Name

The Lithuanian language is called lietuvių kalba in the literary language, meaning ‘speech of Lithuanians’.
Ethnologue  provides several various linguonyms for the Lithuanian language:
in English – Lithuanian,
German – Litauisch,
Polish – litewski,
Russian - литовский (litowskij).

There are two basic dialects in Lithuanian:

• Aukshtaitish (Lit. aukštaičių tarmė), i.e. High Lithuanian
• Zhemaitish (Lit. žemaičių tarmė), i.e. Low Lithuanian

Aukshtaitish dialect consists of two following dialects:

• Western Aukshtaitish (vakarų aukštaičių patarmė)
• Southern Aukshtaitish (pietų aukštaičių patarmė)
• Eastern Aukshtaitish (rytų aukštaičių patarmė)

Zhemaitish dialect is divided into :

• Western Zhemaitish (vakarų žemaičių patarmė)
• Northern Zhemaitish (šiaurės žemaičių patarmė)
• Southern Zhemaitish (pietų žemaičių patarmė)

History and geopolitics

The current Lithuanian minority in Poland speaks Western Aukshtaitish and Southern Aukstaitish dialects. Most members of the minority live in the north-eastern part of Podlaskie Voivodeship, in Suwalki Region, along Lithuanian border from Marskiszki and Podlaski villages in South-East, to Jegliniec and Wojciuliszki (Vaičiuliškė) villages in North-West (Hasiuk 1978:3Hasiuk 1978 / komentarz/comment/r /
Hasiuk, Michał 1978. Fonologia litewskiej gwary sejneńskiej. Poznań: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu im. Adama Mickiewicza
). In the Early Medieval times, up to 13th c. those lands were inhabited by Yotvingians (Jotvingiai). This region was abundant with forests, and it was not populated again until 15th c. The new settlers were Lithuanians, Russians and Poles.


Baltic tribes at the turn of the 12 and 13th centuries [map ed.: Jacek Cieślewicz, #JS#based on http://pl.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Plik:Baltic_Tribes_c_1200PL..svg ]

In this region, it was easy to establish contact between the Polish, Lithuanian and Belarussian neighbours, especially among the nobility. Since the first half of the 16th c. the mother tongue (Lithuanian or Belarussian) started to give up their place to Belarussian, and later on to Polish. The official language in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was Russian (in its Belarussian variant), whereas after the Union of Lublin it was the Polish language which gained the status of the most popular. Lithuanian had a low status and was considered as the language of simple peasantry (Marcinkiewicz 2003: 35Marcinkiewicz 2003 / komentarz/comment/r /
Marcinkiewicz, Józef 2003. Polsko-litewskie kontakty językowe na Suwalszczyźnie. Poznań: Zakład Graficzny UAM.
).


The range  of the Lithuanian language in the 16th c. [map ed.: Jacek Cieślewicz, #JS#based on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lithuanian_language_in_the_16th_century.png]

After the Third Partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Suwalki Region fell under Prussian reign. After twelve years in of being under Prussian dominance, the Suwalki Region was incorporated into the Duchy of Warsaw, then into the Kingdom of Poland (which was a part of Russia), then after a new division of the kingdom,  it became a part of the Augustów Voivodeship (later renamed to Augustów Governorate, and even later – Suwalki Governorate). “This state of affairs lasted up to the outbreak of the World War I, more accurately to 1919, the Treaty of Versailles, withdrawal of Germany from the Suwalki Region and the rise of new independent states” (Marcinkiewicz 2003: 39Marcinkiewicz 2003 / komentarz/comment/r /
Marcinkiewicz, Józef 2003. Polsko-litewskie kontakty językowe na Suwalszczyźnie. Poznań: Zakład Graficzny UAM.
).


Lithuania in the years 1867-1914, distribution of governorates. [map ed.: Jacek Cieślewicz, #JS#based on http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b3/Lithuania-1867-1914.svg]

Legend:
green – Vilna Governorate
salmon – Kovno Governorate
dark yellow – Suwałki Governorate
green line – borderline of present Lithuania
big points – capitals of governorates
small points – capitals of districts
Kuršo gubernija – Courland Governorate
Vitebsko gubernija – Vitebsk Governorate
Minsko gubernija – Minsk Governorate
Gardino gubernija – Grodno Governorate
Vokietija – German Empire

According to the Russian statistical data from 1897, Suwalki Governorate was inhabited by
52 per cent of Lithuanians,
23 per cent of Poles,
10 per cent of Jews,
9 per cent of Russians (among with the Old Believers and Belarussians),
5 per cent Germans
and 1.5 per cent of other nationalities.
Later statistics from 1910 showed that there was 55 per cent of Lithuanians and 30 per centof Poles, and the rest consisting of other nationalities (Marcinkiewicz 2003: 40Marcinkiewicz 2003 / komentarz/comment/r /
Marcinkiewicz, Józef 2003. Polsko-litewskie kontakty językowe na Suwalszczyźnie. Poznań: Zakład Graficzny UAM.
).

At the beginning of the 20th century, one of the most important educational centres awakening national awareness among Lithuanians was Sejny (Seinai). Many Lithuanian priests, writers and cultural-educational activists were educated in seminaries in Sejny. In those schools, many a secret clerical society aiming at spreading education, distributing Lithuanian press and awakening the national spirit operated. At that time, the Lithuanian language was not still standardized and there were no course books, dictionaries or grammars. Thanks to the printing house functioning in 1906-1915, magazines Šaltinis (‘Source’), Spindulys (‘Ray’), Vadovas (‘Guide’), the calendar Žiburys (‘Light’) and houndreds of Lithuanian books were regularly published (Marcinkiewicz, 2003: 43Marcinkiewicz 2003 / komentarz/comment/r /
Marcinkiewicz, Józef 2003. Polsko-litewskie kontakty językowe na Suwalszczyźnie. Poznań: Zakład Graficzny UAM.
).  One of the greatest Lithuanian poets, romanticist and a defender of the Lithuanian language was Antanas Baranauskas, the Bishop of Sejny. He gained his fame thanks to his romantic poem The Woods of  Anykščiai (Anykščių Šilelis), which he created under the influence of Adam Mickiewicz’s Pan Tadeusz (Jackiewicz 2003: 106Jackiewicz 2003 / komentarz/comment/r /
Jackiewicz, Mieczysław 2003. Dzieje literatury litewskiej do 1917 roku. Tom 1. Warszawa: Ex Libris.
).
After Poland and Lithuania regained their independence in 1918, the southern part of Suwalki Region as well as the Vilnius Region ended up as parts of the Second Polish Republic. According to the results of 1931 census, there were 82 313 Lithuanians living in Poland. The data from 1939 indicates, however, that the number of Lithuanians in Poland was about 250 000 (Makowski 1986: 22-30Makowski 1986 / komentarz/comment/r /
Makowski, Bronisław. 1986. Litwini w Polsce 1920-1939. Warszawa: PWN.
).


The Lithuanian language in the 2nd Polish Republic (in per cents). [map ed.: Jacek Cieślewicz, #JS#based on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:LitewskiIIRP.PNG]

During World War II, the population of Lithuanians in the Suwalki Region decreased (especially around Rutka-Tartak (Rutka Tartakas) and Wiżajny (Vižainis) where they made up 25 per cent of population). Suffering the pressure from security organs, they had to either go to Lithuania willingly or be forced by Germans to submit to the so-called repatriation (especially Lithuanians from around Sejny and Puńsk). Most of them never returned to Poland (Marcinkiewicz 2003: 45Marcinkiewicz 2003 / komentarz/comment/r /
Marcinkiewicz, Józef 2003. Polsko-litewskie kontakty językowe na Suwalszczyźnie. Poznań: Zakład Graficzny UAM.
).
Since 1st September 1952, with the endorsement from the authorities of the People’s Republic of Poland, several classes with Lithuanian as a language of instruction were created in schools in Puńsk district (4 such schools were opened, with 160 pupils attending those schools). A year afterwards, a class with the Lithuanian language was created in a grammar school in Suwałki. After three more years, a grammar school with Lithuanian as a language of instruction and a Centre of Lithuanian Culture (Lietuvių kultūros namai) in Puńsk (Punskas) was opened (Marcinkiewicz 2003: 46-47).
Marcinkiewicz 2003 / komentarz/comment/r /
Marcinkiewicz, Józef 2003. Polsko-litewskie kontakty językowe na Suwalszczyźnie. Poznań: Zakład Graficzny UAM.
Currently Lithuanians live in the most north-eastern part of. The majority live in the vicinity of Puńsk, which makes them the 80 per cents of the local population, whereas they are a minority (around 30-40 per cent) around Sejny and its vicinity. Lithuanian villages are also located around Krasnopol (Krasnopolis) or Szypliszki (Šipliškės). There is also a lot of Lithuanians in Suwalki – their number increased especially in the recent years, probably due to their looking for employment outside the villages. Some Lithuanians dispersedthroughout Poland through immigration and emigration, especially in its northern and south-western parts (Gdańsk, Olsztyn, Szczecin, Wrocław), as well as in Warsaw. In the 2002 census, 5 696 of Polish citizens declared they use Lithuanian at homes; in the 2011 census, around 6 000 people declared to be of Lithuanian nationality.


Bilingual welcoming board. Fot. T. Wicherkiewicz.

According to Ethnologue, apart from Poland and Lithuania, the Lithuanian language is used in the former countries of Soviet Union (Latvia, Estonia, Belarus, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kirgistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan), in the United Kingdom, in the North America (USA, Canada) and in the South America (Argentina, Brasil, Urugway).