Функционирование старообрядческого говора в Польше на примере одного идиолекта

Abstract

Russian Old Believers came to the Commonwealth of Poland and Lithuania in the end of the 17th century. Their geopolitical, social and economical situation was constantly and continuously changing affecting their language – Northern Russian dialect. During first two ages of their migration, their settlements were under Russian dominance and they had still contact with Russian- and Belarusian-speaking population as well as with their coreligionists from the Russian Empire. Some of them knew Polish language but the mass bilingualism of this community began in the second decade of the 20th century, when Poland regained independence. More intensive contacts with Poles, Polish administration, and especially education caused growing influence of Polish language on Russian dialect. However, the Old Believers were living in closed, mainly rural communities, which secured an equilibrium between the traditional dialect and the language of the majority in the frames of diglossia. After the Second World War the Old Believer population in Poland diminished and constitutes approx. 800 people. On the example of an isolated idiolect of an older man living alone in a small village, the article describes interference phenomena in his speech, and compares his language situation to the Old Believers living in a homogenous community. Linguistic phenomena are being contrasted with the biography of the informant and his social situation; the examples of interference are connected with their socio- and psycholinguistic background.