Ž O D Ž I Ų F O R M O S I R J Ų V A R T O S E N A

L I E T U V O S T S R M O K S L Ų A K A D E M I J A

E. GRINAVECKIENĖ

THE VERB IN THE MITUVA RIVER BASIN DIALECT¹

Verbal aspect

As in standard Lithuanian, verbs without prefixes are usually imperfective (ėiti², grėbt, imt, valgyt), while prefixed verbs are perfective (atiduot, užvalgyt, sunešt, išgrėbt). The exceptions are the same as in standard Lithuanian. Momentary verbs, always used without a prefix, are perfective, e.g.: ciptelėt, riktelėt, lūžtelėt, stäbtelėt. Verbs whose prefixes have fused with the root into a single lexical unit of meaning are imperfective in the dialect (supràsti: Ne viska supràtam; nusigàsti: Bàisei grėit nusigàstu; pažįt: Jì gerai pažįstu). The aspect of verbs with and without prefixes is most clearly revealed in sentences. For example, in the sentences: Visai baigių pirštinę užraėkt; Skubinù pamilt karve į vėsu į tvartą; Užaugi besidabidams, pasėsti besimokydams; Baigių išvirt pietūs; Skùbinu nulipt no stogą; Baigių pavàlgvt į gūlsiuos, the verb forms have a clearly imperfective meaning, whereas in the sentences: Vargė užaugau, be laika pasenau; Būdava, baigsi kūlt, prieš gimų pristàta; Jų motina jaunà mire, the same verbs are perfective.

Transitive and intransitive verbs

The dialect, like standard Lithuanian, has transitive and intransitive verbs. However, it has been observed that some intransitive verbs can sometimes be transitive, e.g.: nuvažiavau arklius; Nòrmas ėit sūnku; Jau làngus šàl; Mą tìščio piršta, dùre šòna; Bòbas turšuò „kasa“ bùlves; Prasipìrka pinigus; Višta prìlese gūži; Jis išjòje arklius.

¹This article aims to present as complete a picture as possible of the inflection, and partly also the use, of finite and non-finite verb forms in the “Mituvos upyno tarmė” (“Dialect of the Mituva River Basin”). It is a chapter of Part II of the larger manuscript work “Mituvos upyno tarmė,” written in 1952–1955, substantially supplemented with new dialect material collected by the author up to 1973.

²The dialect examples used in this article are written in standard Lithuanian (=literatūrinės kalbos) orthography. The j pronounced in the dialect is written throughout the article. Dialectal devoicing of consonants, which is indistinguishable in pronunciation from that in standard Lithuanian, is not marked. At the same time, an effort is made to reflect the dialect’s phonetics as accurately as possible. An acute accent is additionally introduced to indicate the softness of consonants at word endings, written above and to the right of the sound symbol. Corresponding forms that differ morphologically are presented after an equality sign, e.g., mėgam || mėgtam, while forms that differ phonetically or have different endings are given in parentheses: bėg(a), nėštum(ei). In cases where an e variant without e occurs in parentheses, the final consonant is always soft. To mark the circumflex accent as pronounced across both components of diphthongs, its sign is written separately over each component. For a description of the dialect’s phonetics, see E. Grinaveckienė, “Mituvos upyno tarmės fonetika,” in „Lietuvių kalbotyros klausimai“, I, Vilnius, 1957, pp. 119–180.

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Reflexive Verbs

The reflexive particle has three forms in the dialect: -si, -s, -se. All three occur at the end of a word. The particle -s is the usual form here and is most frequently used by the middle generation and young people (sūkas, pūčes, rīčes). -si is much rarer and more recent, generally having come from Ik, and occurs alongside -s in the speech of young people and the local intelligentsia (sākosi, sėkasi, sūkasi). It has nevertheless been observed that in this case it may be somewhat more frequent in first- and second-person singular forms (prausiuosi, prausesi). Among older and middle-generation speakers, the reflexive particle -se is widespread (< *sėn, enclitic accusative form), for example: sūkase, rīitose, pūkstase, pėšase. However, it is used only in the first and third person singular of verbs, while plural and dual forms have -s. Between the prefix and the stem, the full reflexive particle -si- is generally used (parsineše, nusišėre, pasikabina), except when, upon the reflexive particle and the stem vowels į-, e-, ė- coming together, one is omitted or they contract through elision or contraction (apšėinam ~ apsieiname, atšėin ~ atsieina, pasiļgau ~ pasiilgau, susėjęi ~ susiejai, susėmei ~ susiėmei)³.

Most dialect verbs (except nearly all spontaneous, effort, gradual, and diminutive iterative verbs, as well as some others) can have reflexive and non-reflexive forms, for example: nupirkau⁴ and nusipirkau, mūšam and mūšamės, pūkštam and pūkštamės. The dialect also has reflexive verbs that lack corresponding non-reflexive forms, for example: tyčiotis || tyčiotise, gėrėtis || gėrėtise, juōktis || juōktise (cf. paūžokt), džiaugtis || džiaugtise, šaipytis || šaipytise, šypsotis || šypsōtise (cf. pašiepė), vaipytis || vaipytise (cf. viept), niūktis || niūktise, ėlġtis || ėlġtise. The reflexive forms of some verbs are used only with prefixes (įsišlįt: lįt, susigulėt: gulėt, įsilipt: lipt, įsivažiuot: važiuot, pasižindyti: žindyti, nusižėngt: žėngt).

In some cases the reflexive particle merely modifies the lexical meaning of a verb (sūktis || sūktise: sūkt, šnekėtis || šnekėtise: šnekėt, statytis || statytise: statyt), while in others it changes it substantially (bėgtis || bėgtise “to mate”: bėgt, ėjtis || ėjtise “to fare”: ėjt). The semantic combination of a prefix and the reflexive particle also substantially changes the lexical meaning of the verb (prisikāukt “to gather for oneself”: kāukt, pasigėst: gėst, apsimėst: mėst).

Impersonal Verbs

The dialect has verbs that are used only in the third person in all tenses (the simple and compound forms of the present and simple past are most common). Some of these verbs, functioning in impersonal sentences, are generally not associated with any agent, for example: ly, snieg “it is snowing”, šal, pūsta, dienō, temst, aušt, švint, šalnō, šalvėn, niāukes || niāukese, niāuktos || niāuktose, šviesuōjes || šviesuōjese. With prefixes, prefixed auxiliary verbs, or negation, they are generally used to express an action in the past (as well as future) tense, for example: sutėma, įsiliję, įsisniga, prašvīta, išāša, apsiniūke; palōve pūste, atleīda tīnę, pārstōje šalę, nestōs līje. Some of these verbs can in rare cases be

³ For more examples, see E. Grinaveckienė, Op. cit., pp. 162–163.

⁴ Cf. E. Grinaveckienė, Mituvos upyno tarmės įvardis, “Lietuvos TSR Mokslų akademijos darbai”, Series A, 2(13), 1962, p. 198 and footnote 11.

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are associated with the nominative of a noun of the same root, e.g.: aũšt (aušrà), lý (lytùs). In this respect, they are somewhat closer to personal verbs.

Other verbs of this type generally take a dative and require a direct object in the accusative, and sometimes in the genitive, e.g.: mą (jám, táu...) gėlę dánti (gálva), diége šóna (širdì, áusi), mãuždė dánti, niẽšt galva (nagus, padus), skãud galva (kóje, áki, širdì, rą́ńka...), tvinkčio pirštą (nãga), trūkst pinigų (kantrybės, sveikātas), pagálst „pagailsta“ jō (tėvų).

A third group takes a dative but does not require a direct object, e.g.: mą (jám, táu...) palengvėja, šėkas || šėkase, pasiróde, rüpe.

The verb reikėti is generally impersonal; however, in the simple past, unlike in standard Lithuanian, it can in rare cases have all singular and plural persons, e.g., alongside Mã reikėję neválgyt’ and the like, one also hears Aš reikėjau neválgyt’; Tu reikėjai nèit’. Reikėjom duot’; Reikėjot nìmt’.

Verb stems

Only vowel stems of verbs have been preserved in the dialect. Unlike in standard Lithuanian, there are only three present-tense stems here: a, ia, o, e.g., ēin(a), pùd(e), rãša, while the i- stem has shifted to an ia stem, e.g., gál ~ gália “can.” Verbs with the consonant d before the stem-final position more often have a form without an affricate in the present tense, e.g., sēd(e) ~ sēdia “sits”, though a form with an affricate is also found alongside it, less frequently (sēdž(e)). It should be noted, however, that the shift of the i stem to an ia stem is not yet complete. In the disappearing or less frequently used dual forms, the i stem-final element is still widely used alongside the newer ia stem-final element, and remains more frequent than the latter, e.g.: gīrdiva || gīrdeva || gīrdževa; sēdiva || sēdeva || sēdževa.

Consonant stems survive only as slight remnants. Alongside the present-tense vowel-stem forms of the verbs miegóti, raudóti, skaudėti, contaminated forms are also used (but less frequently and in the speech of older dialect speakers), formed from the third-person consonant-stem form and the personal endings of the vowel stem, e.g.: miegù || miegù, miegi || miegtì, miẽg || miẽgt, miẽgam || miẽgtam, miẽgat || miẽgtat, miẽgava || miẽgtava, miẽgata || miẽgtata; raũdu || raũstu, raũdi || raũsti, raũd || raũst, raũdam || raũstam, raũdat || raũstat, raũdava || raũstava, raũdata || raũstata; skãud || skãust. The verbs peršėti and niežėti likewise have two types of forms in all tenses: vowel forms and consonant-based contaminated forms, while in the present tense they have only contaminated forms: peršć(e), niežt. The contaminated forms of these verbs with the stem-final -t- are more frequent than the vowel forms, e.g.: peršėti || perštėti, niežėti || niežtėti, peršėję || perštėję, niežėję || niežtėję, peršęs || perštęs, niežęs || niežtęs, peršėtų || perštėtų, niežėtų || niežtėtų.

Although the third-person present form of o-stem verbs always retains the full ending a (sãka ~ sãko), the verb žinóti also has a corresponding form without final a, alongside it, e.g., žina || žin.

All inherited dialect verbs with the qualitative root-vowel ablaut grade au — au — ov have the consonant j between the root and the ending in present-tense forms, unlike in standard Lithuanian⁵, e.g., kráuju, pjájjam. In the third-person forms, unlike in standard Lithuanian, that j has been lost together with the final vowel⁶, e.g.: bliáu ~ bliáuja, džiáu, griáu, kráu,

⁵ Plg. Lietuvių kalbos gramatika, II, Vilnius, 1971, p. 230.

⁶ See E. Grinaveckienė, Mituvos upyno tarmės fonetika, p. 151.

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liáu, máu, pjáu, pláu, ráu, spjáu, šáu. In very rare cases (in the speech of young people and local intellectuals), n also occurs in place of j, e.g., pláun.

The stems of the past simple tense are, as in 1k, e ~ ė, a ~ o, e.g., láužė ~ láužė, kibo ~ kibo.

The dialect uses a fossilized form which, in our view, is an old third-person past simple form with an o stem, bearing stress on the ending and the consonant -t, e.g., pasikót. The meaning of this form has become very blurred. It may mean “don’t even think it, nonsense, nothing will come of it.” We have also heard its relatives šėkúot ~ šikót, pašėkúot ~ pasikót, of the same formation and meaning, in the Žemaitian dūnininkai dialect around Laukuva. The final -t in the forms pasikót, pasikót, šikót is most likely a remnant of the enclitic pronoun *ti⁷. Perhaps the most interesting feature of these forms, however, is that they have preserved the old ending stress down to the present day.

In dialect verbs, root or suffix in regularly undergoes a phonetic change to į, e.g.: pìt ~ pìnti, vadìt ~ vadìnti, pìs ~ pìniš⁸. With in changing to į, the infinitives of verbs with the suffixes -yt and -int formally coincided in the dialect, e.g.: gaivìt ~ gaivìnti, prašýt, rùdýt. The present-tense forms usually help distinguish which suffix-derived form is involved, e.g.: vaišin(a), prašo, nelý(je). However, verbs formed with these suffixes are also sometimes mixed derivationally in the dialect. In some cases, derivatives with the suffix -it have forms with the related suffix -yt in the present and past simple tenses and their derivatives (these are rarer), e.g.: baugštìtis: baugštìnas || bãugštos, maigýtis “to fall asleep”: maigìnas || mãigos, sárgìt: sárgin(a) || sárga, spìrgìt: spìrgin(a) || spìrga, táikìt “to improve”: táikin(a) || táika, tarpìt “to dissolve”: tarpìn(a) || tãrpa. In other cases, derivatives with the suffix -yt have parallel forms with the suffix -it, e.g.: baniùtyt: baniùty(je) || baniùtin(a), gėdýtis: gėdyjes || gėdinas, gĩnčyt: gĩnčy(je) || gĩnčin(a), jó-dytis: jódos || jódinas, klupdýt: klùpda || klùpdin(a), lýdyt: lýda || lýdin(a), viėly t: viėly(je) || viėlin(a).

Forms of the verb būti

The verb būti has present-tense forms with three roots. To express continuous being or existence, the root bū- is used with the formatives -n- or -v-, and it has parallel forms used by all persons without a difference in meaning, e.g.: būnù || būvù, būni || būvi, būn(a) || būv(a), būnam || būvam, būnat || būvat, būnava || būvava, būnata || būvata. The root ės- (its vowel ė most likely arose from the contracted nės- < ne + es- by analogy with the form nẽra < ne + yra⁹) forms the first- and second-person singular, plural, and dual forms, e.g.: ėšù, ėši, ėšam, ėšat, ėšava, ėšata. Only the third-person form is formed with the root yr-.

Verb inflection

As in 1k, the dialect has five moods: indicative, indirect, subjunctive, imperative, and optative. It uses all three grammatical numbers of verbs—singular-

⁷ On the other hand, these forms could also be close in their formation to derivatives of the *paši̇̀k(a) type, which J. Endzelynas regards as old Indo-European ā-stem forms of the past simple tense (cf. J. Endzelīns, Latviešu valodas gramatika, Rīgā, 1951, p. 709).

⁸ See E. Grinaveckienė, Op. cit., p. 143.

⁹ Žr. J. Endzelynas, Baltų kalbų garsai ir formos, Vilnius, 1957, p. 163; Z. Zinkevičius, Lietuvių dialektologija, Vilnius, 1966, p. 126.

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singular, plural and dual. The person forms of verbs with individual stems are, in general, like those of Standard Lithuanian, though some of them differ somewhat.

In the dialect, the stem-final y of present-tense forms of polysyllabic verbs with the suffix -yt is always long, unlike in Standard Lithuanian (most likely for phonetic reasons¹⁰), as in neighboring Samogitian dialects¹¹, e.g.: kirmyja “I sleep,” kirmyji, kirmyj(ie), kirmyjiem, kirmyjet, kirmyjeva, kirmyjėta; rožyjes “it is reddening (of a wound).” Sometimes this length is retained in the past frequentative forms as well, e.g.: kãūlyjau, kãūlyjei, kãūlyjom, kãūlyjot, kãūlyjova, kãūlyjota, but: kãūlije, kirmije, pelije “it had mildewed,” pajudojie, nuspuogije, širdijaus “I was angry,” širdijeis, širdijos || širdijose, širdijomes, širdijotės, širdijovos, širdijotos.

In the present and past tenses, the first-person plural ending -om has a first component that is generally pronounced short in the dialect, is somewhat open, and has a slight a-vowel coloring, e.g.: sãkom, augom, kėldavom. The first component ė of the ending -ėm in the first-person singular forms of the past simple and subjunctive is likewise somewhat open (but not shortened) and pronounced with a slight e-vowel coloring, e.g.: sãkėm, kėlėm, ėitumėm. In the western outskirts of the area (Palėkiai, Pašventys, Žirniškiai and neighboring villages), the o and ė of the endings -om, -ėm in these forms are sometimes also shifted to a and e (šukãvam ~ šukãvome, skỹnem ~ skỹnėme, ėitumėm ~ ėitumėme); while in the northern part of the dialect area (Šimkaičiai, Medininkai, Pavidaujys), alongside the usual open o and ė, u and i also occur (dãrum ~ dãrome, sãkim ~ sãkėme, ėitumim ~ ėitumim)¹². The first component of the endings -ot, -ėt in the second-person forms of those tenses and the subjunctive is long and close, as in Standard Lithuanian (sãkot, būvot, būdavot, sãkėt, ėitumėt).

The first-person singular subjunctive has three forms here: as in Standard Lithuanian, with the ending -iau (reflexive -iaus || -iause), and with -e, corresponding to Standard Lithuanian ia (which may also be dropped, leaving a palatalized consonant¹³, e.g.: rašyčiau || rašyč(e), sakyčiaus || sakyčiause. The non-reflexive forms with different endings are used side by side in the dialect, although forms ending in -e or with no ending at all are more characteristic of older speakers. The second-person singular has two forms: as in Standard Lithuanian, with the ending -um, and a longer -umei alongside it (more common among older speakers); the reflexive form is -umeis, e.g.: pėštum || pėštumei, pėštumeis. Unlike Standard Lithuanian, the first-person plural has the ending -umėme and its shortened form -umėm; the reflexive ending is -umėmės. They are equally common: ėitumėme || ėitumėm, imtumėmės. Among younger dialect speakers, forms with the ending -ume (ėitume) are also used, though rarely, under the influence of Standard Lithuanian. The second-person plural has the ending -umėte and its shortened form -umėt; the reflexive ending is -umėtės: ėitumėte || ėitumėt, pėštumėtės. The first-person dual has the ending -umėva (reflexive -umėvos): ėitumėva, praūstumėvos; the second has -umėta (reflexive -umėtos): ėitumėta, praūstumėtos. The first- and second-person plural and dual endings are probably newer, resulting from contamination. The third-person subjunctive has the suffix -tų (as in Standard Lithuanian) or, in parallel but less often, just the hard -t: ėitų || ėit, bėktų || bėkt. The form with -t is probably of morphological rather than phonetic origin. The reflexive form has three possible endings: -us || use, -uos || uose, -os || ose: pėštus || pėštuse, pėštuos || pėštuose, pėštos || pėštose. The last four forms are more characteristic of the older generation of dialect speakers. Their

¹⁰ Cf. E. Grinaveckienė, Op. cit., p. 164.

¹¹ Plg. V. Grinaveckis, Žemaičių tarmių istorinė gramatika, Vilnius, 1973, p. 233.

¹² Cf. ibid., p. 186; E. Grinaveckienė, Op. cit., p. 154.

¹³ On the basis of the dialect’s laws of word-final shortening, we are inclined to think that a form with a palatalized final consonant could have arisen phonetically only from a form ending in -ia, and not from one ending in -iau. Cf. also J. Kazlauskas, “Iš optatyvo istorijos,” „Lietuvių kalbotyros klausimai“, IV, Vilnius, 1961, p. 83–84.

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origin is difficult to explain. A form with the ending -uos is also characteristic of Samogitians (the Akmenė subdialect, for example, has neštūs), the Veliuona subdialect, and the northern Central Highland dialects¹⁴. And the forms pėštos || pėštose, if they are not a case of dialect hypercorrection, may perhaps be linked to the dialect form sakýčė ~ sakýčia (~ sakýčio? cf. Samogitian sakýčio¹⁵). The first-person dual form, alongside the ending -umėva (reflexive -umėvos), less often also has the ending -uvėva (reflexive -uvėvos), e.g.: ėitūmėva || ėitūvėva, neštūmėvos || neštūvėvos.

The second-person singular imperative is as in Standard Lithuanian (ėik, dúok), but in rare cases (usually in folk songs), forms with the suffix -kie are also used alongside it (ėikie, imkie). In addition, there are instances where this suffix is dropped. This most often happens in rapid speech and when another consonant precedes k, e.g.: sėm sėm, pil pil, gėr gėr, but sėdek. In the frozen form palà, which undoubtedly arose from palauk, k was lost comparatively long ago. This is indicated by the irregular change of root au to a in absolute word-final position.

In the dialect, the first-person plural and dual forms of the present tense of one or another verb are sometimes also used with the meaning of the first-person plural and dual imperative, e.g.: ėinam, válgom, važiuojam, dėdam, imam, imava, dėdava, although their usual forms are more common. Alongside ėikim, ėinam, ėikiva, the verb eiti ‘to go’ also has eimė (less often the contaminated form eimėkim) and eivà. The forms eimė, eivà are the most commonly used. These may be remnants of consonantal conjugation.

To indicate the direction of movement toward something, the adverb šė (< “hither”) may be added to any imperative form, taking the stress. The second-person singular has the adverb šė at the end (bėkšė, eikšė, dúokšė || dakšė, šokšė). In the plural and dual forms, šė occurs in the middle of the word, before the suffix (bėkšėkim, dúokšėkim, eikšėkim, bėkšėkit, šokšėkit, bėkšėkita, bėkšėkiva). Such imperative forms are current and widely used in the dialect. They are also known in Samogitian¹⁶. The adverb šė is often added to imperative forms twice. In such cases, the second šė receives the stress. The repetition of šė usually occurs when the command must be carried out very quickly, e.g.: bėkšėšė, dakšėšė, bėkšėšėkit, dakšėšėkit, dakšėšėkita. Recently there has been a tendency to pronounce the first šė in forms such as bėkšėšėkim… briefly: dakšėšė, dakšėšėkit, dakšėšėkita. This shortening is probably due to the unstressed position¹⁷.

Jussive forms in the dialect are formed with the particles te, tegu (with no difference in meaning) in two ways. These particles may occur with the third-person present-tense form of the verb (tegu būn, tegu stó, teeín, tesisprádą, tenesikrápšta). Forms with te- are more common. They may be somewhat more characteristic of older speakers. The particles te, tegu (te is more usual) also often occur (especially in the speech of older people) with the old jussive forms having the endings -ie (a, ia stems) and -ai (o stems),

¹⁴ See the responses to question 293 e in the card index of the „Lietuvių kalbos atlasas“, held in the manuscript collection of the Language History and Dialectology Section of the Institute of the Lithuanian Language and Literature.

¹⁵ See also J. Kazlauskas, Op. cit., p. 84; V. Grinaveckis, Op cit., p. 269. In the latter work, on the basis of examples from Daukša’s Postilė such as būčio and others, which are stressed on the ending, the view is adopted with good justification that the stress of forms such as neščio, veščio… was probably also retracted from the ending to the stem.

¹⁶ P. Jonikas, Pagramančio tarmė, Kaunas, 1939, p. 70–71.

¹⁷ Cf. the pronunciation in this dialect of šašlavýnas ~ šašlavýnas “sašlavynas,” ąžuolýng ~ ąžuolýnas; see also E. Grinaveckienė, Op. cit., p. 142.

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e.g.: let him/her take away || let him/her take away, let him/her breathe || let him/her breathe, let him/her lie down || let him/her lie down, let him/her ride || let him/her ride, let him/her sleep || let him/her sleep, let him/her wander off || let him/her wander off, let him/her be, let him/her notice, let him/her eat up, let him/her run, tekišie, let him/her take pity on me, let him/her put it down, let him/her send, let him/her fight, let him/her be afraid, let him/her talk, let him/her scratch, let him/her kick, let him/her know, let him/her drive, let him/her know.

In rare cases, constructions with the particle tegu and a future-tense form have acquired the meaning of desiderative mood forms, e.g., let him/her be, let him/her go, let him/her arrive.

Conjugation

Indicative mood

Present tense

I run, chase, shout, weave, hear, demolish, live, throw out, talk || talk

you run, chase, shout, weave, hear, demolish, live, throw out, talk

he, she (they, they, those two, those two) run(s), chase(s), shout(s), weave(s), hear(s) || hear(s), demolish(es), live(s) || live(s), throw(s) out, talk(s) || talk(s)

we run, chase, shout, weave, hear || hear, demolish, live, throw out, talk

you (plural) run, chase, shout, weave, hear || hear, demolish, live, throw out, talk

we two (masculine), we two (feminine) run, chase, shout, weave, hear || hear || hear, demolish, live, throw out, talk

you two (masculine), you two (feminine) run, chase, shout, weave, hear || hear || hear, demolish, live, throw out, talk

Past Simple

I ran, chased, shot, wove, heard, tore, lived, threw out, chatted || chatted

you ran, chased, shot, wove, heard, tore, lived, threw out, chatted

he, she (they, they, those two masc., those two fem.) runs, chases, shoots, heard, tore, lives, throws out, chatted || chatted

we ran, chased, shot, wove, heard, tore, lived, threw out, chatted

you ran, chased, shot, wove, heard, tore, lived, threw out, chatted

we two ran, chased, shot, wove, heard, tore, lived, threw out, chatted

you two ran, chased, shot, wove, heard, tore, lived, threw out, chatted

Frequent past tense

aš bėgdavau, vydavau, šaudavau, audsdavau, girdėdavau, ardydavau, gyvėdavau, išmesdavau, šnekėdavau || šnekėdavause

tù bėgdavai, vydavai, šaudavai, audsdavai, girdėdavai, ardydavai, gyvėdavai, išmesdavai, šnekėdavais

jis, ji (jìe, jós, juõdu, juõdvi) bėgdava, vydava, šaudydava, audsdava, girdėdava, ardydava, gyvėdava, išmesdava, šnekėdavos || šnekėdavose

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mẽs bėgdavom, vydavom, šaudydavom, áusd avom, girdėdavom, ardydavom, gyvėdavom, išmėsdavom, šnekėdavomės

jūs bėgdavot, vydavot, šaudydavot, áusd avot, girdėdavot, ardydavot, gyvėdavot, išmėsdavot, šnekėdavotės

mūdu, mūdvi bėgdavova, vydavova, šaudavova, áusd avova, girdėdavova, ardydavova, gyvėdavova, išmėsdavova, šnekėdavovos

jūdu, jūdvi bėgdavota, vydavota, šaudavota, áusd avota, girdėdavota, ardydavota, gyvėdavota, išmėsdavota, šnekėdavotos

Future tense

I will run, drive, shoot, weave, hear, plow, live, throw out, talk to each other || talk to each other

you will run, drive, shoot, weave, hear, plow, live, throw out, talk to each other

he, she (they, they, the two of them [masculine], the two of them [feminine]) will run, drive, shoot, weave, hear, plow, live, throw out, talk to each other || talk to each other

we will run, drive, shoot, weave, hear, plow, live, throw out, talk to each other

you (plural) will run, drive, shoot, weave, hear, plow, live, throw out, talk to each other

we two will run, drive, shoot, weave, hear, plow, live, throw out, talk to each other

you two will run, drive, shoot, weave, hear, plow, live, throw out, talk to each other

Subjunctive mood

Simple tense

I would run || bėgč(e), I would drive || vyč(e), I would shout || šauč(e), I would weave || áušč(e), I would hear || girdėč(e), I would plough || ardýč(e), I would live || gyvėč(e), I would throw out || išmėšč(e), I would speak

you would run, drive, shout, hear, plough, live, throw out, speak

he, she (jē, jós, juódu, juódvi) would run, drive, shout, weave, hear, live, throw out, speak

we would run, drive, shout, weave, hear, live, throw out, speak

you (plural) would run, drive, shout, weave, hear, live, throw out, speak

we two would run || bėgtuvėva, drive || vytuvėva, shout || šautuvėva, weave || áustuvėva, hear || girdėtuvėva, plough || ardýtuvėva, live || gyvėtuvėva, throw out || išmėstuvėva, speak || šnekėtuvėvos

you two would run, drive, shout, weave, hear, plough, live, throw out, speak

Imperative mood

tū run(ie), hurry(ie), shout(ie), weave(ie), hear(ie), plow(ie), live(ie), throw out(ie), chat with oneself || chat with oneself || chat with oneself

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we let us run, hurry, shout, weave, hear, plow, live, throw out, chat with one another

you (plural) run, hurry, shout, weave, hear, plow, live, throw out, chat with one another

we twolet the two of us run, hurry, shout, weave, hear, plow, live, throw out, chat with each other

you twoyou two run, hurry, shout, weave, hear, plow, live, throw out, chat with each other

Desiderative mood

he, she (they, those, those two) may run || let him/her run, may hurry || let him/her hurry, may shout || let him/her shout, may weave || let him/her weave, may hear || let him/her hear, may plow || let him/her plow, may live || let him/her live, may throw out || let him/her throw out, may chat || let him/her chat

Indirect mood

It is generally used to describe an action that is unclear, conjectured, heard from others, or doubtful. This mood is formed from the nominative forms of the masculine and feminine singular and plural of participles in all tenses (the past simple participle is the most common), e.g.: She saw and began to shriek; The father is said to have seen a live wolf; She is said to have seen a snake.

Verb stress

The position of stress in verbs generally varies only in the first- and second-person singular forms of the present and past simple tenses. In these forms, stress on a root (or suffix) with an acute accent remains fixed, e.g.: aug(a): augu, augi; balnó(ja): balnõju, balnõji; gẽre: gẽriau, gẽrei; sėdẽje: sėdėjau, sėdėjai, whereas stress on a circumflex or short root shifts to the ending, e.g.: praũs(e): prausiu, praũsi; kirmý(je) “sleeps”: kirmýju, kirmýji; praũse: prausiau, prausei; kirmìje: kirmijau, kirmijėi. In all other cases, the stress position and accent of the principal forms are usually retained. The stress position in the aforementioned person forms generally helps to determine more easily and accurately the accent of the root of primary verbs with a long vowel or diphthong, which, in general, is only faintly distinguishable by ear¹⁸. When these person forms have stress on the ending, the accent of their root sounds acute to the ear.

In cases where circumflex or short root (suffix) vowels a (a), e, i, u, because of the shortening of endings¹⁹, form secondary diphthongs with l, m, n, r, v²⁰, their accent changes to acute²¹, e.g.: gẽl ~ gẽlia, pìl ~ pìla, šàl ~ šàla, gùl “lies”, gyvẽn ~ gyvẽna.

By ear, it seems that the acute root of the third-person future forms of primary verbs, as in the first-person singular, becomes circumflex through metatony²², e.g., ãugs, šõks,

¹⁸ See also Z. Zinkevičius, Op. cit., p. 33.

¹⁹ See E. Grinaveckienė, Op. cit., p. 151.

²⁰ ibid., p. 146.

²¹ ibid., pp. 139, 140.

²² ibid., p. 139.

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although sometimes the impression arises that metatony does not occur. For example, the difference between áust: áus, dýgt: dýgs and aũt: aũs, dỹkt: dỹks seems not to disappear. The acute-rooted stems of primary verbs, consisting of long y, ū, do not shorten in the 3rd person future-tense forms (pabūgs, dýgs, gỹs, ignỹbs, sugrįs, pasklỹs, „paslys“, sulỹgs, atlỹs, suplỹs, suplinkš, suplỹs, išrỹgs, paklỹs, nuslūgs, užsnūs, ištrỹks, nutrūks, nuvỹs, sužys), although in every case būs is regularly pronounced, and the parallel forms griūs || griùs, kliū́s || kliùs, pū̃s || pùs, džiū̃s || džiùs, pagỹs || pagis, lū̃s || lùs, lỹs || lis are also used (forms with short root i, u are perhaps somewhat more characteristic of the dialect among young people and, in part, the local intelligentsia; they are also used in rare cases by the middle generation).

The optative forms of verbs with acute-rooted (or suffix) stress, or with circumflex and short roots and ancient root stress,²³ ending in -ie always retain the accent in its old position, whereas the corresponding forms of verbs with circumflex or short roots and ancient ending stress always accent the ending and have a circumflex intonation, e.g.: tejòjie, temė́gie, tevažiúojie, tebū́nie, tekìšie, tepasùmie, tesimùšie. Derivatives of this mood with the ending -ai were observed by us only with root stress, e.g., tesispárdai, tenesikrãpštai.

Most prefixed verbs do not retract the stress to the prefix. These are all forms of verbs with an acute root (and suffix), forms of the o-stem in the present and simple past tenses, forms of verbs with the ancient root stress pattern in the a, ia stem of all circumflex-root verbs, and the infinitive. A considerably smaller number of verbs shift the stress to the prefix when prefixed. These are primarily forms of ė-stem verbs with a circumflex or short root in the simple past tense (atnešė, atvertė), forms of verbs with the ancient ending-stressed pattern in the a, ia present-tense stems and a circumflex or short root (àpkemš, įkerp, nèdeg), and all verb forms with the prefix par- ‘across’ (párvežti ‘transport across’, párbėgt ‘run across’).

Some prefixed verbs have variable stress. The present-tense forms of galėti, skaudėti, turėti with prefixes stress the prefix; with negation, stress falls alternatively on the prefix or the root, e.g.: išgãle, pãgale, nùgale, nègale || negalė; iš̀ture, nùture, pãture, prìture, sùture, už̀ture, nèture || netùre; pãskaud, sùskaud, prìskaud, nèškaud || neskaud.

If a verb that shifts the accent to the prefix has negation and a prefix or reflexive particle, or if the prefix is disyllabic, stress always falls on the syllable closest to the root (apipùrškė, nesipėš, nenùneš, tepársinės).

Prefixed primary verbs with a circumflex-root ia stem and no root-vowel alternation have two stress patterns in the present tense: on the root (this stress pattern is more frequent; it is characteristic of the older and middle generations of dialect speakers) and on the prefix (less frequent; this stress pattern is more noticeable in the speech of young people and the local intelligentsia), e.g.: pabaig(e) || pãbaig(e), pabaũdž(e) || pãbaudž(e), sulenk(e) || sùlenk(e).

Infinitive

The infinitive, being one of the three principal verb forms, denotes only the name of an action and is invariable. In the dialect it has two forms. In most of the area, the suffix -t is softened (ėit’ ~ ėiti, sakýt ~ sakýti). This softness is particularly pronounced at the northwestern edge of the area, near the Samogitian dūnininkai (Verti-

²³ Žr. K. Būga, Rinktiniai raštai, III, Vilnius, 1961, p. 48—55.

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(Mai, Žindaičiai, Pavidaujys, Pãskynai). In the eastern part of the area, along the border with the Veliuona dialect, the infinitive suffix -t is hard and aspirated (rišti ~ rišti, lūpti ~ lūpti). Hardening is progressing in the dialect, with the palatalized variant being displaced. In the speech of older dialect speakers, an infinitive with the suffix -tie is used in rare cases (imtie “to take,” duotie “to give”). It also occurs in folk songs. The usual reflexive infinitive ending is -is (ąūtis ~ ąūtis, kėltis); among older speakers, -ies is also found (pėsties “to walk,” muš ties “to fight”), but alongside the latter, -ise is especially common in their speech (raitytise “to twist oneself,” valdytise “to govern oneself”). It is also quite common in the speech of the middle generation.

The infinitive is used especially widely and independently in the dialect: it is not dependent on other words, although, as in standard Lithuanian, it is often attached to them as well; in certain cases (with verb forms, turning them into auxiliaries), it governs them. It performs various functions in the sentence. It can serve as the predicate, the subject, or an adverbial modifier.

The infinitive often forms the predicate in declarative and interrogative sentences (Jau girė matyt; Gála krašta nematyt; Neużmatýti nieka — toli; Kas girdėt? Ką daryt? Prie ko čė šauktis?). In some cases, such interrogative sentences do not express a question but merely emphasize the futility of the action denoted by the infinitive, its lack of necessity (Ką čė šnekėt; Ko tau tę daisuot; Ką čė dá dėkavot. Kam čė dá prasidėt).

The infinitive is also fairly common in exclamatory sentences. In this case it may carry a more or less pronounced imperative force, e.g.: Gūlti! (about a dog)! Medžiot! Peliot! (about a cat)! Nesipėšt! Kojes neprilėist prie žėmės! Gnybt no lešos i lėist į puodą! Ji prė pelų pristatyt!

Sometimes the infinitive in such exclamatory sentences does not express a command, but only conveys a certain (usually negative) astonishment (Tóke širdi turėt; Tiek nusivalkiot; Šiteip pasakyt; Tiek prisikentėt; Tiek pasiekt).

The infinitive also occurs as a predicate in compound asyndetic sentences (Vienc traukt, kiek — nepalėist; Jis imt, aš — neduot; Aš duot, jis nepasiduot; Tėvs laikyt, vaikinc mušt; Su tavim šnekėt, pupų rėti pasidėt; Kadai vaikščiojau pakrancėj, i nematyt; Ką čė šnekėt — atsidusk i muryk).

In appended clauses, fossilized infinitival constructions also most often form the predicate, e.g.: Antys kvarkčio — ką tik girdėt; Užragóžinai — nė praīt, nė pravažiúot; Kvailas — tik vilkui suėst. Tai žmogus — nė mušt, nė bėgt; Tai viščiuks — nė lėst, nė gėrt; Vyrs — nė pridėt, nė atimt!

With the particle tik ‘just,’ the infinitive is used in the dialect to intensify the impression of an action (usually a negative or undesirable one) (Tu tik rėkt, dejúot, skųstise; Aš tik dirbt i dirbt; Tau tik plėperuot). In constructions with the conjunction kad ‘if’ and the particle tai, the infinitive is usually repeated to bring out the intensity of the conditional action (Kad duot, tai duot, — kad kaulai treškėtų; Ka sakyt, tai sakyt, — nelaikyt žodže už dantų). To negate the action completely, the negative particle nė is sometimes used alongside two infinitives with the same root, the second of which is negated, e.g.: Prapuolė toks mūilas, — jo nė maty! nematyt. Jo i po šei dienai nė girdėt negirdėt.

In the speech of older people, the supine form is rarely used instead of the infinitive, e.g., Nė girdere negirdėt, kur jis²⁴.

²⁴ Plg. Fr. Kurschat, Grammatik der littauischen Sprache, Halle, 1876, p. 285.

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In the construction with the negative particles nė…nė, the infinitive is used to express the unconditionality of an action (Tiek visi krūkšč, šauk, — nė paklaust, nė pasakyt; Prilije, — nė išeit, nė išbrist; Ką čė daryt, nė imt, nė pamest).

In the dialect, the infinitive can function as the subject, e.g.: Võkį gėda, ne sirkt; Bjaūru gėrt, sūnku pagiriōtise; Niēkai ilgai mergáut; Amžių nugyvēt, tai ne skilandį pãrkąst; Gėda žiūrėt; Bãngu pasakyt; Geriausiai, viską pasakýti i prapūlt.

The infinitive can also express an entire infinitival sentence, e.g.: Laimingai nuvažiuot i parvažiuot; Jám tik iš tavęs išgrēpt i susprōkt.

The infinitive also expresses an adverbial of purpose (Tõkie grybai gerai mūrėt; Ravēt yra nagūčei dveji; Jau stāgaruotis laiks).

In most cases, the infinitive is widely used in the dialect, as in Standard Lithuanian, with other verb forms (simple and compound), and usually functions as part of a compound predicate. In this case, it may occur with or without a prefix; likewise, the verb to which the infinitive attaches may or may not have a prefix. Without any difference in meaning, the infinitive may stand before or after the conjugated verb form in the stem. Most often it attaches to the following verbs: baigti (Antys pabaigė dėt; Baigiu nulipt no stōga; Spirgaĩ šūbaige spirkt), duoti (Dūosiu nupjaut žolę), eiti (būvo atėję ančių maišyt; Būvo užėję galva gēlt; Ėjau prašyt nakvynės; Užėję mą žiōvaut; Ėik acigūlt; Ėje visų klāusinėt; Ėjom imtis; Jō paláidot nemãje; Nēin pragyvēt), galėti (Galėsiva kvešinėt; Negali išmatyt’ — tāmṣu; Jis negãle jei pamokėt; Negali arty prēit; Galėsi skalbt; Gali gaišiot’ visa diena; Gali tampyt’ mustivėres — kietą; Galėje nait’ i parēit’; Pastipdyt’ galėje tą ãvi; Priauklēt’ gale tą vaiką prē knygų; Žiūrēt’ negalėjau), gauti (Gausiu nēštis), griebti (Kárve grieb’ dūrt’; Jijē griebe vēm’t), imti (Jurginei ēmė kȳpt’; Ji ēmė kėbalaut’ su svetimais vyrais; Kāmine ēmė dudēt’; Jisai pãėme šōferiaut’; Ką ūsimu šnekēt’, nemaišyk; Greit ėmus aukėt), keršyti (Keršyju ēt’ ir aš; Keršyju mūšt, ale nēmušu), malonėti (Malonēčiau laikyt’ karvę), norėti (Nenorēje isilēist’; Nōriu nugramzīt’), nespėti (Nespēju varytise — visi mūš; Nespēju pjaut’ — ančių pilno kiēms), nustoti (Nustōje lyt’; Tuo nustōs skaudēt’), pasidėti (Pasidēsiu kirst’), pajudinti (Pajudina krāustyt’), pakilti (Pakilo ēt’), pradėti (Kāmine pradēje giūsiuot’; Tuo pradēje vaidytise; Mōrkai pradēje dyk’t’; Pradēd tvoruōt’, negali piktumū trīvōt), reikėti (Rēik’ i pātala igūlt’; Reikēje senēi numēkst’; Reiks sujūst), sliūkti (Vēršis slēnk žīst), sujusti (Visi sujūdo žēnytis), susigauti (Susigāusim tavi pasidžiaūkt’), taisytis (Kārve tāisos dūrt’), turėti (Turēsi duot’; Didžturēt’ turēje), užlaipinti (Užlaipina šēna pamyniot’), žinoti (Nurāut’ težinai) and others. In many cases, participles also attach to such constructions to express the continuation of an undesirable action (Gali valgyt’ įsivalgęs; Gali ēt’ isėjēs; Gali šnekēt’ išsinekējēs).

Some such combinations of an infinitive and a conjugated verb form are occasionally used in a sentence with a nominative (Pradēje skausmai imt’; Jāunc gale, šēnc tūre mirt’; Dīržas nesutēnik užrišt’; Antys pabaige dēt’), others with an accusative (Isitaise piena gērt’; Skēlbe parduōt’ vīetą), still others with a preposition and the accusative (Sustōje ēt’ į mokyklą; Īms augt’ i lāšinius), and yet others with the genitive (Reik užbirēt’ žēmių), and so on.

There are instances in which two infinitives attach to the same verb form; the second usually specifies the first, e.g., Reik’ ēt’ varyt namō; Reik’ ēt’ žiūrēt juodvienių; Reik’ ēt’ milžt’; Turiu ēt žiūrēt’, Turiu ēt tikritise, Reiks sujūst’ liūobtis.

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To express the intensity of an action, the infinitive is repeated after the conjugated verb form: Pradėję piršt piršt’, i išpirša; Usikėpe nėit’ nėit’, i atlika; Įsityža gėrt’ gėrt’, i priprȧta. To express the duration of an action, two infinitives are joined by the conjunction ir ‘and’, e.g.: Galės žiūrėt’ i žiūrėt’; Galės eit ir eit’; Jai tik dainuot’ i dainuot.

The dialect has numerous instances in which two different infinitives are joined by the conjunction o ‘and/but’ to a conjugated form in order to intensify the impression of the action (usually a negative one) (Gulėt’ o miegot’ težina; Gėrt’ o nasriót „šūkauti“ temokėję).

To express an action that occurs continuously and steadily, the infinitive is also combined in the dialect with a conjugated verb form from the same stem. The action expressed by this construction is usually weakened, lacking intensity, or unsatisfactory, e.g.: Šnekėt’ šnek, tik suprast’ negali; Ėst’ ėd, tik netūnk; Gėrt’ gėrė, tik nerūka; Kramtyt’ krāmta, tik nerūje.

To express the impossibility of an action, a prefixed infinitive is used with conjugated forms of the verbs negalėti, nemokėti (Negalė nugulėt: vartose i vär-tose; Negalė nusėdėt’ — lūksta kai pašėles; Nemók nutylėt’ i viską pasigadin).

To express an instrument, the infinitive is used in the dialect in parallel with the dative and the accusative, without any difference in meaning (Bliūdpalai̇kis jōvalui kabīt’; Kabaraški̇uks rinkėms uždėt’; Regulātorius nusistatyt’ vagōs gilūma i platūma).

Participles

a) Types

Active participles in the dialect, as in standard Lithuanian, have four tenses (present, simple past, frequentative past, and future), e.g.: gyvēngs || gyvēnantis, gyvēnanti; āugęs, āugus; värgdaves, värgdavus, važiuosiąs || važiuosianti, while passive participles have only two (present and simple past), e.g.: līmpams ~ līmpamas, limpamà; vīrc ~ virtas, vīrta. Participles of both voices are widely used in the dialect to form compound verb tenses and to express direct or reported speech, e.g.: esū (I was, I used to be, I will be, I would be, be...) nežinantis (not knowing [masculine], not knowing [feminine], having not known [masculine], having not known [feminine], unknown [masculine], unknown [feminine]...). The most widely used in the dialect are active simple-past participles and passive participles of both tenses, e.g.: (Atlėida, tine; Ar mestōs snige; Ėik nevapėjęs; Nustōk zuimavęs; Vālglyk nepliūrnijęs; Kārve ismīlždīnus; Ėje kai sudegęs; Stōve pasisklēidęs; Vilks āvi pasiplēšęs; Stōve akis ispragīnes; Ėin apsitūčiojęs; Kārve žēme sutrāmpaliavus; Ji pavilōjus būva; Žarnà susivijus; Utelių papjāuč; Ėin kai išnarstye; Mēsū i suktū, i riestūj būva; Suknele visai sužībita.

Necessitive participles, which are closely associated with passive participles, are quite numerous in the dialect; however, ordinarily only their plural forms and singular nominative forms are used, e.g.: pjautini rugėi (kviečēi, mižēi, žirnei, dobilai); pjautinas āvizas, pjautinė vasarōjus), kāstinas ropites, kāstini morkai, rautini linī, kāūptinas ropūtes, kāūptini kopūstai, rīktinas gīles, skitini obuolēi, vēstinė šienc, žavētina žmōna — tōke tamsike. In rare cases, a neuter necessitive participle form also occurs, e.g., Jā būs gyvēntina, gyvēsim.

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b) Pronominal participles

Although pronominal participles are relatively rare in the dialect, pronominal forms can nevertheless occur for all tenses of both voices (in practice, one can say, pronominal forms of the frequentative past do not occur). Pronominal forms of active participles of all tenses are formed from the longer simple forms ending in -ys, e.g.: bėgantysis || bėgantysis; bėgančioje || bėgančioje, gulentysis, gulėnčioje, kėkštentysis, mirštantysis, lekentysis spiric „amoniakas“, žydančioje „greitoji“ džiovė, tikentysis, tikėnčioje, atėjusysis, atėjusioje, nusižengusysis, nusižengusioje, prisikėlęsysis, prisikėlusioje, prisikėlsentysis, prisikėlsenčioje, būsentysis, būsenčioje, žindamoje, kuliamoje „kūlimo mašina“, siuvamoje, pirktoje, pririštasis, nuimtašis, įmerktasis.

Some prefixed reflexive participles in the dialect are also pronominal, e.g.: nusikalnysis, įsigytasis, besiprausentysis.

c) Reflexive participles

Reflexive forms occur among participles of all tenses of both voices. Non-prefixed reflexive participles are very rare in the dialect. Usually, only the nominative singular masculine and feminine forms of all active-voice tenses of certain verbs are used, and in very rare cases also the nominative plural masculine forms. The nominative singular masculine form usually has the reflexive particle si in its ending, followed by the ending -s, e.g.: ilgšis, juokiasis, kėlęsias, klausęsias, praūsiąsis, priklijęsias, kėlėsis, kėldavėsis, kėlsėsis. The only nominative plural masculine forms recorded are simple-past forms ending in -ęslys (e.g., jie būt pėsęsys) and forms with the reflexive particle -se (e.g., jie sau dirbese). In addition to the present-tense masculine reflexive participle forms already mentioned, forms ending in -iąsys also occur occasionally; this ending is probably a blend, formed by analogy with the nominative plural masculine ending of simple participles, e.g.: kėliąsys, juokiąsys, džiaugiąsys, praūsiąsys. The nominative singular feminine forms of present-tense reflexive participles have the reflexive particle -s, e.g., kėlentis, juokentis, džiaugentis, praūsentis; those of the other three tenses have the reflexive particle si-, followed by another s of the ending, e.g.: kėlūsis, kėldavusis, kėlsentis. Alongside forms with the reflexive particle -s, non-prefixed reflexive feminine participles in the nominative singular occasionally occur with the reflexive particle -se, e.g., ji būva laukentiese “pregnant.”

Prefixed reflexive participles are widely used in the dialect. Their reflexive particle si occurs between the prefix and the root, e.g.: besiprausias, besiprausęs || besiprausenti, nusiprausęs, nusiprausus, atsikėlęs, atsikėlėma, acikėlė, acikėlta. Prefixed reflexive participles are declined like the corresponding non-reflexive forms.

d) Participial stems

Active present-tense participles formed from the third-person present-tense forms of a- and o-stem verbs have three possible masculine singular nominative endings. The older forms with the ending -as are frequent and usual (ėinąs, rašąs). Alongside them, newer, longer forms are widespread (ėinantis, rašantis). Somewhat less frequent is

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a form distinguished from the second by the long (usually stressed) -ys (sergantys, augantys, žibantys). The feminine singular nominative ending is, as in standard Lithuanian (lk) (laukianti, šokanti), although, as the reflexive forms show (laukiančiose), its origin may be different (cf. marti < *marti, laukianti < *laukiantie). In cases where these participles stress the ending, older speakers of the dialect widely use phonetically shortened forms without final i, e.g.: bėgānt ~ bėganti, gulēnt “lying,” einānt ~ einanti, nenorēnt “not wanting,” nešānt ~ nešanti, tikēnt “believing,” turēnt “having,” uždirbānt ~ uždirbanti. Analogous feminine participle forms also occur in Samogitian dialects²⁵. Middle-aged and younger speakers here use the full ending in all cases, and often even mock older speakers for pronouncing the shortened forms. These shortened forms are a regular feature of the dialect’s phonetics. However, this was not generalized to root-stressed participles, apparently because their forms differed from those of the present adverbial participles.

Although all i-stem verbs in the dialect have shifted to the ia stem (mylė, košė), the participles of this stem have mostly remained intact in the singular and plural nominative (čiūdūs, čiūaudinti, nóris, nórinti, stóvis; dėvi, liñki, týli), although elsewhere their entire paradigm, influenced by the analogy of the ia stem, alongside its own stem endings, less often also has forms characteristic of the ia stem (stóvincė || stóvenčė, stóvincem || stóvenčem…).

Participles with d before the stem ending yield only with difficulty to this analogy. Throughout the paradigm they are most often declined like i-stems, although ia-stem forms also occur alongside them less frequently. The longer masculine singular nominative forms and the entire feminine paradigm are more strongly affected by the analogy of the ia stem and have its stem ending (stóventis || stóventys, pavýdėntis || pavýdėntis || pavydentýs || pavydėntys, pavydenti || pavydėnti). The adjacent forms pavydė- (more frequent) || pavydė- show that the analogical influence of the ia stem on this participial stem is relatively recent, and that pavydė- is undoubtedly a later product of that influence.

The stem ending of masculine present-tense participles formed from ia-stem verbs is generally twofold in the singular and plural nominative. Here, only participles formed from verbs with the affricates č, dž or the consonants š, ž, ž, and, less often, l, m, r before the stem ending have preserved the ia stem intact (krečiās, gūdžiās, klāusiās, ziržās, čiūžās, dūmās, skiriās, keliās). Other participles formed from verbs of this stem are used in parallel with forms characteristic of the i stem alongside their own stem forms, e.g.: šūkaujas || šūkaujis, dainuojas || dainuojis, lójas || lóji̇s, lėjas || lėji̇s, veli̇s || veli̇s, geri̇s || geri̇s, laukias || laukis, šūkauja || šūkauji, dainuoja || dainuoji, lója || lóji, lėja || lėji, veli̇a || veli̇, geri̇a || geri. The other masculine cases and the entire feminine paradigm retain their stem ending (šūkaujencė, šūkaujencēm… šūkaujenti, velenti, gerenti, lāukenti…).

Passive present-tense participles formed from i-stem verbs, which have recently shifted to the ia stem in the dialect, have generally retained the i stem (dēvims, dēvimā, mylims, mylimā), although it has been observed that, under the influence of the ia-stem analogy, some participles are beginning to be used in parallel with ia-stem endings as well (gālēms || gālīms, gālēmā || gālīmā). Participles with d, t (sometimes also p) before the stem ending have likewise retained the i stem (gīrdims, sēdīms tūpims).

²⁵ Cf. the forms of the Samogitian dunininkai: parēnōntē ~ pareinanti, bēsēdūntē ~ besēdinti (V. Grinaveckis, Op. cit., p. 40, 53).

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The stems of the active and passive participles of all other tenses do not differ in any way from Ik.

The formation of participle forms shows that their stems are older than the present-day stems of the dialect’s verbs, and that the analogy of ia-stem forms with verb forms, especially with participle forms of the į-stem, is recent.

e) Declension of participles

The case endings of participles, like those of Ik, are adjectival and conform to the dialect’s phonetic laws for word-final position²⁶. Only among active participles of all tenses, in the masculine singular dative, are nominal forms also used alongside adjectival forms (augančiam || augančmi, ėjusiaм || ėjusiai, šnekėdavusiam || šnekėdavusiai, čiaudėsiančiam || čiaudėsiančiui). In rare cases, passive participles of both tenses in this case also have a nominal ending alongside the adjectival one (migdomam || migdomui, mokytam || mokytui, matytam || matytui). An analogous case has also been recorded in the Samogitian dialects²⁷.

Paradigm

Active participles

Present tense

Singular

V. augęs || augęs || augantis || augantys, klausias || klausiantis, čiaudis || čiaudin-tis || čiaudentis; auganti || auganti, klausianti, čiaudinti || čiaudenti

K. auganče, klausanče; čiaudinče || čiaudenče; augančes || augančios, klausian-čes

N. growing || growing || to the growing one, listening || to the listening one, sneezing || sniffling || to the sneezing one || to the sniffling one; to the growing one, to the listening one, to the sneezing one || to the sniffling one

G. auganti, klausenti, čiaudinti; auganče, klausenče, čiaudinče

Įn. augančiu, klausenčiu, čiaudinčiu; auganče, klausenče, čiaudinče

Vt. running || running, roaring, blooming || flowering; of the running one || of the running one, of the roaring one, of the blooming one || of the flowering one

Plural

Nom. growing || growing || growing, listening || listening, sneezing || sneezing || sneezing; growing, listening, sneezing

Gen. of those growing || of those growing, listening, sneezing || of those sneezing

Dat. to those growing, listening, sneezing; to those growing (feminine), listening, sneezing

Acc. those growing, listening, sneezing; those growing (feminine), listening, sneezing

Instr. with those growing || with those growing, listening, sneezing; with those growing (feminine) || with those growing (feminine); listening, sneezing

Loc. in those running || in those running, rushing, blooming || blooming; in those running (feminine) || in those running (feminine), rushing, blooming || blooming.

²⁶ See E. Grinaveckienė, Op. cit., pp. 151–158.

²⁷ Cf. the forms of Samogitian predicates raši.tų.ujou, raši.tų.ju. “to the one who wrote” (See V. Drotvinas, V. Grinaveckis, Kalbininkas Kazimieras Jaunius, Vilnius, 1970, p. 148.

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Past single, past frequentative, future tense

Singular

V. fermented, used to work, would drive; having fermented, having used to work, being about to drive

K. of the fermented one, of the one who used to work, of the one about to drive; of the fermented ones, of those who used to work, of those about to drive

N. to the fermented one ‖ to the one who fermented, to the one who used to work ‖ to the one who used to work, to the one about to drive; to the fermented ones, to those who used to work, to those about to drive

G. the fermented one, the one who used to work, the one about to drive; the fermented ones, those who used to work, those about to drive

Įn. with the fermented one, with the one who used to work, with the one about to drive; with the fermented ones, with those who used to work, with those about to drive

Vt. in the fermented one, in the one who used to work, in the one about to drive; in the fermented ones, in those who used to work, in those about to drive

Plural

Nom. rūgė, värgdavė, važiuosią ‖ važiuosentys; rūguses, värgdavuses, važiuosenčės

Gen. rūgusių, värgdavusių, važiuosenčių

Dat. rūgusiems, värgdavusiems, važiuosentiems; rūgusioms, värgdavusioms, važiuo-senčioms

Acc. rūgusius, värgdavusius, važiuosenčius; rūguses, värgdavuses, važiuosenčės

Instr. rūguseis, värgdavuseis, važiuosenčėis; rūgusioms, värgdavusioms, važiuosen-čioms

Loc. bėgančiuos, šniokšdavusiuos, siūbuosenčiuos; bėgančios(e), värgdavusios(e), siūbuosenčios(e)

Passive participles

Singular

V. gūldoms, guldyt; gūldoma, guldýta

K. gūldoma, guldýta; gūldomos, guldýtos

N. gūldomam ‖ gūldomui, guldytam ‖ guldytui; gūldomai, guldytai

G. gūldoma, guldýta

Įn. gūldomu, guldytu; gūldoma, guldýta

Vt. gūldomam, guldytam; gūldomo, guldýto

Plural

V. gūldomi, guldýti; gūldomas, guldýtas

K. gūldomų, guldytų

N. gūldomiems, guldýtiems; gūldomoms, guldýtoms

G. gūldomus, guldýtus; gūldomas, guldýtas

Įn. gūldomais, guldýtais; gūldomoms, guldýtoms

Vt. gūldomuos, guldýtuos; gūldomos(e), guldýtos(e)

Pronominal participles

Singular

V. mirštantysis ‖ mirštantysis, siunčemasis, nusikaltusysis; mirštančioje ‖ mirš-tančioje, siunčemoje, nusikaltusioje

K. dying, being sent, having sinned; dying (feminine plural) ‖ dying (feminine plural), being sent (feminine plural), having sinned (feminine plural)

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N. to the dying man || to the dying man, to the one being sent, to the one who has sinned; to the dying woman, to the one being sent, to the woman who has sinned

G. the dying man, the one being sent, the one who has sinned; the dying woman, the one being sent, the one who has sinned

Įn. by/with the dying man, the one being sent, the one who has sinned; by/with the dying woman, the one being sent, the one who has sinned

See in the dying (masculine singular locative) || in the dying, the sent, the criminal; of the dying, of the sent, of the one who committed a crime

Plural

V. dying, sent, having sinned; dying (feminine), sent (feminine), having sinned (feminine)

G. of those dying || of those dying, of those sent, of those who have sinned

D. to those dying || to those dying || to those dying || to those dying, to those being sent || to those sent, to those who have sinned || to those who have sinned; to those dying (feminine) || to those dying (feminine) || to those dying (feminine) || to those dying (feminine), to those being sent (feminine) || to those sent (feminine), to those who have sinned (feminine) || to those who have sinned (feminine)

A. those dying || those dying, those being sent, those who have sinned; those dying (feminine) || those dying (feminine), those being sent (feminine), those who have sinned (feminine)

I. with those dying || with those dying, with those being sent, with those who have sinned; with those dying (feminine) || with those dying (feminine) || with those dying (feminine), with those being sent (feminine) || with those being sent (feminine), with those who have sinned (feminine) || with those who have sinned (feminine)

Loc. those dying || those dying, those being sent, those who have sinned; those dying (feminine) || those dying (feminine), those being sent (feminine), those who have sinned (feminine)

f) Comparison of participles

The dialect exhibits forms of degrees of comparison for both kinds of participles. They have the suffix and endings of the comparative degree characteristic of adjectives, e.g.: This mushroom is whiter; From the face she is whiter; Father is taller; She is taller than him; His garment is more torn; That father's kerchief is more torn; He is much more tired; She became more talkative.

g) Accentuation of participles

Active-voice present-tense participles (with and without prefixes), formed from primary verbs with ancient root accentuation²⁸, have the accent on the root throughout the paradigm (dãras, dãranti, ẽ̇̃ngs, ẽ̇̃nanti, mieg̃as, mieg̃anti); participles formed from verbs with ancient ending accentuation have the accent on the ending in the singular nominative, while in declension their accent shifts according to the rules of accent class III (muš̃s, mušanti, prisimenąs, prisimenanti, šnekąs, šnekanti). It should be noted, however, that this system of accentuation in the present-tense forms of participles formed from verbs with ancient ending accentuation is not stable. Alongside forms with accent on the ending, root-accented forms have increasingly become established in recent times (mùšas, mùšanti, šnẽkas, šnẽkanti…). In addition, the dialect has several present-tense participles with an acute root that are accented in two ways: on the root and on the ending (ãugas || augãs, ãuganti || augantì, bė̃gąs || bėgãs || bėganti || bėganti, dir̃bas || dirbãs, dirbanti || dirbanti, dúodas || duodãs, dúo-

²⁸ See K. Būga, Op. cit., p. 48–55.

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danti || duodanti). Analogous cases of accentuation are also characteristic of Žemaitian dialects²⁹. It is noteworthy that cases of ending accentuation in these participles are somewhat more frequent in the speech of the oldest speakers of the dialect and are falling out of use.

In earlier times, apparently, most present-tense participles in the dialect were accented on the ending. This is shown, first of all, by the fossilized forms of feminine participles with ending accentuation used in the speech of older people, whose accent is now regularly placed only on the root (laukias, laukianti, alongside laukiãnt ~ laukiañti, ė̃ngs, einanti, alongside einant̃ ~ einañti, noris, nórinti || noreñti, alongside norė̃nt “wanting,”). This is also confirmed by the accentuation of participles in Fr. Kurschat’s dialect, which is adjacent to this dialect³⁰.

That the present-tense accent in the dialect really does tend to shift from the ending to the root is also shown by the regularly root-accented forms of present-tense participles today: dė̃das, dėdanti, gū̃lis, gūlinti || gūleñti, tū̃ris, tū́rinti || tū́renti, even though the verbs from which they are formed have ending accentuation in the dialect.

Active-voice past frequentative, past habitual, and future participles, with and without prefixes, like 1k, have the accent and intonation of the verb forms from which they are formed, e.g.: bėgęs, bėgus, bėgdavęs, bėgdavus, bėgsias, bėgsenti, išbėgęs, išbėgus.

Present-tense passive participles (with and without prefixes), formed from all polysyllabic verbs and disyllabic o-stem verbs, have fixed accentuation. Their accent placement and intonation are the same throughout the paradigm as those of the third-person verb forms from which they are formed, e.g.: árdoms, ár doma, bauginams, bauginama, skáiniojams, skái- niojama, važiuojams, važiuojama. In participles formed from other disyllabic verbs, the accent shifts within the paradigm according to accent class III, e.g.: dirbams, dirbamà, dirbamái, dirbamõ. The accent placement and intonation of neuter-gender participles of this tense are the same as those of the masculine forms (apdirbama, pasakoma).

Past passive participles are accented in three ways: those formed from polysyllabic verbs retain the infinitive’s accent and intonation throughout the paradigm (apseliõc, apseliõta, išakéc, išakéta, pavažiš, pavažišta, užgyvéc, užgyvéta); those formed from disyllabic verbs with an acute root, unlike in 1k, are regularly accented consistently (ikálc, ikálta, įpjáuc, įpjáuta, málc, málta, pakélc, pakélta, pagírc, pagírta, nusáuc, nusáuta, vírc, vírta); those formed from disyllabic verbs with a circumflex or short root are accented, as in 1k, according to accent class IV (káupc, káupta, káuptõs, kė́pc, keptà, kìrpc, kirptà, vė́rpc, verpà). Prefixed participles with these roots (except participles with the prefix par- ‘per-’, which have the prefix accented) are accented according to accent class IIIᵇ (išgrįstas, išgrįsta, pàlikc, paliktà, paliktám...).

Necessitative participles are accented, as in 1k, according to accent class III; the only difference is that root-stressed a and e are regularly lengthened here to long vowels (sė́ktins, vė́štins, kàštins, tḗptins, mḗkstins)³¹.

Half-participle

In the dialect, as in 1k, there are simple and reflexive half-participles of both genders and numbers, e.g.: ė́dams, ė́damà, ė́dami, ė́damas, pasišokinėdams. Both types are generally formed and accented as in 1k, except that the half-participle ė́dams, when prefixed, as in the Samogitian dialects³², more often (especially in the speech of older dialect speakers) accents the prefix, e.g.: išei-

²⁹ Žr. V. Grinaveckis, Op. cit., p. 219, 292.

³⁰ Žr. Fr. Kurschat, Op. cit., p. 290–291.

³¹ Cf. Lithuanian Grammar, II, p. 374.

³² Cf. V. Grinaveckis, Op. cit., p. 226.

20*

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dams, nėeidams, pāreidams, prieidams. The latter accentuation is undoubtedly older³³.

Reflexive half-participles without a prefix, being less common (especially plural forms), have a generalized feminine plural nominative form for both genders and numbers, with the reflexive particle -s, as in the Samogitian dialects, e.g.: jis (ji, jiẽ, jõs, juõdu, juõdvi) šnēk vaipydamos, ēin juokdāmōs, bardāmōs, džiaugdamōs.

This shows that half-participles are becoming fixed in the dialect. In rare cases, reflexive masculine plural forms of the half-participle occur with the reflexive particle -se, e.g., ēin šnekēdamiese, išējē raukydamiese, mužāžava vāidydamiese.

Sometimes forms of the half-participle are used without a reflexive particle but retain a reflexive meaning, e.g.: Tėvs šnēk vaipydams; Parēin par kiēma juōkdams.

The action of the half-participle, expressing a second action of the same subject alongside the predicate action, most often takes place at the same time as the predicate action in the dialect (Šāu parējē ēsdams; Āntys vīrsdams parēm; Įskurdau kārve bēganydama; Ka tik aš dainuodama nesumišē.). Half-participles indicate the time of the predicate action (Jis nūna keldams — nór miēga; Atsiplēšau nagūs beravēdama; Aš tavi prisokdama priēmišiu „padēsiu“; Turēdami lāika pasidarykit), manner (Duod su kultūve apsivarty dāms; Jis apsisūkīdams „iš kelių kartų“ pas mus būva; Pasišlapīk spēmi užsiimīzdama; Ēje pasišokīnēdams; Pāršai žolēs prisispirdami vāra „ēda“; Parējē svāigaliuodams; Pasišluoždama pasišluoždama į nāje; Ēin kai gīrc lōvas jiēškōdams; Nutila kaip vālgydams; Nusipirkau lyg žinōdams), and cause (Besitęsy dama kārve gāl mutrūkti brizgila; Ji nūmirē po tą pėlke bevēikščiodama).

Supine

The dialect’s supines, like those of Standard Lithuanian, are simple and reflexive. They are inflected for tense, but have only present and simple past forms, e.g.: bėgēkėnt, bēgyvėnant, numirus, susigūgus, juōkēntis, susipyškus. Tense formation and accentuation generally do not differ from Standard Lithuanian; however, the present supine ēinant, when it takes the prefixes at-, iš-, nu-, par-, has two possible accentuations—on the root and on the prefix, e.g.: ātēinant || atēinant, išēinant || išēinant, nuēinant || nuēinant, parēinant || parēinant. In the speech of older dialect speakers, the prefix is more often stressed in this case, but this type of accentuation is rapidly disappearing from use. The accentuation on the prefix of the supine ēinant with prefixes once again confirms the view that the participle ēinęs formerly had ending stress in the dialect.

In the dialect, the supine most often indicates the time of the main action (Jie parūš bētēms-tant; Mēzgrant juk nešalt; Prieblinda parējē — dā visai nesutēmūs; Kiek tų skysčīn išgarūo bēkepant; Bēgyvėnant visāip būn; Aš tavi ēinant numešiu; Betraukēnt į nutrāukiau; Kad būt kur nemuvīrte bevaziuojent; Jis mā bēvalgant atšala; Tu ant tūrgaus bešovent pāršalai; Jis mā bēinant nukrita). Less often, it expresses a circumstantial condition, e.g.: Iš šalies žiūrēnt piktums im; Bēgulēnt juk nuvarksti. In the dialect, the supine is widely used in place of active present participles (Bevālgant paliksi, besipēšant rasi; Nematyt’ parēinant — tur būt nevažiūōs; Lāuku atēinant; Šīmet macīau gārni lēkent; Nematāu parvažiuojent). In impersonal sentences, supines

³³ Plg. P. Skardžius, Daukšos akcentologija, Kaunas, 1935, p. 227.

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thus express manner, e.g.: Reik' nusipaveiksluot' besiūokent i berėkent; Ką darai, reik' daryt' nesiskūbinant; Reik' šnekėt' kaip nieka nežinant; Turi prrāit pro šalį kaip nieka nematant.

Manner adverbial

Manner adverbials in the dialect are formed from the infinitive stems of all non-prefixed, non-reflexive verbs, using only the suffix -te. They occur with forms of verbs having the same root, in all tenses, persons, and moods; these forms may be simple or reflexive, and may or may not have prefixes, e.g.: daužyte dauža, kąste nukanda, rekte rėkčia, vestė parsivežė, keptė kepk, vestė tevedie. Manner adverbials are very productive in the dialect and are used to express manner of action, e.g.: Nė kėlte, nė eitė par Nėmuną neīdovom.

Unlike in Standard Lithuanian, manner adverbials formed from disyllabic stems with a falling root accent and from polysyllabic infinitives with a falling-accent suffix always retain the root’s inherent falling accent, e.g.: šokte, bėkte, laužte, traukte, sakyte³⁴.

Received 1973. III. 20

Э. ГРИНАВЯЦКЕНЕ

THE VERB IN THE MITUVA RIVER BASIN DIALECT

Abstract

The article is a section of the author's more extensive work “The Dialect of the Mituva River Basin.”

Drawing on dialect data already available and additional material collected by the author up to 1973, the article presents the pattern of inflection and, in part, the use of conjugated and non-conjugated verb forms in this dialect.

Unlike the literary language, the dialect has only three vowel-stem verb classes: those with stems in a (šokam “we dance”), ia (aūdžem “we weave”), and o (žinom “we know”). Verbs with stems in i have shifted to the ia-stem class (žiūrem “we watch”). This process is not yet fully complete. Remnants of the i-stem class still occur in dual forms, especially in verbs whose stem ends in the consonant d (girdva || girdeva || girdževa “we two hear”). Some traces of consonant stems have also been preserved in the dialect. In the present tense, alongside vowel-stem forms, the verbs miegóti “to sleep,” raudóti “to cry,” and skaudėti “to hurt” also have parallel, conflated forms with remnants of consonant stems (miegam || mieg tam “we sleep,” raudam || raūstam “we cry,” skaūd || skaūst “it hurts, they hurt”), while the verbs peršėti and niežėti “to itch” are used in the same tense in conflated forms that preserve remnants of consonant stems (perš(č)e, niežt(a) “it itches, they itch”). Conflated forms of these verbs with remnants of consonant stems predominate throughout their paradigms (peršė́t || peršė́, niežtė́ || niežė́ “to itch,” peršė́je, niežtė́je || niežė́je “it itched” …).

³⁴ Cf. Lietuvių kalbos gramatika, II, p. 424.

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As a result of the regular phonetic change of the diphthongal sequence in to ī- in the dialect, the infinitives of verbs with the suffixes -yt and -inf have become formally identical (rūdūt “to rust,” gaivīt ~ gaivinti “to revive”). Consequently, in the present and past single-action tenses, verbs with the suffix -yt have parallel forms alongside their regular forms that are characteristic of verbs with the suffix -it, and vice versa (spirgīt ~ spirginti “to fry”: spirgin(a) || spirga “he/she/it fries, they fry,” spīrgina || spīrgē “he/she/it fried, they fried,” gīnčyt “to argue”: gīnčy(je) || gīnčin(a) “he/she/it argues, they argue,” gīnčije || gīnčina “he/she/it argued, they argued”).

All primary verbs with the qualitative root-vowel alternation au- ou have the consonant j between the root and the ending in the present tense and in other forms derived from it, unlike in the literary language (krāuj-jem “we pile up”).

As in neighboring Samogitian dialects, an archaic third-person form of the past single-action tense with the stressed ending -ot has been preserved here: pašikōt “and don’t even think about it.” It can most likely be regarded as a remnant of an ancient form with the enclitic particle *ti. It may also well be related to the ancient ide form of this tense, of the type *pasīkat(i).

The distribution of verbs by aspect is the same as in the literary language; however, the aspectual class of some prefixed verbs is best discerned in context, for example: Baigīi nulipt no stōga “I am finishing descending from the roof”; although prefixed, the verb nulipti is imperfective.

The transitivity or intransitivity of verbs is often also clearest in a sentence, for example: Nōrmas ēit sūnku “It is hard to carry out the norms”; the usually intransitive verb ēiti is transitive here.

The dialect has three variants of the reflexive particle: -s, -si, -se. The form -si is always used in the middle of a word (susipešē “they fought”) and, rarely, in its ending (in the speech of young people) (pēstiosi “I am fighting”); -s usually occurs only at the end (mūšas “they fight”); in infinitive forms and in the first and third persons, and rarely also the second person, of singular verbs, the older generation uses the postpositive particle -se (pēšise “to fight,” prausīose “I wash myself,” prāusese “he/she/it washes himself/herself/itself”). The particle -se is most probably a reduced form of the enclitic accusative particle *sēn.

The impersonal verb reikēti “to be necessary” can sometimes also be used personally in the past single-action tense (Aš reikėjau neval-gyt “I had to not eat”).

In the present tense, the verb būti “to be” has forms with three roots. The root ēs- (the narrow ē was most likely formed by contraction from ne + es, by analogy with nēra < ne + yra) is used in the first and second persons of the singular, plural, and dual (ēsi “I am,” ēsi “you are,” ēsam “we are,” ēsat “you are,” ēsava “we two are,” ēsata “you two are”). The root form bū-, with the parallel suffixal formatives -n, -v, and -y, occurs throughout the present-tense paradigm (būni || būvi “I am,” būni || būvi “you are,” būnam || būvam “we are,” būnat || būvat “you are,” būnava || būvava “we two are,” būnata || būvata “you two are,” būn(a) || būv(a) “he/she/it is”). The root form yг- is used only in the third person.

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The personal forms of individual stems in the dialect are almost the same as in the literary language, but some are distinctive. Three forms of the 1st person singular subjunctive are used in the dialect: with the ending -iau, as in the literary language (ēičiau “I would go”), with the ending -ia (ēičia), and with the phonologically shortened ending -č on a palatalized consonant (ēič). The article suggests that the latter form is most probably a phonologically shortened form with the ending -ia. In the 2nd person singular, alongside the literary-language form (ēitum “you would go”), a more archaic form with the full ending -итmei (ēitumei) is also widely used. The 1st and 2nd persons plural, unlike in the literary language, have preserved the older forms with fuller endings -итēm(e), -итēt(e) (ēitитēm(e) “we would go”). In the 3rd person subjunctive, two forms are used: one with the ending -u, as in the literary language (ēitų “he would go, she would go, they would go”), and one with only the infinitive suffix -t (ēit; the latter form is relatively rare). Reflexive verbs in the 3rd person occur in the following forms: with endings -us || -use || -uос || uose || -os || -ose (pěštys || pěš-tųse || pěštųse, pěštos || pěštose “he would fight, she would fight, they would fight”).

We hypothesize that the forms with endings -os || -ose are most probably morphologically related to the form ēičia in the dialect under study (<?ēičio, cf. Samogitian ēičio, nēščio), which may derive from the older form ēičio used in Daukša’s writings.

The personal forms of the imperative in the dialect are the same as in the literary language, although some present-tense forms also serve this function (eime || eimekim “let’s go,” eiva “let us both go”). In the 2nd person singular, a form without k (sēm “scoop”) is occasionally found in rapid speech, especially when the stem ends in a consonant. A fossilized imperative form without k and with an irregularly truncated stem has also been preserved: palā < palāuk “wait”.

To indicate movement toward a place, the adverb še~šēn “here” is added to each imperative form; in all cases, it attracts the stress to itself. In the 2nd person singular, the adverb is postpositive (eikšē “come here”), whereas in the plural and dual forms it occurs between the stem and the suffix (eikšēkit “come here,” eikšēkiva “let us both come here,” eikšēkita “you two come here”). There are instances in which the adverb še is repeated twice; in that case, the stress falls on the second še (eikšēšē, eikšēšēkit, eikšēšēkita).

In the desiderative mood, alongside the forms used in the literary language (tegu ein(a) || teēin(a) “let him/her go, let them go”), forms with the particles tegu, te are also used. These are formed from the present-tense stem with the ending -ie (for vowel stems in a, ia: teēinie, tegulie “let him/her/it lie, let them lie”) or -ai (for a vowel stem in o: tesiztinai “let him/her/it act, let them act as he/she/they wishes”).

The 1st- and 2nd-person singular forms of the present and past tenses that are stressed on the ending are pronounced with falling intonation, unlike in the literary language, as in the neighboring Samogitian dialects (sakāu “I say,” sakiau “I said”; ejdū “I went,” ejēi “you went”).

The dialect uses four tenses of active participles (present, past frequentative, past iterative, and future) and two of passive participles—

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(present and past frequentative), for example: dirbąs “working,” dirbęs “having worked,” dirbdavęs “having often worked,” dirbsias “who will be working”; dirbams “being worked,” dirbę “worked.” All these participles vary by gender and are declined. Passive participles of both tenses and active past frequentative participles are used most often. Alongside them, nominative singular and plural forms of necessitative participles are also widely known (pjautini rugiai “ripe rye that needs to be mown”). Participles of both voices may also be pronominal (bėgantysis “the running one,” bėgančioje “the running one [feminine]”). Some have become substantivized (kuliamoja “threshing machine”).

Most reflexive participles in the dialect are used with prefixes. Their reflexive particle -si- occurs between the prefix and the stem (besiprausiąs || besipraūsiantis “washing himself,” besipraūsianti “washing herself”). Prefixless forms, in which the reflexive particle -si- occurs in the ending, are also occasionally found (džiaūgiąsis “rejoicing,” džiaūgentis “rejoicing” [feminine]). Reflexive participles with the particle -se in the ending also occur (ji būva laukiantiese “she was waiting, pregnant”; jie sau dirbęse “they had worked for themselves”).

Masculine active participles in the nominative present most often occur in the older forms (einąs “going,” einą “going” [plural]). Forms with a vowel stem are also known (einantis einantys). A nominative singular form ending in -ys is less common (žibantys “shining”). The feminine always has a vowel stem form (laukianti “waiting” [feminine]); its final stressed -i usually drops in a phonologically regular way (laukiant < laukianti, but šokanti “dancing” [feminine]).

Although all verbs with an i-stem, as mentioned above, shifted to ia-stem verbs in the dialect, the i-stem is nevertheless preserved in participles (girdis || gūrdintis “hearing,” girdinti “hearing” [feminine]). However, alongside i-stem forms in the paradigm of these participles, ia-stem forms also occur in parallel (though less often), by analogy with participles and verbs having an ia-stem (stovince || stovence “standing” [genitive]). The article suggests that both participles and verbs with an i-stem have relatively recently come under the influence of verbs and participles with an ia-stem, but that this process took place even later in participles. Unlike in the literary language, all masculine participles formed from verbs with an ia-stem that have a consonant j before the ending take the endings -is, -i rather than -igs, -ig in the nominative singular and plural (šūkaujs “shouting” šūkauji “shouting” [plural]). Occasionally, the endings -is, -i, alongside -igs, -ig, are also characteristic of forms in these cases of participles with l, r, or k before the ending (veliąs || velįs “rolling,” velią || velį “rolling” [plural], geriąs || gerįs “drinking,” gerią || gerį “drinking” [plural], laukias || laukis “waiting,” laukia || laukė “waiting” [plural]).

All participles are declined like adjectives; however, the masculine dative singular occasionally also uses an ending characteristic of nouns (mokytam || mokytui “to the learned one,” augančiam || augančiui “to the growing one”).

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Some participles of both voices have a comparative form, formed on the model of adjectives (nubālēšnis “paler,” nuvargēšne “more tired,” sušnekamēšne “more accommodating”).

All participles formed from disyllabic verbs with ancient root stress have retained root stress in the present-tense forms (dā̃ras “doing”), whereas those formed from verbs with ancient ending stress have stress on the ending (mūšās “beating”); however, within the paradigm, stress in these too shifts to the root (mūšancē “of the one beating”). In this connection, a tendency toward the merging of the two stress patterns can be observed, and many participles with ending stress also acquire root stress in the nominative forms (mūšas, mūša).

Passive participles formed from disyllabic verbs with root stress and falling intonation fully retain the position of stress and the intonation in the past-tense forms, unlike in the literary language (īkáltas “driven in,” īkálta “driven in” [fem.], īkálti “driven in” [pl.]).

Unlike in the literary language, the stressed root vowels a, e in necessitative participles formed from primary verbs with short root a, e are always pronounced long (kāstinas “ripe (of potatoes), which must be dug up,” vēžtins “dry (of hay), which must be hauled”).

In their formation and stress placement, semi-participles and gerunds do not differ from those in the literary language; however, the semi-participle ēidams “while going” and the gerund ēinant “as one goes,” when prefixed, most often have stress on the prefix (especially in the speech of the older generation) (išeidams, pāreidams, nūeidams, āteidams; išeinant, āteinant, pāreinant, nūeinant).

Unprefixed reflexive semi-participles have a generalized form ending in -os for both genders and numbers (šnēk(a) vaipýdamos “he, they speak while smirking”).

The dialect has gerunds only in the present and past tenses (sēdint ‖ sēdent “sitting,” “having fallen ill”).

Infinitive II (būdinys) in the dialect is formed from unprefixed non-reflexive verbs with only one suffix, -te (šōkte “jumping,” bēgte “at a run”). It is always used with other forms of that same verb and, unlike in the literary language, only forms derived from verbs with root stress and rising intonation have stress on the ending (klyktē klīkt “to roar a roar,” but láužte, sēdēte).

Received 20 March 1973

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