Mišriojo tipo a-kamienių veiksmažodžių su bendraties priesaga „-ėti“ („varvėti“, „varva“, „varvėjo“) kirčiavimas

LIETUVIŲ KALBOTYROS KLAUSIMAI XXXVII (1997) LEKSIKOGRAFIJOS IR LEKSIKOLOGIJOS PROBLEMOS Erdvilas JAKULIS ACCENTUATION OF MIXED-TYPE a-STEM VERBS WITH THE INFINITIVE SUFFIX -ėti (varvėti, var̃va, varvėjo) A word’s morphological structure and its individual levels are closely related to accentuation. This article seeks to clarify how accentual features relate to the root structure (vocalism and consonantism) and specific semantics of a particular type of verb. The study focuses on the structural type of a-stem verbs with the infinitive and past-tense suffix -ė-. In contemporary Lithuanian1, there are 264 verbs of this pattern (or 268 if homonyms are included: mokėti—1 “to pay,” 2 “to be able”; derėti—1 “to bargain; to bet,” 2 “to suit,” 3 “to grow and bear fruit” (cf. Jakaitienė 1988: 149); virbėti—1 “to teem; to tremble,” 2 “to turn into rods”). This type is not always clearly distinguished from other verbs containing the suffix -ėti (e.g., -sėti, -telėti, -terėti). These suffixes are considered variants of -ėti, despite their different present-tense stem endings. The suffix -sėti (variant -šėti) is characteristic exclusively of si-stem verbs (e.g., girgždėti, gîrgsi). Verbs with the suffixes -telėti and -terėti retain the suffixes tel-, ter- (virptelėti). In some linguists’ works (see Skardžius 1943: 521), verbs of the varvėti (var̃va, ~ėjo) type are not distinguished from mixed-type i-stem verbs (tylėti, týli, ~ėjo) or secondary ėja-stem verbs (álpėti, ~ėja, ~ėjo), since the infinitive and preterite forms are the same in all these types. On closer examination, however, these types differ considerably. Their structure, semantics, and derivation are also different2. Here the focus will be on matters of accentuation. With regard to accentuation, two aspects are important: 1) since verbs of the varvėti type have a suffix, like all suffixed verbs they may have either root or suffix accentuation; 1 The material was collected from DŽ₂ and supplemented with data from DŽ₃. 2 Verbs with the suffix -šėti (and its variant -šėti) and an si-stem are derivatives of interjections with the formant -t-, e.g., bùrbt: bùrbsi (-ėti, -ėjo). Linguists disagree about the origin of the latter; some tend to regard them as deverbal (see DLKG: 394), cf.: bùrbsi (burbėti, -ėjo) and burbia (burbti, burbė). However, their penultimate-syllable accent contour clearly brings them closer to interjections; moreover, a cognate mixed-type or root verb cannot always be found alongside such a verb—sometimes there is only an interjection. Mixed-type a-stem verbs are most often primary. 116 2) since they have no suffix in the present tense, matters of root accentuation can be related to the root’s morphonological structure, semantics, etc. ACCENTUAL FEATURES OF THE SUFFIX -ėti a-stem verbs, like other mixed-type verbs, have suffixal accentuation. In almost all cases, the infinitive and past simple suffix bears the stress, regardless of whether the present-tense form has an acute or non-acute root stress; cf. bãrška: barškėti, -ėjo and var̃va: varvėti, -ėjo (also mỹli: mylėti, -ėjo; tỹli: tylėti, -ėjo). DŽ₃ lists only one such a-stem exception: áida (áidėti, áidėjo). Incidentally, this exception is included only in the latest edition of DŽ. About 20 i-stem words have fixed root stress in their principal forms. They too should be regarded as exceptions: číaudi + -ėti = čiaudėti, -ėjo; mérdi + -ėti = mérdėti, -ėjo. Such words tend to move into the class of secondary verbs, e.g., kósi / kósėja /atem. kósti (kósėti, -ėjo), etc. (cf. Stundžia 1995: 129–130). ROOT ACCENTUAL FEATURES OF VERBS OF THE varvėti TYPE Like other mixed-type verbs with the suffix -ėti, a-stem verbs receive root stress only in the present-tense forms: varvėti, var̃va; mokėti, móka (gailėti, gaĩli; mylėti, mỹli, etc.). a-stem verbs with a phonologically short root make up 56.44% of all varvėti-type verbs recorded in DŽ₂ and DŽ₃. In the stressed third-person form, phonologically short roots (CaC, CeC, CuC, CiC)3 lengthen the vowels a and e to long vowels and receive circumflex accent (tekėti, téka, tekėjo; lašėti, lãša, lašėjo); the root vowels i and u remain short (judėti, jùda, judėjo; žibėti, žìba, žibėjo). In dialects, their reflexes often coincide—all stressed vowels are lengthened to half-long or long. They can be compared with mixed si-stem verbs in -sėti (-šėti), which in this respect retain all vowels as short, i.e., in the form found in the base words—onomatopoeic words (trákšt: trakšėti, trakši; bùbt: bub­sėti, bùbsi; tèkšt: tekšėti, tèkši, and the like). Mixed verbs in -ėti with a phonologically long root may have either acute or circumflex accent. According to DŽ₂, a-stem verbs in -ėti with a phonologically long root account for more than 43% of all varvėti-type verbs. Of these, 76% have an acute accent, e.g., čiùlba (čiulbėti, čiulbėjo), as well as dùlka, mĩga, táuška, pỹška, póška, táiška, vìrpa. 3 C – any consonant or consonant cluster. 117 More than 20 verbs have circumflex accent: álma (almėti, almėjo), as well as býra, gãima (-ãr-), kálba, mãrma (-ãr-), riẽda, skámba, skáuda, vaĩva. Among i-stem verbs with a long root, circumflex accent clearly predominates (e.g., gaĩli, girdì, lýdi, mū̃vi, spìndi, žiū̃ri—these cases are characterized by circumflex metatony in comparison with the base verbs; cf. mū̃vi (mūvėti) and máuti, žiõji (žiõ jėti) and žiōti. There are very few i-stem verbs with an acute root (i-stem verbs): mýli, nóri, sėdi, stávi, tìngi, kliẽdi). Long-rooted -sow stem verbs of the i-stem type characteristically have an acute accent, e.g., kárksi, bliùrbsi, tárkši, etc. Since most of these verbs are related to ideophones and denote a sudden repeated action, the choice of accent is iconically motivated. When comparing derivatives in -sow with primary verbs rather than with ideophones, the acute accent of the derivatives should be regarded as metatonic (cf. kãrkti: kárksi) (cf. Stundžia 1995: 130–131). The accentuation of the present-tense forms of long-rooted verbs of the Varvėti type is determined by: 1) the morphonological structure of the root (vocalism, consonantism) and 2) the semantics of the word (partly). The suffix -ėti has no influence on this. 1. The morphonological structure of the root The dictionary contains no verbs of the varvėti type with the root vowel -ė-, with diphthongs -ei-, -ui- and diphthongs -el-, -em-, -er- and -im-. Diphthongs with vowels -e-, -i-, -u- are almost always acute: -ér- 8 (variant nérma / neĩma and Dzūkian žvėrblà⁴), -ìr- 15, -ìl- 4, -ìn- 3, -(i)ùr- 25, -(i)ùm- 3 (variant bùmba / bùmba⁵), -(i)ùn- 3. Diphthongs with the vowel -a-: -aĩ- 2, -ár- 3, -ár / -aĩ- 5 (nárna / naĩna, dárda / darda, mãrma / márma, gãima / gárma, gãrga / gárga), -aĩ 4, am̄- 4 (variant bambà / bámba; cf. bùmba / bùmba). There is a tendency toward the circumflex variant. Only diphthongs with the second vocalic element -n- (blãzga, brãzga⁶, žvánga / žvaĩnga) imply an acute root accent in almost all verbs of the varvėti type. Acute accentuation predominates in diphthongal roots: -áu- 8, -aũ- 1 (skáuda), -áĩ- 1 (aĩdi / áida). The circumflex predominates in roots with long vowels -ū-, -y-, -ie-: -ū- 3 (kūpa / -i, dūlėja / dūla, trū̃sa), -ū- 1 (dūzga), -y- 3 (býra, výva, rýta), -ý- 1 (pýška), -ié- 2 (riẽda, riéta). 4 By the way, in DŽ the root of this verb was acute. 5 The variant bùmba is no longer given in DŽ₃. 6 The diphthong an changed to ą before fricatives. 118 In roots with long -o- and -uo-, the acute accent predominates: -ó 5 (póška, móka- 2, sópa, tvóska), -ió- 1 (kiõgžda / -i), -iūo- 1 (liūoba). The latter example is a Samogitian form whose morphonological structure and meaning set it apart from the other verbs of the varvėti type. These examples show that root vocalism may be associated with one or another root accent: kiáugžda / -i = kiõgžda / -i “to dry, become dry, wither,” gãrga / gá rga = gìrga “to croak, cackle (of a goose),” gar̃žda = gir̃gžda = gùrgžda “to make an unpleasant friction sound,” dárda / dárda = dìrda “to rattle while moving, to move with a rattle.” As can be seen, doublets with the same meaning may have different accents, although most synonyms coincide in both accent and meaning (cf. terška = tárška; nárna / nar̃na = nérna / ner̃na = niùrna / niùrna). The accentuation of long roots may also be associated with consonantism. Roots containing the auslaut -šḱ-, -sk- (type -ST-) are invariably circumflex: pyška, póška, páuška, térška, čérška, čiùrška, tvóska, etc. The acute also predominates in roots with auslaut -zg-, -zd-: dūzga = dùnzga, brązga, blązga, ùr zga, birzga, bùrzga, niùrzga, bùrzda, alongside two circumflex forms, bal̃zga, gram̃zda. The other auslaut -ST- clusters, -št-, -st, -žd-, occur only in short roots (kušta, plášta, kužda, etc.), unless the verb gar̃gždėti, gaigžda is analyzed in finer detail (a reduplicative syllable and the formant -žd-: gar-g(ar)-žd-a). An auslaut cluster of the -TST- type has no effect on root accent; cf. gìrgžda, gùrgžda and gar̃gžda, kiáugžda and kiõgžda. The cluster -bl- (type -TR-) is attested in only two dialect words—vébla and žvérbla—so it is difficult to say anything about its relationship to root accent. No associations have been observed between root accent and a single root-final consonant. Apparently, neither root-initial consonants nor their clusters affect accent. It is true that verbs with initial č- are all circumflex (čiùlba, čiùlda, čiùlpa, čiàuška, čérška, čir̃ška), but this is probably associated not with that consonant, but with root vocalism or the auslaut cluster -šk- (see above). The same seems to apply to root accent in verbs with anlaut c-, dz-, dž- (cirpa, dzìnga, džérška), as well as bl-, kn-, sp-. Perhaps only the initial cluster sk- is more closely associated with accent, namely with the circumflex (skaũda, skām̃ba / skámba). This idea is also supported by the fact that all other verbs with -au- vocalism are circumflex, whereas those with the diphthong -am- may be either acute or circumflex. These words also differ in accentuation from other words belonging to the same semantic group (cf. sópa: skaũda; see below). However, the scarcity of examples with this consonantism does not allow any broader generalizations. No relationship has been observed between the consonantism of the reduplicated root and root accent (cf. niùrna and nérna, mùrma and maĩma / márma, etc.). The relationship of vocalism and consonantism to accentuation cannot be separated from the morphological structure of verbs. This is clearly seen by comparing 119 a-stem verbs with the suffix -ėti and related ia-stem verbs (acute: circumflex): bùrzga (burgzėti, -ėjo): bùržgia (bùržgti, bùržgė), likewise birzga: bìržgia, tãška: tàškia, paũška: paũškia, sùlpa: sùlpia (sul̃pti, sul̃pė), etc. About 28% of long-root verbs have such pairs. Those roots are only diphthongal and vowel-plus-sonorant (there are no vocalic roots). In this case, verbs can be classified according to whether the stem-final consonant is soft or hard (cf. nominal suffixes). There are few i-stem relatives of the verbs with the suffix -ėti under consideration. More often, the variants in both stems are circumflex: kūpi / -a, kiõgžda / -i, but ãidi / ãida, kiáugžda / -i, smìrdi / -a. 2. Semantics Accentuation is often associated with semantics. In the table below, verbs of the varvėti type with a long root are classified according to meaning. Semantic table7 Semantic group | Sound | Movement | Destruction | Psychophysical properties | Light | Smell | Social relations -o- põška; tvõška kiõgžda / -i (poška 2) 1 móka sōpa (tvõška 2) 1 móka -ū- dūzga dulėja / dūla; kūpa / -i triūša -y- pỹška; vỹva bỹta (pỹška 3) rỹta (DŽ₂) (pỹška 2) -ie- riẽda; riẽta (riẽda 4 ‘rolls, tumbles) -uo- liúoba -ai- áidi / áida; áidėti, -a -au- člãuška kaũška kliáuga niáuzga páuška pliáuška táuška kiáugžda / (DŽ₂: -i) skaũda 7 The number accompanying an example indicates the number under which the verb’s meaning is marked in the dictionary. If the verb meaning under discussion is not the primary one, the verb is given in parentheses in the table. The ordinal number of that verb meaning is written alongside it. If there is no number, this means that the verb’s sound and motion semes are intertwined and are presented in the dictionary as a single meaning. The notation DŽ₂ is added to those examples that are not included in DŽ₃. 120 Semantic group Sound Movement Destruction Psychophysical properties Light Smell Social relations -er- blērba džērška čērška ērza knērza (DŽ₂) nērna (er) (DŽ₂) tērška vērva žvērbla -ar- bárba bárška dárda (ar) gárga (ár) gárgžda (gárma (ár) 2) (márma (ár) 2,3,4) nárna (aŕ) tárška (varva 2) (dárda (ar) 2) gárma (ár) márma (ár) 1 varva (gárga (ar)) -ir- birzga chirps (DŽ₂) dırda (DŽ₂) chirrs girga creaks spirga širša (DŽ₂) žirza (vibrates 2) (birzga 2) (dırda 2) (DŽ₂) kirba (mirga 2) tūrta (žirza 2) 1 virba vibrates (chirps 2) (sizzles) 2 virba (writhes 2) shimmers (trembles 3) smells / -a -ur- blūrba būrba būrzda (būrzga 2) (čūrška 2) (glūrga) (gūrga 2) gūrġžda knūrza mūrma niūrna niūrza šūrga (DŽ₂) ūrga ūrza (DŽ₂) ūrzda ūrźga žārza (blūrba 3) būrga būrzga čūrška glūrga gūrga gūrna kūrna pūrta spūrda spūržda (DŽ₂) ūrda -al- balzga (DŽ₂) speaks alma salva speaks 1 -il- bilda vilba (bilda 2) dilga glints 121 Sem. group Sound Movement Destruction Psych.-physical characteristics Light Smell Social relations -ul- chirps; chirps (DŽ₂); sings; sings chirps?; rumbles; slurps? -am- hums (ām); pām-pa (DŽ₂ - am-); rings (ām) sinks (state) -um- booms (thunders); purrs (dial.) thunders; slurps -an- glows; bursts; clangs (an) clangs (ān) 2 -in- rings; rattles drips -un- thunders; rumbles (DŽ₂); sloshes (klūnka 2) Verbs denoting sound clearly predominate. Their roots are mostly acute. Only 14 words have a circumflex root. Of these, 9 have both accentual variants. In some cases, the circumflex intonation of sound-symbolic verbs can be explained by pragmatics—i.e., those denoting sounds of lower intensity may have circumflex intonation (mārma / márma, bāmba / bam̄ba, vỹva—words denoting quiet mumbling or whining; but mū́rma, niū́rna, niū́rgza, etc., are acute). Nevertheless, in this case the root vocalism should not be overlooked (see above). (It is true that LKŽ VII also gives another meaning for mārma / márma, ‘to sink, submerge, plunge’, which may imply circumflex intonation. See below.) The circumflex in the verbs bal̃zga, kal̃ba is probably associated with the vocalism -al-, rather than with their sound-related meaning. The words skambā, žvānga / žvānga, which denote an intense sound, have circumflex intonation, apparently also because of their vocalism. The same applies to gair̃žda (cf. gir̃žda). The group of sound-denoting words also includes all verbs with the anlaut -šk-, so one might think that their acute accent is implied by meaning rather than consonantism. (The destructive meaning of the verbs póška, pýška clearly has a sound-related origin.) Among verbs denoting movement, one can distinguish those denoting rolling that have circumflex intonation riẽda, riẽta, rỹta; these have no sound seme (cf. dar̃da / dárda, dir̃da, in which the acute accent predominates and the sound seme is listed first in the dictionary). Verbs denoting the trickling or gushing of liquid also have circumflex intonation: sal̃va, al̃ma, var̃va. However, verbs with the semes flowing and squirting of water (glū́rga, klū́ nka, gūrga, etc.) or even simply flowing 122 denoting (liūmpa, būrga), which are undoubtedly also onomatopoeic, are accented only with acute intonation. Words denoting falling or sinking downward more often have circumflex intonation: maṛma / márma, gaṛma / gárma, býra. Verbs denoting other kinds of movement are acute. Destruction (or change in structure) verbs of this type are recorded very rarely in DŽ₃. There are only a few with a long root. They often have coexisting i-stem or ėja-stem forms, e.g., kiáugžda / (DŽ₂) -i = kiõgžda / -i “1. dry; 2. become porous, honeycombed; 3. turn into kiaugždas, become hollow,” kūpa / -i “1. boil vigorously; spill over, rise; 2. grow well, flourish,” dūlėja / dūla “1. decay slowly, turn to dust, rot; 2. burn slowly, smolder.” The words 2 virbėti, virba “turn into virbai, become virbai” and spirgėti, spirga “1. sizzle while frying,” ap-gargėti, āpgarga “become covered with something (mud, ice, snow, etc.), become overgrown, encrusted”⁸ have no coexisting form of another stem type⁹. Spirgėti, spirga is probably also of sound-symbolic origin, like pyškėti, pyška. Then there would remain two verbs denoting destruction, with acute root stress. The acute accent in Virba could be explained only by the root vocalism (see roots with -i- as the first component of the vocalism). It is harder to motivate the acute accent of the verb kiáugžda in this way, because skaudėti, skaūda (with the same root vocalism) has a circumflex. Moreover, there is a circumflex-stressed doublet kiõgžda. Most likely, the verb kiáugžda was drawn into its accentual paradigm by the numerous invariably acute-initial-stressed sound-symbolic verbs páuška, káuška, táuška, niáuzga and others with the root vocalism -au-. Only three verbs denoting light have been recorded: žverblėti, žvėrbla ‘dial. flicker, shine’, mirgėti, mirga and žvilgėti, žvilga. Also related to them are movement words with a light seme (with a vibration nuance): virpėti, virpa ‘3. flicker’ and kirbėti, kirba ‘2. swarm, flicker’. All verbs with this meaning except the first have circumflex root intonation; their connection with the root vowel -i- is very clear. It would be difficult to find any connection between intonation and the meaning ‘psychological or physical characteristic’, since the same meaning of pain is expressed both by sópa (acute) and by skaūda (circumflex). The verbs meaning ‘stinging’ or ‘itching’, namely tvóska, dilga, are both acute. (Dilga also means ‘to feel an urge, to be concerned’, while the main meaning of tvóska is ‘thuds, crackles’.) However, if we accept the claim that the initial cluster sk- in a root implies circumflex intonation (skaūda, skam̃ba), it can be argued that the acute accent of other words denoting psychological or physical characteristics is determined by their meaning. 8For the meaning of the latter word, see LKŽ III 129. 9The mutation or destruction meanings of the other verbs listed in the corresponding column are secondary, deriving from a sound or movement meaning: pyškėti, pyška ‘2. split noisily, crack’, poškėti, poška ‘burn with a sound’, čirškėti, čirška ‘3. sizzle’, riedėti, rieda ‘4. hatch (from eggs)’. Their acute accents are associated with the primary sound meaning, while the circumflex is associated with rolling. 123 Odor is expressed by only one verb of this type, but its a-stem form is merely a variant alongside the primary i-stem form – smirdėti, smirdi / -a. Thus, although an acute accent would imply an a-stem, the meaning is closer to that of the primary form, which has an i-stem. Social relations meanings are not characteristic of verbs of the type under consideration, so nothing more specific can be said about their accentuation: mokėti, moka “1. pay money in exchange for an item received, work performed, etc.; 2. dialectal: be worth, cost,” triušėti, triuša “do a little work, labor.” Thus, only an association between the root accent and meanings involving sound (its intensity), movement (rolling, seeping), light, and, in part, destruction has been observed. CONCLUSIONS 1. The suffix -ėti in verbs of the Varvėti type is dominant and accented, regardless of the root accent in the unsuffixed present-tense form (varvėti, varva, -ėjo; mokėti, moka, -ėjo; galėti, gali, -ėjo, etc.). DŽ₃ gives only one dialectal exception, in which all forms are root-accented (áidėti, áida, áidėjo). 2. In unsuffixed present-tense forms, both a-stem and i-stem verbs with phonologically short vowels i, u, a, e lengthen the last two under stress [lašą, teška and gãli; cf. derivatives in -sėti: trakšėti, trakši (trakš+šėti, trakš+ši), žlegšėti, žlegši, and so on]. 3. Strong root vocalism of verbs with a- stems determines the root accent of the present-tense forms: A. Morphonological structure Consonantism: a) word-final consonant clusters -sk- (less commonly -sk-) are invariably associated with a root acute accent, e.g., tárška, bárška, tvóska. Roots with word-final -zg-, -zd- also predominantly have an acute accent, though not invariably (niùrzga, but bãlzga). No association between accent type and other word-final consonant patterns was observed. b) Anlaut č-, c-, dz-, dž-, bl-, kn-, sp- verbs have a falling root accent, but it is probably more closely related to the vocalism of these verbs. Anlaut sk- could be associated with a circumflex in the root: skaũda, skãmba / skámba (only 2 examples). No connection between the root accent and other auslaut consonantism was observed. Vocalism: c) Diphthongal roots predominantly have an acute accent (the exception is skaũda); d) Roots with long vowels -ū-, -ie-, -y- predominantly have a circumflex (exceptions: pýška, dūzga), whereas those with vowels o, uo have an acute, e.g., póška, Samogitian liúoba, Samogitian kiáugžda (the exception is kiõgž-da); e) The acute accent in diphthongal roots is associated with diphthongs whose first components are the vowels e, i, u (exceptions: buñba, žvėrbla); f) Roots whose diphthong has a as its first component characteristically have a circumflex (gar̃gžda, etc.), though there are more exceptions here (tárška, bárška, nárna, blázga; variants bañba / bámba, dárda / dard̃a, gárma / gárma, gárga / gárga, maĩma / márma, žvánga / žvánga). 124 Morphological structure: g) the influence of vocalism and consonantism on the root accent is inseparable from the morphological structure of the verbs under examination. Comparing them with cognate root-stem ia-stem verbs reveals an accentual opposition (if a varvėti-type verb has an acute accent, its cognate ia-stem counterpart has a circumflex, e.g., birzga (birzgėti, -ėjo): birzgia (birgzti, birzgė), as well as tárška: tárškia, súlpa: súlpia, etc. Incidentally, circumflex-accented a-stem verbs with the suffix -ėti have no such pairs; h) cognate -sėti suffix verbs with an sė-stem are all acute-accented, but this is attributable to their onomatopoeic origin. B. Semantics a) The acute accent on the penultimate syllable predominates among verbs denoting sound. A circumflex is usually determined by the meaning of sound intensity (baũba / báumba, buñba). However, the circumflex in verbs such as balzga, kal̃ba is attributable to the influence of morphonology; b) meanings of rolling and liquid trickling entail a circumflex: riẽda, riẽta, rỹta and aĩma, saĩva, vaĩva. Other verbs denoting movement have an acute-accented root; c) the two verbs denoting light have an acute accent (mìrga, žvìlga). Movement verbs that have the semantic feature of reflecting light are also acute-accented (vìrpa, kìrba). The only circumflex-accented form is Dz. žvėrbla; d) words denoting psychophysical properties are acute-accented, except for the verb skaũda, which has the onset cluster sk-; e) no correlation between root accent and the remaining meanings has been observed. There are systematic tendencies toward generalizing the acute accent. LITERATŪRA DŽ₂ – Dabartinės lietuvių kalbos žodynas, Vilnius: Mintis, 1972. DŽ₃ – Dabartinės lietuvių kalbos žodynas, Vilnius: Mokslo ir enciklopedijų leidykla, 1993. J a k a i t i e n ė E. 1988: Leksinė semantika, Vilnius: Mokslas. DLKG – Dabartinės lietuvių kalbos gramatika, Vilnius: Mokslo ir enciklopedijų leidykla, 1994. LKŽ III – Lietuvių kalbos žodynas 3, Vilnius: Valstybinė politinės ir mokslinės literatūros leidykla, 1956. LKŽ VII – Lietuvių kalbos žodynas 7, Vilnius: Mintis, 1966. S k a r d ž i u s P. 1943: Lietuvių kalbos žodžių daryba, Vilnius. S t u n d ž i a B. 1995: Lietuvių bendrinės kalbos kirčiavimo sistema, Vilnius: Petro ofsetas. THE ACCENTUATION a-STEM VERBS WITH INFINITIVE SUFFIX -ėti (MORPHOLOGICAL TYPE varvėti, vãrva, varvėjo) Summary There are some morphological types of verbs with the suffix -ėti in Lithuanian language. All the types have the same suffix of the infinitive (-ėti) and praeterit (-ėjo). The main differences are in present forms. The third person of present can be suffixal (-ėja) or unsuffixal: i-stem (myli), a-stem (moka) and others. The semantics and wordbuilding of those types are different enough not to mix them. The object of the paper is a-stem verbs with the suffix -ėti. The distinct signs of those verbs are the following: 125 1. The suffix of the verbs of this type is stressed and dominative independently of the intonation of the form in the present tense, which is not suffixal (varvėti, vārva, -ėjo; mokėti, mōka, -ėjo). 2. The stressed phonologically short vowels a, e become long in present forms (lāša, tēška and pʼstem galī, compare with the derivatives of the suffix -sėti: trakšėti, trākši [trakš+šėti, trākš+si], žlėgėti, žlėgsi). 3. The accentuation of verbs with a long vocal in the root depends on the following factors: A. Morphonological structure Consonantism: a) the roots ending in the consonants -sk- (more seldom -sk-) always have falling accent (tárška, bárška, tvóska). The same accent dominates in the roots, ending with -zg-, -zd- (nūrzga, but balzga); b) the accent is not connected with the consonant beginning of the root. Only combination -sk- could implicate the rising accent of the root (skaūda, skāmba / skāmba). Vocalism: c) the falling accent dominates in the roots with vocal diphthongs (the exception – skaūdā); d) the rising accent dominates in the roots with long vowels -ū-, -ie-, -y- (the exception – pýška, dūzga). The roots with vowels o, uo have the falling accent (pōška, liūoba, kiáugžda, but kiōgžda); e) the falling accent is connected with the diphthongs whose first components are vowels e, i, u (except būmba). g) The rising accent is connected with the diphthongs, whose first component is the vowel -a- (gar̄gžda), but there are more exceptions [tárška, bárška, ná́rna and blā́zga, brā́zga (n disappears in the position before spirants), variants – bāmba / bámba, dārda / dārda, gārma / gárma, gā́rga / gárga, mārma / márma, žvānga / žvānga]. Morphological structure: h) The influence of vocalism and consonantism on the accent of the root can not be abstracted from the morphological structure of the verbs. There is an accentual opposition between the a-stem verbs with suffix -ėti and iā-stem root verbs. If those two types of verbs have the same root, the first one will have the falling accent and the other will have the rising accent, e. g. birzga (birzgėti, -ėjo): bīrzgia (bīržti, bīržge), also tárška: tāškia, sūlpa: sūlpia etc. The a-stem verbs with the rising accent do not have such pairs. B. Semantics: a) The verbs which mean the sound have the falling accent in most cases. The rising accent is determined by intensity of this sound (bāmba / bámba, būmba). b) The meanings of rolling and trickling of water are connected circumflex: riēda, riēta, ryta and aīma, saīva, vārva. Other verbs, which mean the moving (motion) have the acute root. c) Two verbs meaning the light (shining, reflection) have the falling accent (mirga, žvilga). Even the verbs with the semes of light (virpa, kirba) have the same accent. 126