Miežiškių tarmės vokalizmo bruožai

LIETUVIŲ KALBOTYROS KLAUSIMAI, II LIETUVOS TSR MOKSLŲ AKADEMIJA VOWELISM FEATURES OF THE MIEŽIŠKIAI DIALECT J. ŠUKYS Transcription The article uses the transcription of the “Program for Collecting Materials for the Atlas of the Lithuanian Language.” The deviations are as follows: 1. Sound length is marked by a dot at the upper right of the letter (a macron above the letter marks only historical sound length). Length is marked for stressed as well as unstressed sounds. 2. In a consonant cluster, only the softness of the consonant immediately preceding a back vowel or occurring at the end of a word is marked. 3. Consonant aspiration is not marked. 4. The additional letter ъ denotes a back vowel somewhat more open than Lithuanian u. The Miežiškiai dialect is part of the Eastern Aukštaitian puntininkai dialect that belongs to none of the rotininkai, dadininkai, žalininkai, or žadininkai subgroups1. It lies southeast of Panevėžys and encompasses the towns of Miežiškiai (Mieškai) and Raguva, together with the neighboring villages. The neighbors of Miežiškiai to the west are the pontininkai, while Raguva’s neighbors are the pantininkai. The following outlying pontininkai villages adjacent to the puntininkai are worth mentioning: Pakruošiniai, Tautkūnai, Pajūodžiai, Preidžiai, Kabėliai, Klepšiai, and Velykiai; the villages of Pučekai, Bajoriškiai, Trakininkai, and Būkališkiai, by contrast, already belong to the puntininkai. This boundary should be emphasized because in our linguistic geography it was drawn somewhat inaccurately. For example, on A. Salys’s map2 the town of Miežiškiai (Mieškai) is assigned to the pontininkai. Some inaccuracies (the assignment of the villages of Pučekai, Bajoriškiai, and Kūlbagalis to the pontininkai) occur in P. Būtenas’s article “The Boundaries of the Aukštaitian Dialectal Subdialects”3. I. Factors determining the dialect’s vocalism There are several conditions on which the pronunciation of a vowel or diphthong in the dialect under description depends. § 1. The position of the vowel in the word. In the standard language, a word-final vowel or diphthong most often corresponds to different dialect sounds than a vowel in the stem of a word in the standard language or 1 On the vocalism of the northern part of this dialect, see I. Jašinskaitė, “Stress, pitch accent, and their effect on vocalism in the Biržai dialect.” — Lietuvių kalbotyros klausimai, 1. Vilnius, 1957. 2 See Archivum Philologicum, 4, Kaunas, 1933. 3 See Archivum Philologicum, 3, 185, Kaunas, 1932. 151 diphthong. This occurs because, alongside the general law of shortening in unstressed syllables, the word ending is also affected by a specific law of ending-shortening, while the word stem is affected by a specific law of lengthening in short stressed syllables. Consequently, dialect vowels that have newly arisen at the end of a word most often correspond to different vowels in the standard language, e.g.: pi˙evo~piejove, má˙ta~mãto. At the end of a word, the category to which the word belongs is also important, e.g.: masculine nouns šakàs~šakõs, pronouns katràs~katrõs. § 2. Stress and pitch accent. The Miežiškiai dialect, which lies in the zone of conditional stress retraction, has five pitch accents. The acute (') pitch accent may occur on the diphthongs ai, au, ei, ui and mixed diphthongs, e.g.: lá˙ibus~láibas, lá˙uža~láužo, sé˙ilas~séilės, smú˙ike~smúikė, šá˙ltu~šálta, lẽ˙mpu~lẽmpa, tri.ni~trinti, kū.rmi.s~kūrmís. The circumflex (~) pitch accent may occur on the diphthongs ai, au, ei, ui and mixed diphthongs, e.g.: žai˙bus~žaibas, láu˙kos~laukas, šveit˙ši~šveisti, muí˙lus~mui-las, kal˙tus~kaltas, kem˙šu~kemša, pn˙ktus~penktas, bur˙bu~burba. In addition, the circumflex pitch accent occurs on every long stem containing the diphthongs indicated above, even when these are inherently acute, if stress is retracted to it from a short ending, e.g.: lá˙ibu~laibą, šáu˙ki~šauki, svei˙kus~sveikus, puí˙kus~puikus, kal˙n~kalnė, ver˙ki~verki. The shortened (˘) pitch accent occurs on: short vowels at the end of a word, e.g.: sukì~sukį, šakù~šaką, katràs~katràs, katè~katę; short vowels in certain monosyllabic words, e.g.: àš~aš, kàt~kad, bèt~bet, nègi~nėgi, tìk~tik, dù~dū; interjections and punctual-action verbs expressing a sudden but weak action, e.g.: bákši~bãkšt, bákštelė~bãkštelėti, žìpi~žìbt, žìptelė~žìbtelėti; third-person present-tense onomatopoeic verbs whose infinitive has the suffix -ėti, e.g.: žãksi~žaksia, trẽpsu~trėpsia; third-person future forms, e.g.: nèš~neš, bū's~būs, matìs~matýs; and the shortened third-person conditional form, e.g.: rãst “would find,” nẽšt “would carry,” bùt “would be”⁴. The middle (˙) pitch accent occurs on standard-language i, u in the word stem when these have lengthened under stress, e.g.: kì.tus~kitas, nù.neše~nunešė, bernù.kus~berniukas. The middle pitch accent also occurs on long vowels and the diphthongs ie, uo, whether they have been stressed from the outset or have received stress when it was retracted from a short ending onto a long root, e.g.: rá˙te~ratai, žẽ˙me~žemė, kė˙le~kėlė, pi˙kstu~pyksta, žõ˙džius~žodžius, krū˙me~krūmai, pienus~pienas, juõdu~juoda. The acute and circumflex pitch accents are not perceptible on the dialect’s long vowels and diphthongs ie, uo. The middle clipped (˙) pitch accent occurs on stressed long vowels at the end of a word that are pronounced with the circumflex in the standard language, e.g.: žìnė~žinai, akì~aký, maũ~matau, miškù~miškų. The clipped pitch accent differs from the middle accent only in the stronger accentuation of the stressed syllable. It should be noted that the pitch accent of a shortened stressed ending also has a clipped quality. 4 The dialect also has full third-person conditional forms, in which the old ending stress is preserved, e.g.: raštų~rašty, neštų~neštų, būtų~būtų. 152 The length of the components of diphthongs in the dialect described depends mainly on the intonation. Unstressed standard-language vowels or diphthongs usually correspond to different sounds in the dialect than stressed ones. § 3. The influence of consonants. After j and palatal consonants preceded historically by j, the back vowels of the Miežiškiai dialect, as in other dialects and the standard language, become fronted; the fronted back vowel u is even pronounced as the front vowel i. Some vowels in the dialect described become more open before hard consonants. This opening is very slight for the vowels i and u, whereas the standard-language vowel e is pronounced before a hard consonant as an intermediate sound between e and a. II. The dialect’s vowel system A. Vowels of the word stem 1. Vowels § 4. The Miežiškiai dialect’s a, e, corresponding to standard-language a, e, occur in both long and short forms. Both long and short e is strongly open before a hard consonant and is pronounced as an intermediate sound between e and a, e.g.: gė'ras~gėras, ma'dus~medus, nėš~nėš. Before a soft consonant, e is pronounced as in the standard language; however, when long, it is somewhat tenser and narrower than in the standard language, e.g.: kė·li.s „kėlias“, mė·džių~mėdžių. The dialect’s long and short a do not differ in quality from the standard language’s long and short a, e.g.: bà·dus~bàdas, žàdė·ti~žadėti. § 5. Short a, e are generally found only in unstressed position, e.g.: vakarė'lis~vakarėlis, nebegerė'~nebegerai. They are stressed in the following cases: in some monosyllabic words, e.g.: aš~aš, kàt~kad, bèt~bet, nėgi~nėgi; in interjections and momentary-action verbs denoting a sudden but weak action, e.g.: bàkst~bakst, bàkštelė't~bakštelėti, trėkšt~trėkšt, trėkštelė't~trėkštelėti, in third-person present-tense onomatopoeic verbs whose infinitives have the suffix -ėti, e.g.: žàksi~žaksia, trèps~trepsia, in the third-person future-tense form, e.g.: ràš~raš, nėš~nėš; in the shortened third-person conditional form, e.g.: ràst “would write,” nėšt “would carry.” § 6. Stressed a, e, as in the standard language, are long, e.g.: mã·žus~mažas, svẽ·či.s~ “svẽčias.” In some cases, however, the dialect has long a, e even where the standard language has short stressed a, e, specifically: in the prefixes of verbs and deverbal formations (active participles and gerunds), e.g.: ã·tkase~atkàse, nebė·kepu~nebėkėpa, pà·likus~pàliktas, nė·pirkus~nėpirktas, prà·lakin~pràlekian, bė·šnėkunt~bėšnekant; in the infinitive of primary verbs and its derivatives—the frequentative past tense and half-participles, e.g.: rà·ši~ràšti, nė·šti~nėšti, là·gdava~làkdavo, kà·bdava~kėpdavo, plà·gdamus~plakdamas, vė·ždàmus~vėždamas. In addition, instead of the standard language’s short stressed a, the dialect also has long a· in possessive pronouns mã·na~mãno, tã·va~tãvo, šã·va~šãvo, and instead of the standard language’s short stressed e it has long e· in comparative adjectives, e.g.: didė·sni.s~didėsnis, gražė·sne~gražesnė. 153 § 7. The Miežiškiai dialect does not have long a, e corresponding to Standard Lithuanian ą, ę. The old an, en of this dialect, as in all puntininkai dialects, from which Standard Lithuanian ą, ę developed, changed into un, in. The consonant n disappeared, lengthening the preceding vowel u, i, e.g.: užžūlus~ąžuolas, grįžti~gręžti. In unstressed syllables, these u, i have shortened, e.g.: kusnėliš~kasnėlis, grįžtiš~gręžiotis. In new words that have recently entered the dialect, Standard Lithuanian ą, ę are not rendered, e.g.: sąjungu~sąjunga, spręsti~spręsti, bręstu~bręsta. § 8. The dialect described here usually changes word-initial long or short e to a. Before hard consonants, word-initial e regularly becomes a, e.g.: asũ~esą, ãgla~ėglė. Before palatalized consonants, e is sometimes changed to a and sometimes left unchanged, e.g.: aketė~aketė, Alū.ne~Eliūnė, (j)ėžĩs~ežys, (j)ėrziĩ~ėrzyti, (j)ėžas~ėžios. Dialectal e also changes to a in the sequence le under the influence of a hardened l, e.g.: lākĩ~lėkia, ladanĩ~ledan. § 9. The dialectal ė˙, o˙, corresponding to Standard Lithuanian ė, o, differ somewhat in quality from Standard Lithuanian ė, o. The vowel ė˙ is somewhat less tense than Standard Lithuanian ė, while o˙ is less rounded than Standard Lithuanian o. Dialectal stem ė˙, o˙ occur only under stress and therefore, naturally, can only be long, e.g.: dė˙den~dėdė, našlaitėliš~našlaitėlis, stō˙vn~stōvia, žō˙gus~žiōgas. Unstressed ė˙, o˙, by the general law of shortening in unstressed syllables, must shorten to their short counterparts. As they shortened, long unstressed ė˙, o˙ changed their quality. In the dialect described here, as among its neighboring pontininkai speakers, this process took place through vowel raising. From the raised ę, o, there was a transition to ɪ, ʋ, which seem to be more retracted and more open than Standard Lithuanian i, u, e.g.: vỹžĩs~vėžys, mirkėlã~mirkėlė ‘crust soaked in borscht’, kujĩte~kojytė, žmugōs~žmogaus. It should be noted that in part of the dialect described (around Raguva), unstressed Standard Lithuanian stem ė corresponds to e; but this e probably does not derive from ė, but from old long ē, after it shortened, e.g.: sedėĩ~sėdėti, mesĩte~mesytė. That ɪ, ʋ did not develop from old shortened ē, ā, but from ė, o, is shown by the fact that when the dialect’s old ē, ā shorten, they do not change their quality, e.g.: mā˙ta<*matā~māto, mā˙te<*matē~mātė. From this it may be concluded that the shortening of long vowels in unstressed syllables of the Miežiškiai dialect’s word stem began later, after the old ē, ā had already changed into ė, o. § 10. The eastern Lithuanian tendency to harden the sequence lė is also a matter of vocalism, since the hardened l shifted vowel ė from the front row to the middle row and produced a new sound—a middle vowel e˙, which is absent from the standard language, e.g.: lė˙k~lėk, tilė˙ĩ~tylėti. Unstressed e˙ is reduced: quantitative reduction shortens it to a short vowel, while qualitative reduction changes its quality. In an unstressed position after velarized non-palatal l, some indistinct short vowel is heard, intermediate between u and ʋ, e.g.: plukė˙~plekai, lukė˙-mus~lėkimas, priėkuti˙s~priekletis. In semelfactive verbs, unstressed e is heard as strongly raised, e.g.: ka˙ukštelėĩ~kauštelėti, trūktelė˙ĩ~trūktelėti. 154 § 11. The dialect’s short i, u are similar to Standard Lithuanian i, u, except that dialectal i is somewhat less tense, while u is almost unrounded. Before a hard consonant, i, u are slightly more open5. § 12. Short i, u are generally found only in unstressed position and correspond to Standard Lithuanian i, u, e.g.: vis̃~visi, žinõ~žinau, suku~suki, žuváuti~žuvauti. Since long vowels shorten in unstressed position in the dialect, its i, u also correspond to Standard Lithuanian unstressed i, y, u, ū, e.g.: grįžõ~grįžau, linõ'ji~lynoja, skustũ~skųstų, grūdė~grūdai. As can be seen from § 7, dialectal i, u may also correspond to Standard Lithuanian unstressed ą, ę, e.g.: grįžtũs~gręžiotis, kusnė.li.s~kąsnėlis. In addition, dialectal i, u may also have developed from shortened ė, o (see § 9). § 13. After j and palatal consonants that were historically followed by j, Miežiškiai dialectal u (this also applies to u corresponding to Standard Lithuanian unstressed long ū, ą, ū, o) is strongly fronted, e.g.: u̇žkliuvõ~užkliuvau, žiūrėk~žiūrėk, bliovi.mus~bliovimas, and nowadays has usually shifted entirely to the front vowel i, e.g.: u̇žkliuvõ~užkliuvau, žiūrėk~žiūrėk, bliovi.mus~bliovimas. A possible cause of this interesting process, which is occurring in our time, is that the dialect’s unstressed u, which is almost unrounded, resembles the lax dialectal i in its articulation. § 14. Stressed Standard Lithuanian i, u lengthen in the dialect. The ear does not distinguish lengthened i, u from long i, u. For example, listening alone cannot determine whether dialectal sudžiūva corresponds to Standard Lithuanian sudžiūvo or Standard Lithuanian sudžiūvo, since there seems to be no difference between vi̇.sus~visas and vi̇.rus~výras, išdū.ža~išdūžo and išdū́me~išdū́mė either. Until the length of these vowels has been measured, lengthened stressed i, u are conventionally marked as half-long, e.g.: du.ri.s~durys, klu.va~kliuvo. § 15. Stressed i, u do not lengthen in the following cases: in some monosyllabic words, e.g.: ti̇k~tik, dù~dū; in ideophones and semelfactive verbs denoting a sudden but weak action, e.g.: ži̇pì~žibt, žiptelė~žibtelėti, trūkt~trūkt, trūktelė~trūktelėti; in present-tense onomatopoeic verbs whose infinitive has the suffix -ėti, e.g.: grikš~grikšia, tūks~tūksia; in the third person of the future tense, e.g.: lis~lis, matis~matys, būs~bus, siūs~siūs; and in the shortened third-person conditional form, e.g.: dript ‘would drip’, pikt ‘would be angry’, sukt ‘would turn’, būt ‘would be’. § 16. The dialect’s long i̇, u̇ occur only under stress and correspond to stressed Standard Lithuanian i̇, e, y, ū, ą, ų, e.g.: li̇sĩ~lįst, gri̇šĩ~gręžt, ri̇tus~rytąs, skūst~skųst, kūst~kąst, dū.me~dūmai. The dialect’s long i̇, u̇, like all long vowels in the dialect, seem to be somewhat shorter than Standard Lithuanian y, ū. § 17. A review of all the vowels in the word stem shows that the general law governing vowel quantity in the stem of the dialect described is as follows: unstressed vowels are always short, while stressed vowels—with a few exceptions—are long. It is difficult to answer why stressed short vowels lengthened in the dialect, while unstressed long vowels shortened. L. Shcherba, explaining a similar pattern in Russian vocalism, writes6 that at the same time, for unknown 5 This opening is not represented graphically. 6 See Л. В. Щерба, Русские гласные въ качественномъ и количественномъ отношеніи, 151, С. Петербургъ, 1912. 155 For reasons related to Russian, the greatest vocal force began to be assigned to the vowel of the stressed syllable, which grew longer, while the vowels of unstressed syllables, by contrast, began to undergo quantitative and even qualitative reduction. In fact, the reduction of unstressed vowels also changed the quality of some vowels in the Miežiškiai dialect. For example, the unstressed long ė, o, when shortened, became other vowels. The quality of vowels in the stem of words in the dialect under discussion also depends on the surrounding consonants. The pronunciation of a back vowel depends on which consonant it follows. After j or a palatal consonant that was itself preceded by j, back vowels are fronted. The fronting of the unstressed vowel u produced a vowel of entirely new quality, ɨ. The pronunciation of some vowels also depends on which consonant follows them. Before a hard consonant, the short vowels i, u become slightly more open, while the opening of the vowel e is so pronounced that it is uttered as an intermediate sound between e and a. 2. Diphthongs Diphthongs. In discussing diphthongs, one must set aside the homogeneous diphthongs ie, uo, which differ from the other diphthongs both in their articulation and in their correspondences. § 18. The quantity of the components of the diphthongs ai, au, ei, ui is determined by the intonation. With an acute intonation, vocal force is concentrated on the first component, which is therefore long, e.g.: káìlis~káilis, sáula~sáulė, kéìktis~kéiktis, smuĩkė~smuikė. With a circumflex intonation, by contrast, vocal force is concentrated on the second component, which is therefore long, e.g.: kràitis~kráitis, lãũkas~laukas, rèikì~reĩkia, muĩlus~mūilas. In unstressed diphthongs both components are short, e.g.: daiktẽlis~daiktelis, šaukõ~šaukiau, meĩlùmus~meilumas, púikybė~puikybė. § 19. The stem diphthongs ai, au, ei, ui, when circumflex-stressed, are also somewhat different in quality from those of the standard language. Since vocal force is concentrated on the second component, the first component is reduced and becomes somewhat more similar to the second. In the diphthong au, the open a before the close u becomes closer and acquires an o-like coloring, e.g.: pãũkštis~paukštis, dãũg~daug. In the diphthong ei, e before the close i is also somewhat closer, e.g.: peĩkti~peikti, meĩši~meišia ‘mixes’. In the diphthong ai, the open a before the close i is a pharyngealized, breathy vowel, e.g.: baĩsus~baisūs, vaĩkus~vaikas. In the diphthong ui, the close u becomes somewhat more open, e.g.: kuĩnas~kunas, puĩkus~puikus. This assimilation of the first component is also perceptible in unstressed syllables, e.g.: maiši~maišyti, lãukė~laukai, rèikės~reilės, puikumẽlis~puikurėlis, pãbaigė~pabaigė, atãsmaukė~atãsmaukė, pri.reikė~prireikė. § 20. The diphthong ei changes to ai at the beginning of a word, e.g.: aĩnu~aina, aĩk~eik, aĩlia~eilia, and after a hardened l, e.g.: lá risk~léisk, pláiskanas~plėiskanos. 7 The diphthong ui, especially with acute intonation, is not characteristic of the dialect under discussion. 156 § 21. The diphthongs ie, uo, in their articulation and correspondences, are close to monophthongs. These vowel sequences are pronounced as a smoothly transitioning series of vowels from close through intermediate to open: ie before a palatalized consonant is pronounced like a peculiar triphthong iėe, before a non-palatalized consonant like a triphthong iėa, while uo is pronounced like a triphthong uoa. For this reason, the acute or circumflex accent of the dialect’s diphthongs ie, uo is not audible—the accent is mid, as with monophthongs. § 22. The diphthongs ie, uo occur only under stress, e.g.: Pienus~pienas, dienu~dieną, dūodu~dūoda, juokus~juokas. When unstressed, in accordance with the law of shortening of vowels in unstressed syllables, they shorten, i.e. become monophthongized and change their quality: monophthongized ie becomes the short e (before a non-palatalized consonant, æ), e.g.: penė.li.s~pienėlis, kietū.mus~kietumas; monophthongized uo after a non-palatalized consonant becomes the short back vowel u, e.g.: puodė.li.s~puodėlis, dubė-tus~duobėtas, and after a palatalized consonant, the short front vowel i, e.g.: paindā.vi.s~pajuodavęs, apsī.libō.~apsiliuobiau. Thus, the dialectal equivalents of unstressed standard Lithuanian uo are the same as those of unstressed standard Lithuanian o, whereas the equivalents of unstressed standard Lithuanian ie differ8 from those of unstressed standard Lithuanian ė (see § 9). § 23. Mixed diphthongs. In mixed diphthongs, as in the diphthongs ai, au, ei, ui, the quantity of the components depends on the accent. In the acute accent, the vocal pressure is concentrated on the first component, which is therefore long, e.g.: kā.lnus~kalnas, supī.ntus~supintas, kė.lī~kelti, dū.rī~durti. In the circumflex accent, by contrast, vocal pressure falls on the second component, so the sonorant consonants l, m, n, r in that component are tense and long; moreover, r is trilled several times, e.g.: kar’tus~kartus, pėn’kus~penktas, rūm’ta~raimto, kur’či.s~kurčias. In unstressed mixed diphthongs, both components are short, e.g.: kalnāo-tus~kalnuotas, delnē’li.s~delnėlis, šiltū’mus~šiltumas, pulkūot~pulkuoti. § 24. In circumflex mixed diphthongs, vocal pressure is concentrated on the second component, so the first component is reduced and becomes somewhat assimilated to the second. If the first component consists of i, u, these broaden, especially before a non-palatalized consonant, e.g.: vil’kus~vilkas, pul’kus~pulkas, kin’či~kenčia, dul’ki~dulkia, whereas e, when before a palatalized consonant, tends to narrow, e.g.: vēr’ki~verkia, kēr’tu~kerti. If a mixed diphthong occurs before a non-palatalized consonant, e remains broadened, as it does outside diphthongs, e.g.: taēn’ku~tenka, vēl’ku~velka. The first-component vowel a is somewhat pharyngeal, e.g.: mai’tu~marti, kai’tus~kaitas. § 25. In the dialect described, as in other puntininkai dialects, am, an, em, en become um, un, im, in, e.g.: sū.mtī.s~samtis, rūm’sti.s~ramstis, kumpē.li.s~kampėlis; sprū.ndus~sprandas, run’ku~ranką, lunki’ī~lankyti; ūi.mī~vėmti, tūm’pī~temp­ti, kimpī.ne~kempinė; gīvī.nī~gyventi, švīn’te~šventė, kantē.jo.~kentėjau. § 26. However, there are cases in which am, an, em, en do not undergo this change, namely: 8 On the edge of the area of the dialect described, adjoining the pontininkai area (Piniava, Pažagieniai), the equivalents of unstressed standard Lithuanian ie are the same as those of unstressed standard Lithuanian ė, e.g.: pne’lī.s~pienėlis, as in tvē’lī.s~tėvelis. 157 a) in words that entered the dialect after the period when am, an, em, en changed into um, un, im, in, e.g.: lė'mpu~lėmpa, lė'nkus~lėnkas, žė'ntus~žėntas; b) in forms where am, an, em, en are of secondary origin, that is, arose recently through loss of the word-final vowel: in the dative singular ending of pronominal forms, e.g.: gerá'm<geramui, antrá'm<antramui, tá'm<tamui; in the dative plural ending of o-stem nouns, which derives from the old dual dative form, e.g.: namá'm<*namamu, vi'ram<*vīramu; in the ending of the pronominal singular inessive present form, e.g.: senam̃<senamė, pirmam̃<pirmamė, katram̃<katramė; in the ending of the inessive of the present participle9, e.g.: miškáñ<miškana, miestañ<miestana; in the first-person plural present-tense ending of a- and ia-stem verbs, e.g.: dirbam<dirbame, sėdžiam<sėdžiame; c) in present-tense verbs whose principal forms show the root alternation im || em, in || en, e.g.: kėm̃sū~kemša, lėñdu~lenda, reñku~renka; d) in present-tense infix verbs, e.g.: rañdu~randa, pakañku~pakanka, geñdu~genda, teñku~tenka. Sometimes one also hears bar-žlūm̃pu “gets soaked through,” pakuñku~pakanka, but rarely. § 27. It is noteworthy that standard Lithuanian en after a hardened l is reflected as dialectal un10, e.g.: lùntù~lenta, luntė'la~lentelė, lùngvus~lengvas lùngvāi~lengviaū. Apparently, en after l changed into an, and an regularly developed into un; thus, lùngvus<langvas<lėngvas. From this one may conclude that the mixed diphthongs am, an, em, en of the dialect described developed into um, un, im, in later than the clusters le, lė. hardened. § 28. Having reviewed the vocalic and mixed11 diphthongs, we can draw the following conclusions: 1. The quantity and quality of diphthongs (except the homogeneous ie, uo) and mixed diphthongs are determined by the accent: diphthongs with the acute accent have a lengthened first component, while those with the circumflex have a lengthened second component. The lengthened second component under the circumflex accent weakens and partially assimilates the first component. 2. The dialect described is characterized by puntininkavimas. Following the historical development of diphthongs am, an, em, en into um, un, im, in, in words that entered the dialect afterward and in newly formed expressions containing these diphthongs, am, an, em, en mostly remained unchanged. 3. The diphthongs ie, uo are close to monophthongs in their articulation, accent, and correspondences. B. Word-final vocalism 1. Vowels § 29. The Miežiškiai dialect generally lacks word-final vowels ė, o corresponding to standard Lithuanian ė, o. Both stressed and unstressed standard Lithuanian ė, o are reflected by the dialect’s short e, a, e.g.: vuvėrė~vovėrė, bá're~bārė, lunkas~lankos, blāũzdas~ 9 In the Raguva dialect, one already says miškū̃~miškāñ, miestuñ~miestan. 10 The word lìn'kti~lenkti. is an exception. 11 Newly formed diphthongs and triphthongs in the dialect are not discussed in this article, since they are characteristic of many dialects and do not provide any particularly new or interesting material. 158 blauždos. Probably, at the time when the old ē, ā in the dialect’s word stem changed into ē, o, the dialect’s word-final ē, ā had shortened or become partially shortened and therefore could no longer change into ē, o, e.g.: dė:dė<*dėdė, brō:la<*brālį. This claim is also supported by the fact that standard Lithuanian word-final lė corresponds not to dialectal le (see § 10), but to dialectal la, which can only derive from le (see § 8), e.g.: sá:ula~sáulė, varlā~varlē. § 30. The newly emerged word-final ē, o retain their quality: when stressed, they are long, e.g.: pakapē~pakapēję, lunkō~lankojė, tšō~tōja; when unstressed, they are half-long, e.g.: žė:mē~žemėje, pièvo.~pievóje, šī.to~šitója. The vowels ē, o also occur word-finally in the infinitive and forms derived from it, e.g.: birē?~byrėti, birē:s~byręs, birē:k~byrėk, žinō:t~žinóti, žinō:s~žinos, žinō:k~žinók. § 31. The dialect’s word-final a, e generally arose through the shortening of the old ā, ē (see § 29). Standard Lithuanian a, e usually correspond to dialectal u, i, which are more retracted and broader than standard Lithuanian u, i and, moreover, especially when unstressed, reduced. In some cases this correspondence can be explained historically (by the puntininkai sound law), namely: in the singular instrumental ending of feminine o-stem nouns, e.g.: šakù<*šakum<*šakān~šaką, lū:pu<*lūpun<*lūpān~lūpą, katì<*katin<*katēn~katę, kà:rvu<*karvin<*karvén~karvę; in the plural accusative ending of feminine o-stem nouns, e.g.: šakùs<*šakuns<*šakāns~šakas, lū:pus<*lūpuns<*lūpāns~lūpas; and in the singular and plural locative endings, e.g.: miškì<*miškin<*miškēn~miške, aruodà<*aruodin<*aruodēn~aruóde, pièvous<*pievosin<*pievośēn~pievose. § 32. It is historically impossible to explain the emergence of dialectal u in the nominative singular endings of masculine (a-stem) and feminine (o-stem) nouns, in place of standard Lithuanian a, e.g.: dā'rbus~dárbas, mā:žus~mãžas, šakù~šakà, bō:bū~bóba. Perhaps the nominative ending u, especially in the feminine, could have arisen in place of a by analogy with the singular instrumental and plural accusative cases; more probably, however, final a, especially when unstressed, came to be pronounced barely audibly and indistinctly through reduction, and thus became similar to reduced u. The only exception is masculine pronouns, which retain stressed word-final a, e.g.: kàs~kàs, tàs~tàs, anàs~anàs, katràs~katràs, visakàs~visakàs. § 33. The dialect lacks long a, e word-finally. The exception is the retention of old long, stressed pronoun endings, e.g.: katrā~katrō, anū~anō, tūhā~tokió. Standard Lithuanian a, e correspond to u, i under the puntininkai sound law; when stressed, these are long u:, i:, e.g.: anū~anā, manī~manē; when unstressed, they are half-long u., i., e.g.: miēstu.~miēstą, kà:ti.~kàtę, bù.vi.s~bùvęs. § 34. Standard Lithuanian word-final e in the sequence le corresponds to dialectal o. This correspondence results from the hardening of l and the puntininkai sound law. Having hardened, word-final l changed the diphthong *ēn that followed it into an; an then became un, and when n was lost from un, u remained, e.g.: *pelēn > *pelan > *pelun > pelù ~ pelė, *galēn > *galan > *galun > galù ~ galė, *šilēn > *šilan > *šilun > šilù ~ šilė. This confirms once again that l in the Miežiškiai dialect hardened before an > un (see § 27). 159. § 35. However, the dialectal lu. does not correspond to the standard Lithuanian word-final lę, but to lot.12, e.g.: sã’ulb. ~ saulę, bačkė’lot. ~ bačkėlę, prapãbłot.s ~ prapuolęs, suskł.lot.s ~ suskilęs. Perhaps in the old circumflex ending the diphthong en developed into in earlier than in the acute ending (see § 34), that is, before l hardened. But then the question arises why l, which usually hardens only before e and ė, hardened before i as well. § 36. Word-final i and u in the dialect can be short, half-long, or long. Short i and u, corresponding to Lithuanian Standard i and u, are more retracted, somewhat more open, and, especially when unstressed, reduced, for example: mažì~mažį, akìs~akis, ti’li~tylia, sukù~sukų, smagùs~smagus, di.rbù~dirbu. § 37.There are several cases in which Lithuanian Standard i corresponds to dialectal half-long i:, apparently derived from long ī, namely: in the unshortened13 infinitive ending of verbs, for example: aī’ii.<*eit(?), dī.rpti.<*dirbti(?), in the nominative ending of ia-stem nouns14, for example: brō.lì.s<*brōlis, ratē’li.s<*ratelis. § 38.Dialectal word-final u, corresponding to Lithuanian Standard word-final u or a (see § 31 and § 32), after j or a palatal consonant that was previously followed by i, becomes strongly fronted and is usually pronounced as a fully front vowel i (cf. § 13), for example: turiu~turiu, žãlis~žalius, sū’ris~sūrius, žãli~žalia, kó’ji~koja, brū.ngis~brangias. However, in Miežiškiai the masculine ia-stem nominative, which has the Lithuanian Standard ending -ias and, by the rule, should correspond to dialectal -is, corresponds instead to dialectal -i.s, for example: vẽji.s „vėjas“, svẽči.s „svečias“, žãli.s „žalias“. This is presumably an analogy with those ia-stem nominatives in which half-long i. arose historically (see § 37). § 39.Stressed Lithuanian Standard word-final i, y, į, ū correspond to dialectal long i:, u:, for example: īː~į, užī!~ožį!, tūː~tū, stačūː~stačių, būtūː~būtų; unstressed forms correspond to half-long i., u., for example: aũ.si.~ausį, lunkė’li.~lankelį, grã’žu.s~gražus, ã’ču.~ačiū. Dialectal long and half-long i, u may also correspond to Lithuanian Standard ę, ą (see § 33). § 40.Having reviewed all the dialect's word-final vowels, one can state the general rule for the quantity of word-final vowels: stressed vowels are long, while unstressed ones are short or half-long. The vowels e and a, which developed from Old ē and ā, are short in all cases. The quality of dialectal word-final vowels is altered by a palatal consonant preceding the vowel (u is fronted to i) and by the puntininkai sound change (ą>ų, ę>i; moreover, dialectal u and i may have developed from Old word-final *ān, *ēn). 2. Diphthongs Diphthongs. When discussing the dialect’s word-final diphthongs, they should be divided into separate groups. The first group would comprise the diphthongs ai, ei, au; the second, the coalescent diphthongs ie, uo; and the third, the diphthong ui. 12 The middle generation also pronounces the singular accusative with lu., e.g.: sã’ulu. ~ saulę, bačkė’lu. ~ bačkėlę. Apparently, this is an analogy with the accusative case of the o-stem, e.g.: vã’rnu. ~ varną. 13 The shortened infinitive form of the verb is more common in the speech of younger dialect speakers, e.g.: aī’ī~eiti, dī.rpti~dirbti. 14 This phenomenon is not found throughout the area of the dialect described, but only around Miežiškiai. Around Narbutai and Raguva, speakers say brō’lis~brolis, ratē’lis~ratėlis. 160 § 41. The diphthongs ai, ei, au remain intact only when stressed on the first element, e.g.: táˑi~tái, gerái~gerái, gražėˑi~gražiai, pačėˑi~pačiai, táˑu~táu, sáˑu~sáu. Diphthongs ai, ei, au stressed on the second element, and unstressed word-final diphthongs, monophthongize. The conditions were favorable for this monophthongization. The first element of the dialect’s circumflex diphthong was reduced because the force of the voice was concentrated on the second element. The diphthongs ai, ei, au, composed of open and close vowels, were difficult to pronounce and assimilated: both elements merged into one vowel intermediate in openness between a close and an open vowel, namely ɛ, é, or o. The two elements of the diphthong au—both back vowels—assimilated to produce the back vowel ɑ15 (long in a stressed ending, e.g.: sakóˑ~sakaũ, medõˑs~medaũs; half-long in an unstressed ending, e.g.: sėˑjo.~sėjau, tūrˑgo.s~tūrgaus). The elements of the diphthong ei—both front vowels—assimilated to produce the front vowel é (long in a stressed ending, e.g.: r̃kėˑ~rėkėi, gražėˑ~gražiai; half-long in an unstressed ending, e.g.: kãˑtė.~kātėi, kelėlė.s~kelėliais). The elements of the diphthong ai—one back and the other front—assimilated to produce the mid vowel ɛ, which Standard Lithuanian does not have (long in a stressed ending, e.g.: žinãˑ~žinai, nagėˑs~nagais; half-long in an unstressed ending, e.g.: mãˑme.~mãmai, dĩ.rbe.~dirbai). Monophthongization of diphthongs is apparently a recent phenomenon, more recent than, for instance, the palatalization of the combinations le, lė, e.g.: pėˑle<pelai<pelei, azˑeˑle<avelai<avelei. The consonant l does not become palatalized before the monophthongized diphthong ei, which developed from the earlier ai, preceded by j, e.g.: pėˑi.le.s~peiliais, smãˑi.lė.~smailiai. This shows that j disappeared later, after the period of palatalization of the combinations le, lė had already passed. § 42. The diphthongs ie, uo are mostly monophthongized. Standard Lithuanian ie always corresponds to the dialect’s short e, e.g.: akėˑs~akiės, petėˑs~petiės, nóˑses~nosies; standard Lithuanian uo corresponds to the dialectal o (when stressed, long, e.g.: pamõˑ~piemuo, sesõˑ~sesuo; when unstressed, half-long, e.g.: úˑndo.~vanduo, mėˑno.~mėnuo). Some dialect speakers, especially older ones, pronounce e (æ) instead of standard Lithuanian ie in the third person of the future tense, and a instead of uo, e.g.: lėˑps~lieps, kvės~kvies, dãs~duos, važãs~važiuos. § 43. The diphthongs ie, uo remain intact in two cases, namely, in pronoun endings, e.g.: tie~tie, kurie~kokie, katrūo~katruo, anuõs~anuos; and in endings where the stressed diphthongs ie, uo appeared in the word-final syllable only recently16, e.g.: bardamẽs~bardamiesi, visõs~visuose, láukios~laukuose, sukúos~sukúosi. In the second case, if the diphthongs ie, uo are unstressed, they undergo monophthongization, not according to the dialect’s word-final rules, but according to the rules governing word stems (see § 22), e.g.: Miškus || Miškuos~Miškuose, Gitėˑnus || Gitėˑnos~Gitėnuose. This indicates that the dialect’s shortened locative form arose recently, when the diphthongs ie, uo had already undergone monophthongization. § 44. According to the rules governing word stems (see § 22), the diphthongs ie, uo are shortened even in monosyllabic prepositions, e.g.: prį_tvoràs~prie tvoros, 15 In part of the dialect described (around Miežiškiai), the exception consists of comparative adverbs, e.g.: gražāũ~gražiau, toliāũ~toliau. 16 Dialect speakers, especially older ones, also continue to use the unshortened forms. II. Kalbotyros klausimai II. 161 nu ká:lna~ from the hill. This happens because prepositions, attaching themselves to a stressed word, form with it a kind of single unit and thereby come to appear as if they were in the word stem. § 45. The dialect described does not have the diphthong ui at the end of a word. In part of the dialect described, the singular dative ending of a and u-stem nouns is -u17, e.g.: žmó'gu~žmogui, vā'nagu~vā nagui, sū'nu~sūnui. As with every u at the end of a dialect word, after a palatalized consonant this u becomes i, e.g.: bró'li~bróliui, vā'gi~vāgiui. Since the dialect described has no nonsyllabic i at the end of a word18, it must be assumed that the dative ending -u arose from -ui through the loss of nonsyllabic word-final i. § 46. As can be seen, word-final diphthongs depend chiefly on the pitch accent. Diphthongs with an acute accent remain intact, while those with a circumflex accent usually monophthongize. The dialect does not have the diphthong ui at the end of a word. § 47. Mixed diphthongs. Mixed diphthongs occur rarely at the end of a word. Word-final mixed diphthongs have mostly formed recently, only after am, an shifted to um, un, e.g.: má'n<manie, mažá'm<mažamui, vaika'm<vaikamu, kaira'm<ka ramė, ai'nam<einame. In monosyllabic words, diphthongs often lose their second element—the consonant, e.g.: dā'<dar, i<īr. III. New phenomena in the dialect’s vowel system § 48. This study describes the vowel system of the traditional dialect. As we know, every dialect changes, especially at the present time, under the influence of the literary language. The younger speakers of the Miežiškiai dialect, influenced by school, the press, radio, meetings, amateur arts activities, and other factors, are increasingly beginning to avoid dialectal forms. The following are among the new phenomena in the vowel system that have arisen under the influence of the literary language: 1. Sometimes am, an, em, en, ą, ę, which had shifted to um, un, im, in, ų, į, are restored, e.g.: sá'mti.s~sámtis, lá'ngus~lángas, pé'mpę~pémpę, givė'nti~gyvénti, kā'~ką, švė'sti~švęsti. Occasionally, presumably through overcorrection, un is replaced by an where an never existed, e.g.: plánksnu “plunksna” (‘feather’), paá'nksni.s “paunksnis” (‘the downy part of a feather’). 2. One or another “intellectualized” speaker of the dialect no longer hardens the combinations le, lė, e.g.: sáule~sáulė, lė'dus~lėdas. As can be seen, at the end of a word there is le instead of the expected standard Lithuanian lė, because dialectal word-final la actually derives from le, not from lė (see § 29). 3. The younger generation, especially those attending school, are trying to restore standard Lithuanian: the shifts of word-final ą, ę, e.g.: vā'rna~vārna, júoda~júoda. However, instead of long unstressed standard Lithuanian word-final ą, they most often pronounce the short a characteristic of the dialect’s word endings. 17 Around Narbutai and Raguva, as in the Debeikiai dialect, the singular dative ending -ai of a-stem nouns has been preserved; it may possibly derive from the old ending -*oi, e.g.: žmó'ga~žmogai, pār'še~paršai, vaī'ke~vaikai. 18 Instead of the shortened locative forms pėvoj, viduj, speakers say pėvo, vidu; the adverb paskui is pronounced paskū. 162 4. Young people learning the dialect use a instead of u as the vowel of the nominative ending in nouns with the dialect’s usual a- and o-stems, e.g.: kãras~kãras, žẽmas~žẽmas, mažã~maža. Instead of the dialect’s word-final vowels descended from circumflex diphthongs, they pronounce diphthongs with the second mora very strongly accented, e.g.: mataũ~mataũ, matẽi~matẽi, namãi~namãi. § 49. However, the dialect also has phonetic features of vocalism that show no tendency to disappear. Lengthened vowels are never pronounced short, e.g.: ši.tus~šitas, bū.va~buvo, kẽp'ti~kẽpti, mã.na~mano. Conversely, shortened vowels are never pronounced long, e.g.: viŕ'u.si.õ~vyriausias, grudũ~grūdų. For this reason, the monophthongized ie and uo in the word stem are not restored either, e.g.: pudẽ.li.s~puodėlis, šẽnaũti~šienauti. § 50. From what has been said, it is clear that younger speakers of the dialect are beginning to abandon some of its qualitative features of vocalism, but do not alter the quantity of its vowels. The vocalism system of the dialect described is much more innovative than that of the literary language. However, it seems that the influence of the literary language will prevent (and is already preventing) further changes to the dialect’s vocalism. FEATURES OF VOWELISM IN THE MEŽIŠKIAI DIALECT И. Л. ШУКИС Abstract The article examines the vowel system of the area around the village of Mežiškiai, located southeast of Panevėžys. This area belongs to the Eastern Aukštaitian puntininkai, who do not fall within the system of dialects of the rotininkai, dadininkai, žalininkai, or žadininkai. To the west, this dialect borders the pontininkai and paantininkai. The pronunciation of vowels or diphthongs in the dialect described depends on the following conditions: their phonetic position; their position in the word (whether the vowel occurs at the beginning, end, or inside the word); and stress and intonation. In the Mežiškiai dialect, the general rule governing vowel quantity in word stems is as follows: unstressed vowels are always short, while stressed vowels are long, with a few exceptions. Under the influence of quantitative reduction, the quality of some unstressed vowels in word stems changed. Long ē and o in word stems, as they shortened, became narrower and turned into the vowels ъ and ь. The pronunciation of back vowels depends on the preceding consonants. After j, or after palatal consonants followed by j, back vowels are advanced. A strongly advanced, unstressed back vowel u yielded a front vowel ь of entirely different quality. 163 The pronunciation of narrow vowels depends on the following consonants. Before a hard consonant, the vowels i, u become slightly more open, while the opening of the vowel e is so pronounced that it is articulated as an intermediate vowel between e and a. The quality and quantity of diphthongs (except ie, uo) and diphthongal combinations in the stem depend on intonation: in diphthongs with falling intonation, the first component is lengthened, whereas in those with rising intonation, it is the second component. The first component of a diphthong under rising intonation is reduced and partially assimilated to the second. In terms of articulation, intonation, and correspondence with literary-language norms, the diphthongs ie, uo are close to monophthongs. The dialect described, like all Puntininkai dialects, is characterized by the change of diphthongal combinations am, an, em, en and vowels ə, ẹ into im, un, im, in, ų, i. This phenomenon is generally not found in new words or recently formed forms. Vowel length at the end of a word follows this rule: stressed vowels are long, while unstressed ones are short or half-long. The vowels e, a, which developed from the ancient ē, ā, are always short. Diphthongs at the end of a word depend on intonation. Diphthongs with falling intonation do not change, whereas those with rising intonation usually become monophthongs. Unstressed diphthongs at the end of a word also become monophthongs. The diphthong ui does not occur at the end of a word in this dialect. Diphthongal combinations at the end of a word have, in most cases, arisen recently. Under the influence of the literary language, the middle and younger generations of speakers abandon some qualitative features of the dialect’s vowel system; for example, am, an, em, en, ẹ, ə are sometimes not changed, as noted above, but are pronounced as in the literary language. The vowel system of the Miežiškiai dialect is newer than that of the literary language.