Darbas kaip vertybė ir kultūrema kalbiniame žemaičių pasaulėvaizdyje (remiantis XIX a. i pusės ir XX a. II pusės šaltiniais) .......... 231

WORK AS A VALUE AND CULTUREME IN THE LINGUISTIC WORLDVIEW OF THE SAMOGITIANS (BASED ON SOURCES FROM THE FIRST HALF OF THE 19TH CENTURY AND THE SECOND HALF OF THE 20TH CENTURY)

The study presents research based on the analysis of material drawn from both oral (second half of the 20th century) and written (early 19th century) sources of Samogitian discourse of various types. Systematic data on daily Samogitian speech from the second half of the 20th century are provided by two lexicographic sources: Dictionary of the Kretinga Dialect (KTŽ, 2011) and Dictionary of Northwestern Samogitian: Dialects of Ylakiai, Lenkimai, Mosėdis, Skuodas, and Šatės Areas (ŠVŽŽ 1–2, 2014–2015). Authentic everyday Samogitian conversations and narratives from the same period are represented by texts from two books compiled by Aleksas Girdenis: This Is How the People of Tirkšliai Speak (TŠT, 1996) and The Skuodas Area of Northern Samogitians (ŠŽSZ, 2012). Religious discourse from the early 19th century is illustrated by the manuscript sermon collection PAMOKSŁAY Wayringosy Materyjosy (PWM) by the Franciscan priest Jurgis Ambroziejus Pabrėža. The selected sources represent various models of private Samogitian speech from the second half of the 20th century, including domestic dialogues, personal recollections, and folktale narratives, as well as the Samogitian public literary discourse of the early 19th century. A systematic analysis of these Samogitian texts, which were intended for different target addressees ranging from public to partially or entirely private communication, reveals that work, work-related activities, and their agents and modes of performance were the most frequently discussed topics and received the highest number of evaluative statements.
The broad time span of the private and public Samogitian discourse covering nearly two centuries offers similar descriptions and evaluations of the concept of work. Samogitians associate work with personal duties and obligations (to oneself, one’s family, and the community), with morality and ethical behaviour (it is important to work properly and to pay fairly for work), as well as with flexibility, patience, and skill. Work is seen not only as a means of subsistence, but also as a form of personal self-expression. The continuous discussion of various aspects of the concept of work and work-related activities, the stereotypical expression of certain evaluative phrases, and their recurrence across texts of different types reflect the characteristics of the Samogitian oral verbal culture and demonstrate that work was the most important cultureme in the linguistic worldview of the Samogitians. Work was a value for the Samogitians, whose dominance was determined by the necessary circumstances of communal life and an educational tradition reflected both in the external and internal layers of language. In contemporary Samogitian life, the expression of this Samogitian cultureme is less intense, different, and vibrant mostly out of inertia.