Rytų aukštaičių panevėžiškių diferencinio požymio kaita: geoerdvinis aspektas

AGNĖ ČEPAITIENĖ Institute of the Lithuanian Language ORCID id: orcid.org/0000-0002-6018-0520 Research areas: dialectology, geolinguistics, sociolinguistics. AIDAS GUDAITIS Institute of the Lithuanian Language ORCID id: orcid.org/0000-0001-7098-3143 Research areas: geolinguistics, areal studies. DOI: doi.org/10.35321/all84-07 CHANGE IN THE DIFFERENTIAL FEATURE OF THE EASTERN HIGHLANDERS OF PANEVĖŽYS: A GEO-SPATIAL PERSPECTIVE The Change of Phonetic Differential Feature in the Eastern Aukštaitian Subdialect of Panevėžys: the Geospatial Approach ABSTRACT For the first time in Lithuania, one phonetic feature distinguishing the Eastern Highlanders of Panevėžys—the realization of the stressed and unstressed stem mixed diphthongs an, am as [ǫ] and [ǫm], respectively, traditionally called okavimas—is examined using geospatial analysis methods based on GIS technology. The aim of the study is to determine changes in okavimas over a period of 100 years and to assess the continuity of this feature. The article presents an analysis of okavimas based on two layers of dialectal material: Petras Būtėnas’s study (1932: 168–193) and audio recordings preserved in the Dialect Archive of the Institute of the Lithuanian Language. Additional socioeconomic and sociocultural data are used to assess the continuity of the feature under investigation. Straipsniai / Articles 149 AGNĖ ČEPAITIENĖ, AIDAS GUDAITIS It was established that the area of okavimas has changed. In temporal terms, the turning point in the change of okavimas may have occurred during the Second World War and the postwar period. The results obtained show a fairly consistent and gradual decline of okavimas. This is also confirmed by the latest socioeconomic and sociocultural data. KEYWORDS: Eastern Highlanders of Panevėžys subdialect, Petras Būtenas, okavimas, geospatial analysis, change in dialectal features. A N N O T A T I O N The article deals with one of the phonetic differential features of the Panevėžys subdialect of Eastern Aukštaitian. This phonetic feature is characterised by pronunciation [ɔŋ], [ɔm] of stressed and unstressed semi-diphthongs an, am in the stem, that is traditionally referred to as “okavimas”. The geospatial methods based on GIS technology for geolinguistic analysis were used for this dialectal feature for the first time in Lithuania. The purpose of this study is to determine the shift of the “okavimas” feature over 100 years and to assess its continuity. The article presents an analysis of the “okavimas” feature based on two layers of material: the research made by Petras Būtenas (1932: 168–193) and the audio recordings stored in the Archive of the Dialects at the Institute of the Lithuanian Language. Additional socio-economic and socio-cultural data were used to assess the continuity of the analysed phonetic feature. The area and intensiveness of the phonetic distinctive feature “okavimas” was found to have changed and almost disappeared during the time. From a time perspective, the breaking point of the change in the intensity of use of the “okavimas” feature could have taken place during the Second World War and the post-war period. The results show a consistent and gradual decline in the “okavimas” feature. This is also evidenced by the recent socio-economic and socio-cultural data. KEYWORDS: Eastern Aukštaitian Subdialect of Panevėžys, Petras Būtenas, “okavimas”, geospatial analysis, change of dialectal feature. 1. INTRODUCTION In the earliest descriptive studies, the distinguishing features of the Panevėžys subdialect and its linguistic system were described as closed, without taking its variation into account (cf. Geitler 1875¹; Вольтеръ 1886; 1904: 325–335, 338–340, 345–354; Jaunius 1970 (1898): 114–161; Барановскій 1898; Būga 1961 (1924): 82–83; Salys 1992 (1935; 1946): 114–119, 122–131; Gerullis 1930: ¹ This is based on (Mikulėnienė 2011: 19–27). 150 Acta Linguistica Lithuanica LXXXIV Rytų aukštaičių panevežiškių diferencinio požymio kaita: geoerdvinis aspektas 35–46, 54–65, 66–76; Būtenas 1932: 168–193, etc.). A static view of the Panevėžys subdialect was also presented in later phonological studies of the Panevėžys subdialect (Zinkevičius 1966; Girdenis, Zinkevičius 1966: 139–147; LKT 1970: 14, 32–36; LKA I–III; Garšva 1982: 65–74; 1982a; 1984: 74–82; Ručinskaitė 1984: 72–76; Kačiūskienė 1984: 42–53; Kačiūskienė, Girdenis 1997: 31–36; Kazlauskas 1968: 10–20; Garšva 1977: 76–87; Kačiūskienė, Girdenis 1982: 189–191, etc.). In other words, until the second half of the twentieth century, the features of the Panevėžys subdialect were examined according to the NORM criterion (Chambers, Trudgill 2004: 30; see also Aliūkaitė, Mikulėnienė 2014: 32, etc.).² Since the 1970s and 1980s, studies have begun to assess variation in the Panevėžys subdialect. Qualitative and quantitative studies of the distinguishing and characteristic features of the Panevėžys subdialect take age into account, assess the speakers’ linguistic self-awareness and attitudes, the influence of mobility on changes in linguistic features, and so on. Thus, the features of the Panevėžys dialect have entered the field of research in various areas: descriptive and experimental (cf. Zinkevičius 1975: 85; 1979: 92–93; Kačiūskienė 1982: 39–45; 1983: 24–38; 2000: 25–31; Markevičienė 2001: 29–32; Garšva 2002: 9–18; Kačiūskienė 2003: 88–92; LKTCh 2004: 30–34, 184–194; Kačiūskienė 2005: 49–53; 2005a: 499–503; Zinkevičius 2006: 74–82; Girdenis, Kačiūskienė 2006: 35–40; Kačiūskienė 2006; 2009: 61–67; Meilūnaitė 2009; Kačiūskienė 2012: 53–62, etc.), sociolinguistic (Kačiūskienė 2005b; Ramonienė 2006: 137–148; Geržotaitė 2016: 121–142; Čepaitienė 2016a: 136–159, etc.), dialectometric (Pukevičiūtė 2015: 175–195; Čepaitienė 2016: 143–174; 2018; 2018a: 44–75; 2019: 39–74; Mikulėnienė et al. 2019; Čepaitienė, Bakšienė 2020: 1–37), and perceptual-dialectological (Aliūkaitė et al. 2017; 2020). The object of this study is change over a period of more than 100 years in one of the distinguishing features of the Eastern Highlanders of Panevėžys—okavimas. In the article, okavimas refers to the realization of the stressed and unstressed stem mixed diphthongs an, am selected for the study as [ɔn], [ɔm], respectively, e.g.: [¹kɔˈndɑ] ~ kanda, [¹sɔmʲˈtʲɪsʲ] ~ samtis, [²dɔŋˈɡʊs] ~ dangus, [pa²sɔmʲˈdʲɛ] ~ pasamdė, [lɔŋʲˈɡʲɛlʲɪsʲ] ~ langelis, [kɔmʲˈʃʲɪtʲ] ~ kamšyti³. This feature, which varies in degree, is characteristic of a large part of the Eastern Highlanders of Panevėžys area— ² English non-mobile older rural male—a sedentary older man living in a rural area. The NORM criterion was already applied in the nineteenth-century studies of Jules Gillieron, one of the pioneers of geolinguistics (Chambers, Trudgill 2004: 30). ³ The terms okavimas and okavimas-speaking dialects were proposed by Petras Būtenas (1932: 168). Cf. also the terms selected by the authors of dialect classifications to designate the same dialect area: rytiečių antrųjų (Барановский 1898: 15, 32–33), aukštaičių rytiečių pantininkų and pontininkų (Salys 1992 (1946): 104–109), and rytų aukštaičių panevežiškių (Girdenis, Zinkevičius 1966: 139–147). In older and current dialect classifications, the area of okavimas is considered to be the Panevėžys area, in which the realizations of the mixed diphthongs an, am, en, em and the ą, ę derived from them vary. In the area with the strongest okavimas Straipsniai / Articles 151 AGNĖ ČEPAITIENĖ, AIDAS GUDAITIS in the eastern part of the Eastern Highlanders of Panevėžys area (cf. its location in the current classification of traditional dialects in Fig. 1). FIG. 1. The area of the Eastern Highlanders of Panevėžys and the area of okavimas in the current dialect classification of Zigmas Zinkevičius and Aleksas Girdenis (1966) The aim of this article is to assess changes in okavimas over a period of 100 years and to project its continuity using geospatial analysis methods⁴ To achieve this aim, the following objectives were set: 1) based on Petras Būtėnas’s (1932: 168–193) study conducted nearly 100 years ago (during 1923–1932), to reconstruct, using GIS methods, the area of distribution of okavimas at the beginning of the twentieth century and to assess the intensity of its use at that time (see also Čepaitienė, Gudaitis word-finally stressed, unstressed an, am, en, em and the ą, ę derived from them, as well as word-initially stressed an, am are realized as [on], [om], [en], [em], [o], [e], while word-initially stressed en, em are realized as in the standard language (Girdenis, Zinkevičius 1966: 139–147, etc.). ⁴ We sincerely thank Prof. Dr. Danguolė Mikulėnienė for the research idea, valuable advice, and consultations. 152 Acta Linguistica Lithuanica LXXXIV Change in the Differential Feature of the Eastern Highlanders of Panevėžys: A Geo-Spatial Perspective 2021); 2) based on the results obtained, to select, within the identified area, inhabited localities falling into zones with different degrees of distribution of okavimas; 3) by listening to audio recordings collected mainly at the beginning of the twenty-first century in these areas, to record the realizations of the stressed and unstressed stem mixed diphthongs an, am in the speech of speakers of the older and younger generations (where data are unavailable, the middle generation)5; 4) based on the analysis of the audio recordings, to assess changes in okavimas and determine the approximate time when okavimas was presumably abandoned, or when variants closer to the standard language, [an], [am], began to be used more systematically instead of the mixed diphthongs [ɔn], [ɔm]; 5) based on socioeconomic and sociocultural data (see Section 2), to assess the continuity of okavimas. The research material consists of: 1) the study of okavimas-speaking dialects published in Būtenas’s article (1932: 168–193), on the basis of which the boundaries and intensity of use of okavimas-speaking dialects at the beginning of the twentieth century were reconstructed (see also Čepaitienė, Gudaitis 2021)6; 2) audio recordings of 45 speakers born in 1888–1997, collected in the twenty-first century mainly from the periphery of the okavimas-speaking dialects, that is, from inhabited localities separated by the isoglosses of the mixed diphthongs an, am (cf. LKA II: 83–86, map nos. 68, 69, etc.) (see Fig. 2); the linguistic material of 24 older-generation and 21 middle- and younger-generation speakers is examined7. In projecting the continuity of the feature under investigation, the aforementioned socioeconomic and sociocultural data are used (see Section 2 for more detail). The geospatial analysis tools based on geoinformation systems (GIS) technology used in the study make it possible to assess and visualize variation in the Lithuanian language differently than before. 5 Only two audio recordings made in the second half of the twentieth century were examined. 6 It should be emphasized that the author attributed more dialectal features to okavimas: not only the realizations of the mixed diphthongs an, am selected in this study, but also the realizations of the stressed and unstressed stem long vowels q, ę and of the mixed diphthongs en, em (Būtėnas 1932: 179). 7 The study sought to assess changes in okavimas on the basis of the speech of the older and younger generations. However, in localities where audio recordings of younger-generation speakers are unavailable, the speech of middle-aged informants was examined together with that of the older generation. Straipsniai / Articles 153 AGNĖ ČEPAITIENĖ, AIDAS GUDAITIS FIG. 2. Inhabited localities selected for the study of okavimas (Čepaitienė, Gudaitis 2021) 154 Acta Linguistica Lituanica LXXXIV Change in the Differential Feature of the Eastern Highlanders of Panevėžys: A Geospatial Perspective 2. TYRIMO METODIKA IR ĮRANKIAI Today, research on language variation has been fundamentally transformed by GIS techniques and methods, which emerged in the 1950s and began to be applied in linguistics. They have been used to analyze data from the Atlas of North American English⁸ (Lee, Kretschmar 1993: 541–560), variation in the dialects of western Pennsylvania (Ayad, Luthin 2009: 1–26), and changes and boundaries in Thai dialects (Teerarojanar at, Tingsabad 2011: 363; 2011a: 55–75); for more on the possibilities of applying GIS tools and methods in geolinguistics, see (Hoch, Hayes 2010: 23–36; Lameli et al. 2010; see also Lee et al. 2018: 152–156, etc.). The differential features of the Panevėžys subdialect and Lithuanian dialects in general have not yet been studied using GIS methods. Reconstruction of the area of distribution of okavimas. To identify the area of distribution of okavimas at the beginning of the twentieth century and assess the intensity of this feature at that time, settlements mentioned in Būtenas’s article (1932: 168–209) as dialects with varying degrees of okavimas and as neighboring dialects, as termed by the author, were identified and located using GIS technology tools (Esri ArcGIS Pro and extensions), and the natural boundaries of speech varieties were distinguished and described in detail. The locations of historical settlements and the natural boundaries described were refined using, in addition, topographic maps of Lithuania from 1914–1945 (see maps of the Wróblewski Library of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences) and the cartographic material of Antanas Salys, a dialect researcher of that period: 1) the German Karte des westlichen Rußlands (1914–1921), scale 1:100,000; 2) the German Karte des Deutschen Reiches 1:100 000 Grossblatter (1940–1944), scale 1:100,000; 3) interwar Lithuanian maps (1933–1940), scale 1:100,000; 4) the interwar classification of Lithuanian dialects (Salys 1933). The identified settlements and the polygons of the areas of okavimas-speaking and so-called neighboring speech varieties⁹ were assigned intensity values for the realization of the stressed and unstressed stem mixed diphthongs an, am as [an], [am]; [ɔn], [ɔm]; [ʒn], [ʒm]: 0—no realization as a particular variant, 1—mixed realization, 2—systematic realization. These values were assigned to the point feature layer of the centroids of settlement polygons within the study area: a total of 2,356 settlements within the area of okavimas, identified from the settlement feature layer of the spatial dataset of the Register of Addresses of the Republic of Lithuania publicly provided by the State Enterprise Centre of Registers (data current as of 2020-10-01) (see Settlements of the Republic of Lithuania). ⁸ Angl. Linguistic Atlas of the Middle and South Atlantic States (LAMSAS). ⁹ For more on the method of delineating polygons, see Yamada 2016, 2–6 and the bibliography cited there, ESRI 2004; see also Teerarojanar at, Tingsabad 2011a: 72, etc.; see also Mikulėnienė, Čepaitienė 2021. Straipsniai / Articles 155 AGNĖ ČEPAITIENĖ, AIDAS GUDAITIS After the empirical Bayesian Kriging geostatistical interpolation method (English: Empirical Bayesian Kriging) was applied to the settlement feature layer (see What is empirical Bayesian kriging? for more detail), raster surfaces showing the distribution of intensity of the realizations of the stressed and unstressed stem mixed diphthongs an, am as [an], [am]; [ɔn], [ɔm]; [ɤn], [ɤm] were extracted. The combined interpolation result of the raster surfaces is presented in Fig. 3. Prediction of the continuity of okavimas. To assess the continuity of the dialect feature under investigation, the territory of the identified areas of okavimas-speaking speech varieties was divided into 418 10 km² hexagons. For their spatial analysis, the method of enriching polygons with socioeconomic data was employed (see Enrich (Analysis) for more detail)¹⁰. Demographic and socioeconomic data for 2018–2019 supplied to the Esri ArcGIS platform by Michael Bauer Research GmbH were used to enrich the generated hexagons (see Michael Bauer Research GmbH for more detail). The hexagons enriched with linguistic-feature, demographic, and socioeconomic data were analyzed using geostatistical analysis methods. 3. RECONSTRUCTION OF THE DISTRIBUTION OF OKAVIMAS AT THE BEGINNING OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY AND THE INTENSITY OF THE FEATURE IN THE AREA BASED ON BŪTĖNAS’S DATA Būtenas’s study established that, at the beginning of the twentieth century, okavimas occurred across most of the northern part of the Panevėžys subdialect (see Būtėnas 1932: 168–209; cf. also Барановский 1898: 15, 32–33; Salys 1992 (1946): 104–109; Girdenis, Zinkevičius: 139–147, etc.; Čepaitienė, Gudaitis 2021), (Fig. 3). According to Būtenas’s data, the intensity of okavimas varied in the area indicated. At the beginning of the twentieth century, okavimas was most consistently realized in the central part of the Panevėžys okavimas area around Vaškai, Joniškėlis, Pušalotas, Smilgiai, Panevėžys, and Naujamiestis; there, word-initially stressed, word-finally stressed, and unstressed mixed diphthongs an, am were realized as [ɔn], [ɔm], e.g.: [¹pɔːnʲtʲɪs] ~ pantis, [¹sɔːmʲtʲɪs] ~ samtis; [²rɔŋˑkɔ] ~ ranką, [²kɔmˑpɐs] ~ kampas; [1ɔŋˑɡʲɛːlʲɪs] ~ langelis, [kɔmʲpʲɛlʲɪs] ~ kampelis (see also Table 1). ¹⁰ The main function of data-enrichment tools is to supplement the geographic objects under study and their territories with demographic, business, economic, or landscape attributes that make it possible to understand the socioeconomic research environment more clearly. To perform polygon enrichment, Esri ArcGIS technology uses a granular point dataset (English: granular point dataset), which represents populated places and employs a complex geoprocessing algorithm to calculate geostatistical data. For more on the methodology of the data-enrichment tool, see Data apportionment. 156 Acta Linguistica Lithuanica LXXXIV Rytų aukštaičių panevežiškių diferencinio požymio kaita: geoerdvinis aspektas FIG. 3. Okavimas-speaking dialects at the beginning of the twentieth century (Čepaitienė, Gudaitis 2021) Straipsniai / Articles 157 AGNĖ ČEPAITIENĖ, AIDAS GUDAITIS TABLE 1. Intensity of okavimas in the area of the Eastern Highlanders of Panevėžys án, ám ~ [ɔn], [ɔm] añ, am̃ ~ [ɔn], [ɔm] an, am ~ [ɔn], [ɔm] Western okavimas area − + + Central okavimas area + + + Eastern okavimas area − − + Unlike in the area of consistent okavimas, in the west, around Žeimelis, Pašvitinys, Linkuva, Pakruojis, Klovainiai, Rozalimas, Šeduva, and Sidabravas, word-finally stressed and unstressed mixed diphthongs an, am were pronounced [ɔn], [ɔm], e.g.: [²ʹoŋˈkɔ] ~ ranką, [²ʹkɔmˈpɑs] ~ kampas; [lɔŋˈgɛlʲɪs] ~ langelis, [kɔmʲˈpɛlʲɪs] ~ kampelis. The Panevėžys speakers of the western okavimas area retained the word-initially stressed an, am unchanged, e.g.: [¹pɑˈnʲtʲɪs] ~ pantis, [¹sɑˈmʲtʲɪs] ~ samtis (see Fig. 3). Only the unstressed mixed diphthongs an, am were realized as [ɔn], [ɔm] in the east of the area of intense okavimas, toward the dialects around Saločiai, Pasvalys, and others, e.g.: [lɔŋˈgɛlʲɪs] ~ langelis, [kɔmʲˈpɛlʲɪs] ~ kampelis. Here, word-initially stressed an, am were pronounced [un], [um], and word-finally stressed forms as [ɔ̄n], [ɔ̄m], e.g.: [¹pʊˈnʲtʲɪs] ~ pantis, [¹sʊˈmʲtʲɪs] ~ samtis; [²ʹrʊŋˈkɔ] ~ ranką, [²ʹkʊmˈpɑs] ~ kampas. The boundaries of the okavimas-speaking dialects described by Būtenas largely coincide with the data of Antanas Salys, who studied the dialects during the same period (1933) (see Fig. 4). Other linguists assigned only the areas around Kriukai, Lygumai, Raguva, and Vadokliai. Although Būtenas acknowledged that okavimas existed in these territories, he considered it mixed, and his study had been inconclusive (1932: 191–192). Būtenas’s article raises questions concerning the formation of the area of okavimas with varying intensity, the lowest intensity in the western okavimas area, and the course of the emergence of okavimas (Būtėnas 1932: 192). In the researcher’s view, other historical circumstances that existed at the time were also unclear: the origin of place names and personal names in the area of okavimas, the influence of the Semigallian substrate, the impact of serfdom, the sixteenth-century Highlander–Samogitian border, the influence of the areas of administrative districts, parishes, and counties, and other historical factors, as well as the influence of the standard language in the southern part of the Panevėžys area, among others. Therefore, it may tentatively be argued that elucidating the aforementioned historical circumstances would also substantiate the causes of the formation of the okavimas-speaking dialects. However, that is the aim of another study (see Čepaitienė, Gudaitis 2021). 158 Acta Linguistica Lithuanica LXXXIV Change in the Differential Feature of the Eastern Highlanders of Panevėžys: A Geo-Spatial Perspective FIG. 4. The area of okavimas in Antanas Salys’s dialect classification from the beginning of the twentieth century (1933), (Čepaitienė, Gudaitis 2021) 4. CHANGE IN OKAVIMAS When the aggregate okavimas indices of speakers born in 1888–1997 and recorded mainly in the twenty-first century are plotted on a map of the boundaries of the okavimas areas identified by Būtenas and reconstructed in this study, with points of different colors classified according to the intensity of okavimas, it can be seen that signs of change in okavimas are already present in the speech of the oldest speakers, while the okavimas zone contracts in parallel as the respondents become younger (cf. Figs. 5 and 6). Straipsniai / Articles 159 AGNĖ ČEPAITIENĖ, AIDAS GUDAITIS FIG. 5. Use of okavimas by speakers born before the Second World War¹¹ FIG. 6. Use of okavimas by speakers born after the Second World War According to data from audio recordings collected in the twenty-first century, okavimas was nevertheless preserved rather systematically in the speech of speakers born before the war (1888–1938), e.g.: [²ʔo̞n̪t̾r̥o̞] ~ antrą, [²d̪o̞n̪t̾ʲʑʊ̞s] ~ dančių, [¹t̪u̞kʂt̪o̞n̪t̾ʲɪ] ~ tūkstantį, [¹t̪u̞kʂt̪o̞n̪t̾ʲɪs] ~ tūkstančiais (LKA 200, female, born in 1934); [o̞mʲʑiʔn̪a̞t̾ʲe̞lʲsʲ] ~ amžinatilsį, [mʊzɪ¹¹kʊ̞n̪t̪a] ~ muzikanto, [²r̞o̞n̪k̪o̞m] ~ rankomis, [²ʔo̞n̪t̪r̞s] ~ antras, [²r̞o̞n̪k̪ʊ] ~ rankų, [a̞p̪k̪o̞m¹¹rʲɪt̪a̞] ~ apkamšyta (LKA 168, female, born in 1927), (LKA 137, female, born in 1930) (see Fig. 5). Variation in this dialect feature is already present in the speech of older-generation speakers; often the same speaker alternately uses both on, om, and an, am variants. Forms characteristic of the standard language are recorded in all okavimas areas—the eastern, central, and western—and the feature varies even within the speech of the same speaker, e.g.: [pʊs²ʔo̞n̪t̪r̞ʊ̞] ~ pusantrų, [bɛn¹d̪ʲɪt̪ɐ] ~ banditai, [²ʔo̞n̪t̪r̞a̞] ~ antra, [l̪o̞n¹k̪i̞t̪ʲ] / [l̪ɛn¹k̪i̞t̪ʲ] ~ lankyti (LKA 52, western okavimas area, female, 1936); [ɪsʲ¹²g̞o̞n̪d̪a] ~ išsigando, [bɛn̪kʲ¹²ʃt̪ɪɛ̞ʊ̞] ~ anksčiau, [²k̪ɛmᵖa̞] ~ kampo, [¹s̞o̞mʲt̪] ~ samtį (LKA 111, central okavimas area, female, born in 1938); ¹¹ Blue indicates that okavimas is not recorded in a settlement (okavimas intensity—0), while red indicates that okavimas is intensive in the settlement (okavimas intensity—6) among both the oldest and youngest speakers. 160 Acta Linguistica Lithuanica LXXXIV Change in the Differential Feature of the Eastern Highlanders of Panevėžys: A Geo-Spatial Perspective [ʒʲpːnʲtrʲo̞] ~ antrojo, [ʒʲpːnʲtrʲs] ~ antras, [rʲnʲkɑs] ~ rankas, [ˈɑmʲʒʲĩnʲkʲės] ~ amžininkės, [nʲe̞skl̞e̞nʲˈdʊmɔ̞] ~ nesklanumų (LKA 140, eastern okavimas area, female, born in 1923). Whether a settlement is central or peripheral within the okavimas area has essentially no influence on the use of the feature analyzed. Conversely, in the speech of informants born after the war (1945–1997), the stressed and unstressed mixed diphthongs an, am are mostly retained unchanged, e.g.: [kɛmbarʲukɑs] ~ kambariukas, [sɐndʲe̞lʲɪs] ~ sandelis (LKA 197, female, born in 1950), [ˈɑmʲʒʲɪɔ̞s] ~ amžiaus, [ˈe̞ŋkʲstʲɪ] ~ anksti, [ˈlɛŋkʲɛ] ~ lankė, [pʲe̞rˈkɑndɑ] ~ perkando (LKA 78, female, born in 1949), [pɑːˈskɛmʲbʲɔk] ~ paskambink, [kɛm bɑː²rʲɪ] ~ kambary, [ˈsɑːnʲdʲe̞lʲɪs] ~ sandelis, [ɪsʲˈgʲe̞ndɑ] ~ išsigando (LKA 111, female, born in 1988) (see Fig. 6). Only isolated cases of okavimas were identified in the younger group around Pakruojis (e.g., [ˈʃlɔmʲtɑs] ~ šlamštas, [ˈɔntrɔ] ~ antrą, but [sʲʑˈprʲnʲtʲʊ] ~ suprantu, [ˈɛnʲtrɔ] ~ antrą, [ˈlɛŋgʲ] ~ langų (LKA 137, male, born in 1996), Šeduva (e.g., [ɔrʲkʲːʒʲɪɛ̞] / [ɛrʲkʲːʒʲɪɛ̞] ~ anksčiau, but [skɛmʲˈbʲe̞nɑ] ~ skambina, [ˈrɛŋkɑ] ~ ranka (LKA 200, male, born in 1974), and Pušalotas (e.g., [ˈdɔŋgʲɔ] ~ dangų, but [rɛŋˈkɑs] ~ rankas, [mʊzɪˈkɑntɑs] ~ muzikantas, [ʊɑlɛnʲ²dʲe̞lʲe̞s] ~ valandėlės, [vɛnʲ²dʲe̞ns] ~ vandens (LKA 170, female, born in 1995). In other words, it was established that speakers born after the war use okavimas 8.5 times less frequently than those born before the war (see Table 2). This was caused by various historical circumstances, as a result of which the prestige of the dialectal language probably also declined after the war. 2 LENTELĖ. Frequency of okavimas among speakers born before the war (before 1942) and after the war (from 1943 onward) (FOK = 2.22/0.26) Born before the Second World War After the Second World War Speakers selected for the study 18 27 Frequency of okavimas among speakers 40 7 Frequency coefficient of okavimas (FOK) 2.22 0.26 After assessing the relationship between okavimas and the speakers’ age (date of birth), a clear negative correlation was established (the younger the speaker, the less frequently okavimas is used). This shows that the decline of okavimas, which intensified after the war, proceeded very consistently as generations changed (see Fig. 7). The descending regression line also indicates that respondents born after 1945 essentially no longer use this feature or use it very rarely. Straipsniai / Articles 161 AGNĖ ČEPAITIENĖ, AIDAS GUDAITIS FIG. 7. Correlation between speakers’ years of birth and okavimas The results also show that the boundaries between the areas of varying okavimas intensity identified by Būtenas have disappeared (see Fig. 8). Differences between them can still be heard in the speech of speakers born in 1916–1940, but respondents born later hardly use okavimas anymore; as mentioned, in all three areas of varying okavimas distribution there are only isolated cases in which the mixed diphthongs an, am are realized as [ɔn], [ɔm]. FIG. 8. Okavimas in different age groups and areas of varying okavimas intensity¹² The western okavimas area stands out to some extent: there, word-initially stressed an, am are retained, while word-finally stressed and unstressed forms are realized as [ɔn], [ɔm] (see also ¹² The x-axis presents information about speaker groups by okavimas area and year of birth (divided into 25-year intervals), while the y-axis indicates okavimas intensity. 162 Acta Linguistica Lithuanica LXXXIV Rytų aukštaičių panevežiškių diferencinio požymio kaita: geoerdvinis aspektas Fig. 3 and Table 1). Okavimas, although inconsistently, was recorded in all age groups of speakers from this zone that were studied (see the examples given above). Hypothetically, this area may be considered the last area of distribution of the feature under investigation. Thus, when assessed on a time scale, changes in okavimas are already recorded in the speech of representatives of the older generation of the Panevėžys dialect, born during the Second World War and in the postwar period. It can therefore be assumed that the Second World War, the Soviet occupation, the deportations of local residents, the establishment of collective farms, land reclamation, the destruction of individual farmsteads, and other negative socioeconomic consequences may have influenced the process of change in okavimas that began. From the spatial, or the perspective of the distribution of the feature within a certain territory, it may be assumed that the change in okavimas proceeded as follows: first, okavimas was abandoned in the linguistically mixed eastern okavimas area; at approximately the same time, in the central okavimas zone (the pronunciation of stressed an, am in the falling-accent position was abandoned in the most salient and easily noticeable position, e.g., [¹'kɔ̞nd̪ə] ~ kanda, [¹'sɔ̞mʲtʲɪs] ~ samtis); and, latest of all, okavimas was abandoned in the western area. 5. CONTINUITY OF OKAVIMAS A quantitative examination of twenty-first-century socioeconomic indicators (education, unemployment, and purchasing power) in the area of the dialects exhibiting okavimas revealed a clear distinction between the northern and southern areas (see Fig. 9). Fig. 9 shows that the northern purple zone is dominated by residents with lower levels of education and lower incomes, while unemployment is higher. By contrast, the southern blue area is inhabited by Panevėžiškiai with higher levels of education, higher incomes, and a lower risk of unemployment. Thus, ongoing urbanization is evident here; it does not ensure the continuity of the traditional Panevėžiškiai dialect and promotes its change (Fig. 9). A multivariate cluster analysis of purchasing power, unemployment, and the indicators for residents of the older generation in the area of the dialects exhibiting okavimas (see How Multivariate Clustering works) identified statistically reliable territories, showing that the northern part of the okavimas distribution area is distinguished by lower purchasing-power and higher unemployment indicators; residents over 60 predominate there (red, see Fig. 10). Research on Lithuanian dialects shows that the socioeconomic and demographic circumstances identified above are rather favorable to the vitality of the traditional features of the Panevėžiškiai dialect, and therefore to okavimas, if it still exists (cf. the aforementioned NORM criterion as a guarantee of the continuity of the traditional dialect; see also Chambers, Trudgill 2004: 30; Aliūkaitė, Miku­lėnienė 2014: 32; Čepaitienė 2018: 21–22, et al.). Straipsniai / Articles 163 AGNĖ ČEPAITIENĖ, AIDAS GUDAITIS FIG. 9. Education, unemployment, and purchasing-power indicators in the area of the dialects exhibiting okavimas 21st century13 The figure also shows four clusters, or socioeconomic centers (blue), inhabited by more younger families; the quality of life here is higher than in the rest of the area: these are the areas around the cities of Pasvalys, Pakruojis, and Panevėžys, as well as around Radviliškis (cf. the area indicators for all of Lithuania, see Mikulėnienė, Čepaitienė 2021). 13 The blue area records high purchasing-power indicators and a population with a larger percentage of higher education, while the purple area has higher unemployment indicators and a population with a larger percentage of primary education. 164 Acta Linguistica Lithuanica LXXXIV Rytų aukštaičių panevėžiškių diferencinio požymio kaita: geoerdvinis aspektas Fig. 10. Multivariate clustering of purchasing-power, unemployment, and older-generation (60 and older) population indicators in the area of the dialects exhibiting okavimas in the 21st century¹⁴ In other words, new dialectal formations are developing in these areas on the basis of the traditional Panevėžiškiai subdialect: the regiolect of the western Eastern Highlanders, whose center is Panevėžys, and the Pasvalys geolect (Aliūkaitė, Mikulėnienė 2014a: 257–266; Čepaitienė 2018; 2019: 39–74, et al.). Their linguistic basis is not the distinctive features of the Panevėžiškiai subdialect, one of which is okavimas, but, on the contrary, dialectal features unnoticed by dialect users¹⁵. Therefore, these zones may be regarded as areas in which okavimas probably disappeared first. ¹⁴ Number 1 indicates a territory characterized by low purchasing power, high unemployment, and a larger proportion of older-generation residents; number 2 indicates an area with high purchasing power, low unemployment, and a smaller proportion of older-generation residents. ¹⁵ For example, unstressed stem long vowels ė, ie are realized as [ę] before a soft consonant, while o, uo are realized as [o̞] before a hard consonant, ([pʲe̞nʲe̞lʲə] ~ pienelio, [do̞nʲiːtʲe̞] ~ duonytę, [kʲe̞dʲaɪ̯nʲʊ] ~ Kėdainiu); the pronunciation of unstressed stem long vowels y, ū as the short lowered-mid vowels [ɪ], [ʊ], ([gʲɪ̯vʲe̞nʲtʲɪ] ~ gyventi, [paʒʲʊ̯rʲe̞k] ~ pažiūrėk); before the short (and shortened from a long) vowel i of an unstressed stem or a stem bearing retracted stress Straipsniai / Articles 165 AGNĖ ČEPAITIENĖ, AIDAS GUDAITIS Summarizing the research data, it may be predicted that, in the long term, okavimas may disappear and will no longer constitute part of the bundle of dialectal markers of the Pasvalys geolect and/or the regiolect of the western Eastern Highlanders, whose center is Panevėžys (for the term, see Mikulėnienė 2019: 60–61). It may be assumed that, if okavimas disappears, the complex of dialectal markers of the dialectal formations developing or already formed in the aforementioned Panevėžiškiai area will consist of other more or less salient phonological, morphological, and derivational markers (Mikulėnienė 2019: 60–61). 6. CONCLUSIONS Having assessed the change in okavimas over 100 years using geospatial-analysis methods, the following preliminary conclusions may be drawn. One of the distinctive features of the northeastern Eastern Highlanders’ Panevėžiškiai—the realization of the stressed and unstressed stem mixed diphthongs an, am as [ɔn], [ɔm], or okavimas—is changing; variants closer to the standard language, [an], [am], are used more frequently by dialect speakers. In temporal terms, the turning point in the change of okavimas may have occurred during the Second World War and the postwar period. Signs of change or decline in okavimas were identified in the speech of informants born during this period. Spatially, the change in okavimas probably proceeded in the following sequence: first, okavimas was abandoned in the linguistically mixed eastern okavimas area; at approximately the same time, in the central okavimas zone; and, latest of all, okavimas was abandoned in the western okavimas area. The most salient okavimas—the realization of falling-accent an, am as [ɔn], [ɔm]—was abandoned first. The major towns within the area of the Panevėžiškiai subdialect—Panevėžys, Pasvalys, Pakruojis, and the surroundings of Radviliškis—may hypothetically be regarded as the initial points of the decline of okavimas. It may be predicted that, in the long term, okavimas may disappear and will no longer constitute part of the bundle of dialectal markers of the Pasvalys geolect and/or the regiolect of the western Eastern Highlanders, whose center is Panevėžys. 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Straipsniai / Articles 171 AGNĖ ČEPAITIENĖ, AIDAS GUDAITIS The Change of Phonetic Differential Feature in the Eastern Aukštaitian Subdialect of Panevėžys: the Geospatial Approach SUMMARY The article deals with one of the phonetic differential features of the Eastern Aukštaitian subdialect of Panevėžys. This phonetic feature is characterised by pronunciation [ɔn], [ɔm] of stressed and unstressed semi-diphthongs an, am in the stem, that is traditionally referred to as “okavimas”. The geo-spatial methods based on GIS technology for geolinguistic analysis were used for this dialectal feature for the first time in Lithuania. The purpose of this study is to determine the change of the “okavimas” feature over 100 years and to assess its continuity. The analysed material is based on data from two studies carried out at different periods of time. The first one was published in the article by Petras Būtėnas (1932), which specified the exact borders of the phonetic feature “okavimas” in the territory of the Eastern Aukštaitian subdialect of Panevėžys. The second study was carried out by the authors of this article on the basis of audio recordings of 45 respondents born between 1888 and 1997, which were recorded at the beginning of the 21st century mainly from the periphery of the area of the phonetic feature “okavimas”. The results of both studies are reflected in the digital maps generated using the GIS tools and methods. The area and intensiveness of the phonetic distinctive feature “okavimas” was found to have changed and almost disappeared during the time. From a time perspective, the breaking point of the change in the intensity of use of the “okavimas” feature could have taken place during the Second World War and the post-war period. The results show a consistent and gradual decline in the “okavimas” feature. This is also evidenced by the recent socio-economic and socio-cultural data. Submitted on May 23, 2021. AGNĖ ČEPAITIENĖ AIDAS GUDAITIS Institute of the Lithuanian Language, 5 Petro Vileišio St., LT-10308 Vilnius, Lithuania [email protected] [email protected] 172 Acta Linguistica Lithuanica LXXXIV