RASA KURKAUSKIENĖ

Lithuanian University of Educational Sciences

Research areas: dialectology, morphology.

NOUN DECLENSION TYPES IN THE EASTERN AUKŠTAITIAN SUBDIALECT OF NORTHERN PANEvėžiškiai AND THEIR TENDENCIES OF CHANGE

Noun Declension Types in the Eastern Aukštaitian Subdialect of Northern Panevėžiškiai and Trends in Their Change

ANNOTATION

The noun declension system of the Eastern Aukštaitian subdialect of Northern Panevėžiškiai has been studied very little. In general, no comprehensive studies of the morphology of this subdialect have been published to date. The methods of natural morphology research are used to analyze and describe the interaction between stems in the Eastern Aukštaitian subdialect of Northern Panevėžiškiai, its types, and the conditions under which it operates. In the article, nouns are analyzed using the synchronic method presented by Aleksas Girdenis and Albertas Rosinas in 1977. Applying the maxima method, a hierarchical grouping of inflectional classes in the Northern Panevėžiškiai subdialect was carried out, and noun declension types were identified.

KEYWORDS: Northern Panevėžiškiai, natural morphology, noun stems, stem hierarchy.

ANNOTATION

The noun declension system of the Eastern Aukštaitian Subdialect of Northern Panevėžiškiai has not been thoroughly studied. Generally speaking, there are no comprehensive studies addressing the morphology of this subdialect.

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The analysis and description of the interaction of stems in the Eastern Aukštaitian Subdialect of Northern Panevėžiškiai, its types and conditions resort to the Natural Morphology research methods. Nouns are analysed using the synchronic method first proposed by Girdenis and Rosinas in 1977. The hierarchical clustering of inflectional classes of the Northern Panevėžiškiai Subdialect was performed and noun declension types were determined using the maximum method.

KEYWORDS: Northern Panevėžiškiai Subdialect, Natural Morphology, noun stems, stem hierarchy.

INTRODUCTION

The declension system of Lithuanian nouns is considered by linguists to be the most archaic of all living Indo-European languages today, according to Zigmas Zinkevičius (1980: 185). Noun declension was first described in 1653 in the first printed grammar of the Lithuanian language, Grammatica Litvanica. At that time, Danielius Kleinas divided nouns into five declension types (according to the endings of the nominative, genitive, and dative singular forms of nouns) (Kruopas (ed.): 1957). Much later, in 1922, Jonas Jablonskis also distinguished five declensions in The Grammar of the Lithuanian Language. Unlike D. Kleinas, J. Jablonskis considered the nominative singular to be the most important indicator.

The system of Lithuanian noun declensions devised by J. Jablonskis is also found in the 1965 edition of The Grammar of the Lithuanian Language (Ulvy das, ed.: 1965). It provides more detailed descriptions of the declensions and emphasizes the importance not only of the singular nominative endings but also of the singular genitive endings for determining declension.

Dabartinės lietuvių kalbos gramatikoje (2005: 68–81) aprašomos penkios linksniuotės: (i)a, (i)u, (i)o, e ir i. Kiekvienos linksniuotės linksniavimo paradigmos skiriamos pagal atskirų linksnių formų ypatybes. Ši klasifikacija yra ne tik detalesnė už D. Kleino sudarytą linksniuočių sistemą, bet ir paprastesnė: norint nustatyti linksniuotę, užtenka vieno daugiskaitos naudininko linksnio.

Linguists Aleksas Girdenis and Albertas Rosinas present an entirely different classification of declension types, informed by natural morphology¹. Their app-

¹ This method originated and spread particularly widely in Germany and Austria in the early 1970s. The direction of inquiry in question explains both structural tendencies in languages in general and specific processes of change in different languages, drawing in part on universal principles of naturalness.

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mone (Girdenis, Rosinas 1977: 338), tradicinė, arba sąlyginė, daiktavardžių linksniavimo tvarka yra nemotyvuota ir neleidžia atskleisti skirtingų kamienų sąveikos, natūralios linksniavimo tipų klasifikacijos. Be to, tiriant daiktavardžius tradiciniu būdu, neatsižvelgiama į jų giminės, formų panašumą. Taigi remiantis A. Girdenio ir A. Rosino moksline idėja, šiame tyrime kiekviena daiktavardžių kait ybos klasė bus gretinama su visomis kitomis kait ybos klasėmis, aiškinamasi, koks yra sutampančių linksnių galūnių skaičius, skaičiuojamas linksnių vartojimo dažnis.

Adelė Valeckienė (1998) developed a noun declension system close to the theory of natural morphology. Her classification takes into account similarities between paradigms. According to the linguist, nouns with some different stems have similar systems of endings, while sometimes, conversely, nouns with the same stem differ in some endings (1998: 319).

Apskritai darbų, skirtų panevežiškių patarmei, yra nemažai (Kačiuškienė 2000, 2006; Garšva 1982, 2000; Ručinskaitė 1984 ir kt.), daug apibendrinamosios medžiagos pateikta Z. Zinkevičiaus darbuose (1966, 1975). Vis dėlto reikia pasakyti, kad beveik visi kalbininkai daugiausia domėjosi panevežiškių patarmės fonetika, morfologijai skirtas vos vienas kitas darbas (Šliavas 1974, Vidugiris 1964).

Thus, no studies of the noun declension system of the Northern Panevėžiškiai subdialect of Eastern Aukštaitian based on the theory of natural morphology have yet been published². Drawing on the theoretical principles of natural morphology, this article describes the system of noun inflection classes in the subdialect in question and presents a classification of its stems. This classification takes into account not only endings but also accentual and morphonological changes in identical morphemes. It differs from the usual (traditional) classification in that it pays particular attention to similarities among inflections within paradigms and seeks to highlight the diversity of noun inflection.

² A. Rosinas and A. Girdenis used the methods of natural morphology to investigate the hierarchy of noun declension types in Standard Lithuanian, certain Žemaitian dialect varieties (Tirkšliai and Šaukėnai), and Standard Latvian and its dialects (Girdenis, Rosinas 1977; Rosinas 1994, 2005: 47–51, 76–83). The methods were also used by Aurimas Markevičius in his research on the Northern Širvintiškiai (Markevičius A. Šiaurinių širvintiškių daiktavardžio linksniavimas ir jo istorija. Daktaro disertacija. Vilnius: Vilniaus universiteto leidykla, 2008; Markevičius A. Šiaurinių širvintiškių daiktavardžio linksniavimas ir jo istorija. Monografija. Vilnius: Vilniaus universiteto leidykla, 2009), by Aušra Kaikarytė in her study of the Joniškis variety (Kaikarytė A. Joniškio šnektos daiktavardžio linksniavimo sistema. Daktaro disertacija. Vilnius, 2010), and by Vitalija Karaciejūtė in her study of the Southern Aukštaitians (Karaciejūtė V. Varėnos šnektos daiktavardžio linksniavimo sistema. Daktaro disertacija. Vilnius, 2013). See also Savickienė, Kazlauskienė, Kamandulytė 2004: 81 and the literature cited there; on the theory itself, see Wurzel 1984.

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RESEARCH

The study addresses several objectives: 1) to investigate the noun declension types and their hierarchy in the Northern Panevėžiškiai subdialect; 2) to show that the subdialect under investigation has not only a conditional but also a natural order of noun declension; 3) to present the tendencies in stem alternation of nouns in the Northern Panevėžiškiai of Eastern Aukštaitian.

Empirical material. Most of the audio material for the study was collected by the article’s author (25 hours); the remainder was taken from the Dialect Archive of the Institute of the Lithuanian Language (6 hours). The study examines the following Northern Panevėžiškiai localities: Joniškėlis, Jūrgenai, Pūmpėnai, Pasvalys, Salõčiai, Geidžiūnai, and Gailiõniai. The research material consists of about one hundred pages of transcribed dialect texts. All nouns were extracted from them (4,961 in total), classified and counted by stem (832 nouns with ā-stems, 197 with iā-stems, 1,891 with a-stems, 92 with u-stems, 799 with ia₂-stems, 46 with i_f-stems, 17 with i_m-stems, 59 with C_m-stems, 25 with C_f-stems, and 903 with ē-stems), gender, number, case, and accentuation type (barytone and oxytone).

The following criteria and conditions were used to determine the declension types:

1. Differences between noun stems are determined by phonology, not phonetics. For example, in Northern Panevėžiškiai nouns šã.kę ‘branch’ and duõbę ‘pit’, the final vowels are considered positional variants of the same phoneme (cf. also the Širvintiškiai forms žõ.bl̥ ‘grass’ and ã.ki ‘eye’).

2. The vocalic stems of nouns were identified on the basis of the plural dative, and the consonantal stems on the basis of the plural genitive.

3. The Northern Panevėžiškiai are characterized by extremely strong reduction of final vowels; in addition, the law of universal stress retraction applies (i.e., stress is retracted not only from a short ending but also from a long circumflex ending, and onto not only a long but also a short syllable, e.g.: žmó·n^b ‘wife’, diẽn^{b s} ‘days’, ràs^b ‘dew’, kàte ‘cat’). As a result, the oxytone and barytone accentual paradigms become identical, and many syncretic cases arise. Therefore, in this study, barytone nouns will be used to determine stems³. Oxytone

³ Cf.: The declension stems of the Northern Širvintiškiai of Eastern Aukštaitian and the Varėna subdialect of Southern Aukštaitian were identified using only oxytone nouns. The stressed endings of the Northern Širvintiškiai are better preserved than the unstressed ones. In addition, the Širvintiškiai shorten unstressed long vowels to short ones, and conditional stress retraction applies (Markevičius 2006: 436). In the Varėna subdialect, oxytone nouns were chosen because the noun paradigm is well represented (Karaciejūtė 2011: 315). Southern Aukštaitian speakers preserve endings well, and words are in most cases stressed as in the standard language. Sometimes the stress position or accent may differ because words belong to other accentual paradigms and new accentuation patterns have developed, e.g.: plì·tas ‘bricks’, stɔ·gùs ‘roofs’, etc. (LKTCh 2004: 81).

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Examples of nouns are given only for comparison, i.e., to show the similarities between the two accentuation types. The differences found are presented in the first table.

TABLE 1. Differences between barytone and oxytone accentuation in the Northern Panevėžiškiai subdialect

Singular

Barytone accentuation Oxytone accentuation Plural Barytone accentuation Oxytone accentuation

ā-stems

N. piėvom šakó·m

Loc. piévo šakọ·Loc. piėvos šakọ·s^b

iā-stems

Loc. sá.ujo daļõ· Loc. sá.ujǫs daļõ·s

ē-stems

Loc. ú.pe đobė· Loc. ú.pęs đobę̇s

u-stems

Loc. tǫr.ġ^g4 đangu̇.i

_if-stems

N. á.ntem / ó.ntem⁵ avį.m

Ill. (ṣo)_á.ntem / (ṣo)_ó.ntem (ṣo)_avį.m

It can be seen that, according to accentuation type, the singular and plural locative forms differ in four stems (ā, iā, ē, and u; only the singular in the u stem); the plural dative forms differ in two stems (ā and i_f), and only one difference was found among nouns of the i_f stem (the plural instrumental forms differ).

It is important to mention that nouns of the i_m, C_m, and C_f stems in the Northern Panevėžys subdialect have only oxytone accentuation (vâġᵇs, àkmo, dòkte). There are no nouns of these stems with barytone accentuation. The only word of the C_m stem is mė·no

4 The noun turgus ‘market’ is formally assigned to the u stem here, but only the singular genitive case has retained the ending of this stem, cf. tǫr.gos ‘of the market’ and vú.ra ‘of the man’. All the other cases have shifted to the a stem.

5 In the speech of the Northern Panevėžys subdialect, the noun antis ‘duck’ is assigned to the i_f stem type, but there is clear mixing of this stem with the ē stem (cf. singular genitive á.ntęs / ó.ntęs ‘of the duck’ and bi.tes ‘of the bee’; singular dative á.nte / ó.nte ‘to the duck’ and bi.tę ‘to the bee’; plural dative á.ntęm / ó.ntęm ‘to the ducks’ and bi.tem ‘to the bees’; plural instrumental (ṣo)_á.ntęm / (ṣo)_ó.ntęm ‘with the ducks’ and (ṣo)_bi.tem ‘with the bees’). Here, in some cases, a murmured front vowel can correspond to an ending of either the ē stem or the i_f stem.

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‘Month’ retained the form of this stem only in the singular nominative. All the other cases have shifted to the ia² stem. However, again as a result of vowel reduction in endings and the general retraction of stress, oxytonic nouns are stressed on the root in the Panevėžys subdialect (vàǧb̂s ‘thief’, (ṣọ)_vàǧb̂ ‘with a thief’, akmėnu ‘of stones’, àv̀b̂s ‘sheep’, (ṣọ)_àv̀b̂ ‘with a sheep’, etc.), and therefore these nouns were also used in the study.

4. If nouns in the Northern Panevėžys subdialect have two or more parallel case forms (for example, dú.kterę and dú.kteŕb ‘daughters’), the more frequent form is considered representative of the stem. According to Wolfgang Ulrich Wurzel, when a word can immediately be declined according to more than one type, additional (complementary) inflectional classes arise (Wurzel 1984: 127). No such additional inflectional classes were found in the subdialect studied.

Analysis of the empirical material revealed that the Northern Panevėžiškiai subdialect has no iu or ia¹-stem nouns. They are declined according to the ia² stem, cf. kæ.ḷ̂s “road,” bró·l̂s “brother,” spiẽč̂s “swarm” (bees), á.mž̂s “age” (lifetime). The following noun stems have been preserved: the a stem (kaimí·n̂s “neighbor,” vaĩ.k̂s “child,” prō·t̂s “mind,” rā·t̂s “wheel”), the ia² stem (kò·loḳ̂s “whirlpool,” tẹvẽl̂s “daddy,” pavà.sar̂s “spring,” á.rkəl̂s “horse”), the ā stem (mešk̂ “bear,” mukì·kəl̂ “school,” galv̂ “head,” ló·v̂ “bed”), the iā stem (bažnì·č̂ “church,” grì·č̂ “peasant house,” põ·n̂ “lady,” klebonì.i “rectory,” burẽ.i “fortune-teller”), the ē stem (pardutù.ve “shop,” *mažù.pe “Mažupė,” jāunì·ste “youth,” stiklì.ne “glass”), the i_m stem (vàǧb̂s “thief”), the i_f stem (nàk̂s “night,” klẹ·t̂s “granary,” ū.ždof̂s “task”), the u stem (àl̂s “beer,” žmò·ĝs “person,” sū·n̂s “son,” liẽt̂s “rain”), the C_m stem (rõḍo “autumn,” mé·no “month”), and the C_f stem (sẹṣo “sister,” dòḳte “daughter”).

The declension paradigms of nouns of all stems are presented below (separately for barytone accentuation and, for comparison, oxytonic accentuation).

² TABLE. Declension paradigms of nouns with barytone accentuation

a stem

SINGULAR

PLURAL

V.

vì·r̂s

vì·rę

K.

vì·ra

vì·ru

N.

vì·r̂

vì·ram

G.

vì·ro

vì·r̂s

Ill.

vì·r̂

vì·ręs

Loc.

sõ·d̂ / tep_sõ·da

sõ·dos / tep_sõ·du

Š.

vì·rę!

vì·rę!

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ā stem SINGULAR PLURAL Nom. Gen. Dat. Acc. Ins. Loc. Ill. pi̇evᵇ pi̇evos pi̇evęs pi̇evom pi̇evọ pi̇evᵇs (sọ) pi̇evᵇ (sọ) pi̇evom pi̇evọ / tep_pi̇evos pi̇evos / tep_pi̇evu *lá.im! *lá.imos!

ē stem SINGULAR PLURAL Nom. Gen. Dat. Acc. Ins. Loc. Ill. bi̇.te bi̇.tęs bi̇.tę bi̇.tę (sọ) bi̇.tᵇ ú.pe / tep_ú.pęs bi̇.tᵇ!

ī stem SINGULAR PLURAL Nom. Gen. Dat. Acc. Ins. Loc. Ill. á.ntᵇs / ó.ntᵇs á.ntęs / ó.ntęs á.nte / ó.nte á.ntᵇ / ó.ntᵇ (sọ) á.ntᵇ / (sọ) ó.ntᵇ – á.nte / ó.nte! á.ntᵇs / ó.ntᵇs á.nčų / ó.nčų á.ntem / ó.ntem á.ntᵇs / ó.ntᵇs (sọ) á.ntem / (sọ) ó.ntem – á.ntᵇs! / ó.ntᵇs!

_{i̯a kamienas} SINGULAR PLURAL Nom. Gen. Dat. Acc. Ins. Loc. Ill. bró.lᵇs bró.le bró.lᵇ bró.lᵇ (sọ) bró.lᵇ – bró.lọ! bró.le bró.lu bró.lem bró.lᵇs (sọ) bró.les – bró.le!

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ia stem

SINGULAR

PLURAL

V.

sá.u_jb

sá.u_jos

K.

sá.u_jos

sá.u_ju

N.

sá.u_ję

sá.u_jom

G.

sá.u_jo

sá.u_jḃ§

Instr.

(sọ) sá.u_jb

(sọ) sá.u_jom

Loc.

sá.ujo / tep sá.u_jos

sá.u_jos / tep sá.uju

Š.

—

—

u stem

SINGULAR

PLURAL

V.

tȯṛ.g^bs

tȯṛ.gę

K.

tȯṛ.gọs

tȯṛ.gu

N.

tȯṛ.g^b

tȯṛ.gam

G.

tȯṛ.go

tȯṛ.g^bs

Įn.

(sọ) tȯṛ.g^b

(sọ) tȯṛ.gęs

Vt.

tȯṛ.g^b / tep tȯṛ.ga/an tȯṛ.gọs

tȯṛ.gọs / tep tȯṛ.gu

Š.

—

—

TABLE 3. Declension paradigms of nouns with oxytone stress

a stem

SINGULAR

PLURAL

V.

vẹl̇.k^bs / vọl̇.k^bs⁶

vẹl̇kę / vọl̇kę

K.

vẹl̇.ka / vọl̇.ka

vẹl̇ku / vọl̇ku

N.

vẹl̇.k^b

vọl̇kam

G.

vẹl̇.ko / vọl̇.ko

vẹl̇k^bs / vọl̇k^bs

Loc.

(sọ) vẹl̇k^b / vọl̇k^b

(sọ) vọl̇kęs / vẹlkęs

Loc.⁷

kiẽm^b / tep kiẽma⁸

kiẽmos / tep kiẽmu

Š.

vọl̇.kę⁹!

ọl̇.kę!

⁶ Northern Panevėžys speakers use both forms in parallel. The second (vọl̇.kᵇs) is more common in the speech of older generations.

⁷ The illative case is not included in the case system. Only 9 such instances occurred in the empirical material, e.g.: (i) plī́tine pri.jeme o̜.kolkõ.zan nepri.jime || (Joniškėlis); tená.i vę̇ṡ remó.ntan ai.nᵇ bú.dava gi || (Joniškėlis); križė.iᵇs bú.dava prikabī.ntᵇs klá.ses galan || (Geidžiūnai); kiek mú.m prakakį.na | miškan bú.vam išvi.ji || (Jūrgenai). They do not provide significant results for the study. The illative was used accidentally by representatives of the older generation.

⁸ When calculating the endings of matching cases, the first, usual (rather than prelocative) locative form was used.

⁹ In the Northern Panevėžiškiai area, the vocative form in –ai has become established and is beginning to displace the older form in usage (cf.: sg. voc. vọl̇.kę “wolves,” rather than vilkę).

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i̯a₂ stem

SINGULAR

PLURAL

V.

á.rkʲᵇˢ

árklę

K.

á.rklę

árklu

N.

á.rkʲᵇ

árklem

G.

á.rkʲᵇ

á.rkʲᵇˢ

Instr.

(sɔ)₋ á.rkʲᵇ

(sɔ)₋árkles

See.

ukĭ. / tep ú-ke

ú-kos

Š.

á.rkʲlɔ¹⁰!

árkle!

ā stem

SINGULAR

PLURAL

V.

šàkᵇ

šà.kɔs

K.

šàkɔs

šàku

N.

šà.kę

šakó·m

G.

šà.kɔ

šàkᵇˢ

Inst.

(sɔ)₋šàkᵇ

(sɔ)₋šàkɔm

Loc.

šakó· / tep₋šàkɔs

šakó·sᵇ / tep₋šàku

Š.

má·mᵇ!

má·mos!

ia-stems

SINGULAR

PLURAL

V.

dàlᵇ

dāl̇os

K.

dāl̇os

dàlu

N.

dà.lę

dāl̇om

G.

dà.lę

dàlᵇˢ

Instr.

(sɔ)₋dàlᵇ

(sɔ)₋dāl̇om

Loc.

dalō·

dalō·sᵇ

Š.

*dà.l̇ᵇ!

dāl̇os!

¹⁰ In Standard Lithuanian, the usual vocative ending for the ia₂ stem is -y (for oxytones) or -i (for barytones), e.g.: arkly, ožy, broli. In the Northern Panevėžys subdialect, instead of the ia₂ stem, a u-stem vocative with the ending -au is used (á.rkʲlɔ “hey, horse,” bró·lɔ “hey, brother,” ki.škɔ “hey, hare”).

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ē stem SINGULAR PLURAL Nom. dūobė dūoḃės Gen. dūoḃės dūobu Dat. dūoḃe dūoḃem Acc. dūoḃe dūoḃᵇs Instr. (so) dūoḃᵇ (so) dūoḃem Loc. doḃė̃ / tep_dūoḃes doḃės / tep_dūobu Voc. vārᵇ / vāria! vāṙės!

i_m stem SINGULAR PLURAL Nom. vāġᵇs vā.ġᵇs Gen. vāġes vāgu Dat. vā.ġᵇ vaġi.m Acc. vā.ġᵇ vāġᵇs Instr. (so) vāġᵇ sȯ_vagi.m / sȯ_vaġes Loc. debesī / tep_ḋē.beṣe debesi.s / tep_deḃèsu Voc. vāġo¹¹! vā.ġᵇs!

u stem SINGULAR PLURAL Nom. sū·nᵇs sū·nę Gen. sū·nos sū·nu Dat. sū·nᵇ sū·nam Acc. sū·no sū·nᵇs Instr. (so) sū·nᵇ¹² (so) sū·nęs Loc. dangū.i – Voc. sū·nę¹³! sū·nę!

¹¹ Here, stem migration is also observed: i_m stem (as does i_a₂) takes over the vocative ending -au of the (i)u stem.

¹² The singular instrumental case no longer has the ending -umi of the u stem, but the ending -u of the a stem, that is, not su sūnumi, žmogumi, but su sūnu, žmog u. This form is the result of the mixing of a- and u-stem nouns. Compare also the singular instrumental of i_f and ī̇a stems: sȯ_āvᵇ “with a sheep” and sȯ_dālᵇ “with a share.” Here too, a clear case of stem mixing is apparent.

¹³ u-stem nouns have identical singular and plural vocative forms. Here u-stem nouns take over the ending -ai of a-stem nouns (cf. sg. voc. v̇ōlkę “wolves” and sū·nę “sons”).

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i₍f₎ stem SINGULAR | PLURAL Nom. | àvᵇš | ắ.vᵇš Gen. | àvęs | ắù Dat. | ắ.vę | aví.m Acc. | ắ.ve / ắ.vᵇ | ắvᵇš Instr. | (sọ) ắvᵇ | (sọ) aví.m Loc. | akí. | akí.š Voc. | ắvę! | ắ.vᵇš!

Cₘ stem SINGULAR | PLURAL Nom. | ằkmọ | ắ.kmenᵇš Gen. | ắ.kmenę¹⁴ | akmėnu Dat. | ắ.kmenᵇ | akmení.m Acc. | ắ.kmenᵇ | ắ.kmenᵇš Instr. | (sọ) ắ.kmenᵇ | (sọ) ắ.kmenęṣ Loc. | akmení. / tep_ắ.kmene | akmení.š / tep_akmėnu Voc. | ắ.kmenọ! | ắ.kmenᵇš!

Cₑ stem SINGULAR | PLURAL Nom. | dọktẹ | dù.kterᵇš Gen. | dọktẹṣ | dukterù Dat. | dù.kterę / dù.kterᵇ | dù.kteręm Acc. | dù.kterᵇ | dù.kterᵇš Instr. | (sọ) dù.kterᵇ / (sọ) dọktᵇ | (sọ) dù.kteręm Loc. | – | – Voc. | – | dù.kterᵇš!

The paradigms of nouns with baritone and oxytone accentuation presented above show that the endings of some inflectional classes are very similar (cf. the ā-stem paradigm in Tables 2 and 3 with that of the iā stem, and the a-stem paradigm with that of the u stem), while others differ (cf. the ē-stem paradigm in Tables 2 and 3 with the i₍f₎ stem, and the u stem in Table 3 with the i₍m₎ stem). In determining the declension of the Northern Panevėžys subdialect

¹⁴ The genitive of masculine consonant-stem nouns has an iā₂-stem ending (cf. rù.ḍenę “of autumn,” ắ.rklę “of a horse,” bró.lę “of a brother”), while the vocative has an (i)ū-stem ending (cf. ắ.kmenọ! “O stone!” *daĩ.ñọ “Dainiau”).

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For the classification of the types and their mutual hierarchy, the methodology described earlier by A. Girdenis and A. Rosinas in 1977 (338–348) was used. That is, each stem was compared with all the other stems. The most important measure of similarity between two stems is the number of matching case endings (m). Let us compare the a-stem of the Northern Panevėžiškiai subdialect (vẹ́lkʰˢ “wolf”) with the ā-stem (šàkʰᵇ “branch”); see Table 4:

TABLE 4. a and ā-stem noun paradigms

Singular

Plural

a stem

ā stem

a stem

ā stem

V.

vẹ̄l.kʰs / ʋọ̄l.kʰs

šàkʰᵇ

vẹ̄lkę / ʋọ̄lkę

šã.kọs

K.

vẹ̄l.ka / ʋọ̄l.ka

šàkǫs

vẹ̄lku / ʋọ̄lku

šàku

N.

vẹ̄l.kʰᵇ

šà.kę

ʋọ̄lkam

šakó·m

G.

vẹ̄l.kọ / ʋọ̄l.kọ

šà.kọ

vẹ̄lkʰˢ / ʋọ̄lkʰᵇs

šàkʰᵇs

Ill.

(sǫ)̰vẹ̄lkʰᵇ / ʋọ̄lkʰᵇ

(sǫ)̰šàkʰᵇ

(sǫ)̰ʋọ̄lkęs / vẹ̄lkęs

(sǫ)̰šàkǫm

Loc.

kiēmᵇ / tep_kiēma

šakō· / tep_šàkǫs

kiēmos / tep_kiēmu

šakō·sᵇ / tep_šàku

Š.

ʋọ̄l.kę!

má.mᵇ!

ʋọ̄l.kę!

má.mos!

As can be seen, the a and ā paradigms have four case endings that coincide (the singular accusative and instrumental, and the plural genitive and accusative). Thus, the similarity index (m) of these paradigms is 4. However, this index is not entirely accurate, since all inflectional classes have identical plural genitive and—unlike the other surveyed Aukštaitian dialects (Northern Širvintiškiai, Varėna, Joniškis)—accusative endings. Thus, the endings of forms such as, for example, sú·nʰs, àvᵇs, ví·rʰs, bró·lʰs, piévᵇs, sá·ujᵇs, bètᵇs, tọ·rᵇs, are reduced and treated as identical, or, more precisely, as their positional variants. The vocative most often has several parallel forms (e.g., vãrlᵇ, vãrla ~ varle!), while in many cases the usual vocative forms (especially those of consonant-stem nouns) are not used at all in the Northern Panevėžiškiai subdialect. In the Northern Panevėžiškiai area, as in other subdialects (Uteniškiai, Northern West Aukštaitian, etc.), the usual vocative form is replaced by a diminutive/hypocoristic form: varlį·tʰᵇ “little frog,” dukri·tʰᵇ “dear daughter,” sesi·tʰᵇ “dear sister,” sesú·tʰᵇ “dear sister.” Thus, these cases, also called anomalies, are excluded from the paradigms. In this case, the plural genitive and accusative cases must be removed from the table, leaving 2 coinciding case endings.

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When determining the similarity of noun declension types, not only the number of coinciding case endings but also the frequency of case usage is significant (see Table 5).

TABLE 5. Frequency of noun case usage in Northern Panevėžiškiai

Singular Plural Dual N. 1035 20.71% 635 12.71% G. 750 15.01% 516 10.33% D. 59 1.18% 41 0.82% A. 833 16.67% 359 7.18% 29 0.58% I. 148 2.96% 172 3.44% L. 285 5.7% 85 1.7% Ill. 6 0.12% 3 0.06% Voc. 39¹² 0.78% 2 0.04%

The table shows that the cases are not equivalent. The singular nominative, genitive, and accusative are dominant. Taking into account the frequency of use of case forms, a correction (p_i) has been introduced for each case; it is equal to twice the relative frequency of singular cases, while for plural cases it is equal to half the corresponding singular-case corrections. Corrections to the similarity indices of Northern Panevėžiškiai inflectional classes are given in Table 6:

TABLE 6. Corrections to the similarity indices of Northern Panevėžiškiai noun declension types

Singular Plural N. 0.7 0.33 G. 0.5 0.25 D. 0.04 0.02 A. 0.5 0.24 I. 0.1 0.06 L. 0.1 0.07

Next, the similarity index (I) of declension types is calculated using the formula:

I = m + ∑ p_i (i = 1 above the sum; m below)

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The number of matching case endings is added to the adjustments for those same cases. The previously mentioned a and ā paradigms have two matching case endings: the singular accusative and instrumental. The similarity index (I) of the a and ā stems is obtained by performing the following operations: 2+ (0,5 +0,1) = 2,6 ≈ 2,7.

The results obtained by comparing all the inflectional classes of the Northern Panevėžiškiai are presented in Table 7:

TABLE 7. Similarity indices of noun declension types in the Northern Panevėžiškiai subdialect

Types a iā₂ ā iā̄ ē iₘ iբ u Cₘ Cբ a – 7,3 2,7 2,8 1,1 4,9 2,8 8,1 3,2 1,1 iā₂ – 2,2 2,2 2,1 7,5 5,4 6,2 7,3 4,8 ā – 11,3 2,1 1,1 2,1 4,1 1,1 2,1 iā̄ – 3,6 1,1 2,1 2,6 1,1 2,1 ē – 2,6 3,6 1,1 1,1 4,7 iₘ – 11,4 4,9 9,2 7,6 iբ – 2,8 7,1 8,6 u – 3,2 1,1 Cₘ – 7,8 Cբ –

The points of intersection between the vertical and horizontal rows in the table indicate the similarity index of the two stems. In the Northern Panevėžiškiai subdialect, among masculine nouns, iₘ and iբ have a high similarity index and are fairly close to the i and Cₘ, a and u stems. Among feminine nouns, the ā and iā̄, and iբ and Cբ stems are very similar. The ē stem can be distinguished: its similarity index is the lowest in comparison with all the stems.

A more precise indication of stem similarity is provided by hierarchical clustering, which was carried out using the maximum method; that is, after the most similar types have been combined, new classes are formed according to the highest of the previous indices. The classification of noun declension types in the Northern Panevėžiškiai, constructed in this way, is presented in Figure 1.

The figure distinguishes three branches of noun stems: feminine declension (ā and iā̄), masculine declension (a and u), and mixed declension (iₘ, iբ, Cₘ, Cբ). The iā₂ stem lies in the middle, between the masculine and mixed declension types. This stem clearly tends toward nouns of mixed declension (the similarity index of iā₂ and iₘ is 7,5; that of iā₂ and Cₘ is 7,3), but it is also fairly closely related to other masculine-stem nouns (the similarity index of iā₂ and the a stem is 7,3; that of iā₂ and the u stem is 6,2). Hierarchical

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In the clustering “tree,” a separate branch is drawn for the ē stem, which connects to the masculine and mixed declension stems, while it shares very few case endings in total with the ā and iā stems. Thus, it appears that stem differentiation in the Northern Panevėžiškiai subdialect is quite different from that in other Aukštaitian dialects already studied—the Northern Širvintiškiai (Markevičius: 2006, 445), Joniškis (Kaikarytė: 2010, 112), Varėna (Karaciejūtė: 2011, 321), and the standard language (Girdenis, Rosinas: 1977, 341). In the Northern Širvintiškiai and Varėna dialects, the ē stem is isolated and tends very little toward mixed and feminine declension nouns, whereas in the Joniškis dialect, as in the standard language, the ē stem forms a very compact group with the ā and iā stems.

FIG. 1. The hierarchical clustering “tree” of declension types in the Northern Panevėžiškiai subdialect

Thus, in the Northern Panevėžiškiai subdialect, feminine-declension noun stems split into two groups: 1) ē-stem nouns, which share more endings with masculine and mixed declension stems; 2) the ā and iā stems, which are generally much more distant from all the other stems and therefore have very few matching case endings.

It is easy to see that the hierarchical clustering “tree” of the Northern Panevėžiškiai is not very tall. One could say that the “tree” grows very proportionally. The convergence of noun paradigms is indicated by the relatively high similarity indices of the declension types (see Table 7); there are no zeros in the table at all.

In summary, it can be stated that all Northern Panevėžiškiai nouns belong to 3 three declension types: feminine (šaka, dalia), masculine (žmogus, vyras)

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and the mixed type (akis, vagis, akmuõ, duktė). Figure 1 shows a clear parallel between the feminine declension stem types ā and iā, with a similarity index of 11.3. The masculine declension stems a and u also form a separate branch, with a slightly lower similarity index of 8.1. As already mentioned, the iā₂ stem has a similar relationship to both masculine and mixed-type nouns, and therefore appears to occupy an intermediate position (cf. the similarity index between the iā₂ and a stems is 7.3; the similarity index between iā₂ and iₘ is 7.5). The closeness of the mixed-type declension stems is evident (the similarity index between the i_f and iₘ stems is as high as 11.4; that between the iₘ and Cₘ stems is 9.2; and that between the i_f and C_f stems is 8.6).

MAIN CONCLUSIONS

1. The natural ordering of noun declension types in the Northern Panevėžiškiai subdialect by similarity is as follows: ā, iā, a, u, iā₂, i_f, iₘ, Cₘ, C_f, ē.

2. The noun declension stems of Northern Panevėžiškiai fall into three groups: masculine (a- and u-stem nouns), feminine (ā- and iā-stem nouns), and mixed (iₘ, i_f, Cₘ, C_f). The ē stem stands apart from all the others; it is closer to masculine and mixed-declension nouns than to feminine-declension stems.

3. Gradual convergence is characteristic of all noun declension types in the subdialect under study—feminine, masculine, and mixed.

3.1. The i_f and iₘ stems of mixed-declension nouns, the ā and iā stems of feminine-declension nouns, and the a and u stems of masculine-declension nouns have high similarity indices and are close to one another.

3.2. The stems of Northern Panevėžiškiai feminine-declension nouns split into two groups: ē-stem nouns share more endings with masculine- and mixed-declension stems, while the ā and iā stems are generally much more distant from all the other stems.

3.3. Unlike in the other subdialects studied, the Northern Panevėžiškiai iā₂ stem lies midway between the masculine and mixed declension types. The iā₂ stem is almost equally related to masculine- and mixed-declension nouns (cf. the similarity index between the iā₂ and a stems is 7.3; between the iā₂ and u stems, 6.2; between the iā₂ and iₘ stems, 7.5; and between the iā₂ and Cₘ stems, 7.3).

4. The hierarchical clustering “tree” of Northern Panevėžiškiai declension types, compared with the hierarchical clustering “trees” of the Tirkšliai (Girdenis, Rosinas: 1977), Northern Širvintiškiai (Markevičius: 2006), Standard Lithuanian (Girdenis, Rosinas: 1977), and Varėna (Karaciejūtė 2011) declension types,

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is somewhat lower. The fairly high similarity indices of the declension types indicate a marked convergence among the noun paradigms of the Northern Panevėžiškiai subdialects.

LITERATŪRA

DLKG – Dabartinės lietuvių kalbos gramatika. Vilnius: Mokslo ir enciklopedijų leidybos institutas, 2005.

Garšva Kazimieras 1982a: Joniškėlio apylinkės šnektos tekstai. Vilnius: Vilniaus universiteto leidykla.

Garšva Kazimieras 1982b: Svarbesnės šiaurės vakarų panevėžiškių fonologijos ypatybės. – Baltistica 18(1), 65–75.

Garšva Kazimieras 2000: Šiaurės vakarų panevėžiškių „murmamieji balsiai“. – Lietuvių kalbotyros klausimai 43, 165–175.

Girdenis Aleksas, Rosinas Albertas 1977: Lietuvių kalbos daiktavardžio linksniavimo tipų hierarchija ir pagrindinės jos kitimo tendencijos (bendrinės kalbos ir žemaičių tarmės duomenimis). – Baltistica 13(2), 338–348.

Kačiuškienė Genovaitė 2000: Nekirčiuotų i/u ir e/o vartojimas Joniškėlio ir Pakruojo apylinkių rišliuose tekstuose. – Baltų filologija 9, 25–31.

Kačiuškienė Genovaitė 2006: Šiaurės panevėžiškių tarmės fonologijos bruožai. Mokslinė monografija. Vilnius: Vilniaus universiteto leidykla.

Kaikarytė Aušra 2010: Joniškio šnektos daiktavardžio linksniavimo sistema. Daktaro disertacija. Vilnius: Lietuvių kalbos institutas.

Karaciejūtė Vitalija 2011: Varėnos šnektos daiktavardžių fleksinės klasės ir jų hierarchija. – Lituanistica 57, 3(85), 314–324.

Kruopas Jonas (red.) 1957: Pirmoji lietuvių kalbos gramatika. Vilnius: Valstybinė politinės ir mokslinės literatūros leidykla.

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Markevičius Aurimas 2006: Šiaurinių širvintiškių daiktavardžio kamienai ir jų hierarchija. – Baltistica 41(3), 435–450.

Rosinas Albertas 2005: Latvių kalbos daiktavardžio linksniavimo sistema: sinchronija ir diachronija. Vilnius: Mokslo ir enciklopedijų leidybos institutas.

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Noun Declension Types in the Eastern Aukštaitian Subdialect of Northern Panevėžiškiai and the Tendencies of Their Change

SUMMARY

The nouns of the Eastern Aukštaitian Subdialect of Northern Panevėžiškiai were analysed using the synchronic method first proposed by Girdenis and Rosinas in 1977. Each noun declension class was juxtaposed to all other declension classes; the number of coinciding case endings was examined; the frequency of the usage of cases was calculated.

The research made the following findings:

1. The natural order of the noun declension types of the Northern Panevėžiškiai Subdialect by similarity is as follows: ā, īā, a, u, īa₂, īf, īm, Cₘ, Cᶠ, ē̄.

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2. The noun declension stems in the Northern Panevėžiškiai Subdialect fall into three groups: masculine (a and u stem nouns), feminine (ā and iā stem nouns) and mixed (i_m, i_f, C_m, C_f); ē stem which is more approximate to the nouns of masculine and mixed declension rather than feminine declension stems stands out from other stems.

3. Gradual approximation is characteristic of all declensional types of nouns in the sub-dialect under analysis – feminine, masculine and mixed.

3.1. Stems i_f and i_m of mixed declension nouns, stems ā and iā of feminine declension nouns, stems a and u of masculine declension nouns are closely linked and show a high similarity index.

3.2. Stems of feminine declension nouns of the Northern Panevėžiškiai Subdialect fall into two groups: ē stem nouns share more endings with the stems of masculine and mixed declension, whereas ā and iā stems are generally more remote to all other stems.

3.3. In contrast to other subdialects analysed before, the stem iā₂ of the Northern Panevėžiškiai Subdialect falls in between masculine and mixed types of declension. The linkage between the stem iā₂ and masculine and mixed declension nouns is nearly identical (cf.: iā₂ and a stem similarity index stands at 7.3; iā₂ and u stem similarity index is 6.2; iā₂ and i_m similarity index is 7.5; iā₂ and C_m similarity index is 7.3).

4. Compared to the dendrograms of hierarchical clustering of declension types of Tirkšliai (Girdenis, Rosinas: 1977), Northern Širvintiškiai (Markevičius: 2006), standard language (Girdenis, Rosinas: 1977), Varėna (Karaciejūtė 2011), the dendrogram of the hierarchical clustering of declension types of the Northern Panevėžiškiai Subdialect is slightly lower. Rather high declension type similarity indices show evident approximation of noun paradigms in the Northern Panevėžiškiai Subdialect.

Įteikta 2016 m. balandžio 17 d.

RASA KURKAUSKIENĖ

Lietuvos edukologijos universitetas

Taraso Ševčenkos g. 31, LT–03111 Vilnius, Lietuva

[email protected]

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