Kai kurie nauji žemaičių dounininkų tarmių fonetikos dalykai

LIETUVIŲ KALBOTYROS KLAUSIMAI, IV LIETUVOS TSR MOKSLŲ AKADEMIJA SOME NEW PHONETIC FEATURES OF THE DONININKAI DIALECTS OF SAMOGITIAN B. ROKAITĖ I. Accent and intonation in the northern coastal Samogitian dialects1 1. Accent § 1. a) The Mosėdis dialect has primary-inherited, primary-retracted, secondary-retracted, secondary-shifted, and secondary-final accents, also characteristic of other Samogitian dialects with general accent retraction2. b) The strength of retracted accents in the dialect described is the same as in other Samogitian dialects3. In this dialect, the shifted accent differs from the shifted accent of other Samogitian dialects both in strength and in position, and especially in variations in intonation; it is therefore analyzed here in greater detail. § 2. a) In the dialect, the secondary-shifted accent occurs on: a) Long post-tonic syllables: klùmpė ~ klùmpiai ‘clogs’, mònė ~ mãnie, šãukùo ~ šãukoja ‘they are shouting’, vėžãm ~ vėžame, aplinkộu ~ aplinkuo ‘around’. Since all long post-tonic syllables receive the shifted accent, words often have several shifted accents: pármùokiejė ~ pérmokėjai, kùovarnė ~ kóvarniai ‘jackdaws’, pársėldaukėm ~ pérsilaukėme ‘we waited too long’. 1 This section describes the more characteristic cases of accent and intonation in the northern coastal Donininkai dialects. The basis for the study is the dialect of the town of Mosėdis (and the surrounding villages—Naujočkai, Šauklai, Įgariai, Bakščiai, Nevočiai, Miesto Kalniškiai, and Šerkšniai), located in the northwestern corner of the Lithuanian SSR, in Skuodas district, 13 km south of the district center. In terms of both accent and intonation, it differs very little from the other northern coastal Donininkai dialects; see J. Aleksandravičius, “Accent and Intonation in the Kretinga Dialect.” — “Questions of Lithuanian Linguistics,” 1, 97–106, Vilnius, 1957. The study follows the phonetic transcription specified in the second edition of “Program for Collecting Material for the Atlas of the Lithuanian Language,” Vilnius, 1956; however, the length of the falling or level intonation in stressed e, o (<i, u), and ū is not marked: it is indicated by the intonation mark (pẽlns~pìlnas, kìmb~kìmba). In diphthongs with secondary level intonation, both components are marked as half-long (rõ.n.kà~rankà), although the first component is pronounced somewhat longer than the second. 2 See V. Grinaveckis, “Accent in the Northwestern Donininkai Dialects.” — “Questions of Lithuanian Linguistics,” 1, 109–117, Vilnius, 1957. 3 See V. Grinaveckis, “Phonetic Features of the Northwestern Donininkai Dialects and Their Development” (hereafter, “Phonetic Features of the Northwestern Donininkai Dialects”). — “Vilnius State Pedagogical Institute (hereafter VSPI), Research Papers,” 11, §§ 10–26, Vilnius, 1960. 141 β) A short syllable between syllables bearing the primary-ancient stress and the secondary-retracted stress on a long syllable: àtnesė ~ ãtnesei, mintova ~ mintuvai, pàkūrams ~ pàkuramas ‘to be stoked’, kálnėskė ~ kalniškiai ‘people living on the hill’, òšpakalis ~ užpakalis. If only short syllables follow the primary-ancient stress in the dialect, they are all unstressed: ãtnesė ~ ãtnesė, mintuvus ~ mintuvus. γ) The vowels a, e, ę, ǫ < a, e, i, u (see § 10). b) Retracted stress is particularly strong in the dialect. The strongest retracted stress occurs in words that have primary-ancient stress on a short syllable: dàba ~ dàbar ‘still’, šòkàm ~ šùkame, mãžàsis ~ mãžasis, įjūdėna ~ judino. When the primary-ancient stress falls on a long syllable, the retracted stress is somewhat weaker, but clearly audible: lýtùoc ~ lýtotas ‘rainy’, nukalniòu ~ nùkalniu ‘downhill’, vėikė ~ vėikiai ‘quickly’. If a word has more than one retracted stress, the strongest is the last one or the one at the end of the word: ekietęverbalìs ~ ekėtvirbalis, mąsùoju ~ mūsuoju ‘for ours’. c) Secondary-retracted stress may have as many as four pitch accents: short, broken, primary-continuing, and, in certain cases, mid (for more on these, see §§ 6, 7c, 10, 12). § 3. As a rule, all words in the dialect are stressed; however, in speech, monosyllabic words are usually cliticized to stressed words. Conjunctions, prepositions, adverbs, and pronouns serve as proclitics and enclitics in the dialect, e.g.: dàbà pàkòše | uo_jau_aštùnta varàu ~ now ‘still’ pàkašu ‘I set off’, and it is already eight o’clock, I’m going; a_kõžna vàkara važiūji pri_mãmā ~ do you drive to mother every evening; ka_bòva lėgiondėnė | e_pradėjo tus_làiskus làidîte ~ when she was in the hospital, she started sending those letters; uo_dėlku that is why he does not want to go; kūo_ce pìkst ont_vàka ~ why are you angry at the child. 2. Accentuation § 4. The dialect has the following intonations: short (˘), broken (˄), primary and secondary continuant (ˇ), rising (ˊ), and middle (ˋ)4. Short intonation. § 5. a) Short intonation, as in other Samogitian dialects that retract stress, occurs in short syllables formed by the vowels a, e, i, u, ę, ǫ, in the following cases: α) in monosyllabic words: kàs, nẽs, rẽs ~ ris, lõps ~ lùps (also in words that have become monosyllabic in the dialect: làps ~ lùpas, rẽc ~ rėtas, sòh ~ sùka, žėb ~ žiba); β) bearing retracted stress: àkmõu ~ akmuõ, svẽtės ~ svečiais, pìli ~ pilì, lùpì ~ lupi, kẽtė ~ kiti, lõpò ~ lupù; 4With regard to intonation, the dialect described differs from other Samogitian dialects chiefly in the short intonation of the primary, archaic stress in words with shifted stress (§ 5b), the primary continuant on e, o <i, u (§ 9), the short intonation of secondary shifted stress (§ 6), the broken intonation (§ 7c) and primary continuant (§§ 10–12), and the rising intonation of retracted stress (§ 14); cf. V. Grinaveckis, Švdt fonetinės ypatybės, §§ 45–93. The cases of pronunciation of the intonations mentioned above are described here in greater detail. 142 γ) bearing secondary final stress: mẽr.gà ~ mergà, kàtės ~ katės, vìnis ~ vinis (plural genitive), gã.i.dùs ~ gaidžius, pẽ.r.štų ~ pirštų. b) In the dialect, a and e corresponding to standard Lithuanian circumflex a, e are pronounced with short intonation in disyllabic and polysyllabic words with shifted stress, e.g.: làpė ~ ląpei, žádám ~ žádame, ràšòm ~ ràšant, kàtė ~ kàtei; nẽšęs ~ nẽšinas, kėlõu ~ kėliau ‘to the road’, sènė ~ sėnei, vėdėns ~ vėdinas. § 6. In the dialect, a short syllable that has received shifted stress (cf. § 2a) can also have short intonation, e.g.: dėdėlė ~ dideliai, išnešiau ~ išnešiau, kàtėnų ~ kàtinų ‘to the cat’, lópėtą ~ lópėtai, óndėnėi ~ vandenie ‘to the water’, pàvedai ~ pavėdžiau, sèšerėi ~ sèserie ‘to the sister’. A short syllable receives shifted stress (and short intonation) in the same circumstances in other dounininkai dialects as well, as in: pàžastė ~ pažastiai, kòbėlõu ~ kūbilu ‘with a bucket’ (Grūšlaukė), šòlinė ~ šūlinėje (Kulai I, Skuodo district), àpkaklėms ~ àpkaklėms ‘for collars’ (Seda), òždòralis ~ užduralis ‘the place behind the door, the yard’ (Alsėdžiai), pàvakarė ~ pavakarė (Gadūnavas, Telšiai district). Broken intonation. § 7. Broken intonation corresponds to standard Lithuanian acute accent, and in the dialect, as with the standard acute, it occurs with long vowels and diphthongs, e.g.: lìkst ~ lygsta, lùpa ~ lūpa, šlūta ~ šluota, tiẽls ~ tėvas. Besides the case mentioned, broken intonation is also used in the dialect in: a) Secondary diphthongs arising from a, e, ę, ǫ + l, m, n, r, i, u through ending truncation, e.g.: stàls ~ stālas, šlàm ~ šlāma, tvàns ~ tvānas ‘flood’, gārs ~ gāras, kẽl ~ kẽla ‘raises’, sēm ~ sēma ‘sows’, sēns ~ sēnas, kẽrs ~ kẽras, pẽl ~ pila, žẽls ~ žilas, vežẽms, ~ vežimas, mẽn ~ mina, kòl ~ kūla ‘threshes’, stòm ~ stūma ‘pushes’, kòr ~ kūra ‘heats’, klẽus ~ klėvas, lẽi ~ lėja ‘pours’. Instead of the dialect’s broken intonation, standard Lithuanian vowels a, e in this case are pronounced with circumflex intonation, and i, u with short intonation, since in standard Lithuanian they and the consonants belong to different syllables. b) Long syllables in personal endings of verbs (instead of standard Lithuanian circumflex intonation), e.g.: radāu ~ radāu, skaitāu ~ skaitāu, žẽnā ~ žinai, nešẽ ~ nešėi, rašẽs ~ rašys, skaitīs ~ skaitys; and the third person of the future tense (instead of standard Lithuanian short intonation), e.g.: lìs ~ lŷs ‘it will rain’, gīs ~ gŷs ‘it will heal’, būs ~ būs ‘will be’, džūs ~ džiūs ‘will dry’, lūš ~ lūš ‘will break’. c) Long syllables bearing shifted stress (usually), e.g.: brõngė ~ brāngiai, dáilė ~ dailiai, dẽrbā ~ dirbai, šūokā ~ šōkai, tīlēm ~ tyliame ‘in silence’, vàkõu ~ vaikuo ‘to the child’, pàbẽngė ~ pabengė ‘finished’, pàplūotis ~ paplotis ‘flatbread’, àprùmba ~ āprumbą ‘the skirt’s waistband’, pàršūove ~ pāršovė, pavàlgìsi ~ pavalgysi, mùosiedie ~ Mósėdėje ‘in Mosedis’, plāukiuosēm ~ plaukiosime, ràtpiedē ~ rātpėdžiai ‘spokes’, sòt rēnkies ~ sutrenkės ‘got hurt’, vàkščiuodams ~ vaikščiodamas. d) The vowels a, e in interjections, e.g.: màkt ~ mākt, bākst ~ bākst, bāpt ~ bāpt, klẽpt ~ klēpt. Primary continuant intonation. § 8. Primary continuant intonation corresponds to standard Lithuanian circumflex and occurs in the dialect in the same cases as standard Lithuanian circumflex intonation, e.g.: kùods ~ kuōdas, mālė ~ mālo ‘ground’, rūktė ~ rūkti, sėgė ~ sėgė, tīsti ~ tįsti, trūmps ~ trūmpas, tẽršč ~ tirštas. 143 As in some other Samogitian dialects, vowels a, e are pronounced here with this intonation (instead of short 1k): a) In verb prefixes and primary infinitives, e.g.: ãtvėdė ~ àtvėdė, nėlęs ~ nelesa, lākte ~ lākți, vėšte ~ vėšti. b) In possessive pronouns: tãvo ~ tàvo, sãvo ~ sàvo. c) In the suffix of comparative adjectives, the vowel e (except where e is narrowed by regressive vowel assimilation and pronounced with medial intonation; see § 15 c), e.g.: jaunėsne ~ jaunėsne, mažėsne ~ mažėsne. § 9. In the dialect, vowels ę, ǫ are pronounced with primary continuous intonation when stressed with the main, archaic stress and corresponding to short 1k i, u with short intonation. Such ę, ǫ occur in words without retracted stress, e.g.: lėpa ~ lipo, kėba ~ kibo, šešėra ~ iširo, nutėka ~ nutiko ‘happened’, palėka ~ paliko, pražėla ~ pražilo, snėga ~ snigo, blėzgė ~ blizgė, nudrėškęs ~ nudriskęs, kėštė ~ kišti, rėštė ~ rišti, abūdo ~ abūdu, adbōka ~ atbuko, bōva ~ buvo, pōva ~ puvo, šōta ~ siūto, dōgnos ~ dūgnas, smōkte ~ smukti. The primary continuous intonation of vowels ę, ǫ, like that of a, e, has developed from the short intonation as these vowels became lengthened. In other Samogitian dialects, ę, ǫ in this position are half-long and pronounced with medial intonation. § 10. In the dialect, primary continuous intonation may also occur in syllables pronounced long and bearing retracted stress5. The primary continuous intonation of retracted stress is pronounced: 1. In place of the archaic circumflex intonation: a) in the root: àtkàlte ~ àtkalte ‘he hammered back’ (: kalti), ėžgóustis ~ išgąstis (: išsigąsti), pašárdis ~ pašardis (: žaizdas), pagrūóvis ~ pagrūovis (: griovi), paláukis ~ paliaukis (: liaukos), patálkis ~ patalkis (: talką), pavėržis ~ paviržis (: vi̇ržti duoti), paláukė ~ Pàlaukė (village in Skuodas district) (: laukás), pərlėke ~ pérėkė (: lėkti); b) in suffixes: rūkštinė ~ rūgštynė ‘sorrel’, nūotrine ~ nōtrynė, rūpūže ~ rūpūžė, pąrąmbūotis ~ Pàrambuotis (a tract of arable land in the Mosėdis area) (: Rambuòtis ‘surname’); c) in the ending of the first constituent: gėrūoje ~ gėrojo, gėrōji ~ gėraji, mažūosės ~ mažosios, mažōje ~ mažąją. 2. In place of the archaic acute intonation: a) in the root: pàmūote ~ pāmotė (: motė), pàtėvis ~ pātėvis (: tėvas), pàlūpis ~ pãlūpis (: lūpa), pàšėnis ~ pašienis (: šiena), pàšūostė ~ pašostė (: šostas), pòšpūrė ~ pùspūrė (: pūras); b) in the suffix: pēiškūne ~ Paeiškūnė (village in Skuodas district) (: the river Eiškūnas, Skuodas district); c) in the ending of the first constituent: gėrājė ~ gērajai, pėrmōjuoju ~ pirmuojuoju ‘to the first’, mūsōjuoju ~ mūsųoju ‘to ours’ (Grūšlaukė); dėrbōntūosiems ~ dirbančiosioms, dėrbōntējė ~ dirbantieji, ētōntējė ~ ēinantieji (Kretinga)6. 5Syllables bearing retracted stress and primary continuous intonation are also pronounced in other donininkai dialects. In describing it, examples were drawn from material in the dialectology collections of the Institute of the Lithuanian Language and Literature, representing the dialects of Grūšlaukė, Kartenà, Kulai I village (Skuodas district), Seda, and Alsėdžiai. The location is indicated only when the Mosėdis dialect has a different pronunciation. 6 See J. Aleksandravičius, The Verb in the Kretinga Dialect. — “VVPI Mokslo darbai”, 8, 138, Vilnius, 1959. 144 3. On a, e, ė, o < a, e, i, u: a) in the nominative singular of pronominal forms: gėrãsis ~ gėrasis, mažãsis ~ mažasis, pàštarãsis ~ paštarasis, pėrmãsis ~ pirmasis, mònãsis ~ manasis; b) in prefixed and compound words: àpkãklė ~ ãpkaklė ‘collar’, àpnãšris ~ ãpnašris, pàvakàrė ~ pavakarė, pàrsãkė ~ pėrsakė, pàrdarė ~ pėrdarė ‘repainted’, pàréję ~ pėrėjo, pùsesėrė ~ puseserė, pùšmėrgėlė ~ pušmergelė, pàrė.sa ~ pėrišo, pàrlė.pa ~ pėrlipo, pàršp.ka ~ pėrsuko (also in words with the suffix -alis: ǫždùralis ~ užduralis, ekietvėrbàlis ~ ekėtvìrbalis, òšpãkãlis ~ užpakalis); c) in the verb suffixes -av-, -in-, -ij-, -ur-: baltãva ~ baltavo, òugãva ~ úogavo, jọdėna ~ judino, èšmalagėna ~ išmalagino, paklàbėna ~ paklàbino, vàrgė.na ~ vargino, kãulė.je ~ kaulijo, gràjėje ~ grąžijo, sovìtõ.ra ~ suvyturo ‘wrapped up’. § 11. Cases in which retracted stress occurs in the word root7 and has the original circumflex intonation are most clearly revealed in the declensional paradigm: Singular Plural Nom. pãtàlkis ~ pãtalkis pãtàlkė ~ pãtalkiai Gen. pãtàlkė ~ pãtalkio pãtàlkų ~ pãtalkių Dat. pãtàlkõu ~ pãtalkiuo pãtàlkėms ~ pãtalkiams Acc. pãtàlkį ~ pãtalkį pãtàlkùs ~ pãtalkius Instr. pãtàlkõ ~ pãtalkiu pãtàlkės ~ pãtalkiais Loc. pãtàlkie ~ pãtalkėje pãtàlkùs ~ pãtalkiuose Feminine nouns also have retracted stress with the original circumflex intonation in the plural nominative (cf. pãmõtes ~ pãmotės, pàšùostės ~ pašùostės). When the original circumflex intonation occurs on the vowels a, e, o (àpnãšris ~ ãpnašris, šùlėnė ~ šùlinė, àpõšė ~ apušė), the instrumental singular and accusative plural forms do not receive retracted stress, e.g.: Singular Plural Nom. àpkãklė ~ ãpkaklė àpkãklės ~ ãpkaklės Gen. àpkãklės ~ ãpkaklės àpkãklų ~ ãpkaklių Dat. àpkãklė ~ ãpkaklei àpkãklėms ~ ãpkaklėms Acc. àpkãklę ~ ãpkaklę àpkãkles ~ ãpkakles Instr. àpkãkle ~ ãpkakle àpkãkliems ~ ãpkaklėmis Loc. àpkãklie ~ ãpkaklėje àpkãklės ~ ãpkaklėse In the paradigm of pronominal forms having the original circumflex intonation of retracted stress at the end of the first component, the following cases are pronounced with it: masculine nominative singular (the original circumflex falls on a), genitive, accusative, and feminine accusative singular and nominative plural, e.g.: 7In words with retracted stress on the suffix, the original circumflex intonation of retracted stress occurs in the same cases as in words with retracted stress in the root. 10. Kalbotyros klausimai, IV 145 Vienaskaita V. geràsis ~ gẽrasis geróji ~ geróji K. gerũoje ~ gẽrojo gerũosės ~ gerõsios N. gerõjûu ~ gẽruoju gerãjë ~ gẽrajai G. gerõji ~ gẽraji gerõję ~ gẽrają Įn. gerõjo ~ gerúoju gerõje ~ gerãja Vt. geramẽje ~ geramẽje gerũjoje ~ gerõje Daugiskaita V. gerẽje ~ gerẽji gẽrũosės ~ gerõsios K. gerũjų ~ gerũjų gerũjų ~ gerũjų N. gerẽsėms ~ gerẽsiems gerũosėms ~ gerõsėms G. gerũsus ~ gerũsius gerũoses ~ gerõsias Įn. gerãsės ~ geraisiais gerũosiėms ~ gerõsėmis Vt. gerũsūs ~ gerũsiųse gerũosėse ~ gerõsėse In the Kretinga and Grušlaukė dialects, the primary continuous intonation on the final component of a shifted stress also occurs in place of the ancient acute intonation (cf. § 10). § 12. a) In the Dounininkai dialects, the continuous intonation of shifted-stress syllables that were inherently circumflex was undoubtedly preserved from ancient times, just as were the continuous intonation of retracted stress (see § 13) and the pushed intonation (see § 14). b) The circumflex intonation of originally acute syllables with retracted stress may in many cases have arisen through metatony; cf. pašùostę ~ pašostė and Standard Lithuanian pasõstė: sóstas. c) Final syllables bearing retracted stress always have a broken intonation. d) If the primary-ancient stress is on a long syllable, then the vowels ę, ǫ with retracted stress are half-long and pronounced with a mid intonation: várgę.na ~ várgino, kaũlę.je ~ kaũlijo, páršǫ.ka ~ pérsuko; but if the primary-ancient stress is on a short syllable (consisting of the vowels a, e, ę, ǫ or i, u), then the aforementioned vowels with retracted stress are long and pronounced with a continuous intonation: sǫšlà-pėna ~ sušlapino, ápǫšė ~ ápūšė. Secondary continuous intonation. § 13. This intonation occurs only in long penultimate syllables with retracted stress, if the ending is short, e.g.: gõ.r.bė ~ gurbė ‘in a hen’s nest’, kẽ.ž.i.mė ~ kiemė, kél.i.n.tà ~ kelintą, pàbõ.n.gà ~ pabangą ‘the end’, prìgì.m.tà ~ prigimtą ‘innate’, sù.n.ki ~ sunki, šã.u.kǫ ~ šaukiu ‘I call’, tùorà ~ torà ‘fence’. Retracted intonation. § 14. Words with retracted stress have retracted intonation. Originally acute vowels and diphthongs are pronounced with it, e.g.: aukštã ~ aukštai, gálvą ~ galvą, jáunų ~ jaunų, káltną ~ kaltinai, káilėnė ~ kailiniai, kūokį ~ kokį, pláuką ~ plaukai, plúonų ~ plonų, pėmdėlė ~ pemdėlė, sélpnin ~ silpnyn, stúorās ~ storais, žiobėlės ~ obelės, žáltīs ~ žaltys. Mid intonation. § 15. In the dialect, the following are pronounced with mid intonation: a) Vowels and diphthongs stressed with retracted stress, withdrawn from a circumflex ending to a circumflex pre-final syllable, e.g.: dọ.ubė ~ duobė, lá.ukū ~ 146 laukų, kȯ.rtȯs ~ kurtȯs ‘deaf’, mã.žãs ~ maišais, vã.rlȯ ~ varlė, žvã.igždė ~ žvaigždė. b) Vowels and diphthongs with retracted stress in the antepenultimate or more distant syllables of polysyllabic words (except where those vowels or diphthongs are inherently circumflex, cf. § 14), e.g.: liežuvìs ~ liežùvius, rėištȯvȯs ~ riestuvùs, šaldėnùs ~ saldinių, dùmblėna ~ dumblina, rù.kštėnȯ ~ rūgštinių, šàukȯntȯs ~ šaukànčios ‘calling’, brãuktȯvė ~ brauktuvė. c) e, i, u affected by regressive vowel assimilation and bearing ancient stress, e.g.: kėlì ~ kėli, pìeti ~ pėti, mù.sis ~ mùsys ‘flies’, vì.nis ~ vynys, but: kėlė ~ kėlio, pėte ~ pėčio ‘of the shoulder’. II. Changes in the diphthongs an, en (>Lithuanian standard language ą, ę, a, e) in the northern Dounininkai dialects § 16. The old diphthongs an, en, which yielded standard Lithuanian ą, ę, changed into ǫ, ę in all northern Dounininkai dialects; over time, in some places in this area they became diphthongized, changing into ǫu, ęi. Diphthongs ǫu, ęi of this origin are found among the northern coastal Dounininkai (Skuodas, Mosėdis, Ylakiai, Salantai8, Grūšlaukė, Darbėnai) and in the northeastern corner of the Dounininkai area (Klykoliai, Viekšniai, Akmenė, Papilė)9. § 17. a) In the area mentioned, the root diphthongs ǫu, ęi, corresponding to standard Lithuanian ą, ę, occur both under stress (with acute or circumflex accent) and unstressed, e.g.: α) under the main, inherited stress: kȯunsis ~ kąsnis, ǫužȯuls ~ ąžuolas, žȯusla ~ žąslai, galȯustė ~ galąsti; drȯusė ~ drąsiai (Klykoliai); spȯusla ~ spąslai ‘trap’, ǫušȯs ~ ąsas ‘hook’, skłȯustis ~ skląstis, spręstė ~ spręsti, paspęistė ~ paspęsti, tęiūs ~ tėvas ‘slender, thin’ (Mosėdis); skęište ~ skęsti, gręištė ~ gręžti (Grūšlaukė); β) under retracted stress: rȯ.u.stùs ~ raštus, drȯ.u.šȯs ~ drašus, grȯ.u.š-tùs ~ gražtus; žȯusė ~ žąsė ‘goose’ (Akmenė); ȯ.ušù ~ ašų (Viekšniai); skę.i.s-tȯ ~ skęstų, grę.i.žȯ ~ gręži (Grūšlaukė); γ) unstressed: drȯusȯms ~ drašumas, žȯusiena ~ žąsiena; grȯužėn ~ gražina (Klykoliai); tęišėms ~ tęšimas, gręižėms ~ gręžimas; tęivȯms ~ tėvūmas (Mosėdis). b) The diphthong ǫu in the word ąžuolas is also found in separate dialects in which an, en < became ǫ, ę, e.g.: ǫužȯls ~ ąžuolas, ǫužùlìns ~ ąžuolynas (Židikai); ǫužȯuls ~ ąžuolas, ǫu-žȯulėlis ~ ąžuolėlis (Stro peliai and Dupułčiai, Kretinga district); ǫužȯuls ~ ąžuolas (Tickinai, Rietavas district), but: kȯunsis ~ kąsnis, galȯustė ~ galąsti, etc. § 18. a) In Ylakiai, due to regressive vowel assimilation, the acute-accented diphthong an and the acute- and circumflex-accented diphthong en, via ǫn, ęn, > ǫ, ę, have changed into u˙, i˙: kansnis > kȯnsnis > kȯsnis > kùsnis, brensi > bręnsi > bręsi > brisi, skensi > skęnsi > skęsi ~ skįsi; assimilation of the circumflex-accented diphthong an does not occur, e.g.: žȯusis ~ žąsys, žȯ.usė ~ žąsėje ‘in the goose’. This unequal pronunciation of acute- and circumflex-accented an 8 Regarding Ylakiai and Salantai, only standard Lithuanian ą corresponds to ou, while standard Lithuanian ę corresponds to ė. 9 This section is limited to changes in the old diphthongs an, en in the area of the northern Dounininkai dialects mentioned above, and indicates the distribution of the phenomena examined. 147 would suggest that in the other descriptive dialects as well, the acute an was affected by vowel assimilation earlier than the circumflex. b) In the Skuodas and Mosėdis dialects west of Ylakiai, where regressive vowel assimilation is quite strong, even acute ų < an is no longer affected; apparently, ųn and en changed earlier here, and the vowel assimilation that had begun could no longer raise them. This would also be indicated by the fact that in these dialects assimilation raises the first component of the acute diphthong an (cf. § 34 g). § 19. At the end of a word, ou, ei < ąñ, eñ are pronounced in the following cases: a) At the end of a stressed word: α) In the accusative singular of the pronouns kas, tas, anas, katras, tatras (the pronoun corresponding to katras): kõu ~ ką ‘what’, tõu ~ tą ‘that’, ānõu ~ aną ‘that’, kàtrõu ~ katrą ‘which’, tàtrõu ~ tatrą ‘such’; β) In the nominative singular and plural of masculine present active participles: biėgõus ~ bėgąs ‘running’, bènėšõu ~ benešą ‘carrying’, dērbõus ~ dirbąs ‘working’, krìokõu ~ krioką ‘roars’, nèdērõu ~ nederą ‘not working’, sãkõus ~ sukąs ‘turning’, šã.ukõus ~ šaukas ‘calling out’, tràškõus ~ traškąs ‘crackling’; nèlõubõus ~ neliuobąs ‘not accustomed to’ (Grušlaukė). b) At the end of the first constituent of pronominalized forms, e.g.: gẽrõuji ~ gerąjį ‘the good one’ (masculine accusative), pẽrmõuje ~ pirmąją ‘the first one’ (feminine accusative), mū̃sõuji ~ mūsųjį ‘ours’ (masculine accusative), pẽgõuji ~ pigiają ‘the cheap one’ (masculine accusative) (Grušlaukė). Around Mosėdis and Salantai, however, o is already heard: gẽrõji ~ gerąjį ‘the good one’ (masculine accusative), mažõje ~ mažąją ‘the small one’ (feminine accusative), jōudõji ~ juodąjį ‘the black one’ (masculine accusative). § 20. Around Klykoliai, Akmenė, Viekšniai, and Papilė, standard Lithuanian ą at the end of a stressed word corresponds to ul or u’, e.g.: tū̃u || tū̃ ~ tą ‘that’ (accusative), ānũ ~ aną ‘that’ (accusative), kàtrũ ~ katrą ‘which’ (accusative), jāunũji ~ jaunąjį ‘the young one’ (masculine accusative) (Klykoliai); kũ ~ ką ‘what’ (Akmenė, Viekšniai); šã.ukõus ~ šaukąs ‘calling out’, vė.rkũ ~ verką ‘weeping’ (Papilė). § 21. a) In the nominative singular and plural of masculine present active participles at the end of an unstressed word, standard Lithuanian ą corresponds to o, e.g.: dãros ~ darąs ‘doing’, ētos ~ eitąs ‘going’, ē̇sos ~ ęsąs ‘being’, sãko ~ saką ‘saying’, neprimãtos ~ neprimątąs ‘not remembering’, rãšo ~ rašą ‘writing’, sotiņko ~ sutinką ‘meeting’10. b) In nominal forms, circumflex -an has lost -n and shortened, e.g.: dėina ~ dieną ‘day’ (accusative), mažā ~ mažą ‘small’ (accusative), ōntra ~ antrą ‘second’ (accusative), pẽlva ~ pilvą ‘belly’ (accusative), sēna ~ seną ‘old’ (accusative), vẽina ~ vieną ‘one’ (accusative). Only in the northeastern corner (Klykoliai, Akmenė), where old circumflex -an would occur in nominal forms, there are two forms: one with -a and one with -o. The forms used here are: ẽlga ~ ilgą ‘long’ (accusative), rōnka ~ ranką ‘hand’ (accusative), tėva ~ tėvą ‘father’ (accusative), and lãzdo ~ lazdą ‘stick’ (accusative), pẽjūkoko ~ pijūką ‘drunkard’ (accusative), rōnko ~ ranką ‘hand’ (accusative), vẽino ~ vieną ‘one’ (accusative). § 22. a) The old circumflex diphthong en (> standard Lithuanian e), in an unstressed ending, as in other Samogitian dialects in which en > eñ11, has become e. The vowel e < eñ occurs: α) In the accusative singular of nominal forms: pẽlę ~ pėlę ‘spleen’, sēnę ~ sėnę ‘seed’, žẽmę ~ žemę ‘earth’, žõlę ~ žolę ‘grass’; β) In the nominative singular of masculine past participles: rãšęs ~ ‘having written’; 10 The diphthong ou is also pronounced in the stressed and o in the unstressed ending of masculine present active participles by some dialects that have stem o and e in place of standard Lithuanian ą and ę (in borderland dialects where standard Lithuanian ą, ę correspond to ou, ei), e.g.: blėzgõu ~ blizgą ‘shining’, but bãdos ~ badąs ‘starving’ (Kalnalis, Kretinga district); kėlõus ~ ketąs ‘intending’, but barõmstos ~ berąmstąs ‘supporting’ (Stropliai, Kretinga district). 11 See V. Grinaveckis, Švdt phonetic features, §§ 144, 168. 148 having written, having looked ~ having cooked, having ridden ~ having ridden; having slipped ~ having slipped, having sat down ~ having sat down (Klykoliai). b) Distinctive are the nominative plural forms of masculine past participles. In Klykoliai, Akmenė, and Viekšniai, two forms of these participles are used: with the endings ę and ęi, e.g.: biegę || biegęi ~ bėgę, nėšę || nėšęi ~ nėšę (Viekšniai), prikėpę || prikėpęi ~ prikėpę, bō.vę ~ būvę, nusepęrkę ~ nusipirkę, gėmęi ~ gimę (Klykoliai). In some dialects of the northern coastal dounininkai (Kretinga¹², Mosėdis), reflexive participles have forms with -ęi. § 23. At the end of a word, in place of the old acute-stressed and unstressed an, ǫ or a is pronounced. The vowel -ǫ < -án occurs over a larger area of the northern dounininkai and in the southwestern corner. The boundary between -a and -ǫ < -án could roughly be a diagonal—Klykoliai, Akmenė, Alsėdžiai, Gargždai. Northwest of it, án in an open ending changes to ǫ. Here the instrumental singular is pronounced: gálvo ~ gálva, lãzdõ ~ lazdã, jáunõ ~ jáuna, mažõ ~ mažã, šãkõ ~ šakã, mãšino ~ mãšina, plõtõ ~ plutã, plūnksno ~ plūnksna; rǫ.n.ko ~ rankã (Klykoliai). Because of the acute-stressed -an > -ǫ, in these dialects the feminine and masculine instrumental singular forms have coincided phonetically, so sǫ mažõ vãkõ (~ with small children) and sǫ mažõ gálvo (~ with a small head) are pronounced exactly alike. The aforementioned diagonal, separating -án > -ǫ from -a, is approximately parallel to the southeastern boundary of am, an, em, en > om, on, em, en, which is an argument in favor of the view that the change in the aforementioned diphthongs, which began in the north, moved southeastward. By the time the diphthong change reached the aforementioned line, the final -n of the diphthong -an must have disappeared; consequently, the remaining -a could not change into -ǫ. § 24. At the end of a word, the old acute-stressed and unstressed en becomes ę. The vowel ę > ę < én occurs: a) in the instrumental singular and accusative plural of feminine nouns with an -ę stem ending: sėnę ~ senę, kãtę ~ katę, kãtęs ~ katės, kãrvęs ~ kárves; b) in the locative singular: pǫudę ~ pūode, lã.u.kę ~ laukę, męšę ~ miškę, dǫgnę ~ dugnę. In the first case (singular instrumental and plural accusative), acute-stressed -en does not become -ę in the eastern border area around Klykoliai, Akmenė, and Papilė. Thus, in the eastern part, the final -n in -én > -ęn had already disappeared. III. Regressive vowel assimilation in Dounininkai dialects § 25. Regressive vowel assimilation has affected the vocalism of some Dounininkai dialects. This regressive vowel assimilation covers a fairly large area of the Dounininkai dialects: the boundary, beginning near the Latvian border by Kulu I village (Skuodas district), runs past Mosėdis, skirts Salantai to the east, reaches Plungė, Žarėnai, and Pavandenė in the south 12 See J. Aleksandravičius, The Verb in the Kretinga Dialect. — “VVPI Mokslo darbai”, 8, § 73, Vilnius, 1959. 149 (reaching as far as the northern Dunininkai), runs past Luokė (not reaching it), past Raudėnai and Papilė, up to Klykoliai. In the area mentioned, regressive vowel assimilation has narrowed (in the case of e, ę ~ ė, ė ~ a) or prevented the widening of (in the case of short i, u) vowels in the middle of words. Regressive vowel assimilation is observed in the following cases: a) before word-final i < į, im, iš; b) before word-final u < un, uo (in a closed word ending); c) before i, ie, uo, im. However, vowel assimilation does not operate in all cases throughout the entire area mentioned, nor is it uniform everywhere: it is stronger in some places, while vowel narrowing is weaker elsewhere. This chapter attempts to survey the characteristic features of regressive vowel assimilation and how assimilation changes individual vowels in various Dounininkai dialects. 1. The vowel e § 26. a) The vowel e is narrowed by assimilation throughout the whole area, though not in all the cases mentioned. e is always narrowed when the word retains stress in its original position and e stands immediately before a syllable containing i < į, im, ie, e.g.: mė.dis ~ mėdis, še.nis ~ šėnis, mė.di ~ mėdi, še.ni ~ šėni (Kulai I, Skuodas district; Skliaustė, Mažeikiai district); miedis ~ mėdis, šienis ~ šėnis, miedi ~ mėdi, šieni ~ šėni (Seda, Makščiai, vicinity of Alsėdžiai); rietis ~ rėtis ‘a scar’, liežgis ~ lėžgis ‘shoe tongue’, iežis || ė.žis ~ ėžis, gienis ~ gėnis ‘woodpecker’, puodelis ~ puodėlis, kaiškelis ~ kaišeklis ‘scraper’, kieli ~ kėli ‘road’, trieti ~ trėti ‘third’, miesi ~ mėsi, oštieksi ~ užtėksi (Mosėdis); liepšis ~ lėpšis ‘a kind of mushroom’, šonielis ~ šunėlis, pieti ~ pėti, jauniesnis ~ jaunėšnis, nunieši ~ nunėši (Papilė); pamėsi ~ pamėsi, bevėši ~ bevėši (Tryškiai); skaniėšnis ~ skanėšnis, parviėši ~ parvėši (Girininkai, vicinity of Raudėnai); darbiė.lis ~ darbėlis, laukieli ~ laukėli (Klykoliai). b) If e is unstressed or receives retracted stress, it is not narrowed, e.g.: vėži ~ veži, nėši ~ neši, gėri ~ geri (Mosėdis, Seda). § 27. a) Before u < un, the vowel e is narrowed only when it is stressed and u follows a palatalized consonant, e.g.: mė.du ~ mėdžių, še.nu ~ šėnių (Kulai I, Skliaustė); miedu ~ mėdžių, šienu ~ šėnių (Seda, Makščiai); miedžu ~ mėdžių (Papilė); mielėniu ~ mėlēnių ‘blueberries’ (Tryškiai); kielu ~ kėlių (Girininkai); žiemu ~ žėmių, trė.pu ~ trėpių ‘stairs’, lentielu ~ lentėlių, but: trėpės ~ trėpės, žėmės ~ žemės, lentėlės ~ lentėlės (Mosėdis). b) Before u < un, the vowel e is not narrowed: α) If it is unstressed (or receives retracted stress), e.g.: kėlių ~ kelių, šešių ~ šešių, pečių ~ pečių, pelių ~ pelių (Mosėdis); gėrėšniu ~ geresnių (Papilė); but: gerėšniu ~ geresnių (Mosėdis). β) If the following syllable begins with a hard consonant, e.g.: mėtu ~ metų (Seda), pėtru ~ Petrų (Mosėdis). It would seem that the vowel e is affected not by u < un but by the palatalized consonant; however, this is contradicted by cases in which a palatalized consonant does not narrow the vowel e (cf. kėlę ~ kėlio, mergelė ~ mergėlė). Thus, in this case, narrowing the vowel e requires the influence of both u < un and a palatalized consonant. Other vowels (u, ė) are assimilated even before a syllable beginning with a hard consonant, formed by the vowel u < un (see §§ 31, 33b). § 28. The vowel e is not assimilated everywhere by u < uo (in a closed word ending) and ie. Most often in this case e remains un-narrowed, and only in the more northerly dia- 150 in the syllable (Kulai I, Židikai, Vieksniai) changes to ę; the forms are: mėdžius ~ medžius, šėnius ~ senius, mėdūs ~ medžiu̇se, šėnūs ~ seniu̇se, mėdie ~ mėdėje, šėnie ~ šėnėje. § 29. Sometimes the stressed vowel e is narrowed also in a syllable farther from the end of the word, not immediately preceding a syllable with i(ė) < ī, in, for example: ṡieserę ~ seserį: pas am̃nios ṡieserę tarnavau (Girininkai); ḋiebesis ~ ḋėbesės: ḋiebesis kūoks įoudžausis ūuo li̇.taus kēlę laša nukrė.ta (Papi̇lė); ṡieseręs ~ seserys: mėna dvę ṡieseres (Tryškiai); ṡiepeti ~ šėpeti: ṡiepeti mọn padėrpiomęt (Klykoliai). § 30. The narrowed vowel e is pronounced in two ways: e and ie. e is heard in the northern part (Kulai I, Ylakiai, Skliaustė, Vieksniai), while farther south (Mosėdis, Seda, Papilė, Tryškiai, Alsėdžiai) it is ie. It is difficult to determine any more precise boundary, since both e and ie are often heard in the same area (Mosėdis, Klykoliai). The narrowed vowel e, bearing the archaic accent, is pronounced with a mid pitch accent. 2. Vowels ɔ ~ ą, ę ~ ę § 31. Vowel assimilation also affects ɔ (< ɔn < an) ~ ą, ę (< ęn < en) ~ ę. a) ɔ ~ ą always narrows through assimilation, changing into u̇; the forms are: žu̇sis ~ žąsys, žu̇si ~ žąsi, kȧsnis ~ kąsnis, ku̇sni ~ kąsni, žu̇su̇ ~ žąsų, ku̇snius ~ kąsnius, ru̇stu ~ rąstų, ru̇stus ~ rąstus (Seda, Skliaustė); žu̇.sie ~ žąsėje, žu̇.sies ~ žąsėse (Seda). In those places where ɔu ~ ą, this is also the pronunciation in most localities (Mosėdis, Kulai I, Vieksniai): žu̇usis ~ žąsys, ku̇snis ~ kąsnis. Ylakiai is an exception, where the acute-accented form is narrowed, while the circumflex form is not assimilated; the forms are: ku̇snis ~ kąsnis, ku̇sni~kąsni, ku̇snius ~ kąsnius, but žu̇se ~ žąsi, žu̇.usie ~ žąsėje. Apparently, the acute-accented and circumflex forms of an >lk ą were affected by assimilation at different times. See also § 18 a. b) Narrowing of the vowel ę ~ ę is observed in Ylakiai and the environs of Židikai. The vowel ę ~ ę is also assimilated by word-final uo (< ā), for example: sk̇iṡte ~ skėsti, sk̇iṡe ~ skėsi, sk̇iṡčio ~ skėščio, u̇ṡčio ~ tęščio (Ylakiai); sk̇iṡti ~ skėsti, sk̇iṡi ~ skėsi (Skliaustė). Thus, ɔ ~ ą and ę ~ ę are narrowed through vowel assimilation in the northern-central part of the area mentioned. 3. Vowels i, u § 32. Because of regressive vowel assimilation, the short vowels i, u, as stated earlier (§ 26), remain unbroadened. It should be noted that sometimes assimilation does not affect i, u, although the vowel e is narrowed in that area (Šaukliai, vicinity of Mosėdis, partly Tryškiai); on the other hand, i, u also remain unbroadened when unstressed or bearing a retracted stress, that is, in the same cases in which e is not assimilated (cf. §§ 26 b, 27 b). § 33. a) Consistently, short i, u do not broaden before word-final i(ę) < ī, in, ie. With the exception of Tryškiai (where ḋu̇ręs ~ duris, šu̇nęs ~ šunis are said) and Šaukļiai, throughout the entire area we find unbroadened i, u, e.g.: ki̇.bis ~ kibis, pli̇.kšis ~ plikšis, pi̇.gi ~ pigį pigų, li̇.ksi ~ liksi, nupli̇.ksi ~ nupliksi, ki̇ši ~ kiši, ku̇.kštis ‘haystack’, žu̇.ži ~ žūži, lu̇.psi ~ lūpsi, du̇ris ~ duris (Mosėdis); vi̇.ni ~ vinį, vi̇nis ~ vinys, pu̇.sni ~ pūsnį, pu̇snis ~ pusnis 151 (gen. pl., Kulai I, Skliaustė, Ylakiai, Seda, Makščiai); pili ~ pili, krūpis ‘toad’, šūni ~ šūni, lūpi ~ lupi, sūki ~ suki (Vieksniai); ikišė ~ ikiši, rū-rė ~ turi, krū.pi ~ krūpi, mū.sis ~ mūsis ‘flies’ (Papilė); mi.ge ~ migi, bi.tes ~ bitys, aveiži.nes ~ avižinis (Tryškiai); pali.kse ~ paliksi, neb-mi.kse ~ neb-migsi, snū.ke ~ snūki, ū.gne ~ ūgni, sprū.kse ~ sprūksi (Girininkai). Likewise, i, u sometimes remain unbroadened in a syllable farther from the word ending (when stressed), e.g.: rū.denį ~ rudenį, but rodenelis ~ rudenėlis (Mosėdis, Papilė); dū.kteres ~ dukterys (Rudupiai, Telšiai district), rū.dimi ~ rudenį (Viekšniai), di.deles ~ didelis (Tryškiai). b) Both before stressed and before unstressed word-final u(ə) < um, uo (in a closed word ending), the short vowels i, u most often remain unbroadened because of assimilation, e.g.: vi.ku ~ vikių, ki.bu ~ kibų, muosedi.šku ~ mosėdiškių, kriu.pu ~ kriūpių, pi.gū ~ pigū, biči ~ bičių, gjū ~ giu, rugūš ~ rugiūs (Mosėdis); viniu ~ vinių, pūsniū ~ pusnių, pūsū ~ pušų, žūvū ~ žuvų (Kulai I, Skliaustė, Ylakiai, Seda, Makščiai); pū.su ~ pusių (Papilė); ū.pi ~ ūpį, dū.rū ~ durų, lū.bo ~ lūbų (Tryškiai); rū.blo ~ rūblių (Girininkai). Only in the Mosėdis and Papilė dialects does short u, when unstressed (or bearing retracted stress) before u < um, uo, broaden and become o, e.g.: pōšū ~ pušų, ōtū ~ utų, blōšū ~ blusų, ōsnū ~ usnų (Mosėdis); mdsū ~ mušų, šōnū ~ šunų, rōgū ~ rugių (Papilė). In Papilė, vowel u also broadens before ie, e.g.: pōšie ~ pušyje ‘in the pine’, dōktie ~ dukte, pōšie ~ pušėje; whereas elsewhere i, u occur in this case: pūsnie ~ pusnėje, pūšie ~ pušėje, ūgnie ~ ugnėje, žūvie ~ žuvėje (Kulai I, Ylakiai, Skliaustė, Seda); migie ~ migėje, duktie ~ dukte (Mosėdis). c) In the northwestern part of the study area (Kulai I, Ylakiai, Seda), i, u also remain unbroadened before final uo ~ o (<ɑ); here we find: palkčiuo ~ palkčio, riščio ~ riščio, lūpčio ~ lūpčio (Ylakiai); lūpčio ~ lūpčio, but likčio ~ likčio (Kulai I); before ou ~ uo (Seda): riščou ~ riščiuo, lūpčou ~ lūpčiuo. We see that throughout the entire area i, u most consistently remain unbroadened before i (< ī, im, ie), and in all cases in the northern part. 4. Diphthongs § 34. Regressive vowel assimilation affects the first components (e, ę, o, i, u) of diphthongs and mixed diphthongs (most often stressed) in the same cases as individual vowels (see § 25), e.g.: a) ei — pėilis ~ peilis, pėilu ~ peilių, pėili ~ peili (Mosėdis, Seda, Viekšniai also have: pė.i.lius ~ peilius); mažėiku ~ Mažeikių (Viekšniai); pėiksi ~ peiksi, lėsi || lėsi ~ leisi (Mosėdis); b) ui — zūikis ~ zuikis, kūilis ~ kūilis, zūiku ~ zuikių, zū.i.kūs ~ zuikius, kūilu ~ kūilių (Kulai I, Skliaustė, Ylakiai, Seda, Viekšniai); knūisis ~ kniuisis ‘mosquito’, knūisi ~ kniuisi, knūisu ~ kniuisių (Mosėdis). However, farther south (Makščiai), ui > oi, e.g.: zōikis ~ zuikis, kōilis ~ kūilis, kōili ~ kūili; c) el, er — you are getting late ~ you are getting late (Seda); you will dive ~ you will dive, you will turn ~ you will turn, you are eating ~ you are eating (Mosėdis); 152 d) and — birsi ~ birsi, mirsi ~ mišsi, dirbi ~ dirbi, pirti ~ pirti (Mosėdis); šir.dė ~ širdėję (Kulai I, Skliaustė, Ylakiai, Seda, Makščiai); žirnios žirnius, žvirbli ~ žvirblį, oždirpse ~ uždirpsi (Papilė); piršle ~ piršlį (Rudupiai); e) ul — kūlsi ~ kūlsi, pulsi ~ pulsi, mulkis ~ mulkis (but: mólko ~ mulkiu), smulki ~ smulkį ‘small’ (Mosėdis); bülbu ~ bülbių (Papilė); f) ur — jürgis ~ Jürgis, lürbis ~ liurbis, smürglis ~ smürglis ‘mucus’, kюрmi ~ kюрmi, kюрmiu ~ kюрmių, kюрksi ~ kюрksi, bürgi ~ bürgi ‘mumbles, mutters’, but: lór.bo ~ liurbíu, kór.mo ~ kюрmiu (Mosėdis). g) It should be noted that regressive assimilation also narrows the first component (o, e) of the mixed diphthongs om, on, em, en. In Seda and Skliaustė, word-final i (< ī, in, ie) and u (< un, and uo in a closed word-final syllable) always assimilate the first component of om, on, e.g.: pūntis ~ pántis (but: pónčio ~ pánčiu), pūnti ~ pánti, pūntie ~ pántėje, pūntu ~ pánčiu, pūntus ~ pánčius; rúnku ~ rañkų, dú.n.tū ~ dantų, žūmbis ~ žambis, rümstis ~ ramstis. Similarly, before u < un the first component of em, en also narrows, e.g.: pĩ.n.kų ~ penkių (Židikai, Ylakiai); gĩmbu ~ gémbių, miã.kų ~ ménkių, mi.n.čiū ~ menčių (Seda). In the northwestern part of the area under study (Ylakiai, Mosėdis, Kulai I), assimilation narrows only the first component of a falling-accent mixed diphthong; here one says: pūntis ~ pántis, pūnti ~ pánti, pūntie ~ pántėje, pūntu ~ pánčiu, pūntus ~ pánčius (also: sām.tis ~ sámtis in Mosėdis), but: rō.n.ku ~ rañkų, dó.n.tū ~ dantų. am, an, em, en changed into om, on, em, en under the influence of n, m; subsequently, owing to the high vowel in the following syllable, om > um, on > un, em > im, en > in. § 35. The cases in which a word-ending vowel exerts an assimilating influence have been mentioned here (§ 25—34). In some places within the area under study, however, assimilation is also triggered not only by the ending but by a suffix vowel or mixed diphthong, e.g. in Seda: ī — kunkulinė ~ kankulynė ‘milky soup’, bulbìnė ~ bulbynė, pūsninė ~ pusnynė, lumditę ~ landyti, grūnditę ~ grandyti; ie ~ ē — kintietę ~ kentėti (kī.n.ti ~ kenti, kintie-jāu ~ kentėjau, but: kę.n.tọ ~ kentų), kūndietę ~ kandėti, skumbiete ~ skambėti; uo ~ o — rúnkiotę ~ rankioti, krumsniotę ~ kramsnoti; in — virpinte ~ virpinti, smirdinte ~ smirdinti, pabrunginte ~ pabranginti, didinte ~ didinti, dulkintę ~ dulkinti, dirbintę ~ dirbinti. § 36. A review of regressive vowel assimilation in the aforementioned area of the Dounininkai dialects shows that all vowels (e, ə ~ ą, e ~ ę, i, u) are affected by assimilation in the northern part—around Seda, Židikai, and Ylakiai. In terms of the strength of the effect (e > ie and e > ẹ), a larger central area stands out—Mosėdis, Seda, Papilė, Tryškiai, Alsėdžiai—where e > ie. Considering individual vowels, e is the vowel most widely and strongly affected by assimilation; in some places it even becomes a diphthong (ie). Stress plays a considerable role (especially in the case of the vowel e): stressed vowels tend to become narrower, though not always. § 37. Regressive vowel assimilation is not a very old phenomenon. This is suggested by the narrowing of the diphthong ei: in the middle of a word, ei first becomes a monophthong, and only then, under the influence of vowel assimilation, narrows and changes into ẹ or ie: parėsi > parėsi > parėsi; pakreikši > pakreikši > pakreikši; išskleisi > ešklėsi ~ ešklėsi; lėsi > lėsi > lėsi. Since, as is assumed, the diphthong ei began to monophthongize after Mažvydas, regressive vowel assimilation must therefore be a later development. 153 SOME NEW DATA ON THE PHONETICS OF THE DOUNININKAI ŽEMAITIAN DIALECTS Б. П. РОКАЙТЕ Abstract I. The first part of this article describes characteristic cases of stress and intonation in the Mosėdis dialect. In this dialect, as in other Žemaitian coastal dialects, there are five distinct types of stress: primary ancient, primary retractional, secondary retractional, secondary final, and secondary transferred. Secondary transferred stress is particularly strong in the dialect. All long post-stress syllables receive secondary transferred stress (veikē ~ veikiai ‘soon’), as do short syllables when they occur between a syllable bearing primary ancient stress and a long syllable bearing secondary transferred stress (dėdelē ~ dideliai ‘very’). In some cases, post-stress a, e, ẹ, ǫ also receive secondary transferred stress (gėrasis ~ gėrasis ‘good’, pãrėję ~ pérėjo ‘passed’, grãjėję ~ grãjijo ‘played’, pãršǫ.ka ~ pérsuko ‘turned around’). The dialect has five intonations: short, falling, broken, rising, and level. The article describes in greater detail those cases of intonation that are characteristic of this dialect and absent in other Žemaitian dialects, namely: 1) when the vowels a, e in words with secondary transferred stress have short intonation (rãtã ~ rãtai ‘cart’, šenė ~ šenėi ‘to the old woman’); 2) when the vowels e, ǫ < and i, u have rising intonation (bǫva ~ bùvo ‘was’, kėba ~ kibo ‘was clinging’); 3) when vowels and diphthongs or diphthongal combinations under secondary transferred stress have short, broken, or rising intonation (ėšnėšiau ~ išnėšiau ‘carried out’, dẽrbã ~ dirbai ‘worked’, pãmtuǫce ~ pãmotė ‘stepmother’); 4) when vowels, diphthongs, and diphthongal combinations under retractional stress have falling intonation (gãlvà ~ galvà ‘head’). II. The second part of the article describes the fate of the ancient diphthongal combinations an, en in the northern Dounininkai dialects. The ancient diphthongal combinations an, en in the northern Dounininkai dialects developed into ǫ, ẹ, which in some places became ǫu, ẹi. In the root of a word, the diphthongs ǫu, ẹi (literary language ą, ę) may be either stressed or unstressed (drǫusė ~ drąsiai ‘boldly’, drǫsǫms ~ drąsumas ‘boldness’, gręištė ~ gręžti ‘to drill’). At the end of a word, an > becomes ǫu, while en > becomes ei under stress and in pronominal forms (kǫu ~ kã ‘what, whom’, dẽrbǫus ~ dirbãs ‘working’, gėrǫuji ~ gėrąji ‘good’, dẽrbėi ~ dirbė ‘those who worked’). In an unstressed position, en > becomes e (bǫ.vęs ~ bùvęs ‘having been’, kãte ~ kãtė ‘cat’); an > becomes ǫ in present participles (ėtos ~ ėitas ‘going’). In other cases, an > becomes a (rǫnka ~ ranka ‘hand’). 154 The ancient diphthongal combination -án > -o or -a. The diphthongal combination -án > -o in a large part of the northern dounininkai dialects. The diphthongal combination ên (except in Klykoliai, Akmenė, and Papilė) > ẹ. III. The third part describes vowel assimilation, characteristic of a large part of the dounininkai dialects. As a result of assimilatory influence in these dialects, the vowel e > ẹ or ie; e (literary language e) > i, o (literary language a) > u (mėdis || mė.dis ~ mēdis ‘tree’, ski̇sti ~ skesti ‘you sink’, žąsis ~ žąsys ‘geese’), while the vowels i, u did not become more open, as one might expect, but retained their ancient form (vi.nis ~ vinys ‘nails’, nominative plural, šu.ni ~ šuni ‘dog’, but: vėnėis ~ viniės ‘nails’, genitive singular, šōniō ~ šuniū ‘with a dog’). The description indicates the distribution boundaries of each individual case and gives several examples of instances in which, under the influence of regressive vowel assimilation, the first component of a diphthong or diphthongal combination changes (pėilis ~ pėilis ‘knife’, pūntis ~ pāntis ‘paths’), and in which a vowel, diphthong, or diphthongal combination in the suffix assimilates the vowels of preceding syllables (kunkulīne ~ kankulȳne ‘flour milk soup’, skumbiete ~ skambėti ‘to ring’). Regressive vowel assimilation is especially pronounced in the northern part of the dounininkai dialect area (Mosėdis, Ylakiai, Židikai, Seda, Vieksniai).