Helena Krasowska, Magdalena Pokrzyńska & Οlexiy Sukhomlynov: Testimony to a Vanishing Heritage. The Polish Language in Bukovina. Translated by Maria Fengler and Piotr Styk. Maps by Barbara Grunwald-Hajdasz. Berlin: Peter Lang Verlag, 2025. 266 pp. ISBN 978-3-631-87961-0 (Print), eISBN 978-3-631-92968-1 (PDF), eISBN 978-3-631-93573-6.
About the book:
the book documents the spoken Polish of oldest Bukovina inhabitants – a geographical and historical region on the border of Ukraine and Romania. the spoken Polish in Bukovina is a dying heritage that holds a unique value for the Polish culture. It constitutes a conglomeration of local varieties of Polish, whose speakers arrived in waves from remote regions to an area that never belonged to the Polish state. These dialects then grew in long-term isolation from other versions of the Polish language while being surrounded by languages from three other groups: Germanic, Slavic, and Romance. The book provides numerous examples of the use of spoken Polish. the method used in the study – language as a guide to the experienced world – provides an insight into the world of Bukovina inhabitants, allowing readers to learn about the linguistic phenomena and sociocultural processes that underlie the everyday functioning of multilingual and multicultural social communities.
Contents:
Introduction
Review of Research on the Language and Culture of Bukovinian Poles
Aim and Scope of the Book
Methods of the Study
Map of Localities Included in the Study
1. Bukovina: the Region and the People
1.1 A Historical and Cultural Picture of Bukovina
1.2 Demographic Characteristics of the Study Area
1.3 Poles in Bukovina
2. The People and the Language
2.1 Characteristics of the Polish Language in Bukovina
2.1.1 The Dialect of Polish Highlanders in Bukovina
2.1.2 Spoken Bukovinian Polish
2.1.3 Spoken Polish in Vicșani
2.1.4 Spoken Polish in Cacica
2.1.5 Spoken Polish in Bulai
2.1.6 Common Features of Polish in Bukovina
2.1.7 Varieties of Polish in Bukovina
2.2 Changes in the Functions of the Polish Language in Bukovina
2.2.1 Polish in Daily Communication
2.2.2 the Choice of Language and Religion in Mixed Families
2.2.3 Opportunities for Learning Polish
2.2.4 Reading and Writing Skills
2.2.5 Language as Cultural Heritage: Preservation and Loss
3. Language and traditions
3.1 Language as a Guide to the Life and Culture of Bukovinian Poles
3.2 Texts: Annual Feasts and Festivals in Bukovina
3.2.1 Autumn and Winter
Northern Bukovina
Banyliv-Pidhirnyĭ
Chernivtsi
Davydivka-Centre
Nyzhni Petrivtsi
Panka
Sadhora
Stara Krasnoshora
Stara Zhadova
Terebleche
Zastavna
Zelenyĭ Haĭ
Southern Bukovina
Bulai
Cacica
Câmpulung Moldovenesc
Gura Humorului
Păltinoasa
Pleșa
Poiana Micului
Solonețu Nou
Suceava
3.2.2 Spring
Northern Bukovina
Banyliv-Pidhirnyĭ
Chernivtsi
Davydivka-Centre
Kitsman'
Nyzhni Petrivtsi
Panka
Terebleche
Southern Bukovina
Bulai
Cacica
Câmpulung Moldovenesc
Păltinoasa
Pleșa
Poiana Micului
Solonețu Nou
Siret
Suceava
3.2.3 Summer
Northern Bukovina
Chernivtsi
Nyzhni Petrivtsi
Panka
Sadhora
Southern Bukovina
Cacica
Gura Humorului
Pleșa
Solonețu Nou
Suceava
Conclusion
Streszczenie
List of Localities Included in the Study
List of Interviewees
List of interviewees in alphabetical order
Southern Bukovina (total: 168)
Northern Bukovina (total: 190)
List of interviewees by place of residence, gender, and age
Southern Bukovina (total: 168)
Northern Bukovina (total: 190)
List of tables
Bibliography
Internet sources
Index of Names
About the authors:
Helena Krasowska is Full Professor at the Institute of Slavic Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences. She studies the disappearing traces of Polish culture in Ukraine, Romania, and Moldova. Her research interests focus on national and linguistic minorities, linguistic biographies, cultural borderlands, social and individual memory.
Magdalena Pokrzyńska is an ethnologist and sociologist primarily focused on identity, social memory, heritage, traditionalism, folk culture, and borderland. She conducts interdisciplinary field research in Poland and abroad (Ukraine, Romania), cooperating with researchers from Germany, Poland, Romania, and Ukraine.
Olexiy Sukhomlynov's main research interests include borderland and multicultural motifs in Polish literature, along with mechanisms of myths and stereotypes of collective and historical memory. He also studies Polish-Russian-Ukrainian relations.
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