LIETUVIŲ KALBOS GRAMATINĖ SANDARA LIETUVOS TSR MOKSLŲ AKADEMIJA

FEATURES OF DIRECT AND INDIRECT SPEECH IN THE PONTININKAI AND WESTERN PUNTININKAI DIALECTS

J. ŠUKYS

Direct speech is fairly characteristic of the Pontininkai and Western Puntininkai dialects¹, as it is of spoken language in general. Unless it is a dialogue, it is always indicated (introduced in a particular way) by the author's words.

In the dialects described, as in the standard language, the most popular verb among those used in the author's words to introduce direct speech is sakyti.

S a k ó ášė jái: „Kã tũ.jė neatãnes?“² Pasigãrė vilks, s ã k a: „Aš jó (jau) dainūos!“ Tãs šòv s ã k a: „Nedainūk nedainiõk!“ (lit. lang.) Pnv. Aš Jūozu s a k õ-aki·s (he says): „Diėvi mãna, išvės taũ iš kėla tas sėnberni·s, pamati·si!“ Mžš. Cigõnus s ã k a: „A žinẽ, pomì.lis: pirmu suvalgik tãva paršū.ku, a paskūn valgismi višči·ku (lit. lang.) Rgv.

The verb sakyti is often repeated several times (before direct speech and inserted into it, or only inserted into direct speech). Such repetitions of sakyti are especially favored when direct speech recounts something.

Žvi.rbãls s ã k a „Nò, — s ã k a, — vẽš va põne, — s ã k a, — i bū.mõ nusipraũs, i pasižegnõj pris valgim, o dabã tõ nieka! (lit. lang.) Pnv. „Mēs seniau, — s ã k a, — bailėsan būdavem. Mēs, — s ã k a, — bijõdavem, drebėdavem, — s ã k a — ke aidavem pro tõ mẽškel. Gẽrė, — s ã k a, — kat jūs dabar drošėsan“ Kb. Aš jam s a k õ: „Labẽ· tū.nke, — s a k õ, — šneki, ti ãs ne viskã³ suprantū“ Mžš. Nė, ãnos (he) stops (takes it upon himself) to take: „Nė, — s ã k a, — gerẽ, al (but) dã šindė nepavõksi, — s ã k a: — unt ritõjos“ (lit. lang.) Tj.

The verb sakyti is often added even where another verb introducing direct speech is already present.

Põns k l a u š, s ã k a: „Tãu vaikū nebū.va, — kur tu gavẽ vaikų.? (lit. lang.) Užš. A pemenėli.s š l.d i n (mocks, teases) the devil, s ã k a: „Nė, da nedūos ke-

¹ For more on these dialects, see J. Šukys, “Characteristic phonetic features of the Eastern Aukštaitian Pontininkai and Western Puntininkai dialects,” LKK, vol. 5, pp. 175—183.

² A somewhat simplified transcription from the “Program for Collecting Material for the Atlas of the Lithuanian Language” is used (2nd ed., Vilnius, 1956, pp. 105—118). Only the symbol ᴜ has been newly introduced; it denotes a reduced word-final vowel close to u, usually pronounced in place of Ik. a or u.

³ The elderly speakers of the dialect in this area pronounce ne visk·.

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“Let’s say it!” (lit. lang.) Užš. Môč rọkuoj, sãka: „Maũ tõkos mar̃žos nereik“ Kb. Aš Varũ.si. (Veronika) vi.s kũrsto., sakõ: „Pajũni(k) gi, paragauk (alaus), gal nemunišme!“ Mžš. Alpù.ne (Alfonsa) bãras, sãka: „Nu kurĩ čì šũ.ni.! (what on earth is going on here!)“ Mžš. Nėdavo. (no money), – pamišlijo., sakõ: „Jėgu mán užtrakt mukš?…“ Mškn.

Unlike in the literary language, in the dialects under discussion the verb to say with prefixes (to answer, to tell...) is very rarely used to introduce direct speech. The verbs to utter, to begin speaking are likewise not recorded with this function. Besides to say, the verbs to scold, to rejoice, to laugh ‘to talk while laughing, to mock’, to ask, to order, to bark ‘to chatter, to lie’, to request, to shout ‘to speak by shouting, to scold’, to inquire, to promise and others are somewhat more common.4 These verbs not only introduce direct speech, but also stylize it, describing the character’s manner of speaking.

Kazienė scolds: „Aini tũo keli, ti vi.s nẽškis medini-ku. (take a stick along to fend off the dogs)“ Mžš. Mar̃i rejoices: „The cow has really recovered Nj. U Skodžene laughs: „Well, now you’ll be a son-in-law!““ Mžš. Anù walks around the threshing floor and asks: „Tell me, daughter, are you nearly finished?“ (lit. lang.) Kng. The little mare orders: „Turn back and strike with your hand!“ (lit. lang.) Mck. That matchmaker, you know, barks: „Go (get married), you’ll be a lady—only swan’s milk will be missing!“ Mžš. He comes and asks: „Read me that letter, lad!“ Kršk. The girls shout: „How will you chop it up (cut up the cabbage) with your hands!“ – grumbling Mžš. She, being rather bold, immediately asks: „Do you know where that shop is, where they sell flour?“ Mžš. The foreman himself promised: „We’ll give it to you, old man!“ Kb.

For brevity, the author’s speech verb denoting speaking is sometimes omitted. In that case, another verb in the author’s speech is highlighted intonationally, usually indicating the action the character is performing while saying their words. An interjection may also substitute for the verb here.

The daughters merely nod their heads: „All right, we’ll do it!“ (lit. lang.) Užš. That one clatters into the barn: „Everyone, into the barn!“ (lit. lang.) Stmb. Stakienė slipped a stick under it: „You see—so much for that!“ Gtn. The parents, groaning, dragged it to the table: „Be quiet, you frog!“ Mžš.

In other cases, to enliven the narrative and make it more dynamic, the author’s speech names only the character whose words are given in direct speech.

That owl: „Caw, caw, caw, give me one little piece!“ (lit. lang.) Kršk. The fox: „Well, you’ve been ploughing, yet you couldn’t dig it up [the hidden gold]!“ Mžš. We say: „You poor thing!“ And that one answers: „You poor thing!“ (lit. lang.) Mžš.

4 In the dialects under discussion, direct speech is also quite often introduced by verbs of non-Lithuanian origin: duyutis ‘to be astonished’, durnavoti ‘to call someone a fool, to despise’, loj(y)ti(s) ‘to scold’, mįslyti (younger speakers also say galvoti) ‘to think’, rokuoti ‘to say, to tell, to assert’, šidyti ‘to tease, to ridicule’.

It used to happen, I would be astonished, and he would call them fools: „What’s the matter with that sleepyhead, there he has pulled it out [the money]“ Pnv. When they began to scold: „Oh, you—you’re a pig, you!“ Nrb. I would think: „Woman, you need to learn your health!“ Mžš. And Skrebė came here, grumbling: „Neither ask for it nor will you get it!“ Gtn. You, child, pupil, you know, I’ll tease you right away: „The gentleman is asleep, the porridge is burning...“ Nn.

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When the characters have already been listed and it is clear to the listener whose words they are, direct speech is sometimes indicated by just one verb (to say, to listen, etc.).

At that time we were driving oxen into the rye (to the rye). She says: “Grandma, I won’t sit down.” She says: “Go and fetch that one.” She says: “Go, carry it without spilling it!” Kršk. He asks: “Do you like him [the bridegroom]?” — “No, I don’t like him,” she says, “he’s bearded like a starling (1st person).” Pnv. “Pėtrikienė,” she says, “come and help me when I die!” — “Oh,” she says, “just die!” Ksp.

The author’s narration almost always precedes the character’s speech. The author’s words are rarely inserted into direct speech or spoken after it; somewhat more often only when they are repeated.

“And I too,” she says, “put in [salt]: everyone puts it in, and I put it in too.” Pnv. “There isn’t any here,” she says, “room to lie down (to lie down and sleep), go to mother’s!” Mžš. “Where are their [people’s] markets?” she says. “I don’t understand what’s here,” she says Tj.

Sometimes direct speech is interrupted by a sentence of the author’s narration, which continues after the direct speech.

Then she says to her father (to her father): “Oh, you miserable wretch, you know nothing!” — she rolled her eyes. Mžš.

Without losing its characteristic intonation, direct speech can form part of a complex sentence.

One child says: “Go and live there [live],” another says: “Go and live there.” Pbr. When they were gathering berries: an old woman crawls out from among the trees. At once the berries fell in a heap, the biggest ones — one says: “Mine,” another says: “Mine,” and they bought the butter from whoever had the better one. Mžš. It happened that she said: “Yours are being taken by those who are dancing,” — in Mutā and Trošktūne. Rgv.

In the descriptive dialects, as in the literary language, another person’s direct speech can be conveyed in the form of indirect speech. When direct speech is converted into indirect speech, the verb mood usually changes, sometimes also the composition of the predicate; personal pronouns change⁵. It becomes a subordinate clause attached to the author’s narration, which has become the main clause.

Indirect speech is expressed differently across the area of the pontininkai and western puntininkai.

From the border of the Latvian SSR to Karsakiškis, the pontininkai and western puntininkai use participial indirect speech, although not entirely consistently.

He said that his mother had brought a car from far away. Kld. Today she said on the radio that someone had been there. RdN. She said that the birds were flying off the bridge. Stmb.

In the area mentioned, as in the literary language, constructions with an indirect-mood participle forming the predicate or a predicate group are used.

The devil. A man, the liar, that Špēlōks: he bought a radio from Meilūnas in Tiltagaliai, and they say it was sent from Leningrad.⁶ Krs.

5 J. Balkevičius, Dabartinės lietuvių kalbos sintaksė, Vilnius, 1963, p. 407.

6 In this case, almost all pontininkai and southern western puntininkai would say: “...they say he bought it from Leningrad,” and, even more often, “...she says she bought it from Leningrad,” “...she says that she bought it from Leningrad.”

15. Lietuvių kalbos gramatinė sandara

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South of Karsakiškis (e.g., around Miežiškiai), indirect participial speech is found only in traces.

Sãke, kad I.gñus bũ.cik (lyg) sakũñt⁷ (sakąs), kãt bũs išrinktũ nãujĩ mili.ciji MžŠ.

The remaining western puntininkai and pontininkai generally do not change predicates in the direct mood into participles in the indirect mood when converting direct speech into indirect speech⁸. Here, indirect speech is most often conveyed by modal particles, usually adaptations of Slavic loanwords: bũk, bũktai, bucik (incidentally, they may also occur in direct speech).

Teisĩ-be, šĩndẽ Jeneškẽl gẽrdẽja, kã Jarašõnẽlis ẽšvažiõj pas tẽvs bũ.kte Gts. Kalb, kãd tõ (ta) namẽl bũ.k jis atpirka Srk. Šnekẽja, bũ.cik darbãdẽn. jãm nũ.brauke a arũs sumãžina MžŠ.

In some places among the western puntininkai, doubt about the truth of a statement is indicated by the frozen participial form esą⁹, used as an parenthetical expression.

Plẽpẽja žmõni.s, kãd Bruõnene asũ jõ iširãšẽ iš ligõninẽs MžŠ.

When indirect speech retains the predicate of direct speech unchanged, the modal particles bũk, bũk tai, bucik, esą may also be absent. In that case, it is not explicitly marked that the reported words or thoughts belong not to the author but to someone else.

Visi gi ũ.že (šne kėjo), kã dau(g) kas atpĩks MžŠ. Tadũ tie žmonĩs nũ.neše jái tũ. plũoštų linũ ir sãka, kai pónus lĩepe išausĩt mãrškinis (l. p.) Rdž.

Sometimes the character’s speech can be attached to the author’s words here without a conjunction kad, by intonation alone.

⁷ In Miežiškiai, this frozen present-tense participial form does not indicate gender or number: Jõ (jau) bũvabelukẽnĩt (bebėgęs). Jõ (jau) bũvẽ bemukẽnĩt (bemokanti). Jõ (jau) bũ.vasakũnĩt (besakanti), kat ais grĩ.çon, al tũ atjẽ, i nebẽja MžŠ.

⁸ Cf. J. Balkevičius, op. cit., p. 408. J. Jablonskis and other authors of earlier Lithuanian grammar textbooks corrected sentences of this kind by replacing direct-speech verbs in subordinate clauses with participles; see J. Jablonskis, Rinktiniai raštai, vol. 1, Vilnius, 1959, p. 528 ff.; M. Durys, Lietuvių kalbos sintaksė, Kaunas, 1927, p. 74 ff.

The old Lithuanian writings, which admittedly represent the written language of their time to a greater extent, attest to indirect participial speech as well established and frequently used. Even in the “Punktai sakymų” by K. Širvydas, a neighbor of the western puntininkai, we read: Todrin ir pats Dowids ieszko Diewo, szaukia iop, budina ii kayp ažumigusi, sakos essus apłaystas, skundžias essus arti prapulties... I 199. Apas z tatas sako, gieresni sunti paimt motery, negi degt I 232. Pačiu tiktay tikieimu sakos busiu iżganitays I 258.

More examples of indirect participial speech than in today’s pontininkai and western puntininkai dialects can also be found in A. Baranauskas’s texts, recorded in the same dialect area.

Kas ča par tokių patrovų? — pradėja dyoytęs’ karãlis sakydamis, kãd nėsũs mãtis tokĩos patrovos BM 94 (Brž). Gaspadõris išz tã džiõuksma (für džiõuksma) pradėja gir’tis’ kãd jis tur̃ius sãwa locnu kãr’wi, labẽ gražiu... BM 78 (Vb). pribuvi unt karãłu sãkesi jie išzwadavẽi jõ dukteris ir parõde tās gãlveus BM 113 (Ssk).

⁹ In literary language, the parenthetical expression girdi is common in this context; see J. Balkevičius, op. cit., p. 406. It is not characteristic of the dialects described.

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The Lēvunai said, Lādze had asked for (begged for) three hundred rubles. Mžš. The people are chattering; a miracle appeared in Skemuni·. Mžš.

In neither case does there seem to be the shade of uncertainty characteristic of participial speech, but it cannot be asserted that the character’s speech is reproduced exactly in subordinate clauses. Most likely, what is given here is merely a retelling of the content of the thought expressed.

In the pontininkai and western puntininkai dialects, impure direct, or semi-direct, speech is common¹⁰. Here direct speech is expressed by a subordinate clause introduced by the conjunction kad, without changing either the mood of the predicate or the pronouns, and preserving all the other structural and stylistic features of direct speech¹¹. It is difficult to say whether impure direct speech is as exact as direct speech¹²; however, the character’s words are undoubtedly conveyed in impure direct speech much more emotionally and vividly than in indirect speech. Indirect speech conveys neither parenthetical expressions, nor forms of address, nor interjections, nor other words of modal or emotional character, whereas all of these are retained in impure direct speech.

He says to her (him), don’t be afraid of that, Svaldenieñ: out of a great big cloud—a little rain! Mžš. Little Jeni·te wept terribly, saying, “Oh, where am I to go now?” Mžš. I kept quiet for a while, then said that, it seemed to me, that old man would get married again. Nn.

The most common cases of impure direct speech are those in which direct speech introduced by the conjunction kad functions as a subordinate object clause. However, subordinate clauses of purpose, cause, and manner, as well as subject clauses, also occur in this way.

1. Subordinate object clauses of impure direct speech.

a) The subject of the subordinate clause is the first person, and the predicate is a verb in the indicative, sometimes the imperative mood:

The miller says that I caught him (the child) small, in a boat swimming with a lion (1st p.) Užš. That’s how the farmers used to do it: they keep on cutting and cutting—I say, let’s chop it up, let’s rest. Pbr. He hears: the governor and his friend are talking inside, saying that we will take the king prisoner and poison him (1st p.) Mck. She embraces him, kisses him, and says that I am your daughter (1st p.) Alkn.

¹⁰ For the term, see A. H. Гвоздев, Современный русский литературный язык, vol. II, Москва, 1958, p. 279.

¹¹ Impure direct speech is not accepted in the Lithuanian literary language, although it is familiar to many dialects and to folklore. Examples of such speech can also be found in A. Baranauskas’s texts within the area of the dialects described.

So the lord of the manor says, “Can’t we also go and work at that manor?” BM 161 (Jnšk.). The father still didn’t want to say it; but the son said that he knew, because he had promised me (the devil) BM 160 (Jnšk.)....The raven spoke to the man, saying not to call out, but to come home and bring us some bread, and then he would reward you. BM 158 (Jnšk.).

¹²A. Molotkov, discussing analogous syntactic constructions in old Russian texts with the conjunction яко, argues that these constructions do not accurately convey the speech of another person or of the character himself (А. И. Молотков, Особые синтаксические конструкции для передачи чужой речи в древнерусском языке, «Ученые записки Ленинградского Гос. Университета», серия филологических наук, вып. 61, 1962, p. 192).

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b) The subject of the subordinate clause is in the second person, while its predicate is a verb in the imperative mood, sometimes in the indicative mood:

And she told her daughters to be with him (play with him) and not to go out until I come back (1st pers.) Užš. Shout, you wretched one, so that [he] would see Gln. One [man] was truly crying, begging them to give me my life, saying, “I am innocent” Pnv. Then the stepmother went out and told her eldest daughter to go and pick [roses] (1st pers.) Kng.

c) The subordinate clause is impersonal:

On Tuesday they come to the priest, to Taujėnas, and even now the priest says that I am seeing things Ksp.

2. Subordinate clauses of purpose in indirect direct speech. The predicate of the subordinate clause is usually expressed in the imperative mood here.

Then the driver stops again so that I can get out (so that I could get out) Mžs. Here comes Jūrgis, asking us to come to the funeral: the stepmother has died (that is, he came to invite [us] to the funeral: the stepmother died) Mžs. Well, that is enough for her now, so I give her more work: I give her tow, so that she may spin and weave (so that she, the orphan girl, would spin and weave) (1st pers.) Kng. Then he says, “Get up, for we’ll have to drive the cow home” (so that [he] would get up, since the cow will have to be driven home) (1st pers.) Kng.

3. Subordinate clauses of reason in indirect direct speech.

The brother came and drove [her] out, saying, “Go to your relatives, you are no use to me” (that I should go to my relatives: I am no use to her) Pbr. The father was glad that my children had come home (the reference is to the father’s children, since he himself, at the urging of his witch wife, had driven them out) (1st pers.) Mck.

4. Subordinate clauses of manner in indirect direct speech. Their predicates are expressed in the imperative mood. The word explained by these clauses is the adverbial of manner teip ‘so’ in the main clause.

It happened to him like this: tear off the roof and thresh out that straw, then there will be chaff (1st pers.) Mck. The priest advised him thus: “Take him home” Šlt.

5. Subordinate subject clauses in indirect direct speech.

It is said by the authorities that three families have lived there until they built their own (houses) Kršk. Mother, it seems, they agreed that you would wait there and I would wait here. Mžs.

Indirect direct speech is also familiar in other Lithuanian dialects, especially those in which participial indirect speech is not characteristic. Examples of indirect direct speech can also be found in Latvian¹³ and Russian¹⁴ dialects.

¹³ For example, in the Vilce area of the Eleja district, near the dialects described, alongside Tēs teīca, ka es esuōt satīc’s vīna brālī, one also hears Tēs teīca, ka es satīku vīna brāli (from the manuscript dialectological materials of the Institute of Language and Literature of the Academy of Sciences of the Latvian SSR). See also: Latviešu valodas dialektoloģijas atlanta materiālu vāksanas programma, Rīgā, 1954, p. 110; Mūsdienu latviešu literārās valodas gramatika, t. II, Rīgā, 1962, p. 905.

¹⁴ Žr. A. B. Шапиро, Очерки по синтаксису русских народных говоров, Москва, 1953, p. 60; В. И. Собинникова, Строение сложного предложения в народных говорах, Воронеж, 1958, p. 157—162.

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Conclusions

1. The dialects of the Pontininkai and Western Puntininkai use direct, indirect, and mixed direct—or semi-direct—speech.

2. The most popular authorial speech verb indicating direct speech is sakyti. It is often repeated several times, and sometimes added pleonastically even where a verb indicating direct speech is already present.

3. The author’s speech usually precedes the character’s speech.

4. Participial indirect speech is used in the area of the dialects described only in the north (from the border with the Latvian SSR to Karsakiškis). In the remaining area, foreign speech is reproduced without using participles. Modal particles būk, būktai, bucik, esą often help here.

5. Mixed direct speech is common in the dialects described. Here, direct speech, with neither the moods of the predicate nor the pronouns changed, and retaining all other structural and stylistic features of direct speech, is expressed in a subordinate object clause, and sometimes in subordinate clauses of purpose, cause, manner, or subject, attached to the main clause by the conjunction kad.

DIRECT AND INDIRECT SPEECH IN THE DIALECTS OF THE PONTININKAI AND WESTERN PUNTININKAI

Й. ШУКИС

Summary

In the Lithuanian dialects of the pontininkai and western punktininkai, direct speech varies in structure and modality. The author's introductory words usually precede the direct speech. The most popular verb in introductory clauses is sakyti (to speak). It is often used pleonastically alongside other verbs in introductory clauses, e.g.: Pōns kláus, sāka: „Tāu vaikū nebūva, — kur tu gavē vaikū.? (Užushiliai, Biržai district). It is often introduced into direct speech as a repetition, e.g.: Žvīrbājs sāka: „Nō, — sāka, — vės va pōng, — sāka. — i bū.rno musipraus, i parsīžegnoji priš valgimo, o dabā tō nieka!“ (Piniava, Panevėžys district). Sometimes the author's words indicate only the subject whose speech is being conveyed, e.g.: Ta vęštīte: „Kar kar kār, ešmešk man vieno rešotel!“ (Kriaushiškiai, Pasvalys district). If the subject is clear from what was said earlier, it is usually not named, e.g.: Kláus: „A tāu patīk [jaunikis]?“ — „Ne, nepatīk, — sāka, — bāžā kaip strāzda (Conversation between father and daughter) (Piniava).

Indirect participial speech is used—and even then somewhat inconsistently—only in the north of the dialect area described, near the border of the Lithuanian SSR. Here, as in the standard language, verbs are replaced by corresponding participle forms, and first- and second-person pronouns by third-person pronouns, e.g.: Šindē sāke pro rādiju, kā kur ti ladē bū.v.i. (Nemunėlis Radviliškis, Biržai district). In the rest of the area of these dialects, the appearance of indirect speech is created not by the use of participles, but by introductory modal words—variants of the borrowings būk, būktai, bucik (as if), or by the fossilized (in the system of these dialects) participle form esą, e.g.: Kalb, kad tō (ta) namēl bū.k jis a p i r ī k a (Serekenai, Panevėžys

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district). Plepėja žmònis, kàd Brùonene asž jò· isirãšė iš ligòninės (Miežiškiai, Panevėžys district). So-called semi-direct speech is also frequently encountered, in which direct speech becomes a subordinate clause solely through the conjunction kad, without any change to verb forms or pronouns, e.g.: Tadù pāmote išėjus šàva dù-kterei viresnei liepi* kàd aik tù nusik.nk (Kungiai, Ukmergė district). Te Jùrgi.s a t v a ž d a v a, kàt p r d š o m un pãgraba: tučekgìla pasi.mire (Miežiškiai). Most often these are complement clauses, and sometimes clauses of purpose, cause, manner, or subject.