Revival of the Lietuvininkai ("Šišioniškiai") dialect: school and other activities
The Lietuvininkai (Šišioniškiai) dialect, reflecting the identity of the region of Lithuania Minor, has been rapidly declining. Today it is spoken by less than 100 individuals in Šilutė, Klaipėda districts and the Municipality of Pagėgiai. For more than 20 years, complex activities have been and continue to be carried out to learn about, teach, publish and promote the dialect. It is used as a tool in cultural tourism and event communication. Employees from various fields and folklore groups actively contribute to the use of spoken dialect and the safeguarding of many forms of the oral tradition.
In the second half of the 20th century, the language of the people of the Klaipėda region was classified as a Samogitian dialect. However, the Lietuvininkai themselves have never identified themselves with Samogitia, and to this day still call themselves Šišioniškiai (here they say šišon). The dialect is characterised by the prevailing soft -l, use of a preposition in accusative form in place of locative case (gyvenu į Kleipėdą – I live in Klaipėda), the use of the vowels -ė and -o in place of the diphthongs -ie, -uo (pėns, dona – milk, bread), and Germanisms (pafobeliuoti – to speak). You can get acquainted with the peculiarities of the Lietuvininkai way of speaking by visiting the interactive exhibition at the Hugo Scheu Museum and by consulting the experienced specialists who supervise it. Students study the dialect in preparation for folkloristic storytelling competitions and Olympiad of traditional knowledge and practise.
One of the most important dialect preservation activities was the Saturday Lietuvininkai dialect school in 2013–2019 at the Hugo Scheu Museum in Šilutė, which encouraged local people to learn the dialect. It has educated 30 practitioners of speaking in this dialect of various ages. At the school, the students learned vocabulary and grammar, used specially prepared methodological tools, audio recordings, went on excursions, expeditions and meetings with Lietuvininkai. The coherent learning programme implemented the methods of storytelling, dialogue, discussion, analysis, practical classes, thematic education, etc. Efforts were made that local class attendees treat a dialect as a value, inseparable from understanding, experiencing, fostering and transmitting Lietuvininkai cultural traditions. Upon completion of the project, the dialect school has been used as a model for various educational programmes.
This experience of revival of the dialect has proved that it is possible to teach and learn the dialect. As is possible to encourage the local community to contribute to the use of the spoken dialect. It is planned to continue the regular activities of the Lietuvininkai dialect school in the future, which is instrumental in ensuring that the dialect remains extant.
Submission by Hugo Scheu Museum in Šilutė, 2022