Słownictwo Wileńszczyzny w pracach Haliny Turskiej wobec współczesnej leksyki kresowej
The vocabulary of Vilnius region in the works of Halina Turska in relation to the contemporary lexis of the borderland

Summary/Abstract: A Polish scholar Halina Turska had been conducting research of the regional variation of Polish in Vilnius region for a few years before World War II broke out. At that time she recorded a significant number of words from which about a thousand and a half words have remained in a part of her monograph until now. A comparison of the vocabulary of H. Turska’s works and the set of vocabulary excerpted in the same area half of a century later – in the years of 1987 – 2001 was made in the article. The comparison suggests that the vocabulary of Polish dialects functioning in Vilnius region changes significantly. The greatest changes were in the borrowed vocabulary, especially from Lithuanian, in the rural lexis. A number of names disappeared as a result of collectivisation, liquidation of individual farms and mechanisation of agriculture. Instead, vocabulary reflecting new reality, mainly of Russian origin appeared. Well preserved were only those lithuanisms which are widespread and present not only in Vilnius region but also in the whole ethnic Belorussian territory and in dialects of Podlasie as well. Another significant change is the loss of Lithuanian and Belorussian phonetic and morphological features. Since the inter-war period the vocabulary of Vilnius region has been enriched significantly by words and phrases from general Polish as a result of popularisation of education (eradication of illiteracy) and wide range of mass media, e.g. from Poland. In relation to the lexemes fixed in the analysed Turska’s works, in the layer of active vocabulary of the Northern Borderland c.a. 14% lexemes were not evidenced.

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