Language contacts in Lithuania Minor in the 18th century : Slavic loanwords in the lexicon of Kristijonas Donelaitis' poem "Metai"

Slavic loanwords, which were widely used in the Lithuanian language in the 18th century, are the target of this study. Researchers have continually faced the problem to distinguish which of Slavic languages – Ruthenian (Belarusian), Polish, or Old Russian – have had the biggest influence on Lithuanian. This study focusses on the Slavic loanwords in the poem “Metai” by Kristijonas Donelaitis, the first work of fiction in Lithuanian language written in Lithuania Minor. The research is done through the analysis of K. Donelaitis' lexica in the poem: the Slavic loanwords are first selected, then classified according to the Slavic language to which they belong, and then put into a topical field (professions, musical instruments, holidays, household domain, etc.). It was difficult to determine through which Slavic language the loanwords came into the Lithuanian language. However, it was identified that Belarusian, in most of the cases, seems to have had the biggest influence in K. Donelaitis' lexicon.The defense took place via ZOOM.