The value of dialect in consolidating the identity of the rural community (on the base of the Opowieści sołtysa (The Mayor’s Tales) by Stefan Szot) Cover Image

Wartość gwary w utrwalaniu pamięci kulturowej społeczności wiejskiej (na przykładzie Opowieści sołtysa Stefana Szota)
The value of dialect in consolidating the identity of the rural community (on the base of the Opowieści sołtysa (The Mayor’s Tales) by Stefan Szot)

Author(s): Anna Piechnik
Subject(s): Language studies, Language and Literature Studies
Published by: Łódzkie Towarzystwo Naukowe
Keywords: Stefan Szot; dialect of Iwkowa area; oral histories; language and culture of the former village; Stefan Szot; gwara okolic Iwkowej; historie mówione; język i kultura dawnej wsi

Summary/Abstract: The research material is comprised of the collection of 13 tales entitled The Mayor’s Tales byStefan Szot, a long time mayor of Iwkowa village, who is still in office. The dialect used in TheMayor’s Tales (Opowieści sołtysa) plays a fundamental role in the village community and servesas a carrier of cultural content. Identification with a given area (Iwkowa) takes place, to a greatextent, by means of the local dialect. The author authenticates the utterances of his characters bywriting their words using the Pogórze dialect and incorporating expressive local characteristics,which are especially visible at the phonetic level (e.g. lack of the front nasal vowel, pronouncing-ro as -re, mazuration) and lexical level. Dialectal lexemes appear also in the narration emphasizingclose connection between the dialect and the material and non-material products of traditionalculture (without appellation in standard Polish language). The dialect used in The Mayor’s Talesvery often serves as a measure of membership in the language and cultural community of Iwkowa,as the ability to fully understand the content hidden in the quoted nicknames, microtoponyms, andnames of hamlets (in their phonetic dialect form) is dependent on good knowledge of local reality.

  • Issue Year: 2018
  • Issue No: 65
  • Page Range: 119-135
  • Page Count: 17
  • Language: Polish