LIETUVIŲ KALBOTYROS KLAUSIMAI, IV

LIETUVOS TSR MOKSLŲ AKADEMIJA

THE PAST FREQUENTATIVE TENSE IN THE NORTHEASTERN SAMOGITIAN DIALECTS¹

V. VITKAUSKAS

The past frequentative tense, expressing an action repeated many times in the past, is formed in Lithuanian standard language and in many Aukštaitian dialects with the suffix -davo, whose origin has been discussed extensively and convincingly². However, certain dialects differ considerably from the standard language in their past frequentative forms.

I. The following differences from the standard language are known in Aukštaitian dialects: 1) in the Dzūkian dialects around Leipalingis, Kāpčiamiestis, Lazūnai, Rātinyčia, Kučiūnai, and Dieveniškės³, past frequentative forms with the suffix -lavo are used⁴; 2) in some Central Aukštaitian dialects (e.g., in Palomenė⁵), in the western Dzūkian dialects around Valkininkai and Rodūnia (BTSR), Armoniškės (BTSR), Pelėsa (BTSR), and elsewhere, the simple past tense with the suffixes -di-, -nėti, -dyti is used with a past frequentative meaning, although the form būdavo is also sometimes used, e.g.: uōgas parduodzinėjau ir prabūdinėjau ‘I used to sell berries and live there, earn a living’ Arm⁶; antžėdė ‘daugės dachōdo pamidorai ‘tomatoes used to bring in more profit’ Rod; ligdēm vis ciesā pieno dėl telūko ‘we used to leave milk in the teats for the calf’ Rod; āni’s susrīngdē ir giedōj ‘they used to gather and sing’ Rod; atvažiavodzinėj visōkų žmonių ‘all kinds of people used to come’ Rod; ti žmonės nurangdzinėj ‘people were robbed there’ Vlk, etc.

II. A large part of the Samogitian dialects also differs from the standard language and other Lithuanian dialects in how the past frequentative tense is expressed. From the available data⁷, it can be said that, according to their use of the past frequentative tense, Samogitians can be divided into three groups: 1) those who use only

¹ Here, the northeastern Samogitian dialects are understood to mean the dunininkai subdialects around Užventis, Šaukėnai, and Kuršėnai, as well as the neighboring duonininkai subdialects (Papilė, Raudėnai, Kaunatava), which differ hardly at all from the aforementioned dunininkai dialects in their use of the past frequentative tense.

² Žr. Ch. Stang, Das slavische und baltische Verbum, 172—173, Oslo, 1942; J. Endzelynas, Baltų kalbų garsai ir formos, 189—190, Vilnius, 1957; J. Otrębski, Gramatyka języka litewskiego, 3, 222—223, Warszawa, 1956.

³ The material was taken from the dialectological collections held at the Institute of the Lithuanian Language and Literature (responses to questions 140 and 293c from points 683, 684a, 702, 693, and 670).

⁴ For its origin, see Ch. Stang, cited work, 173.

⁵ See C. Grenda, The Palomenė Dialect, 18, diploma thesis, 1957 (manuscript in the Department of Lithuanian Language, Vilnius State University).

⁶ See J. Sukys, “Characteristic Features of the Ramaškoniai Dialect.” — “Questions of Lithuanian Linguistics,” 3, 182, Vilnius, 1960.

⁷ Based on material from the Lithuanian Language Atlas of the Institute of the Lithuanian Language and Literature, from points in the Samogitian region (see responses to questions 140 and 293c in the questionnaire).

157

only constructions with forms of the verb liuobėti: Darbėnai, Kalnalis, Kretinga, Mažeikiai, Sėleniai, Klaipėda, Plikiai, Priekulė, Saugos⁸ (the Lithuanian dialect of the Curonian Spit fishermen also belongs to this group⁹); 2) those employing various means of expressing the past frequentative tense: constructions with forms of liuobėti and forms with the suffix -davo: Kaltinėnai, Kuršėnai, Kvėdarna, Laukuva, Šilalė, Šaukenai, Švėkšna, Varniai, Papilė, Raudėnai, etc. Constructions with liuob are also used, though very rarely, in the Samogitian-border Aukštaitian dialect around Gruzdžiai and Šakyna (Šiauliai district). They are most often used by the oldest speakers of the dialect: liuob dainiūos šoks par naktis ~ liuob dainiūos ‘used to sing’, šoks ‘used to dance’, par ‘throughout’, naktis Grz; liuob dirpsme á·usme kàtra grãžau ~ liuob dirbsme ‘we used to work’, áusme ‘we used to weave’, katrą ‘each’, gražiau Škn; tevē·lis amžinã·tilsis liuob saký·dā·o ~ tėvelis amžinatilsis liuob sakydavo Škn ‘the dear departed father used to say’, etc.; 3) those having the same past frequentative tense as Standard Lithuanian and the western Aukštaitian dialects: Eržvilkas, Kelmė, Pagramantis, Raseiniai, Skaudvilė, Viduklė, etc.

The aim here is to examine the expression of the past frequentative tense in the following northeastern Samogitian dialects: Kuršėnai, Šaukenai, Užventis (dūnininkai), and Kaunatava, Raudėnai, Papilė (dounininkai). These dialects most clearly show the intermingling and parallel use of both constructions with forms of liuobėti and derivatives with the suffix -dā·va (~dā·va) || -dava ~ -davo.

I. Constructions with liuob

In the northeastern Samogitian dialects described here, the meaning of the past frequentative tense—unlike in Standard Lithuanian—is expressed by various constructions formed from the auxiliary word liuob and the infinitive or future-tense forms of a verb (sometimes also past-tense forms).

To be accustomed in the writings of older Samogitian authors and in the northern Samogitian dounininkai dialects has all the characteristics of a verb and an independent lexical meaning—‘to like, to become accustomed, to have a habit’¹⁰, e.g.: That very night, people would go to look for the fern blossom at midnight VŽ II 171;... therefore they would travel there and stay for quite a long time VŽ I 157;... the rich and their wives would be exempted from all kinds of taxes, not just town taxes DB 308; those children, he would beat them at school with such a reed stick ~ those children, liūoba ‘used to’ pilti ‘beat’ at school with such a reed stick Plik; the father-in-law would still make a wooden bucket ~ the father-in-law still liuobėjo ‘liked, was in the habit of’ making a wooden bucket Dit; and the women would drink ~ and the women liuobėjo ‘were accustomed to’ drinking Sg; for shirts we would like to weave cloth, for tablecloths on the table and bed ~ we liuobėjome ‘used to like’ weaving shirts, tablecloths for the table and bed Dit; the matchmaker would sew at our place ~ the matchmaker liuobėjo ‘was in the habit of’ sewing-

⁸ In Saugos, forms with the suffix -davo are also occasionally used, but very rarely (see the dialectological material from point 318, investigated by the author himself).

⁹ Žr. K. Morkūnas ir A. Sabaliauskas, Kuršių Neringos žvejų lietuvių tarmė ir lietuvių kalbos įtaka šių žvejų latvių tarmei. — „Lietuvių kalbotyros klausimai“, 2, 141—142, Vilnius, 1959.

¹⁰ In this sense, liuobėti is also listed in the Dictionary of Modern Lithuanian, p. 431 (1954).

¹¹ In the dialect of the Saugos area, dōna and dū·na are said; accordingly, liuobėjo is pronounced lū·bėi.

158

ti py ‘near’ mūsų ‘at our place’ Sg; pi įžūnoje žvalgā: lubės būte ~ py ‘near’ jaunojo žvalgai ‘inspection visits to farms’ liuobės būti Sg, etc.

In the northeastern Samogitian dialects, this verb not only no longer has any lexical meaning, but has become fossilized, severed even from the category of verbs, and turned into a purely morphological element for forming various constructions of the past frequentative tense. The finite forms of the present tense of the verb liuobėti are used only very rarely in these dialects to form the past frequentative tense. Sometimes unclear endings are added to this fossilized verb, e.g., lì̀bau šuoks kāp nelabijè ~ liuobau šóks ‘would dance’ like mad Krš; lì̀baus puo pėn.kõs rì.kstẽnčios paì.mdava ~ liuobaus po penkių tūkstančių paimdavo ‘would take after five thousand’ Užv; lì̀bàu vė̀r.ptė nemuoriē̇sma ~ liūbau verpti nenorė́sma ‘we would not want to spin’ Kntv; lì̀bēi. goal.ti išprašìsu | tei. jau. išēši zi žìbri ~ liuobei (?) gvaltų išprašysiu ‘I would manage to get them to leave’, tei ‘then’ jau išeisi ‘you would go out’ į nibrę ‘evening socials’ Krš, and others. It may be assumed that lì̀bau is a remnant of the first-person dual, already lost in the dialects described, and derives from liuobava (cf. the form lõubau in the Kretinga dialect ~ liuobava²). The form lì̀bei. (used fairly rarely) may have arisen from the past simple form liuobėjo when this verb began to become detached from the category of verbs in the dialects described and to turn into an auxiliary word.

1. In many Samogitian dialects, the past frequentative tense is formed from the present-tense forms of liuobėti (sometimes also from the invariable liuob alone) and the infinitive of the main verb. Not all the dialects described have this compound past frequentative tense: it is widely used in the Papilė dialect and in the northern part of the Kuršėnai dialect (the villages of Kubilė, Nugārė, Ožkēnai, Pākepšteniai, Pāksteliai, Smurgiai, and others). South of Kuršėnai, and also in the Šaukėnai, Užventis, Kaunatava, and Raudėnai dialects, no such formation of the past frequentative tense has been observed. Thus, a boundary runs through the dialects described, separating those Samogitian dialects (Akmenė, Mažeikiai, Papilė, Tirkšliai) that generally form the compound past frequentative tense from the form of liuobėti plus an infinitive, from those in which the functions of this tense are performed by the construction “liuob + future tense”.

The paradigm of the compound past frequentative tense is as follows:

Singular (Papilė)

1. lōubo (lōub) dōute | jõukteis ~ liuobu (liuob) dúoti, juõkties 2. lōube (lōub) dōute | jõukteis ~ liuobi (liuob) dúoti, juõkties 3. lōub dōute | jõukteis ~ liuob dúoti, juõkties

Plural

1. lōubam dōute | jõukteis ~ liuobama dúoti, juõkties 2. lōubat dōute | jõukteis ~ liuobate dúoti, juõkties 3. lōub dōute | jõukteis ~ liuob dúoti, juõkties

¹⁸ See J. Aleksandravičius, The Verb in the Kretinga Dialect. — “Vilnius State Pedagogical Institute Scholarly Works (Lithuanian Language and Literature)”, 8, 113—115, Vilnius, 1959.

159

Singular (Kuršėnai)

1. lü·bu (lü·b) to hold | to cool ∼ liuóbu (liuób) to hold, to cool down

2. lü·bi (lü·b) to hold | to cool ∼ liuóbi (liuób) to hold, to cool down

3. lü·b to hold | to cool ∼ liuób to hold, to cool down

Plural

1. lü·bam (lü·b) to hold | to cool ∼ liuóbama (liuób) to hold, to cool down

2. lü·bat (lü·b) to hold | to cool ∼ liuóbate (liuób) to hold, to cool down

3. lü·b to hold | to cool ∼ liuób to hold, to cool down

This past frequentative tense formed in this way, like the 1k past frequentative, is used to express an action repeated many times in the past, e.g.: aš už kvatėra lü·b imžti dvidešimt pen·kius ∼ I used to take twenty-five behind the kvaterą ‘room’ Krš; aš lùobu sosėtė·kę sộ valdėninkėlė·s ∼ I used to meet with the little officials Pp; lùob goliete aš ọn vasarójaus ∼ I used to lie on the summer fallow Pp; nelü·bi pàc gù·sti·s | ka gal·và sprúoks ∼ you didn’t use to comfort yourself, that your head was bursting Krš; mùoki·tuoji matì·ž sutempi | kad anà nelü·b skù·ntci·s ∼ the teacher, apparently, scolded her, because she didn’t use to complain Krš; lùob ọn.c pavd·rš́cuote puo papė·lę ∼ he used to walk around Papilė Pp; vàkariškàs lü·bam kė·lti pas pranùli ∼ we used to hold evening dances at Pranùlis’s Krš; vė·do lùobam pašnekėte er born·kę ešmė·ste ∼ the two of us used to chat and have a drink Pp; lùobat kà·drėliu à·koza šùokte ∼ you used to dance quadrilles and akuzas ‘such dances’ Pp; jù·s visùoke vė·lne lü·b ištaisy·ti ∼ you used to do all sorts of devilish things, pull all kinds of pranks Krš; sakinù·tas kà·rzes lü· parei·ti ∼ the resin-covered cows used to come home Krš, etc.

This past frequentative tense was formed in this way because the forms of liuobėti required an infinitive (see the examples given earlier from the northern donininkai dialects), and the resulting compound predicate is now used in some descriptive Samogitian dialects with the meaning of the past frequentative tense.

2. All descriptive dialects have constructions expressing the past frequentative tense, made up of liuob and future-tense forms. For example, 1st person singular: ùš tũ·ilgą dà·rbą negalėsu lü·p tũ· dešrù· pakėn·cti ∼ I couldn’t bear those sausages for that long work Krš; làbà· skà·ni kà·šteni lü· padė·rpsọ ∼ I used to make a very tasty snack Kntv; lùob varì·sọ và·ka pri dà·rba ∼ I used to drive the child to work Rdn; 2nd person singular: tuòkũ· muokintu panù· sėnàu. lü·b neprasně·kinci ∼ in the old days, you wouldn’t get such educated girls talking Krš; lü·b ešė·zsi nu sà·ules lek sà·ules dė·rp·tę ∼ you used to go out at sunrise and work until sunset Kntv; 3rd person: ań·s lü·bau sakì·s pažìnis žemai·ti ∼ he used to say that he had known Žemaitė Šauk; vė·lne li·žuve· būva | vė·lne linėsmi·bi | lùos lü·b | dù·s | kuòl neprakró·kinę jaunùosìs ∼ there were devil’s tongues, devilish merrymaking ‘of people of old at weddings’: they used to bark, give, until the young ones had …

160

‘would not make [someone] cry’ Krš; young ~ the late Mikolas would dance ‘used to dance’, would call ‘used to call’ in his sleep, so that the house would spread open ‘would open up’ Krš; 1st person plural: at the manor we would work from dawn until sunset ~ at the manor we would work ‘used to work’ from dawn until sunset Krš; when sober, we would bargain and talk ~ when sober, we would bargain ‘used to bargain’, we would talk ‘used to talk’ Krš; we would go to the mushroom patch, if we did not bring them back, we would be fools ~ we would go to the mushrooms, if we did not bring them back ‘used not to bring them back’, we would be fools ‘would be’ Pp; 2nd person plural: you would lie and run away—where could one keep a young girl in the house? ~ you would lie ‘used to lie’ and run away ‘used to run away’ to dance: where could you keep a young girl in the house? Krš; you both would fight like little devils ~ you both would fight ‘used to fight’ like little devils Rdn, etc. In this case, the non-finite liúob form (formerly the 3rd person singular present-tense form) is most often used, but sometimes inflected forms also occur, for example: we would dry toadstools, mix them with honey, and spread them on bread ~ we would dry ‘used to dry’ toadstools, mix them with honey ‘used to mix’, and spread ‘used to spread’ them on bread (these were remedies for a sore throat) Kntv; we would play; half the parish would hear ~ we would play ‘used to play’, half the parish would hear ‘used to hear’ Pp; I would tend the fire, while he would chop kindling ~ I would tend ‘used to tend’ the fire, and he ‘would’ chop kindling ‘used to chop’ Krš; we would fetch water from the Venta and draw seeds, but now even the cat runs across ~ we would go ‘used to go’, draw ‘used to draw’ water from the Venta, but now even the cat runs across (the Venta has run low) Krš, etc.

This means of expressing the past frequentative tense could have arisen only because the future tense can express an action repeated many times in the past¹³. The future tense is widely used in this sense in many Lithuanian dialects and in standard Lithuanian, for example: Those who came would help, and since there were no such strong men, they would start explaining to the Germans that the tower was old, that the first tower had to be propped up, and each would bring some instruments or men — and so they would all run off CR II 199; First the mother would give, give sermons; the father, for his part, would have to, would bang away ŽR I 84; he would put the shameful cow on the farmhand and go away with his nose in the air ~ the steward would put on ‘would put on, would thrust’ a cow, “shameless”, and you would go ‘used to go’ with your nose held high Krš; he would climb onto the little table and shout ~ he would climb ‘used to climb’ onto the little table and shout ‘used to shout’ that there was a charm to drive away (in 1905) Pp; you would nurse a poor child, give three tithe-holdings of land ~ you would nurse ‘used to nurse’ a poor child, give ‘used to give’ three tithe-holdings of land Kntv; I remember: they would laugh, dance, beautiful as a doll ~ I remember, they would laugh ‘used to laugh’, dance ‘used to dance’, beautiful as a doll Rdn; I would push and push that cart, but he would not budge ~ I would push and push ‘used to push’ that cart, but he would not budge Šauk; there was no schnapps; we would get drunk on coffee, and we would have something to nibble on ~ there was no schnapps: we would get drunk ‘used to get drunk’ on coffee, and we would have ‘used to have’ something to nibble on Sg; we were excellent singers; happily we would rake hay, laughing ~ we ‘we’ were excellent singers: happily we would rake ‘used to rake’ hay, laughing Sk, etc. To forms of the future tense used in this way, it was only necessary to add, that is, insert liúob into the sentence, and this peculiar construction arose.

¹³ Cf. J. Pikčilingis, The Use of Tenses of the Verb. — “Tarybinė mokykla”, 8, 27—30, 1958.

11. Kalbotyros klausimai, IV

161

The view that the construction “li uob + future tense” arose through the insertion of liuob into a sentence is supported by the following facts:

a) the liuobėti forms could only have required an infinitive;

b) Liuob is also added to past-tense forms¹⁴ when they denote an action repeated many times in the past, e.g.: 1) with the simple past tense: how we would go to Tryškiai during the German occupation with ration cards / there was no meat, only bread ~ how we would go to Tryškiai during the German occupation with ration cards, there were no devils, only bread Kntv; 2) with past frequentative forms bearing the suffix -davo: I would come to the mill with my father ~ in the old days they would always run away ~ those undergarments would be thin as little intestines ~ those undergarments ‘undershirts’ would be thin and runny like little intestines Krš; the devil would keep blinding them ~ we would give food to the children ~ we would eat poorly, and our jaws would ache Krš; they would come to pick berries and thrushes ~ in other years there would be no bracken here ~ in other years there would be no bracken here Rdn, etc.

In addition, the construction “li uob + future tense” closely resembles such expressions in standard Lithuanian and Aukštaitian dialects: Another time, before I got married, it would happen that some girl was left behind; I would watch from a distance and question her in every which way, but I would not show her that ŽR I 117; It would happen that you counted a whole dozen of their (that is, bourgeois) representatives—and every surname would ring like a sack of money CR II 375; He would pick up the child in his arms LKŽ V 542; She would cart those leaves from the field LKŽ V 351; it would happen that they went and gave themselves away, as if they had gone mad ~ it would happen that they had to leave the children alone Krs, etc.

II. Forms with the suffix -davo

Alongside constructions with liuobėti, all the dialects under discussion use past frequentative forms with the suffix -dāˀva (-dāˀva) || -dava ~ -davo.

Dūnininkai dialects:

Singular

1. dūˀdāˀvau || dūˀdavau ~ I would give

2. dūˀdāˀvaˀ || dūˀdavaˀ ~ you would give

3. dūˀdāˀva || dūˀdava ~ he/she/it would give

Plural

1. dūˀdāˀvuom || dūˀdavuom ~ we would give

2. dūˀdāˀvuot || dūˀdavuot ~ you would give

3. dūˀdāˀva || dūˀdava ~ he/she/it would give

¹⁴In some Samogitian dialects, liuob is also added to the present tense when it expresses an action repeated many times in the past: loup tēkenūoms nūmē e babieg—liūob tekinōms numė ir bebėga (see P. Kniūkšta, Phonetics and Morphology of the Kalnėliai Dialect, 142, diploma thesis, 1959 (manuscript in the Department of Lithuanian Language, Vilnius State University)).

162

Singular

1. jū'g'da'vaus || jū'g'davaus ~ juõkdavausi

2. jū'g'da'va's || jū'g'dava's ~ juõkdavaisi

3. jū'g'da'vuos || jū'g'davuos ~ juõkdavosi

Plural

1. jū'g'da'vuomuos || jū'g'davuomuos ~ juõkdavomos (we used to laugh)

2. used to laugh ~ juõkdavotės

3. used to laugh ~ juõkdavosi

Dounininkai:

Singular

1. dõudavõ·u¹⁵ ~ I used to give I used to feed ~ I used to feed

2. dõudavõ· ~ dúodavai jõugdavõ·s ~ juõkdavaisi

3. dõudã·va || dõudava ~ dúodavo jõugdavúos ~ juõkdavosi

Plural

1. dõudavõ·uom ~ dúodavoma jõugdavuomúos ~ juõkdavomos

2. dõudavõ·ot ~ dúodavote jõugdavuoties ~ juõkdavotės

3. dõudã·va || dõudava ~ dúodavo jõugdavúos ~ juõkdavosi

At first glance, it may seem that the past frequentative tense formed in this way was borrowed from the standard language, the Aukštaitian dialects, or those Samogitian dialects that are unfamiliar with constructions using liuob. However, certain facts seem to indicate that this is an independent phenomenon of the descriptive dialects:

1) The past frequentative tense formed in this way is used across a large area of the Samogitian dialects (all Dūnininkai and some Dounininkai).

2) liuob is used with past frequentative tense forms: lū·b ã·dava ~ liuob eidavo Krš; lū·b tɐriedava ~ liuob turėdavo Užv, etc.

3) The lengthening of the vowel a in the suffix -dã·va ~ -davo (this feature is shared with the Western Aukštaitians¹⁶).

4) In the speech of older dialect speakers, past frequentative forms of various constructions are often mixed, e.g.: sã·u ã·kminas lū·b kelniõs / ritinç / tampś·sė dirbdã·va nu rỹto lig vã·karo ~ šau akminus ‘stones’ liuob kelnos ‘would lift’, ritins ‘would roll’, tampysias ‘would struggle’ — would work from morning till evening Krš; lū·p sustūosma pri vi·škele / ka užplieśma kuõki dã·ina / iš tuõla·use· bũ·dã·va girdietis ~ liuob sustošma ‘we would stop’ by the road, when we would launch into ‘start singing’ some song — it could be heard from far away Krš; palaks-tį·sma pasegã·udi·sma lū·b / je mamã·tę pri dã·rba nevarí·dã·va ~ palakstysma

In the Papilė dialect, secondary retracted stresses are not heard.¹⁵

See E. Grinaveckienė, The phonetics of the Mituva River Basin dialect. — “Lietuvių kalbotyros klausimai”, 1, 132, Vilnius, 1957; A. Jonaitytė, Stress and intonation in the Šakyna dialect. — “Lietuvių kalbotyros klausimai”, 2, 111, Vilnius, 1959.¹⁶

163

‘we used to run around’, pasigāudysma liuob ‘we used to catch one another’, je mamaitė pry dárbo nevarydavo ‘if mother did not use to send [us] to work’ Rdn et al.

5) In the descriptive donininkai dialects, active-voice past frequentative participles are formed from verb forms with the suffix -dá·va || -dava ~ -davo¹⁷: turiedá·vis || turiedavis ~ ‘having used to have’, turiedá·vusi || turiedavusi ~ ‘having used to have’ (feminine singular), turiedá·vi || turiedavi ~ ‘having used to have’ (plural), turiedá·vuses || turiedavuses ~ ‘having used to have’ (feminine plural). Sometimes liuob is also added to these participles, e.g.: tava senītis su mūna šēniū kat pradēje pā·sakuoti’s | kā·p lū·b’i šuokūs ā·davi· | kā·p mergās kirkindavi· ~ your ‘grandfather’ with my ‘husband’ when [he] began telling stories, how he used to go to dances, how he used to tease the girls Krš; I māt lū·p trunki·dāvusi’s | ļuo anā pamislī·k tā·msta švēn·cta ~ I, you know, used to make a racket, while she—just imagine—was so quiet, so saintly Šauk et al. Those Samogitian dialects that do not have derivatives with the suffix -dá·va || -dava ~ -davo are also unfamiliar with such past frequentative participles. They generally have constructions with liuob: ļōbǭs dērpte ~ ‘used to work’ (Kretinga)¹⁸, ļōbǭ·nti gā·ute (Kalnalis).

The literary language, whose past frequentative forms are now displacing liuob constructions in all Samogitian dialects¹⁹, and the Aukštaitian dialects may also have helped those forms take hold and spread.

It is also characteristic that the donininkai dialects show a situation similar to that in other Samogitian dialects: the northern part (Klaipėda, Priekulė, Dituva, Plikiai) uses only liuobėti constructions, whereas in the south liuobėti constructions are used alongside derivatives with the suffix -davo (Šilutė, Rusnė, Kintai, Ventė; mixing is already beginning around Saugos): vī·ra lōb drā·si bū·ti ~ men liuob brave ‘brave’ be ‘used to be’ Vnt; kuorōs lī·b išpjā·us ~ the baskets liuob ‘used to cut out’ Šlu; dēbesīs vės lu·biėt liektinā· liekt ~ the clouds used to fly continuously Kin; nalū·bēdava anā bū·ti nōbažna ~ she did not use to be devout Sg; tē bernā· mē·rgs lobiedau dainīte ~ those boys and girls used to sing Šlu; aš lobiedavau sviestōk, pardōte ~ I used to sell a little butter Rsn; puo pēr·rm čē miez | čē avēži· siedat | sō spragelā·s mōždāu ~ first they would sow barley here, oats there, and thresh with flails Rsn; kōks žōdis išēi-dava pagalvōt ~ some word would come to mind Kin, etc.

Why do these northeastern Samogitian dialects have such varied constructions and forms for expressing the past frequentative tense?

First of all, these dialects border the western Aukštaitian dialects and those Samogitian dialects (Kelmė, Tytuvėnai) in which the past frequentative tense is formed only with the suffix -davo. The Samogitian dialects north of the dialects described here (Mažeikiai, Tirkšliai, Telšiai, Vieksniai) use only constructions with liuob. When these two ways of expressing the past frequentative tense came into contact, such varied constructions and forms began to be used in the dialects described here to express the past frequentative meaning.

¹⁷ It was not possible to observe how the donininkai dialects described here form these participles.

¹⁸ J. Aleksandravičius, cited article, 136.

¹⁹ Cf. V. Grinaveckis, “Research on Lithuanian Dialects during the Years of Soviet Rule.” — Vilnius State Pedagogical Institute Research Papers (Lithuanian Language and Literature), 11, 19. Vilnius, 1960.

164

Abbreviations

Arm — Armōniškes, BTSR, Varėna District, Grodno Region CR — P. Cvirka, Writings, II, Vilnius, 1959. DB — S. Daukantas, The Character of the Ancient Lithuanian Highlanders and Samogitians, ed. J. Talmantas, Kaunas, 1935. Dit — Dituva, Klaipėda District. Grz — Gruzdžiai, Šiauliai District. IFF — Faculty of History and Philology. Kin — Kintai, Šilutė District. Kntv — Kaunatava, Telšiai District. Krs — Karsakiškis, Panevėžys District. Krš — Kuršėnai. LKŽ — Dictionary of the Lithuanian Language, vol. 5. Editorial board: Z. Jonikaitė, J. Kabelka, J. Kruopas, K. Ulvydas (editor-in-chief), B. Vosilytė. Vilnius, 1959. Plik — Plikiai, Klaipėda District. Pp — Papilė, Akmenė District. Rdn — Raudėnai, Kuršėnai District. Rod — Rūdūnia, BTSR, Grodno Region. Rsn — Rusnė, Šilutė District. Sg — Saugos, Šilutė District. Sk — Skaistgirys, Joniškis District. Šauk — Šaukėnai, Užventis District. Škn — Šakyna, Šiauliai District. Šlu — Šilutė. Užv — Užventis. Vlk — Valkininkai, Eišiškės District. Vnt — Ventė, Šilutė District. VVU — Vilnius State University named after V. Kapsukas. VŽ — Valančius, The Samogitian Bishopric, I—II, Wilniuj, 1848. ŽR — Žemaitė, Writings, I, Vilnius, 1956.

THE PAST FREQUENTATIVE TENSE IN THE NORTHEASTERN SAMOGITIAN DIALECTS

В. И. ВИТКАУСКАС

Резюме

The article examines the forms and constructions of the past frequentative tense in the following northeastern Samogitian dialects: Kuršėnai, Šaukėnai, Užventis (Dūnininkai) and Kaunatava (Telšiai District), Papilė, and Raudėnai (Dounininkai). In these dialects, different means are used to express the past frequentative tense: constructions with the verb liobėti and forms with the suffix -davo.

The word liobėti, unlike in the northern Dounininkai dialects, where it has all the characteristics of a verb and means ‘to love, to be in the habit of’, has no lexical meaning in the dialects described and has become detached from the category of verbs.

The following constructions with liobėt are used in the dialects described: 1. liob with the infinitive form of a verb (formerly a compound predicate): liob mokėti ‘often paid’ (Papilė), liob imti ‘used to take’ (Kuršėnai); 2. liob with future-tense forms: liob gi̇dōsu ‘I often sang’ (Kuršėnai), liob dōsu ‘I

165

gave (Raudenai) and others. In the author’s opinion, this second construction arose because forms of the future tense, capable of expressing an action repeated many times in the past, were accompanied by forms of the verb liuobėti. In addition, liuob in the dialects under discussion sometimes also accompanies past-tense forms when they express an action repeated many times in the past: 1. the simple past: lù:b ajùom ‘we often went’ (Kaunatava); 2. the past frequentative with the suffix -davo: lù:b dù:dāva ‘gave’ (Kuršenai), lù:b pāi.mdava ‘took’ (Užventis), and so on.

In the dialects under discussion, past frequentative forms with the suffix -dāva || -dava are also used. This is a distinctive feature of the dialects under discussion.

At the end of the article, the reasons for this diversity of means of expressing the past frequentative are considered.