Names of mythical creatures in Samogitian daily discourse (based on the material of the 2nd half of the 20th century)

Straipsnyje aptariamas kasdieniame žemaičių šnekėjime aptinkamų mitinių būtybių įvardijimų dažnio ir kalbėjimo situacijų ryšys. Tyrimas paremtas knygoje "Taip šneka tirkšliškiai" (Girdenis, par., 1996) paskelbtų šiaurės žemaičių telšiškių XX a. II pusės kasdienybės kalbėjimo tekstų medžiaga. Raktažodžiai: mitinės būtybės vardas, eufemizmas, pejoratyvinis kreipinys, situacinis (ne)apibrėžtumas.The article discusses the relationship between the frequency of using names of mythical creatures in Samogitian daily discourse and their situational contexts. The research is based on material from the collection of spoken texts of the Northern Samogitian of Telšiai Taip šneka tirkšliškiai (Girdenis, ed., 1996), which encompasses the discourse of three types. In the texts from the source under study, the names of mythical creatures are usually (661 units or ~98.1%) used in a figurative sense. The most common words are žaltys ‘grass snake’ (400 units or ~60.4%) and vels ‘devil’ (205 units or ~30.4%). The choice of the lexeme žaltys is related to the interlocutor’s direct evaluation (pejorative addresses) or a different evaluative reference to the subject (or less commonly the object), which is known, previously discussed or implicit from the context, i.e., highlighting situational definiteness. The lexeme vels is more commonly used in fixed phrases rather than in the form of address or epithet. The choice of such phrases pertains to the expression of situational indefiniteness: they are used to indicate the cause, nature or peculiar features of incomprehensible phenomena or those phenomena which are more difficult to explain, but have certain distinctive characteristics. Keywords: name of mythical creatures, euphemism, pejorative address, situational (in)definiteness