Gervėčių šnektos ištiktukai

LIETUVIŲ KALBOTYROS KLAUSIMAI, XXVIII (1989) KALBŲ RYŠIAI IR SĄVEIKOS JONINA LIPSKIENĖ THE INTERJECTIONS OF THE GERVĖČIAI DIALECT Alongside distinctive and vivid words, a considerable number of interjections have been recorded in the Gervėčiai area, the most compact Lithuanian island within the territory of the Byelorussian SSR. They express sounds, images, or sensations caused by various factors. Used appropriately and sparingly, interjections enrich language, making it livelier and more vivid. We clearly sense these qualities of interjections when reading, for example, M. Valančius’s “Palangos Juzė,” where they are used particularly abundantly. As in other Lithuanian dialects, Gervėčiai interjections can be classified by origin as verbal, e.g.: kilst: kélti — Kāp tik kilst pāduška, tai ir vėl' rēk't' | slýst: slýsti — Dė, dė (dėjo) kōjas, slýst' t' (fell over), and imitative¹. Far more of the latter have been recorded. Their formation and structure are highly varied, imitating sounds or images caused by some action, e.g.: blākt — Ir blākt' ugnelė ažgėso | klākt — Papadrebėjo anā kārves, klākt ir griūvo | cāk, cāk — cāk, cāk atbėga anā. In terms of their essential structural features, these interjections are mostly monosyllabic, but there are also disyllabic and, more rarely, trisyllabic ones, e.g.: lýžt, turlum, šebu-lāikšt. By the sound composition at the end of the word, many dialect interjections can be divided into those with and without a formant. Interjections that imitate sounds associated with various movements or express images arising during an action are often monosyllabic and end in the formant t. This formant may follow various consonants, most often k, m, p, s (e.g.: mākt, pliōmt, cāpt, kliūšt) or consonant clusters ks, kš, mp, ms, nk, rp (e.g.: vikst, pýkšt, pūmpt, krāmst, dzinkt, virpt). A considerable number of these interjections express not the action itself, but merely supplement, emphasize, and enliven the image, sound, or sensation it produces; compare: Stākt' got up and sāko | Ānas went into the little house and pliōmt: “We’ll have a drink” | Cāpt grabbed her by the tail and lifted her | The old woman tumbled down like kliūš't' [with boiling water], and then her hair slid down | Ānas darted off and ran away | Pýkšt' broke the fence | Pūmpt' the apple fell down | I krāmst' that sausage | Dzinkt' on the nose, and the little bee stung | Vilkenyčià (she-wolf) virpt' jumped over… Sometimes, alongside certain interjections with the formant t, shorter equivalents without t are used in parallel, e.g.: Ah, my throat is so constricted that I can neither stick a peg in it nor turn a wheel in it, so I’ll slip away with the piglet | (cf. Ānas slips inside) | And pūkš, but it didn’t stick to the ceiling (cf. They climbed and climbed, the beans—pūkšt, and fell). 1 Based on material recorded by the author during an expedition in 1970 and collected from some narrative folklore collections in the Folklore Archive of the Institute of the Lithuanian Language and Literature. 118 Fewer non-formative interjections have been recorded. They most often end in various vowels, diphthongs, or consonants, and frequently imitate the calls of insects and other animals or the sounds of objects. Almost always, the same interjection is repeated two, three, or even four times to emphasize the duration of the sound of an action. Some non-formative interjections often merely supplement an action and are used when one wishes either to describe more forcefully or to perform an action that is not abrupt and lasts longer, or to convey the sounds and sensations of a sudden action, for example: Bù-bù-bù – she got frightened – she’s going | Bù-bù-bù, how it began to flap | Bžỹ, bžỹ – a little bee flies | Triù-riù-riũ, triù-riù-riũ, have we not seen bears, elk, foxes, wolves? A little bee flies zizỹ, zizỹ from flower to flower | They say, brother – that little fire just goes ti – žiù-žiù, žiù-žiù | Āū-aū, aū-aū, the little dog barks | Bař, bař, bař, the girl fired a gun – the rams were startled | Cak, cāk, cāk, she goes: “Panuvės, give me a ride (take me, give me a ride)” | Muř, muř – there’s no time, I’m eating bacon | And the little mouse ran out from behind the stove – dzi-liñ’, dzi-liñ’, dzi-liñ’ | Tā́p, tā́p, tā́p – he goes inside | The rooster again tuñ, tuñ, tuñ (knocked). The dialect has examples of imitative non-formative interjections made up solely of consonants pronounced continuously. They express sounds most strongly associated with the sound heard when pronouncing a particular consonant or consonant cluster, for example: Kùtas (a goblin)… as if a star, žžžž, and he came | They heard it — žžž, it roars, the forest crackles | Just an oak, pṛṛṛ, and Ivonėlis flew off | Then, when I got frightened, that horse just went fṛṛṛ and dashed past. An interjection consisting of a prolonged vowel between two consonants most likely belongs to this group as well, for example: būūūūch: And the birch tree just went būūūūch—and fell over. The previously mentioned interjections without the formative t, used analogously as substitutes for formative interjections, should probably be classified as non-formative; for example: Plàs, plàs, the bird flew off and fell | (cf. It rose, plàst’, plàst’, plàst’, plàst’, and flew away) | It flew over the pit, fluttered, fluttered, then jumped away, you know, the pigs | (cf. That little mouse just skikt’ and flew off—the bear missed the little mouse) Tā́p, tā́p, he trampled the ground (cf. Tāpt’, tāpt’, the bear walks into the house). Interjections characteristic of the Gervėčiai dialect and the eastern part of the Lithuanian-speaking area have been recorded. Instead of the standard-language interjections šliūkšt, šliūkšt, triōkšt, people here say šlikšt, kriāukšt, kùks(t), for example: Then again, just as he was going šlikšt toward the wolf (| toward the wolf), he tore away and flew into the woods with the pole | Kriāukšt’ and the branch broke at the top | I’ll just kùks a stick from behind the fence and, well, I say, I’ll beat him. In the context of one folktale, distinctive and interesting interjections šamākšt, šebulāikšt are used, corresponding to the standard-language forms šāst, šmākšt, for example: He went šamākšt’ into the oven | Šebulāikšt’ into the oven and tossed him in, then covered it with the oven lid (cf. also vivid interjections for sudden movement: He just šmirks’ into the house). The appearance and movement of a dying fire are described in the dialect by the interjection blākt, corresponding to the standard-language forms plūst, plūpt, for example, And blākt’ the little fire went out. The interjections skik, skikt, sviẽpt, vikst, viřpt are used to describe the sudden, nimble movement of a small animal (strìkt, strýkt), for example: The piglets fluttered, fluttered, then skik, skik, skik—they were barely seen | All the piglets viřpt’, viřpt’, viřpt’ jumped over the ditch | The she-wolf sviřpt’ jumped over, and I was like a leaf 119 (a leaf) drebù | He vik's't' and ran off | There was a forest doe (roe deer), such a beautiful one—it went vīrp't', vīrp't' as it ran. The same interjection often expresses several images or sounds arising during a particular dynamic action, or describes the action itself: Pýkšt't' he broke through the fence | Pýkšt't' he whipped with the lash. The sheep just šùs't' into the pen | Šùs't' into the oven and shoved him in | Tràkt'—she can unlock it, she can go into that house | The elk tràkt'—onward, onward it runs. In the first sentence, the interjection pýkšt represents the sound of the fence being broken, and in the second, the lash’s stroke. In other Lithuanian dialects, other interjections are more typical in these senses, for example, triòkšt when speaking of a fence, and pliáukšt when speaking of a whip. In sentence context, some interjections seem not always to be used in the most fitting way, for example, He lāpt, lāpt flies with the goose. The interjection lāpt would probably be more suitable for describing walking or running. The motions of flight are described by the interjections plàst, plùst. In the dialect, the latter are also used without the formative t: Plàs, plàs, it flew off (flew away) the bird flew up and fell | The birds took flight—plàst’, plàst’, and flew away. In the area, the movement of a small fire is highlighted in a highly distinctive and apt way by the interjection vīrp't, for example: Vīrp't', vīrp't' the little fire goes on and on | (Cf. also: They say, brother: (| brother)—that little fire just goes ti žiù, žiù, žiù) | The fire goes vēpt', vēpt'—the flame rose up there above me. As in other Lithuanian dialects, interjections denoting specific actions or characteristic sounds made by animals or objects often replace verbs in various tenses (mostly the simple past) and function as the predicate in a sentence: He brūkš't' put the scythe into the barn | I čiupt' grabbed the broom—such a fright came over me | He slowly, slowly, then čiupt' grabbed her by the tail. Mān per bārzda drāms't'... The bear just dulùm in the mortar | As soon as it kils't' it made a noise, and then it rēkt' | The old woman tēp bōba kāp kliūs't' [the boiling water], and then the hair on her head fell out | Tavė knāpt' and the magpie will carry you off | Knāpt' grabbed that boy and carried him off | Then, kāp kōpt' up the ladder, and it went berserk | As soon as kriū́kšt', it fell on his head | I tā licked the honey, and it dripped down my beard | As soon as it bent, it dal'g't', and my [back] hurt | As soon as he climbed up, mākt' into that hole | The cow stood there, mouth open | He came closer, and she svȳs't' him a piece of pancake | The cat—ladūte... ate porridge in the corner of the room | As soon as it trūkt', it uprooted that stump | As soon as that bear rang the bell, turlum, he knocked the mortar down from the stove | Šlēpš't' foot on the ground, šlēpt' broom | Her foot trēpt', the broom lēpš't' | First time stūk, second time stūk, third time stūk—he’s sitting [the deceased]. Other interjections in this dialect are used alongside verbs in various tenses and are linked to them either by the conjunction “and” or directly, without a conjunction. The interjection then acts as an illustration of sounds, images, or sensations produced by the action expressed by the verb, and together with it forms the predicate, for example: Brinkt' the knife fell out | Čapt caught him by the tail | I tā chewed the sausage, kāndu | The old woman kliūs't' spilled the water | I tā chewed the bread, kāndu, and my teeth broke | Mākt' the Frenchman and he died | Pūmpt' the apple and fell | Stāk stood up and began. To create a stronger impression, the interjection is often repeated two, three, or even four times (this usage may be less typical when the interjection occurs alone without a verb- 120 (the word functions as a predicate), e.g.: The bear goes “dudùn, dudùn, dudùn” as it bores into the stake | “Kvàkt’, kvàkt’”—the hen has already cackled herself hoarse; go (go) and look at the eggs | “Linkt’, linkt’”—he nodded his head and dozed off | The cat was sitting on the stove; it jumped down and “lìžt’, lìžt’” licked its tail, then took fright and ran off (died) | Everyone began clapping their hands, “plàpt’, plàpt’, plàpt’” (applauding) | “Càp, càp”—he groped around (felt around), “žiùrtė” (look) —there it is | The fox knocks (is knocking) at the door—“stùk, stùk” | “Tàp, tàp”—the bear goes to the shop | The wolf “trýst’, trýst’” defecated all over the goats | “Triù riù riũ̃, triù riù riũ̃”—go (go) everyone | The rooster “tuñ, tuñ, tuñ” pecks at their legs (taps). Several onomatopoeic words of different structures can fit together harmoniously and aptly in the same sentence, e.g., One wheel [greased with slippery jacks] squeals “ò jò joĩ,” another “à jà ją,” yet another “rỹ, rỹ, rỹ,” and a fourth “kuvìk—čìrik.” The first two onomatopoeic words resemble interjections, but here they refer to the squeaking of poorly greased wheels. Onomatopoeic words sometimes function as nouns, e.g., “Give us some, little auntie—bùrbt” (The young men who come at Pentecost say this. They must be given a little piece of butter or something else so that, when it is tossed into the jug of milk they have brought, it makes a sound resembling bùrbt). Examples have been recorded of momentary verbs derived from onomatopoeic words with the suffixes -telt, -tert, denoting a brief, intense action or a momentary state², e.g.: bùmtelti (: bùmt) — He had to quickly (quickly) crack the whip at that little baron čiùptelti (: čiùpt) — A young woman sits on a high little hill wearing a red cap; whoever passes by, she gives them a quick pinch | dilgtelti (: dilgt) — The father had a sudden thought to go [to the children] | driókšterti (: driókšt) — Sometimes a small cloud will sprinkle a little rain, and then you get [rain] | dùrstelt(i) (: dùrst) — If I pierce it, I’ll pierce right through | to gasp (: gasp) — The bird gasped; (its) breath was gone (of breath) herself (her own) — there is no nose | móstelti (: móst) — He made a quick sweep with his hand and it was gone | pliáukštelti | pliáukšterti (: pliáukšt) — And suddenly there was a crack [lightning struck], and it did a little damage to nobody but three people (people) | She claps her hands (claps) only for joy | stùktelti | stùkterti (: stùkt) — He picked up the kindling and gave it a knock—and broke twelve lances | One must knock that little fire with a rosary (with a rosary) or make the sign of the cross over it | And she knocked at the window twice with knitting needles (needles) | švirkštelti | švirkšterti (: švirkšt) — It whistled (whistled) and the horse came running to her | She whistles and claps her hands | Sometimes certain onomatopoeic words form one component of an expressive fixed phrase. An onomatopoeic word most often becomes a component when the adjacent phraseologized word is a noun, e.g.: ² Tą ištiktukų ypatybę jau pastebėjo A. Leskynas, plačiau žr. jo straipsnį: Schallnachahmungen und Schallverba im Litauischen // Indogermanische Forschungen. 1902. Bd. 13. S. 165–212. 121 dingt galvōn “to come to mind”: Mān dingt' galvōn – pieną palikāu laukiōsa (cf. Galvōn dingtele' – mōku dar dvi giesmes) | dūrst rañkā “to work briefly”: Ānas tik dūrs't' rañkā ir vēl' daīros gertie (cf. Vyras čia rañkā dūrsteri, ti dūrsteri, kokis ti jō darbas – rinkdosi ir rinkdosi) | kyšt kója “to go, to take a step”: Āš vidun kója kyšt' – ānas živa (quickly) laukan (cf. Tik kója kyšt' [to the child] – pȳksta [daughter-in-law] | švīkšt skūrōn “to strike, to hit”: Momā jām skūrōn švīkš't' (cf. Āš jām gerai skūrōn švīksteriau). Onomatopoeic Interjections of the Gervėčiai Dialect Summary The paper describes the most characteristic features of onomatopoeic interjections in the Gervėčiai dialect: their origin, word endings, structure, and usage. Some of the more characteristic onomatopoeic interjections are used only in this dialect, e.g.: skikt, svīrpt, šēbulaīkšt, virpt.