Tutejszy
Template:Short description Template:Italic title TutejszyTemplate:Efn was a self-identification of Eastern European rural populations, who did not have a clear national identity. The term means "from here", "local" or "natives".Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Linguistically, the term is closely associated with speakers of the so-called prostaya mova ('simple speech'), an uncodified vernacular based on Belarusian dialects with influences from Polish, Russian, and Lithuanian.<ref name="Vnukovich">Template:Cite journal</ref>
This phenomenon was mostly present in mixed-lingual Eastern European areas, including Belarus, Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, and Latvia, in particular, in Polesia and Podlachia.Template:Citation needed As a self-identification, it persisted in Lithuania’s Vilnius Region into the late 20th century. For example, in 1989, a poll of persons whose passports recorded their ethnicity as Polish revealed that 4% of them regarded themselves as Template:Lang, 10% as Lithuanians, and 84% as Poles.Template:Sfn
In Poland
The term was first used in an official publication in 1922 Template:Sfn in the preliminary results of the Polish census of 1921 (Miesięcznik Statystyczny, vol. V). An indigenous nationality (Template:Langx; Template:Langx) was declared by 38,943 persons, with the vast majority being Orthodox (38,135) and from rural areas (36,729). The Census stated that this category was for "population who could not describe their ethnicity in any other way".<ref name=gus1921>Template:Cite book</ref> This census did not include the Vilnius Region.<ref name="gus1921" />
There are mixed opinions about the reasons, meaning, and implications of this term.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn In the Polish census of 1931 asked respondents to identify their mother tongue. “Tutejszy” was included and was chosen by 707,088 respondents.<ref name="Piotrowski1998">Template:Cite book</ref> Lithuanian researchers assert that within ethnographic Lithuania, the Tutejszy were mostly Slavicized Lithuanians.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Template:Ill argues that a considerable contribution to Slavicization of the area was a significant influx of Ruthenian (Belarusian) peasantry in the area, especially after considerable depopulation due to plague.<ref name="Bjorn" />
Modern usage in Lithuania
According to research conducted in the early 21st century by ethnologist Yury Vnukovich, the term tutejszy (Template:Lang) is rarely used as a self-identification by the local Slavic-speaking population of the Vilnius Region today. Instead, residents typically identify themselves as Poles, basing this identity on their Catholic faith ("Polish faith"), historical memory, and place of origin, even if they speak the local Belarusian dialect ("Prostaya mova") rather than standard Polish.<ref name="Vnukovich" />
In modern Lithuanian discourse, the term has evolved into an external label, sometimes carrying a derogatory connotation similar to "natives" or "indigenes" with a lower social status. It is often used to construct a "liminal" or "hybrid" ethnicity that is neither fully Polish, Belarusian, nor Lithuanian. However, the label "local" ("tutejszy") has also been used by the population to justify their rights to local resources, such as land restitution in the prestigious Vilnius district.<ref name="Vnukovich" />
In Latvia
Report on the Latvian census of 1930 describes Template:Lang as Catholics of Latgale, who spoke Polish, Latvian and Russian equally and lacked ethnic identity (the Latvian census did not recognize these people as having a separate ethnic identity). The report notes that they could easily change their identity on a whim or after being persuaded by nationalist organizations, producing sharp changes in the ethnic composition of some areas, the most noticeable changes being a decrease in the number of Belarusians in ten years since 1920 from 75,630 to 36,029 and number of Poles increasing more than could be explained with natural growth and immigration, suggesting that some 5,000 Tutejszy had chosen to identify as Poles. In addition, uncertain number of them presumably chose to identify as Russians or Latvians.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Language
The group's speech (Template:Lang, "local language") was described by Template:Ill as "an uncodified and largely undescribed Belarusian vernacular".<ref name=Bjorn> Template:Ill, "Dialect and language contacts on the territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from the 15th century until 1939", In: Template:Cite book</ref>
According to Polish professor Jan Otrębski's article published in 1931, the Polish dialect in the Vilnius Region and in the northeastern areas in general are very interesting variant of Polishness as this dialect developed in a foreign territory which was mostly inhabited by the Lithuanians who were Belarusized (mostly) or Polonized, and to prove this Otrębski provided examples of Lithuanianisms in the Tutejszy language.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 2015, Polish linguist Template:Ill attested that many of the Vilnius Region's inhabitants who declare Polish nationality speak a Belarusian dialect which they call mowa prosta ('simple speech').<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
See also
Notes
References
Bibliography
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