Kristijanos Donelaitis and the pamphlet on the usefulness of pasture separation (1769): Linguistic analysis Cover Image

Kristijonas Donelaitis ir brošiūra apie separacijos naudą (1769): kalbos analizė
Kristijanos Donelaitis and the pamphlet on the usefulness of pasture separation (1769): Linguistic analysis

Author(s): Daiva Krištopaitienė
Subject(s): Theoretical Linguistics, Phonetics / Phonology, Morphology, Lexis, Historical Linguistics, Baltic Languages, 18th Century
Published by: Lietuvių Kalbos Institutas
Keywords: Kristijanos Donelaitis; pamphlet; Linguistic analysis;

Summary/Abstract: In my article I analyze the language of the pamphlet on the usefulness of pasture separation (1769; the exact title is not known, the title page did not survive). The pamphlet was compared to the fiction of Kristijonas Donelaitis and other circulars of the government in Eastern Prussia in order to answer the questions: (1) is the pamphlet to be attributed to Donelaitis; (2) is it an original text or a translation. The 1769 pamphlet on the usefulness of pasture separation is obviously related to Donelaitis’s texts. First of all, such a conclusion is supported by the common orthographic, phonetic, and morphological (dialectal) affinity. An even more persuasive argument is the similar vocabulary. In the pamphlet there are many words, figurative sentences, some phrases that are characteristic of Donelaitis’s fiction and sometimes recall the lines from Donelaitis’s writings. One of the most significant pieces of evidence of Donelaitis’s authorship is a quotation from his manuscript “Summer Toils,” that at the time was accessible only to the author himself.

  • Issue Year: 2007
  • Issue No: 09
  • Page Range: 215-234
  • Page Count: 20
  • Language: Lithuanian