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VIDAS KAVALIAUSKAS
Lithuanian University of Educational Sciences
ON THE VERB
GARSINTI ACCENTUATION NORM
KEYWORDS: suffixal verb, accentuation norm, accentuation variant, actual usage.
In Lithuanian accentology studies, dictionaries, and reference works, the accentuation norm for the verb garsinti (: gãrsas; garsùs, -ì, gãršų, -ią) has varied considerably: gársinti, gársina, gársino (MKŽ 172; Vaitkevičiūtė 2004: 165); garsìnti, garsìna, garsìno (LV 262; RŽ 204); garsìnti, garsìna, garsìno and gársinti, gársina, gársino (Kamantauskas 1929: 39); gársinti, gársina, gársino and garsìnti, garsìna, garsìno (LKŽ III 142; LKTŽ 103; Būga 1958: 441; Laigonaitė 2002: 103; Stundžia 1995: 140; Vitkauskas 1995: 27, 80); gársinti, gársinti, garsìnti (Derksen 1996: 350). The normative Dictionary of Contemporary Lithuanian offered two accentuation variants: gársinti, gársina, gársino and garsìnti, garsìna, garsìno (DŽ₁ 199, DŽ₂ 164, DŽ₃ 166, DŽ₄ 166, DŽ₆ₑ). Many radio and television journalists learned the recommended prestigious accentuation norm for this verb—and even now we often hear reports of someone having igársino films or programs. More language-conscious speakers have also learned to accent it this way, although in speech they would probably choose another (with a circumflex-root) accentuation variant (the variant with acute metatony is little supported by language users).
Acute metatony is possible in verbs of this type with the suffix -inti:
žiaũrinti, žiaũrina, žiaũrino (: žiaurùs, -ì; žiaũrų, -ią) and others.
(see Kavaliauskas 2000: 54–55; 68–72; Kavaliauskas 2011: 125).
Some accentual variants have also been officially recognized – dáilinti and daĩlinti, dá rdinti and dãrdinti, márminti and mãrminti, rá ininti and raĩninti, skaĩdrinti and skaĩdrinti, támsinti and tãmsinti, and others (Kavaliauskas 2000: 53–72; Kavaliauskas 2005: 114–118; Kavaliauskas 2011: 124–125). In 2005, the State Commission of the Lithuanian Language (hereafter VLKK) revised the accentuation norm for the verb garsinti: the prefix-accented variant, virtually unused in actual speech, was discarded, and the frequently used variant with a circumflex-accented root was approved: gársinti, gársina, gársino and gãrsinti, gãršina, gãršino. Such accentual variants are also listed in the latest accentology literature (Mikulėnienė, Pakerys, Stundžia 2008: 260; Stundžia 2009: 220).
Is this VLKK proposal supported by language users? To answer this question, a study of the use of this verb was conducted in 2008–2011 in four regions of Lithuania: Dzūkija (Veisiejai and its surroundings), Suvalkija (the city and district of Vilkaviškis), Aukštaitija (Utena and Ignalina), and Žemaitija (the city of Raseiniai and nearby localities). The study involved 800 people, 200 from each region. Respondents were asked to read sentences containing the verb under investigation (they did not know that the accentuation of a single word was being studied). As respondents read the sentences provided—Mūsų šalį garsina daug įžymių žmonių and Operatorius įgarsino šį filmą—they marked on the questionnaires which accentual variant of the verb under study they had chosen. The survey participants were randomly selected respondents of various ages (from 17 to 81). The following results were obtained (see the table and figure):
V. KAVALIAUSKAS. Dėl veiksmažodžio garsinti kirčiavimo normos
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TABLE. Accentuation of the verb garsinti in selected regions of Lithuania
FIG. General tendencies in the accentuation of the verb garsinti
The study showed that the VLKK resolution to abandon the suffix-accented variant is fully justified—no respondent chose this accentuation variant. The prestigious accentuation variant with metatony gársinti is not strongly supported in actual usage: only 1% of Suvalkija respondents chose the primary accentuation variant, with somewhat more choosing it in Dzūkija, Aukštaitija, and Žemaitija (10, 11.5, and 17% of respondents, respectively) (cf. Stundžia 1995: 138). Everywhere, the circumflex-root accentuation variant gar̃sinti was convincingly predominant. The results of this study confirm the general tendencies in the use of accentuation variants of the verb garsinti, also documented by Prof. Antanas Pakerys: a student survey showed that the suffix-accented variant is not used, while the circumflex-root accentuation variant predominates: išgārsinti (35) and išgársinti (6) (see Pakerys 2002: 336). A 2011 survey of 50 Lithuanian philology students from the Faculty of Lithuanian Studies at the Lithuanian University of Educational Sciences, who had not taken an accentology course, showed an even stronger tendency toward the circumflex-root accentuation
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patterns in the use of this verb: išgaršinti (48) and išgársinti (2). Thus, the results of all the studies support the VLKK proposal to list two accentuation variants for this verb. Nevertheless, in light of actual usage patterns, the accentuation norm for garsinti could be revised once again in the future, reversing the order of the variants: garšinti and gársinti. The circumflex-root variant is more widely supported by language users and, moreover, does not conflict with the existing accentuation system for verbs in -inti. Similar practice has existed before: earlier editions of DŽ accepted both accentuation variants of the verb sausinti (: saũsas, -à)—without and with metatony, saũsinti and sáusinti (DŽ₁, DŽ₂)—whereas DŽ₃, DŽ₄, and DŽ₆ₑ retained only the circumflex-root variant without metatony, saũsinti; DŽ₁ recommended initial-stress accentuation for the verb váizdinti, while in DŽ₂ the accentuation norm was changed, and the circumflex-root variant vaizdinti was accepted as the sole variant.
CONCLUSIONS
1. Actual usage supports the decision of the State Commission of the Lithuanian Language to revise the accentuation norm for the verb garsinti, abandoning the suffix-accented variant and listing both accentuation variants—with an acute-accented and a circumflex-accented root. This is demonstrated by a study of the accentuation of this verb conducted in four regions of Lithuania and by student survey data.
2. The study results showed that the newly accepted circumflex-root variant garšinti is highly popular and clearly leads over the primary acute-root variant gársinti. Of the 800 respondents, as many as 719 (90%) chose the circumflex-root variant.
3. It may be worth revising the accentuation norm for this verb once again by reversing the order of the variants: the circumflex-root variant garšinti is more strongly supported in actual usage and does not violate the existing accentuation system for verbs with the suffix -inti.
LITERATURE AND SOURCES
B ū g a K. 1958: Rinktiniai raštai 1. Sud. Zigmas Zinkevičius, Vilnius: Valstybinė politinės ir mokslinės literatūros leidykla.
D e r k s e n R. 1996: Metatony in Baltic, Amsterdam–Atlanta: Rodopi.
DŽ₁ – Dictionary of Contemporary Lithuanian. Managing editor J. Kruopas, Vilnius: State Publishing House for Political and Scientific Literature, 1954.
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DŽ2 – Dictionary of Contemporary Lithuanian. Managing editor J. Kruopas, Vilnius: Mintis, 1972.
DŽ3 – Dictionary of Contemporary Lithuanian. Chief editor S. Keinys, Vilnius: Publishing House of Science and Encyclopedias, 1993.
DŽ4 – Dictionary of Contemporary Lithuanian. Chief editor S. Keinys, Vilnius: Institute of Science and Encyclopedia Publishing, 2000.
DŽ6e – Dictionary of Contemporary Lithuanian. Chief editor S. Keinys, Vilnius: Institute of the Lithuanian Language, 2006.
Kamantauskas V. 1929: Trumpas lietuvių kalbos kirčio mokslas. 2. Kirčio žodynas, Kaunas: Švyturio bendrovė.
Kavaliauskas V. 2000: Bendrinės lietuvių kalbos priesaginių veiksmažodžių kirčiavimas, Vilnius: Algarvė.
Kavaliauskas V. 2005: Dėl kai kurių priesaginių veiksmažodžių kirčiavimo normų. – Kalbos kultūra 78, 111–127.
Kavaliauskas V. 2011: Accentuation System of Suffixed Verbs in Standard Lithuanian. – Bulletin of the Georgian National Academy of Sciences 5 (3), 123–131.
LKŽ III – Dictionary of the Lithuanian Language 3. Managing editor K. Ulvydas, Vilnius: State Publishing House for Political and Scientific Literature, 1956.
Laigonaitė A. 2002: Lietuvių kalbos akcentologija, Vilnius: Gimtasis žodis.
LV – Lithuanian Language Handbook. Compiled by P. Skardžius, S. Barzdukas, J. M. Laurinaitis, Bielefeld: Lithuanian Exile Community, 1950.
LKTŽ – Dictionary of Lithuanian Pronunciation. Compiled by V. Vitkauskas, Vilnius: Institute of Science and Encyclopedia Publishing, 2001.
Mikulėnienė D., Pakerys A., Stundžia B. 2008: Bendrinės lietuvių kalbos kirčiavimo žinynas, Vilnius: Vilniaus pedagoginio universiteto leidykla.
MKŽ – Dictionary for Learning Lithuanian Spelling and Accentuation. Compiled by P. Kniūkšta and A. Lyberis, Kaunas: Šviesa, 1996.
Pakerys A. 2002: Akcentologija 2, Vilnius: Mokslo ir enciklopedijų leidybos institutas.
RŽ – Lithuanian Spelling Dictionary. Edited by K. Gasparavičius, N. Grigas, J. Lazauskas, K. Ulvydas, A. Žirgulys, Kaunas: State Publishing House for Encyclopedias, Dictionaries and Scientific Literature, 1948.
Stundžia B. 1995: Lietuvių bendrinės kalbos kirčiavimo sistema, Vilnius: Petro ofsetas.
Stundžia B. 2009: Bendrinės lietuvių kalbos akcentologija, Vilnius: Vilniaus universiteto leidykla.
Vaitkevičiūtė V. 2004: Bendrinės lietuvių kalbos kirčiavimas, Kaunas: Šviesa.
Vitkauskas V. 1995: Lietuvių kalbos kirčiavimo žinynas, Vilnius: Mokslo ir enciklopedijų leidykla.
Received 2011 06 14
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ON THE ACCENTUATION NORM OF THE VERB GARSINTI
Summary
In linguistic works on Lithuanian accentology as well as dictionaries and reference books there has been considerable fluctuation in the accentuation norm of the verb garsinti (‘to sound, announce, proclaim’). The normative Dabartinės lietuvių kalbos žodynas (Dictionary of Contemporary Lithuanian) offers two accentuation variants: of acute root (gársinti, gá̄rsina, gá̄rsino) and suffixal accentuation (garsìnti, garsìna, garsìno). The suffixal pattern in actual usage has become almost extinct. In 2005 the State Commission of the Lithuanian Language amended the accentuation norm of the verb by rejecting the suffixal pattern and approving the popular variant of the circumflex root, cf. gársinti and garšinti, respectively. The research into the usage of the verb in three different regions of Lithuania has demonstrated that the newly approved variant of circumflex root accentuation is more popular than the main accentuation variant of the acute root accentuation (cf. 90 per cent and 10 per cent, respectively). Considering the actual usage and tendencies in the accentuation of the verbal suffix -inti, the paper suggests that the accentuation norm of the verb should be specified in the following way: the circumflex root accentuation pattern should be given as the main, primary variant (garšinti), and the acute root accentuation variant—as secondary (gársinti).
KEY WORDS: suffixed verbs, accentuation norm, variants of accentuation, actual usage.
