A different look at the Lutsk Karaim sound system (from the second half of the 19th century on)

• Authors: Michał Németh
• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

PL

After endeavouring to examine the grammatical descriptions published in the literature to date and to reconstruct the sound system of the south-western dialect of Karaim as it was presented in the literature, it can certainly be concluded that the matter is far from clear. This is for the simple reason that these works contradict each other at various points. The reason for such discrepancies should be sought in the historical and linguistic backgrounds of the two main centres of the south-western Karaim population, i.e. Lutsk and Halich. Even though these two centres were always in close communication with one another, and the language that was spoken in them originates beyond any doubt from one common root, they remained for centuries under slightly different linguistic influences as a result of the Slavonic languages surrounding them. The present paper aims to present and, where possible, clarify the differences which follow from the studies on the Karaim sound system we have at our disposal. An attempt is also made to identify some differences between the Lutsk and Halich subdialects of south-western Karaim, and explain their origin. Since the grammatical descriptions we are dealing with here and the written sources we are able to work with concern the end of the first half of the 19th century at the earliest, the time scale of our interest is limited to the second half of the 19th and the first four decades of the 20th century.

Keywords

PL

Lutsk Karaim; Karaim phonetics and phonology; Ukrainian dialects

• Publisher: Uniwersytet Jagielloński
• Journal: Studia Linguistica Universitatis Iagellonicae Cracoviensis
• Year: 2011
• Volume: 128

Dates

published

2011

online

2015-03-05

Contributors

author

Michał Németh