Žemaičių Naumiesčio šnekta socialinės lingvistikos požiūriu

KALBŲ KONTAKTAI LIETUVOS TSR LIETUVIŲ KALBOTYROS KLAUSIMAI XXIII (1983) JANINA JANAVIČIENĖ, ZIGMAS ZINKEVIČIUS THE ŽEMAIČIAI NAUMIESTIS DIALECT FROM A SOCIOLINGUISTIC PERSPECTIVE The dialect covers a small area in the northeastern part of Šilutė District, near the former border of the Klaipėda Region. It comprises the town of Žemaičių Naumiestis and 27 villages: Palėndriai, Sugintai, Grýgeliškė, Vanãgiai, Čipariai, Paũpariai, Snūkaliai, Venckai, Pašusčiai, Rimžėnčiai, Brókorai, and others. The dialect extends for approximately 8 kilometres from Degūčiai to Užlaukė (2 km before Gardamas), about 9 kilometres from Sugintai to Girininkai, and about 14 kilometres from Palėndriai to Meškinė. Dialect maps draw the boundary between the Southern Samogitian Raseiniai and Varniai subdialects through the area of this dialect: its northwestern part up to Ž. Naumiestis, as well as Ž. Naumiestis itself, is assigned to the Varniai subdialect, while the remainder of the dialect area is assigned to the Raseiniai subdialect. In fact, however, this is not the case. The entire dialect area should be assigned to the Raseiniai subdialect. The boundary between the Varniai and Raseiniai subdialects should run not through Ž. Naumiestis itself, but farther north, near Gardamas. The villages farthest toward the Raseiniai area are Rimžėnčiai, Kãdagiškiai, Brókorai, Šyliai, Meškinė (this village cuts deep into the Varniai area, but am, am, en, em changing into on, om, en, em has not been observed here), Girininkai 1, Girininkai 2 (or Vainutas Girininkai), Vainutas, and Kivýliai. Varniai features are already found in Bárt ininkai, Užlaukė, Gardamas, Kukuliškė, Pýpliškė, Juškaičiai, Dárgiškė, Goráiniai, and Bikavėnai. Thus, throughout the Ž. Naumiestis dialect area, an, am, en, em are preserved intact. Local residents say that only the “švėkšnaliai” (their derisive name for those who have Varniai features) pronounce žōns ‘goose’, ōns ‘he’, kǭmps ‘corner’, and so on. The Ž. Naumiestis dialect is also linked to the Raseiniai subdialect by the fact that stress is not retracted in it, whereas the “švėkšnaliai” do retract it. The Ž. Naumiestis dialect differs from other Raseiniai speakers’ dialects through more intensive Samogitian features. For example, here the circumflex accent falls on the first component of diphthongs, e.g., acc. sg. dāngu ‘sky’ (cf. dāŋgų among other Raseiniai speakers). Speakers of this dialect broaden the short vowels u, i more than other Raseiniai speakers: their pronunciation here comes considerably closer to o, e, but does not coincide with the “švėkšnaliai” o, e. Clear pronunciation of o, e has been observed only in the corner between the former Klaipėda Region border and the Varniai boundary. It should be noted, however, that u, i are not broadened in every instance in this dialect. Sometimes they remain narrow. What this depends on remains to be investigated. The authors of the article are inclined to think that this variation in pronunciation (the same word or form may perhaps be pronounced in either way) may have originated in the mixing of the local dialect with the speech of the so-called Lietuvininkai (who will be discussed shortly). No such variation has been observed outside the dialect area. The dialect under discussion is also characterized by the monophthongization of the diphthongs ai, ei in endings and in the stem of the noun daiktas ‘thing’, e.g., nom. pl. dā·kta ‘things’ (southeast of 102 the dialect, daiktai is pronounced). In the stem of the noun namas ‘house’, u occurs here in place of a, e.g., nom. pl. numā ‘houses’. Among the morphological features, it should first be noted that the dual is used more widely in this dialect than in the rest of the Raseiniai area. Feminine nouns with an i-stem are more often replaced by ē-stem forms, e.g., žąsė (pronounced žansė) ‘goose’, ánkštė (áŋkšti) ‘pod’. The accusative singular and nominative plural of u-stem adjectives have ijo-stem forms, e.g., acc. sg. drānsį (drānsi) ‘brave’, nom. pl. rambį ‘sturdy’. The third-person pronoun ańs (āns) ‘he’ is used, with feminine anā ‘she’. The forms numis, jumis are used in place of the accusative plural forms mūs, jūs. The third-person future tense of the verb būti ‘to be’ has the form būs ‘will be’. Other Raseiniai speakers, especially those southeast of the dialect area, do not have these features, or they occur there only rarely. Perhaps the most striking feature of the dialect, however, is that it has experienced a very strong influence from German. The dialect contains many different Germanisms. This is because it lies right next to the former Klaipėda Region. For centuries it was exposed to the influence of German. In practice, in the speech of long-established dialect speakers (not people who moved there from elsewhere), roughly one word in five is of German origin. Germanisms are particularly common in everyday vocabulary. Nearly all building terms are German. Here are a few examples of Germanisms: negelys ‘nail’, rīmas (ri·ms) ‘belt’, rūmas (rū·ims) ‘place, space’, rūmbas (rū·mps) ‘waist’, spātas (spāc) ‘shovel’, stenderis ‘fence post’, šmelis ‘grey horse’, šmōras (šmõrs) ‘time, occasion’, špýkis ‘bicycle spoke’, štāpnōtelis (štāpmuoteli̇s) ‘darning needle’, štarkus ‘sturdy’, strikis ‘rope’, štūlē (štū·l’i) ‘chair’. They are often considerably Lithuanianized and acquire Lithuanian suffixes, e.g., rūndinas (rū·ndins) ‘round’ (formed from rūndas < German rund on the model of kūpinas, sklīdinas), vaktúoti (vaktūti) ‘to guard’ (with Lithuanian -úoti, South Samogitian -ūti), adv. giliukingai (g’il’uk’īnga) ‘happily’ (derived from giliukis ‘happiness’ with Lithuanian -ingai on the model of lãimė: laimingai). Until the Second World War, the dialect was quite isolated from other dialects and was scarcely affected by the standard language. Even now, it is not uncommon for a local person, when asked how a particular thing is called in the standard language, to be unable to say. From a sociolinguistic perspective, the dialect is especially interesting because many so-called Lietuvininkai live in its area—that is, Lithuanians of the Evangelical Lutheran faith who moved there from the former Lithuania Minor (the Klaipėda Region and East Prussia). They presumably had a considerable influence on the local Samogitian dialect, helping it to distinguish itself from other Raseiniai dialects and, in particular, contributing to the spread of German influence. Besides the Lietuvininkai, many ethnic Germans also lived in the dialect area in the past. There is also a village of Russian Old Believers—Sugintai. Thus, this small dialect area is very diverse and complex from a linguistic point of view. Until the Second World War, very many Lietuvininkai1 lived in the dialect area. Local people usually called them “Germans” or “Prussians.” In Ž. Naumiestis, they made up more than half of the population. Many also lived in the villages, especially Paupariai2 (between Ž. Naumiestis and Vainutas), and even beyond the dialect boundary3. The number of Lietuvininkai has now declined, but quite a lot remain—apparently more than 600 people. 1 This is what the Lithuanians of Lithuania Minor called themselves. Even today, older people often use this term. 2 According to local residents, the name derives from the Latin word pauper ‘poor person’. 3 They were mentioned by P. Jonikas in his description of the Pagramantis dialect, published in 1939 (pp. 2–3), but their speech was not discussed in detail. 103 They are numerous in Ž. Naumiestis, Midveriai, Sugintai, Palendriai, and other villages where the dialect is spoken, as well as beyond its boundaries, especially in Vainutas and its environs. The farther one moves from the former Klaipėda Region, the fewer they become. One reason why Lietuvininkai came to this region, as K. Alminauskis notes in the preface to his dictionary of Germanisms (Die Germanismen des Litauischen. Teil 1: Die deutschen Lehnwörter im Litauischen. K. (date not specified), S. 12), was the migration of hired agricultural laborers from Lithuania Minor to Samogitia in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. At that time, Lietuvininkai would come here to earn a living, carrying flails and scythes on their shoulders. They themselves speak of this today, recalling stories told by their parents and grandparents. For example, Lietuvininkai from Vainutas heard from their parents and grandparents how groups of five or six men would come from beyond the Nemunas, mostly from the area around Tilžė and Ragainė, carrying flails, and thresh an entire stack in a week. They were paid not in money but in grain, especially those who had no land of their own. Life beyond the Nemunas was harder, so people would make their way to Samogitia, and some of them stayed here. Another reason for the migration was the intensified Germanization of Lithuania Minor, from which people fled across the border. In those days, the refugees (and to some extent even now) lived considerably isolated from the Samogitians. Mixed marriages were rare. In general, however, they got along well with the Samogitians. The relatively closed way of life of the Lietuvininkai helped preserve distinctive features of their language. Also contributing to this were the old religious books still used to this day, published in Gothic script one or two centuries ago, especially hymnals and Gospels. Listening to the language of the Lietuvininkai, it is clear that they migrated here from the area of the Western Aukštaitian dialect in Lithuania Minor. Their speech readily reveals features recorded in the grammars of A. Schleicher and Fr. Kurschat. This is especially evident when they speak on religious subjects. One can then hear a good many archaic forms, e.g., kur aš esmi ‘I am’, esmė ‘we are’, dengun žengimo diena ‘into heaven…’, šauk maniešpi bėdoje ‘…to me…’ (also said manėšpi), so that neįtrauktumbei ‘…that we might not include’, and so on. In general, however, this language has now been strongly influenced by the local Samogitian dialect. Samogitian and Western Aukštaitian variants of the same morphological forms are numerous, whether side by side or pronounced in two different ways. For example, the short vowels u and i stand out because they are pronounced in two (even three) ways: they are broadened (slightly or considerably) in the Samogitian manner, or retained as narrow vowels. The diphthongs uo and ie may be preserved intact here or may have the Southern Samogitian counterparts ū and ī; for example, they say 3. praes. šviečia ir švīt. In addition, the confusion of these diphthongs with the long vowels o and ē, brought from Lithuania Minor, has persisted; it is further increased by the Samogitian counterparts uo and ie for o and ē. For instance, people say sesū ir sesō, piens ir pēns ‘milk’, g. sg. f. tōs ir tuōs, alongside 3. praes. švīečia (and its Samogitianized variant švīt) || švīt; they also say švēt ‘shines’, and so on. In general, Lietuvininkai use the greatest number of variants when speaking about subjects other than religion. In such cases, one can often observe only certain remnants of the old Lietuvininkai language in the present-day Samogitian dialect of Ž. Naumiestis. Nevertheless, those remnants remain quite prominent, especially in contrast to their usual Samogitian pronunciation. In addition to the features mentioned, the present-day pronunciation of the Lietuvininkai is also characterized by the narrowing of stressed ē, even its conversion into the diphthong ie, e.g., ēžers ‘lake’, mies ‘we’, gi’venims ‘life’, miedei ‘trees’, pri’ žiemis ‘to the ground’, a. sg. diēsini ‘right’. Wor- 104 ds are greatly shortened, e.g., adv. mēk ‘poorly’, švënt ‘holily, completely’, 3. praes. kēt ‘intends’, kvieč ‘invites’, meld ‘prays’, a. sg. kit ‘another’, adv. prām ‘immediately’ (Samogitian prādiem < prādēm), tēi ‘yes’, šali ‘beside’ (Samogitian šalip). The plural ending -ę of the active past participle is replaced by -ei, e.g., susirinkei ‘gathered’, atvažiāvei ‘arrived’, parašei ‘written’, and so on. In certain words, e occurs instead of a, e.g.: dengūs ‘sky’, kateliks (and katiliks) ‘Catholic’, tarnevāu ‘I served’ (but tarnāva ‘he/she served’), apkrūti ‘to burden’. Stop consonants are pronounced with stronger aspiration. Palatalization of consonants before front vowels appears to be less pronounced. Among other peculiarities of consonantism, one may note the pronunciation žvāgī (< žvāgē) ‘candle’, žvagūti ‘little candle’, šūgžlis (< šūgžlēs) ‘rubbish’, artibiejī ‘relatives’. Among the morphological features, noteworthy is the construction of the preposition į with the accusative used to express the inessive, e.g., į bažnyčią (į bažnīči) buvau ‘I was in church…’, į Ameriką ‘in America’, gyvenu į Šilutę ‘…I live in Šilutė’, į namūs ‘at home’; the frequent use of dual forms (many different forms occur, e.g., judau abūdau ‘we two move’, abūdau kvieti ‘the two women invited’); frequent pronominal forms (e.g., jieji negal pareit jie…’, mān gāila jūju ‘…of them’, tas būva josis vaikēs ‘…her child’); future forms without -i, e.g., eisiu, 1. pl. ēisme || ēisma, 2. pl. ēiste (this latter feature is also characteristic of local Samogitians, though they monophthongize the root diphthong). Non-prefixed verb forms are often used where standard language has prefixed ones, e.g., aš tāu sakysu ‘…I will tell you’, būvo ējēs (ējis) ‘…having gone’, mān (also pronounced māni; mūni) tika ‘I liked’. Nouns often belong to a different stem class (and gender), e.g., rūka ‘fog’, žašē (ža’sie) ‘goose’, nērvos (nērvas) ‘nerves’, šūlinē (šūlini) ‘well’, kepena ‘liver’ (cf. kepena užvirē ‘got angry’). There are many words with different stress patterns, e.g., lietuvis ‘Lithuanian’ (n. pl. lietuviai, g. pl. lietuvių…), vokietys (vok’ietīs) ‘German’ (vokiečiai…), ligi rugpjūčio (rūk’pju’rči) ‘until August’, stālai ‘tables’, mokytas ‘educated’, voc. sg. dievē (d’iev’i) ‘O God’. Noun diminutives with the suffixes -ytis and -aitis (pronounced -ātis) are used abundantly, e.g., ožkītis (uošk’ītis) ‘little goat’, antytis ‘duckling’, ērytīs || ēraitis (jierītis, jierārtis) ‘lamb’, kalakutytis ‘turkey poult’, veršaitis (veršātis) ‘calf’, vežimaitis (vežimātis) ‘little cart’. The syntax contains many German constructions, e.g., prilūgino nuo dvijų vaikų (nu…vaikū) ‘gave an illustration about two children’, mānēs dēl (mānis diel) ‘because of me’, pasakē ant to brōlio (ant tuo bruōli) ‘spoke about that brother’, ānī ilgo laiko ‘for a long time’. Sentences often end with the predicate: didelis turgus būvo ‘there was a big market’, žmonių vidutiniai susirinkę būvo (susirinkei būva) ‘…people had gathered’, nugrisau šiame sviete būti ‘I was fed up with being in this world…’. Local Samogitians also use some of these constructions. The Lietuvinink vocabulary contains especially many German borrowings, e.g., bānkās ir beņķis ‘bench’, bērštas (bēršc) ‘bath sponge’, briliai (bril’e) ‘glasses’, dišerbankas ‘carpenter’s workbench’, ēlskis ‘necktie’, gardynos ‘curtains’, kedelys ‘skirt’, līpkē (l’īpk’ī) ‘vest’, muldē ‘tub for mixing cake batter’, mūlda ‘oblong sieve with handles’, šiūlē ‘school’, stīfeliai ‘boots’, ūrlupas ‘vacation’. Borrowings are usually strongly adapted, and take Lithuanian suffixes and endings, which are pronounced in the Samogitian manner, e.g., inf. berštioti (berštūti) ‘to rub, wash’ (with -uoti, Samogitian -ūti), drūveliuoti ‘to mumble 105 German, šlektúoti ‘to feel unwell’, šropúoti (šruopùti) ‘to clean horses with brushes’, švičiuoti ‘to sweat’, adv. švakāi (švakà) ‘badly, weakly’. However, unadapted words also occur, e.g., āmama ‘grandmother’, āpapa ‘grandfather’ (cf. kúoks ū·mama vā́rds? duok ū·papa ‘give it to grandfather’). Sometimes even Lithuanian words are reshaped according to a German model, e.g., kiaulerijė (k’ául’er’iji) ‘piggery’ (cf. German Schweinerei). At present, the old Lietuvininkai language is rapidly disappearing. Only older people have retained more of its features. The speech of middle-aged Lietuvininkai, and especially that of young people, is now strongly influenced by the local Samogitian dialect and, in part, by the standard language. Elements of the West Aukštaitian dialect and grammatical structure or vocabulary of Lithuania Minor occur in it only sporadically. This is because the former isolation of this ethnic group, especially among young people, has recently been rapidly diminishing. Religious restrictions are also now often disregarded. Mixed families are forming. Having entered the whirl of modern life, the speech of young Lietuvininkai is increasingly influenced both by the local Samogitian dialect and by the standard language. The influence of the latter is now growing steadily in this region. It is reinforced particularly by schooling, the press, radio, television, and, finally, by the overall progress of culture, science, and technology in the countryside. From what has been said here, it is clear that very complex processes, interesting from the perspective of sociolinguistics, are now taking place in the area of the Ž. Naumiestis dialect. They need to be investigated in greater detail. This could provide material not only for theoretical generalizations in sociolinguistics, but should also help us better understand the complex process by which our present-day standard language, whose origins lie in Lithuania Minor, came into being and developed. Я. ЯНАВИЧЕНЕ, З. ЗИНКЯВИЧЮС THE SPEECH OF THE ŽEMAITĖ NAUMIESTIS AREA FROM A SOCIOLINGUISTIC PERSPECTIVE Резюме The article is devoted to studying the complex linguistic situation that has developed in the northeastern part of the Šilutė District of the Lithuanian SSR, around the settlement of Žemaičių Naumiestis. Within this small area, one can observe interaction among the Lithuanian literary language, the local Samogitian dialect, and the dialect of the so-called Lietuvininkai (Lithuanians who resettled here in the 19th–20th centuries from the former East Prussia and the Klaipėda Region), in addition to Russian and German. The main focus is on studying the dialect of the Lietuvininkai: the article examines the origins of this dialect, the development of its characteristic features, and its relationship with the local Samogitian dialect. J. JANAVIČIENĖ, Z. ZINKEVIČIUS THE DIALECT OF THE LOCALITY OF ŽEMAIČIŲ NAUMIESTIS (THE DISTRICT OF ŠILUTĖ) FROM A SOCIOLINGUISTIC PERSPECTIVE Summary The article undertakes to examine a linguistically complex situation in the North-East of Šilutė (Lithuanian SSR), in the environs of the locality of Žemaičių Naumiestis. In this small area one can observe an interaction of Standard Lithuanian, the local Samogitian dialect and the dialect of the so-called Lietuvininkai (i. e. Lithuanians who came here from former Eastern Prussia and the region of Klaipėda in the 19th–20th centuries), not to mention Russian and German. Attention is focussed on the study of the Lietuvininkai dialect, the problem of the origin of the dialect, the development of its distinctive features as well as on its interrelationship with the local Samogitian dialect.