syntactic semantics, these units are termed ‘conclusive ...components’ and are attributed to the group denoting equivalence. Meanwhile, their semantic representation is expressed by the scheme TR1 tai yra R2 (TR1 that is R2). In the scheme, R1 and R2 are linked by the relation of open equivalence based on the correctness of the statement, whereas R2 may express a conclusion, generalization, clarification. The metatextual fragments used in a religious text, which are inserted by means of the phrase tai yra, have much in common with lexical parallelisms. However, they stand out by their greater vividness and richness of the content and play an important stylistic function. The metatextual inserts starting with the construction tai yra are rather widespread in Sirvydas’ Postil (circa 1,000 cases). It can therefore be assumed that it is a characteristic feature of Sirvydas’ baroque style. They recur in a single sentence or in a longer passage composed of several compound sentences. Their functions are varied: a) information restoration, auxiliary; b) explanatory; c) rhetorical. The text by Sirvydas is dominated by the allegorical interpretation of concepts and phenomena. To achieve vividness, the author skillfully combines a word and an image, whereas metatextual inserts add transparency and become a powerful stylistic device in the process of educating the believers and shaping their moral values.
Straipsnyje analizuojamos konstrukcijos tai yra / to jest Sirvydo pamokslų tekste. Šiuolaikiniuose sintaksinės semantikos tyrimuose šie vienetai apibūdinami kaip išvadiniai dėmenys ir priskiriami ...ekvivalentiškumą žyminčiai grupei, o jų semantinė reprezentacija pateikiama kaip schema TR1 tai yra R2. Schemoje R1 ir R2 sieja atvirasis ekvivalentišku-mas, pagrįstas teiginio teisingumu, o R2 gali būti išvada, apibendrinimas, patikslinimas. Religiniame tekste vartojami metatekstiniai fragmentai, įterpiami pasitelkiant junginį tai yra, turi daug bendra su leksiniais paralelizmais, bet išsiskiria didesniu vaizdingumu ir turinio turtingumu, atlieka svarbią stilistinę funkciją. Metatekstiniai intarpai, pradedami konstruk-cija tai yra, Sirvydo Postilėje gana dažni (apie 1000 pavartojimų), todėl daroma prielaida, kad tai yra charakteringas šio baroko autoriaus stilistinės manieros bruožas. Jie kartojami viename sakinyje arba ilgesnio teksto atkarpoje, kurią sudaro keli sudurtiniai sakiniai. Jų funkcijos labai įvairios: a) informacijos atkuriamoji, pagalbinė; b) aiškinamoji; c) retorinė. Sirvydo tekste dominuoja alegorinis sąvokų ir reiškinių aiškinimas. Siekiant vaizdingumo autorius meistriškai jungia žodį su vaizdu, o metatekstiniai įterpiniai įneša skaidrumo ir tampa galinga retorine figūra tikinčiųjų lavinimo ir moralinių nuostatų formavimo procese.
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