BALTŲ KALBŲ VEIKSMAŽODŽIO TYRINĖJIMAI LIETUVOS TSR MOKSLŲ AKADEMIJA

E. GRINAVECKIENĖ

SOME FEATURES OF THE VERB IN THE GERVĖČIAI DIALECT

We have almost no descriptions or more comprehensive generalizing studies to date of the isolated Lithuanian dialect of Gervėčiai (BSSR, Grodno region, Astravyets district), spoken in the 12 Lithuanian villages around the town of Gervėčiai—Gaigaliai, Galčiūnai, Geliūnai, Girios, Kerplosina, Knystiškės, Miciūnai, Miltiėjos, Mockos, Petrikai, Pelegrinda, and Rimdžiūnai—even though Lithuanian in this area has been studied since the late nineteenth century. The collection of dialect material from these surroundings intensified particularly during the Soviet period. In addition to a collection of texts from these places¹, phraseological expressions and semantic dialectisms used here have also recently been published², the phonological system of the dialect has been described³, and certain aspects of lexical and semantic influence between the Lithuanian spoken in this area and the Slavic languages are being investigated⁴. Considerable linguistic material from this dialect is included in the academic Dictionary of the Lithuanian Language and its card index⁵, in the card index and sound archive of the Atlas of the Lithuanian Language⁶, in the academic Grammar of the Lithuanian Language⁷, in J. Paulauskas’s study “The Functions of Verb Prefixes in Contemporary Standard Lithuanian”⁸, in Z. Zinkevičius’s book Lithuanian Dialectology⁹, and elsewhere.

The verb system of this dialect, certain features of its inflection, derivation, meaning, and so on, as well as archaic remnants and remodeled forms, attract attention. This article attempts to shed light on one or another such feature of the verb.

¹ Э. Вольтер, Литовская хрестоматия, вып. 2, СПб, 1904, p. 396—402; P. Arumaa, Litauische mundartliche Texte aus der Wilnaer Gegend mit grammatischen Anmerkungen, Dorpat, 1930, p. 7—18; Lietuvių kalbos tarmės (Chrestomatija), Vilnius, 1970, p. 394—395.

² Studies in Lexicon, Vilnius, 1972 (articles by A. Vidugiris and J. Lipskienė).

³ Т. М. Судник, К характеристике фонологических систем литовско-славянского пограничья (канд. диссертация), Москва, 1970.

⁴ Л. Г. Невская, О лексическом и семантическом взаимодействии литовского и славянских языков (на материале географической апеллятивной терминологии), — Советское славяноведение, Москва, 1972, № 1, р. 90—104.

⁵ Dictionary of the Lithuanian Language, I—VIII, Vilnius, 1941—1970; its card index, held at the Institute of the Lithuanian Language and Literature of the Lithuanian SSR Academy of Sciences.

⁶ Card index and sound archive of the Atlas of the Lithuanian Language, held at the Institute of the Lithuanian Language and Literature of the Lithuanian SSR Academy of Sciences.

⁷ Grammar of the Lithuanian Language, I, Vilnius, 1965; II, Vilnius, 1971.

⁸ J. Paulauskas, The Functions of Verb Prefixes in Contemporary Standard Lithuanian, — Literature and Language, III, Vilnius, 1958, p. 303—453.

⁹ Z. Zinkevičius, Lietuvių dialektologija, Vilnius, 1966.

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1. In addition to all the vocalic verb stems used here (klėga¹⁰ ‘speaks’, laidžia ‘lets’, girda ‘hears’, daro), the dialect also has, in one or another verb, a contaminated singular first-person ending of the consonantal stem, e.g.: būmi (its -m- probably arose by analogy with es-mi+u¹¹) ‘I am’, demù ‘I put’, dúomu ‘I give’, dziūmu ‘I dry’, eimi ‘I go’, ėmu ‘I eat’, giemu ‘I sing’, miegmu ‘I sleep’, sviemu ‘I throw’. On the basis of these innovative forms, the entire present-tense paradigm has also been formed and is used here, e.g.: demi ‘you put’, dėma ‘he/she puts’, dėmam ‘we put’, dėmat ‘you (pl.) put’, dúoma ‘he/she gives’, dziūma ‘he/she dries’, eima ‘he/she goes’, ėma ‘he/she eats’, giema ‘he/she sings’, miėgma ‘he/she sleeps’, sviema ‘he/she throws’. Contaminated forms are especially frequent with prefixes, e.g.: pàdema ‘helps’, padúoma ‘gives’, izdziūma ‘dries out’, àteima ‘comes’, àteima būlo ‘used to come’, išeima ‘goes out’, nùveima ‘goes away’, uñeima ‘enters’, su vēma ‘eats up’, pag iema ‘sings through’, pérgiema ‘sings through’, nėmiegma ‘does not sleep’, pasviema ‘throws some’. However, these are not the only present-tense forms for all these verbs. Some also have purely vocalic forms, e.g.: prabūva ‘lives through’, nėmiega ‘does not sleep’. The latter forms have become established in the dialect. Also preserved here is the purely athematic first-person plural present form amė ‘let us go’ (alongside its variant amėte ‘let us go’), which has passed into the imperative system. The attested permissive mood forms of the verb būti, formed from present-tense forms, lack signs of a consonantal stem and are quite varied in their formation, e.g.: tėsta būna, tebūi, tebūi¹² ‘let it be’.

It is difficult to say, on the basis of the available data, whether all the verbs used here that have consonantal-stem relics were originally consonant-conjugating. Perhaps the greatest doubts concern the forms dziūmu, dziūmi, dziūma (izdziūma)... No literature source indicates that this root belonged to the consonant-conjugation type. It is therefore thought that it most likely arose by analogy with other such relic forms. We have recorded entirely analogous relic forms of consonant-stem verbs in the neighboring Lazūnai dialect as well, e.g.: išdema ‘takes out’, pàdema ‘helps’, ùždema ‘puts on’, dúomu ‘I give’, undúoma ‘gives in’, pardúomu ‘I sell’, àima ‘goes’, uñeima ‘enters’, išeima ‘goes out’, àimam ‘we go’, ėma ‘eats’, prėma ‘eats some, eats one’s fill’, nėėma ‘does not eat’, su vēma ‘eats up’, giemu ‘I sing’, giema ‘sings’, sviema ‘throws’, pasviema ‘throws some’. However, as the examples show, neither dziūmu, dziūma (izdziūma) nor būma, būmi forms are used here.

2. The dialect’s reflexive verb forms are also noteworthy. Reflexive verbs most often have the shortened reflexive particle -s in the ending, e.g.: kalbėcis ‘to talk’, juòkiatės, suksiuòs, praũsies, emeis ‘you appeared’, stojis ‘get up’, stotìšbi ‘would get up’, sėstìšbi ‘would sit down’, gultìšbi¹³ ‘would lie down’. However, here comparatively

¹⁰ Dialect examples in the article are presented in the conventional characters of Lithuanian (=literary language), with an effort in every instance to reflect their pronunciation as well. For this reason, į is also used here, since after the dialect’s hardened į, -i (< *-ēn, *-ēn), y, in, and ė have become retracted. In addition, the vowels i, y, and ė are also retracted after the consonants s, š, ž, r, v, and c.

¹¹ See Z. Zinkevičius, Lietuvių dialektologija, p. 346.

¹² According to our data, the form tebūi ‘let it be’, būi ‘be’ is an established fact in the Gervėčiai dialect, not a misunderstanding, as Z. Zinkevičius claims (Lietuvių dialektologija, p. 372).

¹³ The presence of the reflexive particle between the ending and -bi shows that -bi here is nothing other than a postpositional particle. Moreover, it was added here anew, only after the reflexive particle had attached to the verb ending.

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The particle -si is widely used and intact. First of all, it has been preserved in the third-person endings of the present and past tenses (more rarely, of the subjunctive mood), e.g.: darosi, dzyrbasi ‘takes place’, dūmaliojasi ‘smokes’, gaminasi ‘gets dressed’, juokiasi, keliasi ‘rises’, kepasi, klausiasi ‘asks’, pjūnasi, prausiasi, rūkaliojasi ‘gives off smoke’, sągasi ‘fastens’, sėdavinasi ‘sits down’, sukasi || sukasi, supasi, stukėnasi ‘knocks’, vėjasi, velkasi, vyniojasi ‘rolls up’; dzyrbosi ‘was happening, took place’, guldėsi ‘lay down’, klaušėsi, kumeliavosi, meldėsi, radosi, sėdosi; juoktųsi. It may be that the analogous forms of reflexive verbs in Belarusian helped it to remain intact. But even here, alongside the intact forms, forms with the shortened reflexive particle -s occur less frequently, e.g.: kėlias, klaušos, dairios, rāgis ‘is visible’, sūpas, sūkės ‘turned’.

In prefixed verbs, as in the literary language, the reflexive particle is usually located between the prefix and the root, e.g.: asigeidė (< ažisigeidė) ‘desired’, unsibedėu ‘got stuck’. However, negative forms denoting a persistent characteristic of the agent or having an impersonal meaning are used with two reflexive particles. One is in the ending, the other between the negative particle and the root, e.g.: neskūndžiojasi ‘does not bite, does not bite itself (of a dog)’, neslanķosi ‘does not bend’ (of a stick), nesnóris ‘does not feel like it’, nesragėcis (alongside which nesragėcie is also said) ‘cannot be seen’. This may indicate a certain fading of the morphological meaning of the reflexive particle located between the negative particle and the root, probably resulting from the influence of Belarusian, where reflexive verbs, being unattached to the negative particle, like all other prefixed verbs, always have the reflexive particle only at the end, e.g.: надбымалася, наварылся, не залінецлася, не сглезлася.

The dialect has reflexive forms with an intransitive meaning, e.g.: dzyrbasi ‘takes place’, keliasi ‘rises’ (of the sun, wind), dūmaliojasi ‘smokes’, rūkaliojasi ‘gives off smoke’. In standard Lithuanian, in similar cases the intransitive meaning is usually expressed by non-reflexive forms¹⁴, but the academic “Grammar of the Lithuanian Language” gives examples (especially from eastern Lithuanian dialects) in which an intransitive action may also be expressed by a reflexive form¹⁵. The grammar favors non-reflexive forms for standard Lithuanian usage, but also recognizes reflexive forms as acceptable (K. Būga considered them to have arisen under the influence of Slavic languages¹⁶). The reflexive verbs with an intransitive meaning in the Gervėčiai dialect are not entirely usual. Even if, agreeing with the grammar, we might be inclined to regard them as Lithuanian, we could not dismiss the view that the influence of Belarusian verbs with an analogous meaning clearly also contributed to their emergence here. The influence of Belarusian probably also accounts for one or another meaning of individual reflexive verb forms, e.g.: asipikcino ‘got angry’ (of a witch, cf. Belarusian закланавілася), asiverkiau ‘began to cry’, prazbūdo ‘woke up’, kūndžiojasi ‘bites’ (of a dog, cf. Belarusian кусаўца), laŋkosi ‘bends’ (cf. Belarusian гнецца), kėpasi ‘stings’ (of nettles, cf. Belarusian пякуцца).

In the dialect, the reflexive particle -si- in prefixed verbs is always regularly preserved intact if the prefix ends in a consonant, e.g.: acisākė (< at+si+sākė) ‘responded’, apsivertė ‘turned over’, acikėlė ‘got up, rose’, unsispyrė ‘dug in’, asisviedė ‘threw on’, apsisagė ‘fastened around oneself’, asipikcino ‘got angry’, asiverkiau ‘began to cry’, un-

¹⁴ Lietuvių kalbos gramatika, II, p. 207.

¹⁵ Ibid., p. 208.

¹⁶ K. Būga, Rinktiniai raštai, II, Vilnius, 1959, p. 113.

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siraise ‘got dressed’, asibaidė ‘got frightened’, asilaidė ‘went down’, asigeidė ‘wanted’, neišimòko ‘did not learn’, aciskaláudo ‘washes oneself’, unsimaíšis ‘having mixed oneself in’.

If a verb prefix ends in a vowel, syncope of the reflexive particle occurs (it is phonetically shortened to -s-), e.g.: nešūbarėm ‘we did not quarrel’, paždairė ‘looked after, cared for’, susciko ‘met’, prizdė ‘contributed’, nūtsisė ‘dragged away’, pastvėrė ‘snatched’, pažbijojom ‘we were a little afraid’, nūzdaužė ‘turned away’, nuzgūndo ‘got frightened’, neslaídžia ‘does not let go’, nusmainius ‘having changed, looking drawn’. In cases where the prefix ends in a vowel and the verb stem begins with the consonant s, š, or ž, syncope of the reflexive particle may not occur, though it may also occur in parallel (newly), in which case consonant geminates arise, e.g.: prisisvėikina ‘greets’, nusispyrė, nusisagė ‘unfastened’, rasizójo ‘gaped’, tessiū ‘sews for oneself’, težžūr ‘keeps watching’, tessėdz ‘keeps sitting’, tessuk ‘keeps turning’; pasisùkė || passùkė, susisùkus || sussùkus, nusisągdai || nussągdai ‘unfasten’, pasisodžynk || passodžynk, prisizūrėjau || pričžūrėjau.

In the dialect, the third-person singular past forms of some reflexive verbs have two stress patterns: on the stem and on the ending, e.g.: davės || dãvės ‘was restless, rushed about, lunged’, dėjos || dėjos ‘was, became’, ėmės || ėmės ‘began, appeared’, radõs || rãdos ‘became, appeared’, rinkõs || riñkos ‘gathered’, sėdõs || sėdos ‘sat down’, stojõs || stójos ‘stood up’, sviedės || sviedės ‘threw itself off, lunged’, vijõs || vijós ‘pursued’.

A twofold stress pattern—on the stem and on the ending—is also found here in the first- and second-person plural forms of some verbs in this tense, e.g.: davėmės || dãvėmės ‘we struggled, worked’, davėtės || dãvėtės ‘you struggled, worked’, kratėmės || krãtėmės ‘we rode, being shaken’, kratėtės || krãtėtės ‘you rode, being shaken’, sėdomės || sėdomės ‘we sat down’, sėdotės || sėdotės ‘you sat down’, stojomės || stójomės ‘we stood up’, stojotės || stójotės ‘you stood up’.

Cases of similar stress patterns are still found in many eastern Lithuanian dialects and in some old texts (by M. Daukša). The stress on the ending in these forms indicates that the old final stress pattern of these verbs has been preserved here¹⁷. However, in the Gervėčiai dialect the two stress patterns of these forms are still closely associated with a difference in their meaning, which is undoubtedly more recent. Forms stressed on the stem are generally used here more often to express an unbounded past tense, denoting an action taking place at the moment of speaking, whereas forms stressed on the ending denote a bounded action that took place in the past, well before the moment of speaking, e.g.: Anà tai stojos tai sėdos, tai tékė kitón pirkión ir Anà sėdõs ir nuvažiávo; Jų vaikai sciprai stojõs an kójų; Iš ūñksto rytò mérgos riñkos vuogáuc; Ános smagei ėmės linų raúc ir Iš kur jau ti ta gražumà ėmės; Karvė buvo prapuolus, ale radõs.

But the reflexive third-person singular forms of all other verbs (the majority) in this tense are stressed only on the stem, e.g.: brùkės ‘pushed in’, gýrdės ‘was heard’, sàgės ‘fastened’, šėrės ‘fed’, vėžės ‘transported’. Probably under the influence of the latter, the meanings of verbs with two stress patterns are no longer always clearly differentiated here.

Only the imperative forms without -k of reflexive disyllabic verbs of the (i)a- and i-stems are stressed on the ending, e.g.: bariès¹⁸ ‘quarrel’, imiès ‘take’,

¹⁷ Lithuanian Grammar, II, p. 301.

¹⁸ Judging by ear, the accent of the ending -ies in this dialect is clearly acute, that is, it contradicts Z. Zinkevičius’s general assertion (Lietuvių dialektologija, p. 372).

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mušies ‘hit yourself’, nešies ‘carry yourself’, vedzies ‘lead yourself’, dedzies || dedzis ‘put on’, vežies || vežis¹⁹ ‘transport yourself’, kelies || kelis ‘get up’, sėdzies || sėdzis ‘sit down’, gulis ‘lie down’, klojis ‘lay down’, stojis ‘stand up’, laidzmēs ‘let us wash ourselves’, sēdzmēs || sēdzmetēs²⁰ ‘let us sit down’, prausmēs ‘let us wash ourselves’, gulmēs || gulmetēs ‘let us lie down’, dedztēs ‘put on (pl.)’, muštēs ‘hit yourselves’, stotēs ‘stand up (pl.)’, sēdztēs ‘sit down (pl.)’. The reflexive and non-reflexive imperative forms of verbs are stressed on the root, just like the simple forms, e.g.: mókai ‘learn’, mókaitēs ‘learn (pl.)’, dārais ‘do for yourself’, dāraimēs ‘let us do for ourselves’, dāraitēs ‘do for yourselves’.

3. The verb prefixes used in the Gervėčiai dialect are notable for their form, functions, and partly also their origin.

The prefix an- (dialectally un-, before labials p, b > um-, reflexive unsi- ~ ansi-) corresponds to standard Lithuanian į-, e.g.: umbrazdėj ‘waded in’, įvirto ‘tumbled in’, undėta ‘put in’, unduoi ‘give in’, uņeina ‘comes in’, ungrūvo ‘fell in’, unlaiście ‘let in’, unkase ‘dug in’, untėjo ‘poured in’, unspiers ‘will kick in, will kick’, unšauce ‘shoot out, shoot’, untaiše ‘put in place, installed’, uņtepė ‘spread in’; unsubedziau ‘I pierced myself’, unsimaišis ‘having joined in’, unsiriniko ‘got dressed’, unispyvė ‘got tangled in’, unsit aišė ‘got ready, prepared oneself’.

The prefix an- here, as in the Lazūnai dialect (: ungrūvo ‘fell in’, undūoc ‘to give in’, uņeima ‘comes in’), is always used without final -t and has no variant in- alongside it; this variant is sometimes found in parallel with unt- in some Eastern Aukštaitian dialects²¹. For this very reason, we are inclined to think that here, as also in Lazūnai, it is not the result of a mixing of the prefixes in- and unt-, but rather an old, independent prefix an-, analogous (in both form and meaning) to Prussian an²² and Latvian ie²³ (the latter, in our opinion, could derive from *en, cf. Latvian pie kts, Prussian penckts, Lithuanian penktas).

The prefix ap- (apsi-) corresponds to the same ap- (apsi-) in standard Lithuanian, e.g.: apsūkcie ‘turn around’, apsvaidzýcie ‘throw around’, apārdēm ‘supported’, apdėcie ‘put around’, apsidziauge ‘rejoiced’. There are examples in which the prefix ap- is also used here with the meaning of nu-, e.g.: Vaikai aptraūks (= the children will strip off) apples; Dziėdas čystai aprāškė pūpu (= Grandfather picked the bean clean, completely); Norėj plūksnelās apraucie (= He wanted to pluck off the feathers). This meaning of the prefix ap- is atypical of Lithuanian. It is most likely a morphological calque from Belarusian (cf. their абабрацць, абарваць).

¹⁹ The two parallel forms also support our claim that the ending -ies has a falling-rising accent, since only falling-rising diphthongs in endings could shorten and become monophthongs, and thus a newer -is could arise alongside -ies. Further compare Eastern Aukštaitian darìs < *darīs, važìs < *važiùos. With this in mind, Z. Zinkevičius’s conjecture (Lietuvių dialektologija, p. 372) that the ending of Lazūnai stojis was probably modelled on stokis remains unfounded.

²⁰ The first-person plural form of the imperative sēdzmetēs… is probably a blend, formed by adding the reflexive second-person plural ending to the non-reflexive form of this person. This formation of the form is partly explained by its blended meaning: it is used only when several other people besides the speaker are meant; cf. J. Otrebski, Wschodnolitewskie narzecze twereckie, I, Kraków, 1934, p. 385; Z. Zinkevičius, Lietuvių dialektologija, p. 373.

²¹ Cf. Z. Zinkevičius, Lietuvių dialektologija, p. 416.

²² Žr. J. Endzelīns, Senprūšu valoda, Rīgā, 1943, p. 94, 141. Greta an- prūsų kalboje esantys en- ir un- priešdėliai savo daryba laikytini an- variantais: un- greičiausiai vėlesnis < *an, o en- galėtų santykiauti su an- kaip žodžio pradžios e su a.

²³ Žr. J. Endzelīns, Darbu izlase, I, Rīgā, 1971, p. 562—567.

15. 902

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Greta priešdėlio ap-, atliepiančio 1k. ap-, tarmėje kartais sutinkamas ir iš priešdėlio api- sinkopės keliu atsiradęs ap-, kuris asimiliuodamasis išvirto į a-. Jis pasitaiko tik lietuvių kalbai svetima nu- reikšme, pvz.: Abyrė (api + byrėjo) medžiagų lakštai (=Nubyrėjo medžių lapai), plg. baltarusių acinacia.

The prefix at- (aci-) corresponds to standard Lithuanian at- (atsi-), e.g.: atėjo ‘came’, ateido ‘comes’, acimisiu ‘I will remember’. There are quite a few examples in which at- is used with a meaning nu- or par-, which is foreign to Lithuanian, e.g.: Kūma atpjōu (= cut off) his neck; Norėj jam atkirsę galvų (= Wanted to cut off his head); Atkapój (= chopped off) his wings; Atkinkýk (= unhitch) the horses; Ānas atāj (= returned) home. Atvažāvo (= drove back) crying. Alongside this prefix, the prefix at-, which arose by syncope of ati-, is also found here; it assimilated and turned into d-, e.g.: Raikia aduodžyc (< ati + duodvti ‘to give’) daughters; Ādavė (< ati + gave) them back.

The prefix až- (asi-) is regularly used in place of standard Lithuanian už- (užsi-), generally to mark the completion of an action, e.g.: The wolves aždūsino one (= strangled), and ažéidė another (= wounded); The boy aždžyrė (= curled back) his legs; Ānas ažvértė (= turned back) his head; The rooster ažgiedój (= crowed); Žūsis aždārė (= shut) in the tvárkon (= barn); Kad ažvýščiauk (= if I could see, notice), aždauščiauk (= if I could kill); Kīrvi asisviedė (= threw on) až (= on) his shoulders; Ānas asikrūtė (= earned) money. This prefix is sometimes also used with the meanings of certain other prefixes, e.g. Ašpjōu (= slaughtered) that calf; Asibaidė (= got frightened) the horse; Asilāidė (= went down) the sun; Ānas asijūokė (= laughed together, burst out laughing); Asiiimādo rytas ‘it is dawning’; Your little stream akelas ažriņkdo (= draws water). The latter meanings of the prefix až- (ažsi-) are probably borrowed.

In J. Endzelīns’s view, the prefix až- is older than už- and is the direct equivalent of Latvian dialectal az- and Slavic за-²⁴. Since it is used not only in eastern Lithuanian dialects but also in old writings (including those of the western Aukštaitian B. Vilentas), it may be related to Old Prussian assa || esse²⁵.

No variants of the prefix až- (asi-) with a linking vowel have been recorded, although alongside the preposition až, ažu is also occasionally found, e.g.: až (= behind) her; až (= after) the day; až kùmu (= behind the godfather); ažu čāro (= near the tsar).

Alongside this prefix, the prefix už- is also used here, having become uš- in all instances in the dialect. It is sometimes used in its older directional meaning ‘onto something’²⁶, although less commonly it also has a meaning coinciding with that of až-, e.g.: The bear užlindo (= climbed) um onto the threshold; Ānas climbed up onto the stack of hay; Užšricink that stump on me; Dziedas also overturned a stump onto the bear; The rooster jumped onto the stick; Užvýdo gati galvõs kùmu (= death); The girl lit a fire.

The prefix uš- is the direct equivalent of Latvian uz- and Lithuanian už-. Its devoiced variant has apparently been generalized here in all positions by analogy with the prefix iš- < iš- (cf. Latvian iz-, Slavic из-). In our view, only this can explain the emergence of the prefix už- in other eastern Aukštaitian dialects as well.

The prefix da- (daz- ~ dasi-) is relatively common in the dialect, e.g.: dazdūmojo ‘thought up’, davēšč ‘to bring’, nedagēris ‘not having drunk one’s fill’, daēdė.

The prefix iš- (isi- ~ išši-) is used as in standard Lithuanian, e.g.: Išēido žmūo iš megē-

²⁴ J. Endzelīns, Darbu izlase, I, p. 321—323. ²⁵ Cf. ibid., p. 324. ²⁶ Cf. also P. Arumaa, Litauische mundartliche Texte aus der Wilnaer Gegend, p. 54.

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lio ‘A person comes out of the grove’; Gerai išródžiau (=atrodžiau) jáunas; Mother brought cheese out of the granary; She washed it white; Isirituodavo (=išsiris[davo, išvirdavo) a little flame would emerge from the stump; Kláusosi išžioji.

The prefix nu- (nus- || nuz- || nusi-) is used as in standard Lithuanian, e.g.: Beaten down (=beaten down) birch; I forgot (=I forgot) the language; She plucked (=she plucked) an apple; They fall (=they fall) bast shoes off one’s feet; It does not stop (=it does not stop) the lice; We’ll slowly drive the cow off; The river battered away (=turned away) in Gervėčiai; Very changed in appearance (=having changed, looking pale), perhaps he’ll die tomorrow. He was frightened (=got scared) and died; Take off || take off (=take off) your clothes (=clothes).

The prefix pa- (pas- || paz- || pasi-) is used as in standard Lithuanian, for example: Wait for me a little; Send the children off; He fluttered his wings a little; I kept it for one day (=kept) and brought it back; Come tomorrow morning to spend time together (=to spend time together in the mornings); The water washed the bank (=washed) along the edge; One needs to learn; I was afraid to go; Sit down || sit down, a couple of little apple trees. Sometimes the prefix pa- is also used with the meaning of su- and other meanings, for example: The shepherd boys will freeze out in the fields (=freeze); He gathered (=collected) the logs and carried them away; He broke (=broke) the wheels; She raised them well: she cared for the children (=looked after, cared for, brought up); He cannot die (=die). The latter meanings of the prefix pa- are probably borrowed.

In the dialect, the prefix pa- expresses complete completion of an action (usually iterative) in the past (or the possibility of such completion in the future). In this case, here, as in many other dialects on the southeastern fringe of Lithuanian, this prefix²⁷, following the Belarusian model²⁸, is also added to other prefixed verbs or is even repeated twice, for example: They have all already died off (=died off); The geese will all die, one after another, in that barn ‘The geese will die off one after another in that barn’; Everyone went off in different directions (<pa+raz+si+went ‘dispersed’) wherever; They all gathered together (=gathered) all in one place; He gathered (=collected, selected) from our yard (=village) all the children; I stabbed myself (=stabbed myself several times, in several places) in the leg; They all scattered (=dispersed, went off in different directions) one after another.

The dialect’s verbs also feature the Slavic prefix pad- (cf. Belarusian nad-), which corresponds to standard Lithuanian pri-, ap-, for example: He brought the child up to her ‘He brought the child to her’; He disappoints me ‘He disappoints me’.

The dialect also uses the verbal prefix par- (pars- || parz- ~ parsi-), which corresponds to standard Lithuanian par- (parsi-), for example: I would sell the cow ‘I would sell the cow’; Who will bring her back ‘Who will bring her back’.

The verbal prefix per- (pers- ~ persi-) in the dialect, as in standard Lithuanian, is always stressed, for example: He would come to convert people to his faith ‘He would come and convert people to his faith’; He converted the people into pigeons; It got soaked (=got wet) in the water and caught a chill; He grew old (=grew old) he, no longer so handsome; Life changed ‘Life changed’.

The verbal prefix pie- is rare in the dialect. It corresponds to standard Lithuanian ap-, for example: He dressed them (=dressed) in white.

27 See Z. Zinkevičius, Lietuvių dialektologija, p. 424.

28 Cf. Belarusian нанастраляем, нанапрымаю. For more examples, see Курс сучаснай беларускай літаратурнай мовы, Марфалогія, Мінск, 1957, pp. 152–153.

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This same prefixed verb is also found in the Lazūnai dialect²⁹. By origin, it is undoubtedly connected with the preposition pie- and the postposition -pi (< *pie) and is a direct equivalent of Latvian pie-. In J. Endzelīns’s view, Lithuanian pie(-) may have arisen independently alongside the postposition -pi, without external (Latvian-language) influence³⁰.

The prefix pra- (pras- || praz- ~ prasi-) is used here mostly in its standard-language sense, e.g.: Everything perished; The road dried up; Ānas grunts and woke up. Alongside these, there are a few examples in which the prefix pra- is used with a meaning atypical of Lithuanian, probably a borrowed one, e.g.: Avurkūs (=cucumbers) pradžygindzinējam (=we germinate, cf. Belarusian папасмадаем) in the cottage; Prazgavau (=I woke up, cf. Belarusian прачнуўся) in the morning.

The prefix pri- (pris- || priz- || prisi-) is used mostly as in the standard language, e.g.: Nuzgundai, even plaukių priāgo (=there was a hatful of hair); Priklegēm (=we talked) about everything. Prieidau arčiau – mēdžias āuga ‘I come closer – the forest is growing’; Ānas prikrutē (=did a lot); Nēra mán kōp prziglaūsčie ‘I have nowhere to lean’; Pripirkdzinēj mažuṭāitių vištāitių ‘He bought some tiny hens’. Sometimes this prefix is also widely used here with the meanings of other prefixes, e.g.: Aš pripažinau po veido ‘I recognized him by his face’; Prisisveikina (=greets) everyone; Nōriu, kad prilāukčiak (=I would wait) for my son; Prigerdzinēja vaiku (=drink to the child’s health); Dūkterys prirangtos (=dressed up, clothed) beautifully; Ar prisizūrėjai || prižūrėjai, kōkis ānas ‘Did you notice what he is like’; Ānas gudrūs: primāno (=is knowledgeable); Prirašē (=wrote) ānas jam kōrtu (=a letter). The latter meanings of the prefix pri- are probably borrowed.

Tarmės veiksmažodžiams būdingas ir slaviškas priešdėlis raz- (rasi- < raz+ + si-), vartojamas lk. pa-, iš- ir kt. priešdėlių reikšmėmis, pvz.: Būvo sapcynōlika lavāku (=valakų), ir viūs raspirko (=išpirko); Āudeklu rāstīsiam (=ištiesiame, patiesiame) un žōtēs; Kācinas razvertē (=pavertė) viralu; Rastūsē (=ištąsė) duncym; Pie jū (=apie ją) visāp rasakinēj (=pasakojo); Tu gerāi rasidār (=apsidairyk, apsižiūrėk).

Priešdėlis su- (sus- || suz- || susi-) vartojamas kaip lk., pvz.: Ju sūmušē; Ku sūgriebē, ty ēm; Ugnū sulākstai namōn; Suveidē (=susirinkdavo) kas vākars; Rugiūs sūstaciam (=sustatome); Sustūrite (=nutilkite), ku klēgat (=kalbate); Susisāgdai || sussāgdai sāvu adieždū ‘Susisagstyk savo drabužius’; Sūzgriebē (=susiprato), cik per vēlā.

In certain cases, the dialectal su- is used with the meaning of standard-language per- and other meanings, e.g.: Sumirko (=got soaked through) in water and asiūrgo (=fell ill). Sudūrē (=pierced through) him, whatever this thing is; Susriņks (=will be, will leave) dū viōrstai (=two turnips).

Alongside this prefix, the prefix sa- (sas- ~ sasi-) also occurs here occasionally, e.g.: Nesaseikdiau (=I did not meet) anyone like that, who would look for me (=); Ānas visa sasrašinėjo (=was writing down everything) I prōvijau (=was telling).

J. Endzelīns was inclined to consider the prefix sa- found in the former Grodno Governorate to have arisen from su- under the influence of Slavic ca- (< со), given the many Slavicisms found there³¹. That Gervėčiai sa- could likewise have arisen under Slavic influence is supported by

²⁹ Cf. J. Senkus, “Some Features of the Lazūnai Dialect,” — Proceedings of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences, SSR, A, Series 1, p. 191.

³⁰ J. Endzelīns, Darbu izlase, I, p. 470.

³¹ Ibid., p. 496.

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Belarusian verbs with this prefix are used alongside them here (састракаючыя, саскокнуць, саставіцца).

The permissive mood is formed with the prefix te- (tes- || tez- || tesi-), e.g.: teprāšai, tebūi ‘let it be’, tevākščioji ‘let her walk’; tesmōko ‘let him learn’.

Е. И. ГРИНАВЯЦКЕНЕ

SOME FEATURES OF THE VERB IN THE GERVĖČIAI DIALECT

Abstract

The article discusses contamination relics of athematic verbs, as well as the form, function, formation, and, in part, origin of reflexive and prefixed verbs in the isolated Gervėčiai dialect of Lithuanian, located in the territory of the Byelorussian SSR (Grodno Region, Ostrovets District). The dialect of this settlement, which consists of the small town of Gervėčiai and its 12 surrounding Lithuanian villages, has so far not been thoroughly studied by anyone, although its dialect materials have been collected since the late 19th century, published, and used in individual linguistic studies.

Drawing on the rich dialect material held in the card index of the “Atlas of the Lithuanian Language” (Institute of Lithuanian Language and Literature of the Academy of Sciences of the Lithuanian SSR), the article establishes patterns in the use of particular verb forms. These forms are compared primarily with corresponding features of Belarusian, used here as a second but dominant official language, and with the East Aukštaitian dialects of Lithuanian, and sometimes with Latvian and Old Prussian. The established patterns are illustrated with numerous examples collected from local residents by the author and others, some of whom come from the area. In some instances, existing hypotheses, explanations, and interpretations of particular linguistic phenomena are confirmed; in others, they are refined and corrected.

The article also presents some new features of the verbs in this dialect that linguists have not hitherto used or published, and offers interpretations and assessments of them. The description of certain features of the verbs in the Gervėčiai dialect will, in all probability, contribute to further research into the verbal system of the eastern dialects of Lithuanian.