Komunikacinis požiūris į kalbą kaip naratyvų analizės priemonę: Vilniaus pavyzdys
Communicative Approach to Language as a Tool for Narrative Analysis: The Case of Vilnius

Summary/Abstract: This article examines how language can function as an analytical tool for identifying and reconstructing sociocultural narratives. Through an analysis of the lexicographic entries in the Dictionary of the Lithuanian Language, the article reconstructs the Vilnius narrative as it existed up to the mid-20th century. In this narrative, the city and its inhabitants are not clearly integrated into the centre of Lithuanian collective identity. In this genetic layer, Vilnius is represented through aesthetic evaluation, geopolitical distance, social differentiation and symbolic diminishment, while Vilnians are constructed as marginal and ideologically complex figures. Using the concept of a network of semantic relations, the study then reconstructs a 21st-century narrative of Vilnius. In this narrative, the city is presented as a growing, vibrant centre that participates in global competition, but which is also marked by economic and value-based tensions. Unlike the genetic narrative, contemporary discourse clearly frames Vilnius as a space of collective belonging. The research demonstrates a radical narrative shift from „Vilnius is not ours“ to „Vilnius is ours“.

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