BALTŲ KALBŲ VEIKSMAŽODŽIO TYRINĖJIMAI

LIETUVOS TSR MOKSLŲ AKADEMIJA

A. VIDUGIRIS

INFLECTION OF THE VERB IN THE ZIETELOS DIALECT

Linguists know most about the verb in the Zietelos dialect from the works of P. Arumaa, E. Fraenkel, Chr. Stang, and Z. Zinkevičius¹, which deal chiefly with rarer and more distinctive features.

This article seeks to present as complete a picture as possible of verb inflection in the Zietelos dialect. The article is part of a larger work, written in 1957—1961 about the Zietelos dialect, and is printed here with only minor editing and the addition of a few new examples².

1. General Remarks

§ 1. Verbs have four moods: indicative, subjunctive, imperative, and desiderative.

The indicative has three tenses: present, past (simple), and future. The dialect has no separate forms for the past frequentative tense. Its former use is shown by adverbialized forms būlau, būlo, e.g.: būlau, giedame visalòkas giemės “we used to, we sing all kinds of hymns (songs)”; būlo, an Pētro kãsa kunodãs “it used to be, around Peter’s day (June 29), they dig potatoes.” The repeated and iterative nature of an action is expressed mainly by derivational means, especially the suffixes -inėti, -dinėti, and others.

Verbs have two numbers: singular and plural. The dual is no longer used. Only one sentence has been recorded with the 1st person plural subjunctive ending -va, used incorrectly in the 2nd person: pastorōkitės, kad jūs būt u v a a b u d u “take care (make an effort) that you two be” (P. Dicevičiūtė-Chaleckienė, from Pagiriai village).

In all moods and tenses, the 1st person plural forms most often end in -m, and the 2nd person forms in -t. However, occasionally -me or -mė, -te are also said, and sometimes -te. The ending vowel -ė was probably introduced on the model of reflexive verbs, cf. turimės, turitės.

The third-person forms of the singular and plural are always identical.

§ 2. Infinitive forms in the dialect are usually shortened, e.g.: áust, bėginėt, diūot, gẽrt, giedót, kirpt, krimst, varguót “to suffer hardship.” The final consonant t³, however, seems to be slightly softer than in the southern West Aukštaitian dialects. Perhaps

¹ See P. Arumaa, Litauische mundartliche Texte aus der Wilnaer Gegend mit grammatischen Anmerkungen, Dorpat, 1931 (hereafter — LMT); E. Fraenkel, Der Stand der Erforschung des im Wilnagebiete gesprochenen Litauischen, — Balticoslavica, vol. II, Wilno, pp. 14—107; Chr. S. Stang, Die litauische Mundart von Zasėčiai im Gebiete von Wilna, — Norsk Tidskrift for Sprogvidenskap, vol. 18, Oslo, 1958, pp. 171—201 (hereafter— NTS); Z. Zinkevičius, Lietuvių dialektologija, Vilnius, 1966.

² On the morphology of the dialect, work has been published on verb formation with the suffixes -inėti, -dinėti, MAD, A, vol. 2(11), pp. 219—231; on the pronoun, LKK, vol. 3, pp. 113—131, and the noun, LKK, vol. 11, pp. 147—182. For a few remarks on the dialect’s phonetics, see LKK, vol. 2, pp. 195 ff.

³ Plg. K. Būga, Zýtėlos šnektą (užrašai), rankraštis Vilniaus valstybinio V. Kapsuko universiteto bibliotekos Rankraštyne (toliau — ZŠ), p. 19 (rašo sjūtō).

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to be, this impression arises because this t in the Zietela dialect is completely unaspirated or at least less aspirated than, for example, around Kybartai. In addition, in the Zietela dialect, the infinitive ending consonant t, when it occurs before voiced consonants or sonorants l, m, n, r and the semivowel j, often becomes voiced, e.g.: láugd~láukti, nudᵘdinėd~nuduodinėti, padaríd~padaryti, pérnakvod~pérnakvoti, ragėd~regėti, turėd~turėti, važiuod~važiuoti.

Infinitives in -ti are used less frequently: áiti, dūmi'ti “to smoke,” girdėti, glūdi'ti “to smooth, to stroke,” jėsti “to eat,” varinėti. Forms in -tie occur only very rarely, e.g.: būt ie, pjautie. That they were used more frequently in the past is shown by examples recorded by K. Būga: yškuotie, jįmtie, šienavūotie⁴.

The infinitive of reflexive verbs most often ends in -tis, e.g.: bārtis, guldāvi'tis “to lie down,” kūltis “to fight, to strive,” riñktis “to get ready,” varītis, more rarely -ties, e.g.: turėtíes “to hold on.” The reflexive particle often occurs at the end of prefixed verbs as well, e.g.: nėgalu pavef sties “I cannot turn into,” jėmė žmonės pærbūda-votinėtis an futurū “people began moving to homesteads,” see also § 41.

§ 3. The dialect entirely lacks the supine, the adverbial participle, and forms of the present active, future, and necessitative participles. The gerund forms have also disappeared; see § 51.

2. Conjugation

Indicative mood

Present tense

Consonant stem. § 4. A few verbs have survived in the dialect, mostly with third-person athematic, or consonant-stem, forms. The other person forms have either contaminated endings or endings found exclusively in athematic verbs. The paradigms of the verbs ait, dėt, giedót, jėst, mi'gót have the greatest number of contaminated forms:

Singular

1. aimù, dēmù, jēmù⁵, gìemù, mièg mù

2. aimi, dēmi, jēmi, gìemi, miègmi

3. ait(i), dāst, rč. dėst(i), jēst(i), gíest(i), mīg(e)t(i)

aima, dēma, jēma, gìema, mīgma

Plural

1. aimam(e), dēmam, jēmam, gìemam, miègmam,

2. aimat(e), dēmat, jēmat, gìemat, miègmat

Notes. § 5. The aforementioned athematic verbs are characterized by a variety of forms. Contaminated forms with -m-, generalized from the 1st person singular, are used most often, e.g., aimù, jėmu, dėmi, gíemam, mīgmat(e). Only in the 3rd person are athematic forms used more often: ānas aĩt ir aĩt an dārbo “he goes and goes to work”; bėginėdami jēšti ānas “while running around, he eats,” tvārte dāst višta; padēst vežima; ot, gìesti gražai “well, it sings beautifully”; jāu mīe kt anā. And the contaminated forms of that person are somewhat

⁴ K. Būga, ZS, p. 11—12.

⁵ Forms with two accents indicate that they may be accented in either of two ways, e.g., jėmu, jėmi, jėmù, jėmi, etc.

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They are used less often: now everyone is going home; they sit down together in one place and graze; and still everyone eats; women sing even while working.

Sometimes forms made from 3rd-person athematic forms with the thematic ending -a occur, e.g.: gĩsta “sings,” jėstasi “is eaten, is being eaten,” lieksta “remains,” peršta “stings,” skausta “aches.” Some of these forms may be derived according to derivatives with the suffix -sta (diksta, džiūsta).

Some speakers of the dialect sometimes use 3rd-person forms made on the basis of the past-tense stem, e.g.: dėja “puts,” gidója “sings,” migója “sleeps.” Those who have learned to read or have interacted with speakers of other Lithuanian dialects also use the standard-language endings for the verb eiti: einu, eini, eina.

§ 6. The forms of the verb “to be” are highly varied. The generalized form irà most often refers to a person at the moment of speaking: aš irà nai mažesnis “I am the smallest,” tu irà didėšnis kap aš; mė̄s jau visi čà irà. Of the athematic present-tense verb with the root es-, only the form ãsti was recorded (heard in unnatural pronunciation with two accents): apskalãuna ru·būs, ir vėl grãžu·s ãsti.

To mean “live,” forms of the root bū- are most commonly used: aš būstu gerai; kap tū būsti; kas vargūoja, o kas gerai būsta “some struggle, while others live well”; mė̄s tep ir būstam; o jūs kap būstat? An infinitive būsti is also sometimes formed on the basis of these forms, as are conditional forms, e.g., dar mūmi nė čà būsti, nė važūoti “now we have neither to stay here nor to travel,” lagadnai būstumēm “we would live well.” The noun būsti·mas “life, being” also has this root.

Both female speakers from Pagiriai village more often used forms derived by contamination, with the formant -m-, e.g., aš būmu daiktė “I live in the city,” senėik būmu an svieto; nemóžna ait žu·rėt, kur anà būma; mė̄s čà būmam kap ir pirmáik. Like the form būstu, būmu too is sometimes accented on the final syllable: bu·stù, bu·mù.

Alongside the forms būsta, būma, būna, būva are also occasionally said. The infinitive būti: šen àtait anas ir būti is sometimes even used in the sense of the 3rd person: “he comes here and is.” To express a brief and frequent occurrence of being somewhere, the dialect generally uses the form buvóti, e.g.: anà Žiteloj dažnaĩ buvója; ir aš kap kadaik buvóju ten.

§ 7. The athematic 3rd-person form dúosti, formed from the verb duoti “to give,” is rare: ãni·s jãm viso dúosti “they give him everything.” The secondary verb pazdu·zdinėjas “gives in” was most likely formed on the basis of this form; du·dinėja is more common. Nowadays, the forms dúoju, dúoji, dúoja, dúojam, dúojat are used most often, as in šluoju, šluoji, šluoja⁶.

§ 8. The dialect also has other verbs that have only one form, most often the 3rd-person athematic form, e.g.:

-likt(i): and he goes, not staying home alone⁶ “and he goes, does not stay home alone”; then bōt: runs around a lot, not lagging behind “after his father (the child) follows closely, does not fall behind”;

niẽžti: somehow the leg itches;

peršti: my throat stings;

⁶ Chr. Stang considers them to have arisen under the influence of Belarusian даю, дает, дае; see Chr. S. Stang, NTS, vol. 18, p. 194.

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skaūst(i): vidui s k a ū s t; pirštūs labai s k a ū s t i.

Forms with the 3rd-person present-tense ending -ti also occur, which in the dialect are usually thematic only.

Often, two athematic forms can occur in one sentence: one old, the other probably newer, usually identical with the infinitive, e.g.:

sėsti: bėginėdami jėsti anas, nesėsti “he eats while running around, does not sit down”;

sumálti: agūnų samált do jėst “she grinds poppy seeds and eats”;

vįršti: gįšti drūžina, až pirkã vįršti “the young men sing, until the house even topples, collapses”;

užmėsti: an pečių išmėsti do per kaklą ir aiti “she throws it over the shoulders, also over the neck, and goes.”

Sometimes the athematic form of such verbs also occurs alone in a phrase, e.g.:

áusti: káp nūima nūg snauničos, tai jau áusti “when she takes it off the loom, then she is already weaving”;

to wash: the cow washes blood;

pinti, razskėlt: raskált aną jās ir pinti “she splits them (the little roots) and weaves”;

raūst: džikei raūst, kab iškabina, tai káp plūgū “the boars root around; when they hook onto it, it is like ploughs”;

to vomit: and she had nothing, did not vomit anything.

All these forms demonstrate the abundance of athematic verbs in the dialect.

a-stem. § 9. One of the more characteristic features of the formation of a-stem verbs in the dialect is that some present-tense verbs with different roots have been adjusted to the other principal forms (past tense and infinitive). These are:

a) verbs which have the vowel e in the present-tense stem before sonorants, e.g.: kirpa: kirpo, kirpt, krimta: krimto, krimst, liūda: liūdo, liūst, pirka: pirko, pirkt, rińka || rynko, ryńkt, slińka: slińko, slińkt, vija “winds”: vijo, vyti, vira: virė, virt⁷;

b) verbs which in standard Lithuanian have an infix, e.g.: brida ‘is wading’: brido, brist, lipa ‘sticks’: lipo, lipt, plūka ‘plucks’: plūko, plūkt, sniga: snigo, snigt, svila: svilo, svilt, šila: šilo, šilt;

c) also the following verbs: gija: gijo, git, gima: gimė, gimt, lija: lijo, lit, lika: liko, likt, mira: mirė, mir(t).

But this present-tense derivational feature is probably not an old phenomenon in the dialect, since alongside it one still quite often hears: gija, gimsta, kerpa, keičia, kremta, lainda (< lenda), lija, mėna ‘remembers, recalls’, lieka || lika, miršta, peįka, prikemša, rańka || reńka, svila, šila.

There are very few present-tense verbs of the a-stem with an infix in the dialect: patįnka: patįko, rańda: rādo, sāpranta: saprāto, šūnta: šūto.

Most other a-stem verbs are the same as in standard Lithuanian: aūga, aūna, bėga, dirba, gūla, ima || jima, kanda, kėpa, lūpa, męta, mina, móka, pina, riša, rita, skina, skūta, šūva, sūka, šāla, šóka, vėda, vėža, žinda || žbnda.

There are few (n)a-stem verbs (or verbs with the suffix -na) in the dialect. These are mostly forms that have -ov- before the ending in the past tense, and -au- in other forms,

⁷ That the past-tense forms, rather than the infinitive, had a greater influence on the emergence of such present-tense forms is shown by verbs whose infinitive differs from their present and past-tense forms, e.g.: list, likt, virt.

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e.g.: džáuna: džóvė, pjáuna: pjovė, ráuna: róvė, sagáuna: sagóvė, sakráuna: sakróvė, kráuna, rč. kráuja;

There are quite a number of (st)a-stem and (št)a-stem verbs (or verbs with the suffixes -sta, -šta) in the dialect, e.g.: apgįrsta ‘gets drunk’, āūšta, dīksta ~ dýgsta, dźūsta, gaišta ‘disappears, vanishes’, gęšta, grįšta, isigāsta, išplūksta ‘flows out’, ištrūksta, išvįsta, klūm(p)sta, mėgsta || mėsta ‘loves’, mirksta, miršta, nuvįsta, pažįsta, plįšta, prijunksta, prirūksta ~ prirūgsta, rūksta | ‘smoulders’, sasilksta ‘grows tedious, becomes tiresome’, tinšta, viršta.

There are also further verbs with the suffix -sta, -šta that do not have this suffix in standard Lithuanian, e.g.: dulksta ‘gets dusty’, guršta ‘breaks’, išpūlsta ‘falls out, drops’, pūsta ‘rots’, the hybrid form nutīksta ‘falls silent’.

Many verbs with -sta (-šta) also have various other variant forms, e.g.: dźūsta || dźūna, gimsta || gimė, gįsta || gįja, gįja, grūsta, rč. grūna, ištrūksta || ištrūka, mė(k)sta, rč. mėga, lįpsta || lįpa ‘sticks’, pavóksta, dž. vōga ‘steals’, prirūgsta || prirūga, sasti̇ksta || sasti̇ka, susitįnka, uskeršta || uskerd(ž)a ‘slaughters’, tėmsta || tėma, tinšta || tina.

Some standard Lithuanian verbs with the suffix -sta have a different suffix in the dialect, e.g.: sasilkāunina ‘gets hungry’, senėja ‘grows old’, slizgoja(si) ‘slips’, vargūja ‘toils’.

§ 10. a-stem verbs are conjugated as follows:

Singular

1. bėgu, nešu, viru, mė(k)stu, pjáunu, mōkinu

2. bėgi, neši, viri, mė(k)sti, pjáuni, mōkini

3. bėga, neša, vira, mė(k)sta, pjáuna, mōkina

Plural

1. bėgam, nešam, viram, mė(k)stam, pjáunam, mōkinam

2. bėgat, nešat, virat, mė(k)stat, pjáunat, mōkinat

Only 3rd-person verbs ir and nėr occur with the ending vowel a dropped.

The ia stem. § 11. Most ia-stem verbs are the same as in Standard Lithuanian, e.g.: áudža, braūka, daūža, grāudža, grėba || grėba, jója, kėika, kenča, klāuša, klója, láidža, lėka ~ lėkia, laīka ~ lenkia, lója, mėłza, praūša, rāuga, raūša, reīka, sėja, stója, sūnča, stūma, šaūka, tráuka, vėma, verča, vōga, žaidža “plays music, plays.”

Several ia-stem verbs have shifted to the a stem, e.g.: denga “covers,” gniba, kvėpa “smells,” tęsa “continues.”

Individual ia-stem verbs have shifted to the a stem for phonetic reasons, namely, because the stem-final consonant r has hardened, e.g.: āra ~ āria, gira ~ giria, gēra ~ gēria, kāra ~ kāria, skira ~ skiria, tvēra || tvēra, vēra || vēra.

Sometimes verbs that have a different stem in Standard Lithuanian have an ia stem, e.g.: girdža, dialectal girdina “makes hear,” grūdža, dialectal grūda, krimča, dialectal krimta, kremta.

Sometimes some forms of this stem have t, d instead of the affricates č, dž, e.g.: āuda, grāuda, láida, skerdą, spāuda, sūita.

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§ 12. Verbs of the ia-stem are conjugated as follows:

Singular 1. klóju, áudžiu || audžiu, praūši, šunčiu || šuntiu 2. klóji, áudi, praūsi, šunti 3. klója, áud(ž)ia, praūša, šunčia || šunįta Plural 1. klójam, áud(ž)am, praūšam, šūntam || šūnčam 2. klójat, áudžat, praūšat, šūnčat

The first verb sometimes lacks a vowel in its ending: reik || reikia ‘is necessary’; secondary verbs sometimes do too, e.g.: kas po bála bráidžioj, pašunta špāros “whoever wades through a puddle gets sore between the toes”; kap kas išdūmoj, tep ir sako; nėkas iš giros važúoj.

i-stem. § 13. There are few i-stem verbs in the dialect in the present tense, e.g.: gãli, gùli, nóri, pěni, rãgi ~ regi, rāvi, rūpi, sėdi, stóvi, tūli, tingi, turi, usigavi, židi, žūri.

Only a couple of examples with the suffix -s-i were heard: kùtkudáksi “clucks, cackles (of a hen),” lòpsi “blinks (with the eyes).”

The i-stem also includes the word nãkvi (cf. nakvója) and derivatives with the suffix -elėti: dūsteli “puffs, catches one’s breath,” lòpteli “blinks,” stūkteli, žvìl(k)teli.

§ 14. Verbs of the i stem are inflected as follows:

Singular 1. stóvu, tūriu, nãkvi — stóvim, tūrim, nãkvim 2. stóvi, tūri, nãkvi — stóvit, tūrit, nãkvit 3. stóvi || stóu, tūri, nãkvi Plural

Besides stóu, the i ending is also occasionally absent from gál “can” and tūr “must.”

o-stem. § 15. Pres. 1. Verbs of the o stem can be divided into two groups according to the infinitive suffix:

a) There are few o-stem verbs in the dialect whose infinitive has the suffix -oti, e.g.: bijo, jėško || juoško (alongside jėškoja || juoškoja), kāro, žino || žìno;

b) There are more present-tense o-stem verbs whose infinitive has the suffix -yti, e.g.: ardo, bādo, daĩlo “divides,” dāro, gāno, kláuso, kráto, laĩžo, maĩšo, sāko, samdo, vaĩko, vāro.

Most present-tense forms whose infinitive has the suffix -yti are usually formed with the suffix -ina, and thus belong to another stem type (a), e.g.: gāudina, gīdina, kósina, láistina, mė tina, skāldina, ródina, šāldina, šildina, taisina alongside láisto, méto, skáldo, taiso.

But, unlike in the 1st conjugation, sometimes rākina is also said alongside ižrāko “locks.”

§ 16. Here are the conjugation paradigms of o-stem verbs:

Singular 1. bijáu, kratáu, mėtau || mėtinu — bijom, krátom, métom 2. bijái, kratái, mėtai || mėtini — bijot, krátot, métot 3. bijo, kráto, méto || métina Plural

§ 17. Present-tense verbs without prefixes in the dialect are stressed almost exactly as in 1k. (except for irregular fluctuations in stress placement).

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The stress of present-tense verbs with prefixes differs much more. Unlike in 1k., stress shifts to the prefix in:

a) disyllabic verbs with circumflex roots, e.g.: àtaìt, àtaima, àtprauša, àtšunka, ìntìt “enters,” ìšait “goes out,” nègrìdžiu, nèdenga, nèkopa “does not hide,” nèmìgmu, nèkenčia, nèranda, nèškaust “does not hurt,” nèverka, nèžūri “does not look,” nùsūnča, nùveima || nùveit, pàškerdu “I slaughter,” pàšunta “gets soaked,” pràhait “passes,” “covers” || pridengia, primirksta, primulka “gorges itself,” priverpam, rč. sàpranta, sùpranta, sàgriebù || sagriebù, sàšala “thawed,” ùskerda “slaughters” alongside rč. atàit, atprauša, nèkenča, priverpa, etc.;

b) verbs with short roots, e.g.: nègali, nèturi, nèmira “does not die” nùmira, prituri “holds back, retains,” sàvira “boils together” (cf. vira “boils”), etc.;

c) sometimes also verbs with acute roots, e.g.: àtgrùsta “collapses,” àtjunku, ìndìrbam “we work out,” ìžgìest “begins to crow,” nèbùsta, nèdìrba, nèkeìka, nèmiršta, nèpùsta, nèžinda, nùmiršta, pàbùsti “stays awake,” pàdirbu, pàgirdža “makes audible,” pàjėma “eats a little, has a meal,” pàstovi, priru˙ga || priru˙gsta, ràzgru˙sta, sàšti˙ksta, dž. atgrùsta, ìžgìest, nekàìka.

Unlike in 1k., stress is sometimes not shifted to the prefix in the following verbs: nekalba, nekaša, nevõga, sakalbù, nuperka, pripila, dž. nekàlba, nùperka, pripila. These, however, are not regular patterns but fluctuations.

Verbs with per- always stress the prefix: pèràiti, pèrneša, pèrverčia, pèrverst.

Past tense

o stem. § 18. Most past-tense verbs with an o stem are the same as in 1k., e.g.: àugo, adbrùko “overcame, pushed aside,” atjùŋko “became unyoked, grew unaccustomed,” at-ùko “subsided,” dėjo, dirbo, grùdo || grùdo, grùvo ~ griùvo, išdžùvo⁸, ištrùko, jójo, klójo, išvìdo, krim̃to, “chewed,” lìko, lìndo, pagàìšo “disappeared, vanished,” pagràùdo “crushed, ground down,” pras·làpo, sadìgo, sėjo, stójo, vijo.

Some past-tense verbs have variants, i.e. o- and ēstem forms, e.g.: atlàidė || atlàido, nelàidė || nelàido (cf. 1st person palàidau, pėrlaidau), grùdo, grùdo, rč. grùdė; pàpuvė, dž. papùvo, pàšalė, pèršalė || pàšalo, sàšalė || sùšalo, sagòvė, rč. sagàvo.

These short-root verbs always have an o stem: dasikìšo “crowded in,” palùpo “tore apart, tore off/out,” parìto “overturned, knocked over,” rìšo, skùto, sùvo, sùpo, sùko.

Certain primary verbs are used with prefixes in the past tense, e.g.: ìžmigój “fell asleep,” nepažnój(o) “did not recognize,” etc.

§ 19. Past-tense o-stem verbs are conjugated as follows:

Singular

1. radaũ, klójau, gulėjau, šìnavau

2. radaĩ, klójei, gulėjai, šìnavai

3. ràdo, klójo, gulėj || -ėjo, šìna || -avo

⁸The forms išdžùvo, grùdo || grùdė with a short u probably arose later by analogy with the forms: bùvo, rùvo, pùvo.

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Plural

1. rãdom, klõjom, gulėjom, šiẽnāv om

2. rãdot(e), klõjot, gulėjot, šiẽnāvot.

§ 20. The full 3rd-person ending -o after the consonants j and v is retained mainly by disyllabic o-stem verbs: dějo, jójo, klójo, lójo, sėjo, stójo, vijo, gãvo, pūvo, būvo, ãjo, aĩjo, ėjo, alongside ãj, cf. aĩj. However, these verbs with prefixes most often occur without the final -o: indėj, inklój, pasėj, pazdėj ‘looked’, intėj, parāj, nuvėj, sagāu, cf. apėjo, atsėjo, indėjo, sagāvo || sagõvē.

The 3rd-person forms of polysyllabic o-stems almost always lack the final -o after j and v: mokėj, norėj, skaudėj, žūrėj; braĩdžoj, širdoj, bijoj, treptelėj; samelāu, nuvaždāu. These forms occur with the full ending only occasionally: mān viso davinėjo; lietuvėi ataidinėjo; juõškojo, kap būs padėt; ānas visa žinōjo; kārvė apsitelāvo; daržas išžalāvo. Forms in -ėlėti with full endings have not been heard at all.

§ 21. Among the 3rd-person forms of other past-tense verbs, the form bit, biti ‘was, lived’ stands out, e.g.: ānas bīt macinūtulis ‘he was a little child’; bīt maniṁ(p) ku-dėlo; ir bōčo ne bīt namìe; jėmė jā káp žōna ir bīti tenāka ‘he took her as his wife and lived there’; anà sa bōču nebiti, tai anà ir nemóka ‘she did not live with her father, so she does not know (Lithuanian)’; bāčis iš bīt septinazdėšim septinis metūs; anà pra bit Adesè peñkazadėšim mētų.

As for other persons, bit(i) is rare; cf. aš bit arša chvarā ‘I was very ill’, Dz. dár aš mažas buvaũ; aš sveikà buvaũ;

The form buvójo denotes an action or state of being that is of short duration and repeated, e.g.: neilga aš iš tavę rodā buvójau ‘for a short time I was happy because of you (for a short time I enjoyed your company)’; kañp jūs vākar buvójo(t) ‘whose place did you visit yesterday?’.

Today the form bit(i) is found only in the Zietela dialect; formerly it was used in other Lithuanian dialects and in old writings⁹; cf. also Latvian bija ‘was’.

§ 22. Sometimes (probably following the Slavic languages), instead of the verbs reikėj(o), reikė (past tense), the present-tense form reika is used with the auxiliary verb būvo, or bit(i), e.g.: reĩka bit padarit ‘it was necessary to do’; visa reĩka atnėšt bit savīm ‘everything had to be brought oneself’; reĩka būvo dūot. Apparently, the verb reika is understood here as an adverb; cf. Belarusian трэба, Russian надо, нужно.

The ē-stem. § 23. The dialect has considerably fewer past-tense ē-stem verbs than Standard Lithuanian. Many ē-stem verbs have shifted to the I (in)o-stem conjugation; these have infinitives with the suffix -yti, e.g.: gūdino ‘hunted’, mókino ‘taught’, pramėtino ‘scattered’, primerkināu ‘I squinted’, satrūkināu ‘I contracted’, šaldino, šildino and others.

Other ė-stemmed past tense verbs are the same as in standard Lithuanian. These are verbs whose:

a) past tense has the same root vocalism as the present tense, e.g.: arė: āra, āudė: āudža, dārė: dāro, dažūžė || dažūžė: dažūža and so on, dengė, kāšė, kenitė, krātė, lāukė, liepė, mētė “threw, left behind,” intārė “scratched,” nēšė, patrāukė “burst,” skāldė || skāldino, šūitė, taišė, vādė, vērė, žāidė;

⁹ A. Schleicher, Handbuch der litauischen Sprache, t. I, Prag, 1856, p. 252; F. Kurschat, Grammatik der litauischen Sprache, Halle, 1876, p. 278; A. Bezzenberger, Beiträge zur Geschichte der litauischen Sprache auf Grund Litauischer Texte des XVI und des XVII Jahrhunderts, Göttingen, 1877, p. 206.

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b) past tense has a different root vocalism from the present tense, e.g.: àpsàvė || àpsàu: apsąnga, dãvė || dãu: dùoja, dõvė: džáuma, gẽrė: gẽra, gìmė: gimsta, and so on, jėmė, krõvė, kùlė, minė, mirė, pakõrė, pìlė, pinė, pjõvė, rẽmė || rẽmė, sagõvė, skėlė, skìrė, šlãvė, šõvė, trinė, võgė.

In certain words, the ė stem alternates with the o stem, e.g.: gùle, rč. gùlo, kã-sė, rč. kãšo, pagãdė, dž. pagadino, reĩkė, dž. reĩkėj(o), usìrãkė, dž. rakino, žãidė, rč. žãid(ž)o, cf. § 18.

§ 24. Past tense ė-stemmed verbs are conjugated as follows:

Singular

1. laukau, davāu, (j)ėdau, kratāu

2. laukėi, davėi, (j)ėdėi, kratėi

3. laukė, dãvė || dãu, (j)ėdė, kratė

Plural

1. we waited, we gave, we ate, we shook

2. you waited, you gave, you ate, you shook

§ 25. 1. In the 1st person singular of the past tense, the ė-stem has a soft consonant at the end of the stem. Unlike in 1k., instead of the stem-final affricates č, dž, all ė-stem forms of this type of dialect have t, d: I tear down, I forged, I shake out, I overturned, I got stuck, I ate, I suffered, I threw, I sent, I spoiled, I released, I hired, I set up, I shook through, I released through, I squeezed together, I drove. It may be that these forms in the Zietelas dialect never had affricates, since the affricates in 1k. are newer here¹⁰. In addition, the ė-stem forms of other persons probably also prevented affricates from developing here; cf.: you forged, you sent, he/she forged, he/she sent, we forged, you (pl.) sent. The occasional forms I overturned, I ground should be regarded as incidental, having arisen through contact with speakers of other dialects.

Only a few 3rd-person ė-stem forms with -e lost (after v) have been recorded, namely: àpšàu basanùos “he/she put on shoes barefoot”; tai ãnas mán dãu ita ramìti “he gave me this stick”; nėdau jàm nìko ani·s; pasìdau, an sandò “he/she submitted to the court.”

§ 26. Most past-tense verb forms have the same accentuation as in 1k. However, occasional forms with different accentuation also occur. Prefixal verbs that have changed their stem sometimes have a different stress position, e.g.: it rotted, it thawed, but it rotted, it thawed, it sent, it thawed.

Other individual differences in stress are mostly incidental: I ground, I did not lift, I did not turn, I stuck in, I gathered, dialectal forms he ground, he did not lift, he stuck in, I gathered.

Future tense

§ 27. The dialect’s future-tense forms, as in 1k., are formed from the infinitive. Future-tense verbs are conjugated as follows:

Singular

1. būsu, kabisu, žaisiu, nešù, jimsù, lisù

2. būsi, kabisi, žaisi, neši, jimsi, lisi

3. būs, kabis, žais, neš, jìms, lis

¹⁰ Žr. J. Otrębski, Gramatyka języka litewskiego, t. I, Warszawa, 1958, p. 299.

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Plural

1. we will be, we will hang, we will play, we will carry, we will drive, we will go 2. you (plural) will be, you will hang, you will play, you will carry, you will drive, you will go

§ 28. In the 1st person, the -s- or -š- before the ending -u is always hard: aisū, bėksu, davinėsu, kaisu “I will dig,” lupšu, pagrašū “I will turn back,” parvešu, primoksiu, važiosu¹¹.

Future 1. 3rd-person forms made from monosyllabic infinitive stems with longer acute-root vowels i, u most often have shortened i, u, e.g.: diks (< *dīgs), išgis (< *-gīs), išvis “will see”; lis (rain); būs (< *būs), pabūs “will suffice,” nugris, inrūks “will flow in,” padžūs “will dry up,” pūs.

However, forms with unshortened i, u also occur alongside them: aplis (rain), sadiks, pažis (woodpecker); išdžūs, grūs, nedavis (cf. vīt), pašūs “will sew together,” pūs. These i, u are probably pronounced here by analogy with secondary verbs, which always retain long i, u in the future 1. 3rd person. Only instead of the acute accent, the circumflex is pronounced: gaišis, iškabis “will hang up,” iškinkis, iškratis, iškuris “will fire,” nulaižis, padaris, sakis, varis, rč. varis.

Metatony has also occurred in 3rd-person forms with other root vowels or diphthongs, e.g.: aukš, dėš, dūš, geš, kuiš, laiš, likinėš “will remain,” ragės, satemės ~ sutemš, stōs, važios, žais. Only rarely are future 1. 3rd-person forms pronounced with the acute accent: laiš, kaiš ~ kąs, pritėms, žais. The circumflex accent probably occurs by analogy with other forms, cf.: laist, laisu, laisti, kaist, inkaiškit, žaist, žaisit.

Future 1. 3rd-person forms with a short or circumflex root are the same as in standard Lithuanian: aīs, imš, lis, liks, kąs, mėš, neš, ramš ~ remš, ras, šūps, šūs, šaukš, veš.

The future 1. 3rd person of the verb reikėti, reikti ‘to be necessary’ is most often expressed in Slavic-type constructions: žāras reĩka būs ravēt daržą “soon it will be necessary to weed the garden,” rč. reiks, reikės.

The plural 1st-person form padarīsime is most likely accidental.

§ 29. Verbs in the Zietela dialect with short or circumflex root accents retain archaic final-syllable stress in the singular 1st and 2nd persons, e.g.: 1st person ataisū, atnešū, jimšū, ištašū “I will pull out,” kirsū, lupšū, neužmiksū, numirsū, nuprausū, pagrašū “I will turn back,” rinksū, užvešū “I will take away”; aisi, atneši, neimši, neinsi'si, nepa-suksi, pavirsi, pirksi, rasi, rinks i, riši, sukepši, samirksi, veši.

Only rarely are these forms pronounced incorrectly, with retracted stress: jimšū, išlisi, prisimši, rinksi, sarinksi.

Subjunctive mood

§ 30. The subjunctive mood is formed from the infinitive stem and the personal endings of the subjunctive.

Verbs in this mood are conjugated as follows:

Singular

1. I would love, I would carry, I would want, I would say 2. you would love, you would carry, you would want, you would say; you would love, you would carry, you would want, you would say 3. they would love, they would carry, they would want, they would say

¹¹These s and š are softened only occasionally, mostly by speakers who share other pronunciations.

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Plural

1. mėktumėm, nėštumėm, norėtumėm, sakitumėm

2. you would mark, you would carry, you would want, you would say

§ 31. The ending of the 1st person singular of the subjunctive most often occurs in two forms: atneščà, bū́ċa, bijóca, meščà, mirčà, važiúȯca, verkč๲ alongside aičàp, bū́càp, ganičàp, giėdočàp, išviščàp, ješčàp, klóčàp, pirkčàp, stovėčàp, šókčàp.

Only occasionally (very rarely) does -p occur instead of the formative -b: aičàb, bū́càb, kaščàb, laukčàb, turėčàb; compare also the reflexive forms turėčabės “I would have myself, I would hold on,” turėtusibės “I would have, I would hold on.” On the basis of the latter forms, one might suppose that the formative -p arose from -b (< -be < -bė) devoiced at the end of a word; compare Prussian be and Old Church Slavonic be. However, this hypothesis is not supported by attested forms with the unshortened formative -pė, e.g.: aičapė || aičapė, bučapėgi, pa(si)kláuščiapė, primdinčapė. Perhaps the consonant p (< -b < -be) in forms with -pė began to be pronounced on the model of the more frequent forms dirpčap, verkčap, just as the devoiced consonant k (< g) arose in demonstrative pronouns (tsaikig < *tasaigigi) and adverbs (kadaikig < *kadaigigi).

The 1st person singular sometimes also occurs with the ending -tau, characteristic of the Dzūkai: nepasi-skustau “I would not shave,” pasėdėtau, tilėtau.

The ending of the 2nd person singular is usually the same as in Dzūkian, -ai: adėtai, būtai, daskúltai “you would reach,” galėtai, jėškotai || jųškotai, imtai, išgėrtai, neatátai, kláustai, papúltai, sadėktai, vaiščotai, vi˙žėtai.

The ending -umei is used considerably less often (more commonly only in Pagiriai): atvažiúotumei, galėtumei, girdėtumei, indėtumei, išgėrstumei, nuveitumei, pagautumei, rašītumei, sajėstumei. Sometimes the ending is pronounced -umai: atautumai, išrašitumai, nuveitumas, prijėstuma. Forms with the shortened ending -um are even rarer: kad krūpà prijunktum, tai pažįstum “if you got used to it a little, then you would know”; kad jū́s atsi-vartitum. The latter form is sometimes also used with 3rd person meaning, e.g.: reikà kokós, kab jō dažu˙rētum “some (woman) is needed to look after her”; kad paláuktu˙p nedēlā; tai anà atsilik­tum “if she had waited a week, then she would have fallen behind.”

Otherwise, 3rd person subjunctive forms are used both without -p and with -p: būtų, dirptu˙, galėtu˙, ataitu˙, kultu˙, nunėštu˙, sašaltu˙, pirk­tu˙; cf. atsiūstu˙p, atvažiúotu˙p, bütur˙p, neimturu˙p, pamirturu˙p, reiktu˙p, taisitu˙p, žaistu˙p. Forms with -pė also occur occasionally, cf. -pė, e.g.: būtu˙pė, nekáistu˙pė “would not get hot,” ganitu˙pė, reiktu˙pė, rḃnktu˙pė, sarińktu˙pė; cf. nepirk­tu˙pė. The postposition -p(ė) was added here only after the old *un>u˙.

Shortened 3rd person forms are also used occasionally, e.g.: tsai neimtu˙p už žaniko, kad anà nebūt graži “that man would not marry if she were not beautiful”; prirašė, kad atsiūst “he wrote that he would send [it]”; ānas nórí, kad anà atvažiúodinėt paz ji; ānas manè įžješt “he wants her to come to see him; he would eat me”; nóri, kad kità jīḿt.

Instead of reiktų, a Slavic construction is sometimes used: reikà būt˙ davāšt “one would have to bring”; nereikà būt˙ budavótis.

The ending of the 1st person plural is -umėm: atneš­tumėm, gėrtumėm, imtumėm, pirk­tumėm, raštumėm, važiúotumėm. Occasionally, a shorter ending is also used alongside it, -um(e), -um(ė): atvažiúotume, atsiskirtume, galėtum, ūtari˙tumė, žaistum. The ending -umėmė is rare: norėtumėmė, rḃnktumėmė.

¹²The female speakers from Pagiriai village more often use forms without -p.

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The ending of the 2nd person plural is -umėt, less often -umėte. The shortened ending -ut is very rare: atvažiuotut.

§ 32. Final-syllable stress has been best preserved in the 1st person singular forms, where the Saussure–Fortunatov law operated: atneščā, išsbrinkčā(p), išdekčāp “I would kindle,” nei-čāp, mirčā, pajimčāp, sakepčāp. Deviations occur only occasionally: ačāp, numirčāp.

Only traces of final-syllable stress remain in the 2nd and 3rd person singular: jimtaī, nepamestaī, numir-tāi, sadeḳtai, užkurtāi, rč. dirptū, išaitū, nerastūp, rastū(si), reikū, sadektū.

An occasional form occurs with metatony having taken place: dirptū, prijunk­tum “you would get used to,” pripintū. Otherwise, the infinitive’s intonation is mostly preserved: kāistu, kūltū, atsi-skirtum(e), išgėrtumėt, papūltai, žāistumėt.

The forms of the subjunctive formed from primary infinitives, which formerly had short a and e in their roots, show considerable variation in stress. The 2nd and 3rd person singular forms most often preserve these vowels unchanged, e.g.: kāstai, rāstai, sadēktai, sakēptai; kāstu, rāstu, padēktu(p), pakāktu(p), vēštu(p). Forms with lengthened a and e are much less common: kāstai, nāštai, kāstu, rāstū(p), vēštu. The 1st and 2nd person plural forms mostly have a and e already lengthened: atnāštumēm, atvāštumēt, kāstu-mēm, rāstumēt, rč. atnēštumēt, rāstumēm. The variation in stress among these forms shows that the lengthening of a and e began relatively recently: in the 1st and 2nd person plural forms this process is already nearly complete, whereas in the 2nd and 3rd person singular it has only begun.

Imperative mood

§ 33. The imperative mood in the Zietelas dialect, as in standard Lithuanian, is formed from the infinitive with the formant -k.

The dialect has imperative forms for the following persons:

Singular

2. bēk, kāēpk, nakvōk, kabīk, penēk

Plural

1. let us run, let us climb, let us stay overnight, let us hang, let us feed 2. run, climb, stay overnight, hang, feed

§ 34. The ending of the 2nd person imperative is -ki (< -kie); it is somewhat more often preserved when it is closed: dirpkig (< dirbki+gi) || dirpkig, jēskig, lāisik, nekabikig “don’t touch,” nesirōdikig, nusiprauskig, pasiklausikig, turēkig, ustātikig, žūrēkig. The enclitic particle gi is attached to 2nd-person imperative forms after -kie has shortened to -ki. Only very rarely does the vowel -i remain in an open ending: a) stressed: gulkī, jimkī; b) unstressed: abdengdīnēki, nemēki, pasidairīki, užraśki. Otherwise the forms always lack -i: aik, duok, nupīrk.

Forms with the non-Lithuanian particle -ka are sometimes found: užvēška jā ir adiōk “take her there and hand her over.”

P. Arumaa also recorded here forms of the 2nd person singular imperative without any remnant of the formant -k, e.g.: girdī “listen,” ragī “look”¹³.

¹³ See P. Arumaa, LMT, p. 73, but in the text on p. 42 he writes girdī (with a short -i). These forms have not been heard nowadays.

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The 1st person plural ending is usually -kim. The old athematic form of the 1st person plural imperative of the verb eiti ‘to go’ stands out: aimà Zētelon; bról, aimà; broliuk a i m à (ži m à), išgērsim; ėmà pirkõn; a m à insigērsim; cf. the phrase recorded by K. Būga: a m à sijoti¹⁴ alongside aìkim. Chr. Stang considers the form a(i)ma to be an old (athematic) indicative form by origin¹⁵.

The 2nd person plural imperative forms are also quite often used with the ending -ė, -e: ieškìte, išpìlkite, nerìnkite, pasùlskite, sėskìte || sėskite, palàukite, žiūrėkite || žùrėkit, kàskit.

In addition, other forms of certain 2nd person plural variants occur in the dialect. Imperative 2nd person plural forms with no -ki- at all have been recorded in the phrase: nuvažiuòte, nuvažùote, pažiūrėsite ‘go, go, have a look’. It is difficult to say whether these are imperative forms without -ki- or a case of haplology. There are also 2nd person plural variants with syncope (the vowel -i- is lost after k), e.g.: palàukte, lìkte ‘wait, stay’; nu, nulėkìet ‘well, fly off (children)’. The final consonant t here is an addition.

Desiderative mood

§ 35. A synthetic desiderative form made with te- has been recorded only by K. Būga: tedirbý šaú¹⁶ ‘let him work, let him sow’. Nowadays forms of this mood are usually analytic, formed from present-tense verbs with the words tegùl, dialectal nechòj, and sometimes chòj: prirašìkit, tegùl atvažiuòja ‘write it down, let him come’; nechòj jėmi dūgno nebūsta ‘may they have no bottom (may the abyss swallow them)’; nechòj jì plàškėna ‘let her perish’; chòj diēz gina ‘may God protect and guard’.

3. Reflexive verbs

§ 36. Reflexive verbs are formed with the reflexive particle -s(i) <-sie. It is characteristic that in the dialect forms that are not reflexive, or are rarely reflexive, in standard Lithuanian sometimes become reflexive: auginasi ‘grows’, bėrasi || bērasī ‘scatters’, būstasi ‘lives, goes’, bėginė́josi ‘ran around’, dirbasi ‘is made, becomes’, giemasi ‘is sung’, gimàus ‘I was born’, jėstasi ‘is eaten, is being eaten’, kándasi ‘bites, bites at oneself’, samdosi ‘goes into service’, sasìdega ‘burns up’, žùrėjosi ‘looked’.

According to where s(i) attaches to the verb, two main groups can be distinguished: non-prefixed (dirbtis, jūoktis, rūpi·tis) and prefixed (apsisakāti, atsilìgdinėti, isigulėti, pasitraukti ‘to burst’) reflexive verbs.

§ 37. Non-prefixed verbs always have the reflexive particle at the end of the word. The full form -si is usually retained in the 3rd person of the present, past, and conditional moods, e.g.: dirbasi, dirbosi, jūokasi, jūokėsi, lìetu·si, mokì·tu·si. Only present-tense i-stem words nóris, rágis ~ rėgìsi, tùris more often occur with the shortened -si; with other stems only occasional forms are found: lējas ~ lėjąsi, reñkas. In all other cases, this i is not retained at the end of an open word.

§ 38. The reflexive particle -s(i) at the end of the word helped preserve not only many unshortened archaic endings (jū·kies, turù·s), but also certain verbs or forms of verbs with archaic final stress. To a greater or lesser extent, final stress-

¹⁴ See K. Būga, Žs, p. 19.

¹⁵ See Chr. Stang, NTS, vol. 18, pp. 196–197.

¹⁶ See K. Būga, Žs 17.

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The following reflexive verbs have retained forms of conjugation: bartis, dėtis, duotis, gultis, (į)imti(s), klaustis, laistis, mestis, rastis, rinktis, sėstis, stotis, tvertis, vilktis. Few of them have preserved an entire paradigm with end-stress. The following infinitives have been recorded: dėtis, imtis, klaustis, rastis, rinktis, sėstis, stotis, vilktis. Forms of the present and past tense, 1st and 3rd person, are perhaps most often found with final stress. The stress usually falls on the reflexive particle -si, e.g.: barasì, jimasi, randasi, renkasi, sėdasi, stojasi¹⁷; davėsi, dėjosi, gulėsi, jėmėsi, laidosi, metėsi, radosi, rinkosi, sėdosi, stojosi. Forms with stress on the stem-final syllable are much rarer: davėsi, metėsi, radosi or gulės, jėmės, tverės; cf. the widely used Dzūkian forms radõs, sėdõs, stojõs. Forms of the 3rd person future are also fairly frequent: dėsis, duosis, imsīs, laisis, rasis, sėsis, stosīs. Forms of other persons are rarer, e.g.: jėmeis, radais, sėdais, sėdės, sėdomės. Alongside these, forms with the usual stress are also quite frequently used: bārasi, gūlesi, jėmesi, rā­dosi, sėduos, stojomės. This shows that verbs with end-stress are disappearing in the dialect. On the other hand, an occasional rarer form may have final stress by analogy. Below we give the best-preserved paradigms of the verbs sėstis and stotis.

S i n g u l a r

Present 1st, past 1st, future 1st

1. sėd̃iuos, stoj̃uos, sėd̃aus, stoj̃aus, sėsiuos, stosiuos 2. sėd̃ies, stoj̃ies, sėd̃ais, stoj̃ais, sėsies, stosies 3. sėdasi, stojasi, sėdosi, stojosi, sėsis, stosis

Plural

1. sėdamės, stojamės, sėdomės, stojomės, sesimės, stosimės 2. sėdatės, stojatės, sėdotės, stojotės, sesitės, stosités

§ 39. Singular 1st-person reflexive forms of the conditional mood always have the postposition -pė (forms with a circumflex-root more often stress the ending), e.g.: gulčapės, juokčapės, klauščapės, prauščapės, kulčapės, skūščapės, šukūčapės, turėčapės. Only the form turėčabės was heard with the postposition -bė; without an affricate — mōki·tepes.

Singular 2nd-person reflexive forms have two possible endings: -umeis and -ais, e.g.: klāustum(e)is, māudi·tumeis, alongside klāustais, gultais, mōki·tais, prauštais.

The forms of the conditional 3rd person vary greatly: a) as in standard Lithuanian: lė·tu·si, mōki·tu·si, rastu·si || rāstu·si; b) the most common forms have the postposition -p(e), added after the reflexive particle -si-: lė·tu·sip(ė), klāustu·sip, melstu·sipe, mōki·tu·sip, prauštu·sip(ė), rastu·sip; c) sometimes a second reflexive particle occurs after the postposition -pė or -bė: kad sviekė ganitu·sipės kėltuva; kad melstu·sipes dī·vu; gul­davi·tu·sipės “would lie down,” prauštu·sipes, turėtu·sipes || turėtu·sibės; d) forms with a single reflexive particle after the postposition -pė (or -bė) are rare: prauštu·pes, rūpi·tu·bės “would concern themselves.”

The ending of plural 1st-person reflexive forms is -umės: dailitumės, riṅktumės, while the 2nd-person ending is -umėtės: dailitumėtės, mōki·tumėtės, žaidotumėtės.

Few imperatives of reflexive verbs with end-stress have been recorded: singular 2nd person gulkis, rinkis, sėskis, stokis; plural 1st–2nd person gulkimės, gulkītės, sėskimės, stokītės, etc. Most often, people say: bārkis, gulkis, prauškis, sėskis, dailikimės, kū·opkimės “let us hide,” dailikītės, prauškītės, etc.

¹⁷ Chr. Stango, NTS, vol. 18, p. 199. The form stovisi recorded there is no longer heard today.

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§ 40. In prefixed verbs, the reflexive particle -s(i)- is mostly located between the prefix and the root, e.g.: present tense apsisáko ‘manifests itself’, insidūja ‘seems’, isiríngdinėja ‘moves out’, nesiguldavina ‘does not lie down’, pasijėst ‘eats a little, has a meal’, prasi va iščioji, prisivargūoja, rasia idinėja ‘disperse’; past tense apsižūrėj, atsitiko ‘remained’, insidirbo ‘got bogged down, got dirty’, isilaižė ~ išsilaižė ‘recovered’, pasitraukė ‘burst’, prasilaukė, patsikėlė ‘got up’, prisikentėj, sasikraud inėj ‘loaded up’; future tense isivísim ‘we will see each other’, pasiklausisit, prisiriždinėsu, rasibėks ‘will run about, spread’; imperative and subjunctive insiaudinėk ‘put your shoes on’, isivirtu·p, nusipraūškik, pasigaditu·, pasiklãuskig.

If a prefixed verb has the negation ne or the verb has two prefixes, the position of the particle -si- usually remains unchanged as well: nepasikrãusim, neprisižinódinėkit ‘do not confess’, painsiringdinėja ‘gets dressed up, adorns oneself’, panusiveddinėj, parasia idinė, pausikeldinėjom ‘we got up, woke up’. Sometimes, however, -si- separates those two prefixes, or the negation and the prefix. This most often happens when the first prefix completely changes the meaning of the verb root. Speakers perceive such words as simple (unprefixed) verbs, e.g.: isipradėdinėja ~ išsipradedinėja ‘begins’, neprisipažindinėjau ‘I would not confess’, nesirastój, pasirazmedinėję.

§ 41. In the Zietela dialect there are quite a few examples in which a prefixed verb also has the reflexive particle at the ending (cf. the Samogitians), e.g.: abdengáus, ateimasi, dadėjosi, ištrūpinosi, nepagri·žavinosi ‘did not return’, padabó josi ‘pleased, loved’, padaraús, padėjosi, padjėsi·s ‘laid down’, padjėsi·s ‘washed oneself, will eat’, pamóki·tu·si, prikuldinė jasi ‘is threshing, being threshed’, prisegd inėjosi ‘got tired from fastening’, rukinas ‘smoked’.

The reflexive particle is often at the end in verbs with the negation as well, e.g.: nebėginėjosi, nedėsė·s, nedu·jasi, negūrinasi, nejuo·kū·si, nejuo·kėsi, nelanksū·s, nenóris, neragėjomės, netūris, neūtarinasi, nežaidójasi, neguldavi·tu·sipės ‘would not lie down’.

§ 42. The dialect also has quite a few verbs with two reflexive particles: one occurs between the prefix and the verb root, the other at the end of the word, e.g.: apsitūrė josi, apsižāninosi, insidairais, isigandėsi, isigandáus, isidūsinasi, išmokinosi, isipraūstusip, parsida v inėjosi, pasibū·simės, pasijėsi·s, pasijėsi·s, pasiklausáus, pasipraščosimės, pasiskaldinosi, pas(i)taisysis, pasulsėsities, pazdabójosi, pazdaraús, pazdárėsi, pazdarisis, pazdu·dinėjasi, prisiringdinėsu·os, prismóki·tumėis, sasriñksimės, sasriñktumės, usinorėjo s i ‘wanted to’.

In the verbs sulsėjosi, silsėjosi ‘rested’, záiro si, -ėsi ‘looks around, looks’, the two reflexive particles are no longer felt at all. Thus, derivatives formed from these words are also found, cf. nesizda irėsi, prisuslsėjosi.

§ 43. Reflexive verbs are characterized by the same accentuation patterns and irregularities as prefixed verbs, e.g.: isidenga, isimiegmu, nesikėla, nesikópa, nesikūla, nesimė·kt, nesivėrča, pasijėst, pasikūlė, pasilanka, pasilã nka, sas iait, sasaiam ‘covers itself’, ‘sleeps’, ‘does not hide’, ‘does not thresh’, ‘does not sleep’, ‘eats a little, has a meal’ || pasijėst, pasikūlė, pasilanka || pasilã nka, sas iait, sasaiam ‘come together’, ‘we come together’, etc., cf. §§ 17, 26, 29, 32.

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Dalyvis

Active participles

§ 44. In the Zietela dialect, only past-tense active participles are used. Present- and future-tense active participles no longer exist. Other forms are used in their place. For example, the past-tense form of passive participles is recorded with the meaning of present-tense active participles, as in stovėtas, e.g.: stovėtas vandūo vekau išala ‘standing water freezes quickly’. Loanwords are often used, e.g.: kur stojāščas vandūo, ten ān’s būsta ‘where there is standing water, there they (the crucian carp) live’, cf. kalūščas ‘stinging’, letiščā ‘flying’, etc.

§ 45. In the dialect, past-tense active participles now have only one fossilized nominative singular form of the unmarked gender, with the ending -e (pronounced e˙, after a hardened consonant -a˙). The feminine ending -us (< -usi) is recorded only from P. Chaleckienė: aš būčan bijojus sakit ‘I would have been afraid to say it’. The same past-tense participial form in -e can denote singular or plural, and masculine or feminine, e.g.:

masculine singular ānas atait insirīnkā˙: ‘he comes dressed up, dressed’; nēkur inšīla˙ išajei ‘you went out after warming up somewhere’; kō tu išlūpa˙ galva˙ tēp āimi ‘why are you walking with your head held so high’; atāj sasmainā˙ ‘came transformed, changed’, tas jau krūpa˙ padāugė˙ nuvažiāu ‘that one drove off already somewhat grown’; aš ausis pastātā˙ ir klau-sau; gili žaltīs sasisūkā˙; sėdi ānas rasikėtā˙; kōjas rastātā˙;

feminine singular stōu obolē iššāugā˙; didelē; vaišcoja anā kepelūšī šaudini; izdējā˙; chvāsta vištos inkišā˙ ‘she walks about wearing a straw hat, with a chicken’s tail tucked in’;

masculine plural (dual) kūlasi iššāje˙ an kēlo; padējə˙ bāltinam; bit du brōhu ne-sidailā˙ ‘there were two brothers who had not divided things between themselves, had not separated’; tep ir važūjat rasisišēgā˙; palāuakə˙ per k’ēk mēnu˙, išlūpo strūcha ‘having waited several months, they tore off the roof’;

feminine plural žūri kap vā rnos rasižōvā˙ ‘looks like crows with their beaks open’; paskilā˙ rańkos skaušt.

Sometimes this generalized nominative form is used with the meaning of other cases, e.g.: išsuntē vīra˙ nejēdē laukān ‘he sent a man who had not eaten out into the field’. Instead of participial forms in other cases, a characteristic resulting from an action is usually expressed periphrastically, in groups of words, e.g.: mažā liko pirkū, kad nesādegē ‘few huts remained unburned’; itai bōbai, kad chvarā, nesām pieno ‘we are bringing milk to this sick woman’.

The participial form everywhere preserves the voice and accent of the past-tense verb.

Passive participles

§ 46. The forms of passive participles are comparatively more varied and better preserved than those of active participles. However, the dialect also has virtually no passive present-tense participles, apart from two recorded forms of doubtful authenticity: šuvamā mašinā; melžamā anā, jau melžasi¹⁸. Attempts are made to express present-tense participial forms in other ways: with the suffix -imis, -e˙ — melžinē karvė “a cow being milked”;

¹⁸The forms were recorded from Bernardas Žukelis, whose brother studied in Vilnius, and from Adomas Žukelis, who worked for a time in Ukraine, where he had contact with Lithuanians speaking other dialects.

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of thread: šulų komolukas “a ball of thread being sewn”; by word groups — pūdas, kad virt, dirptas iš molio “a pot being boiled, made of clay”; in the past tense — nežinotas žmogus atāj “an unfamiliar person came”; by hybrid formations — vaišiojom kap savi nežinojomi žmonės (cf. незнакомые люди).

§ 47. Past-tense passive participles inflect for gender, number, and case. Their endings are the same as those of a-stem adjectives; cf. the paradigms:

Singular

N. kāptas, keptā, virtas, virtā, dūmi·tas, -a G. kāpto, keptōs, virto, virtōs, dūmi·to, -os D. keptām, kāptai, virtām, virtai, dūmi·tam, ai A. keptà, virtà, dūmi·ta· I. keptì, keptái, virtù, virtái, dūmi·tu, -ai L. keptām, keptōj, virtām, virtōj, mirkī·tam Ill. keptān, keptōn, virtān, virtōn, dūmi·tan Ad. keptām(p) keptāi(p), dirptaip,

Plural

N. keptì, kāptos, virtì, virtos, dūmi·ti, -os G. keptū, virtū, dūmi·tu· D. keptī·mi, keptōmi, pjautī·mi, dūmi·tīmi, -omi A. keptūs, keptàs, virtūs, virtàs, dūmi·tus, -as I. keptais, keptomi, pjautais, pjautomi, dūmi·tais, -omi L. keptī·s(ā), keptosā, virtū·s(ā), virtosā, dūmi·tu·sa, -osa Ill. keptī·sna, keptōsna, virtū·sna, dūmi·tu·sna, -osna

In the dialect, past-tense passive participles with prefixes are used more often: apkāltas, apsukti, apringdinėtos “gathered,” inspāustas “compressed,” inkastas, išāštri·tas, išlāngvi·tas “castrated,” išāl di·tas “frozen,” išūstas “sent,” pakultà, pasamdīta, paraskultà “smashed,” pėrlaistas, paišneždinėti, pririždinėtos, užrumbi·ta “sewn together, stitched up.”

Alongside masculine and feminine forms, the neuter gender of past-tense passive participles is also used fairly often: dū·ta, dirpta, aplipīta, neatardinėta, išāusta, neprijunkta, padarīta, pridırpta, pradūrta, užvārīta, iššāsta.

Past-tense passive participles are stressed mostly in the same way as 1k. Only the stress of individual participles (more often those with prefixes) varies, e.g.: apdėnk-tas, apautas, atvėžta, iškāsta, ištestas, išāšta, išvēžtas, nekāstos, nurinkta, pakōptas “buried,” palūnta “peeled,” raskirstas “cross-cut,” sakėpta “baked,” uždėnkta, užskāstas, more often apdengtas, iškastas, nurinkta, sākėpta, uždengta.

The dialect has no recorded future-tense or necessity participles. Reflexive and pronominal forms of passive participles are likewise not used.

Compound tenses and moods

§ 48. The Zietelos dialect has no simple tenses of the indicative, formed with either active or passive participles. Only compound perfect tenses are used.

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There are two compound perfect tenses in the active and passive voice: present and past.

1. Compound forms of the present tense never have the linking auxiliary verb yra ‘is’:

a) active voice: žmogus jau apsiláidę· barzdai ‘the man is already unkempt, with a beard grown’; jáunas ir rasigėra· ‘young and drunk’; vidùj sapùvę· ánas ‘he is rotten inside’; vênas básas, kitas apsǽvę· ‘one is barefoot, the other overgrown’; visokù̃ sasrĩnkę· ‘all sorts have gathered’; visì prijùnkę· pri savo liẽžùvò ‘everyone is accustomed to their own tongue’; kurì atsidalinę· ‘those who have separated’; tĕmi sunkęst ‘it has become difficult for her’; kója išstìnę· ‘the leg is swollen’; karà jau atsikėlę· ‘the bark has already peeled off’; anà, kab virvę, sasisùkę· ‘she has twisted herself like a rope’; kunòdos apsilùpę· ‘the beetles have shed their skins’; vesėj sasryñkė· daugì bóbu ‘many women gathered at the wedding’; kraujù abėgę· akės ‘eyes bloodshot’;

b) passive voice: arkļis dár nekáltas ‘the horse is not yet shod’; galė invalidas cvìkas ‘perhaps the invalid is healthy’; vênas pìštas ràzdauštas ir išgìdi·tas ‘one finger is smashed and crushed’; gerai pripenėtas ánas ‘he is well fed’; slimstai inspaustas šiẽnas ‘hay pressed loosely’; anà pamaišìta ‘she is of mixed blood’; ski·lè prakultà ‘the threshing floor is threshed’; manà momà pakoptà ‘my mother has tidied up’; mes atsu·sti ‘we are sent’; ragì, kap sanesòti čerẽvi·kėlei ‘look how worn out the little boots are’; visì stalai an kẽmo paišneždinẽti ‘all the tables in the yard are scattered about’; baltì žìrnèi samaišìti sa juòdais ‘white peas are mixed with black ones’; ános druskái pasùdi·tos ‘they are salted for her’.

2. Past-tense forms always have the auxiliary verb bit(i), ‘was’;

a) active voice: ánas bit labai insiragãvę· ‘he had drunk a lot’; arkļis bit blógas, išdžūvę· ‘the horse was bad, dried out’; sadìgę· buvo linai ‘the flax had sprouted’; pripùvę· bit kvìčėi ‘the wheat had molded and rotted’; neinšalę· bit ákmeni·s ‘the stones had not frozen’; anà daugest kap mėnà rasilaidę· bit ‘she had been flowering for more than a month’; anà numirà bit ‘she had died’;

b) passive voice: ánas apautas biti ‘he had been shod’; ánas ir čanaik bit krūpa· móki·tas ‘he too had been taught a little’; Rafàlinas bit žmonesà pratìntas kǽk. ‘Rapolas had been somewhat trained among people’.

The dialect has quite a number of compound present- and past-tense forms made with neuter-gender passive participles, e.g.: present tense: jáu manìp visa padìrpta, padarìta ‘everything has already been done, made by me’; išmokėta visa, visa išdù·ta ‘everything has been paid, everything given out’; vískas pakùlta ‘everything has been laid down’; nedù·ta jėst ‘it has not been given to eat’; dabar viskás apsodìta, apsėta ‘now everything has been planted and sown’; dár neatardìnėta, o žolė jėmėsi ‘it has not yet been ploughed, but the grass has already begun to grow’; jei dár visa čà neprijùnkta ‘she is still not accustomed to everything here’; past tense: prìversta akmenų bit ‘stones had been piled up’; taukù prìlaista bit ‘it had been sprinkled with fat’; strùchà an strùchós sàbrukta buvo ‘one roof had been crammed on top of another (of the huts)’; užvàrìta bit snìegù ‘it had been covered with snow’.

Compound future-tense forms have been heard only with passive participles: kãelas būs nuklótas žmonėmi ‘the road will be covered with people’; tadaìk visa bus padarìta ‘then everything will be done’; visà žãmė būs išàrtà ‘all the land will be ploughed’.

§ 49. Besides the aforementioned compound tenses of the indicative, compound forms of the subjunctive are also used in the dialect. They are most often formed with active participles: būčap žinóję·, tai nevažàvę· ‘if I had known, I would not have gone’; bútumėm sėdėjė· ir ùtarinà· ‘we would have sat and talked’; jėsk, kab bútai pri-jėda· ‘eat so that you will have had enough’, cf. P. Chaleckienė’s phrase: aš būčap bijójus sakìt, kad neusìširdot ‘I would have been afraid to say it, lest they get angry’.

Compound subjunctive forms in the passive voice are rare: kab ne li·tus tsaik tai visa jau būtù·p papjauta ir pàrinkta ‘if it weren’t for that rain, everything would already have been cut and gathered (from the fields)’.

No compound imperative forms were heard.

Occasionally, peculiar compound past-tense active forms occur, formed from both participles; that is, instead of the auxiliary verb buvo, bit(i), ‘was’, bùvę· is said, e.g.: aš jì sàgóvę· bùvę· ‘I had caught him’; áni·s jau nuvažàvę· bùvę ‘they had already gone away’.

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However, in general, there is a tendency in the dialect to simplify compound forms, e.g.: kad paláuktu·p nedėla; tai anà ats iliktum „if she had waited a week, she would have been left behind“; kab negėrtu·p vãkar, nu·nài negulėtu·p; kap nerasi-bėktu; tai ji rastų „if he had not run away, then she would have found him“.

Semi-participle

§ 50. The dialect uses fossilized half-participle forms (not inflected for number or gender). They are most often formed from the infinitive stem with the suffix -dami, e.g.:

masc. sg. o áñas nenorėdami ait paz lóvi; “and he, not wanting to, goes to the trough”; vėjas, jām davinėdami ità nostalni·kėla, sãkė; o žmogãlis, aidami namóp, užėjo karčmón; itus metùs li·tūkas lijo neiškadavōdami; bėginėdami jėsti áñas; nemokėdami nepautari·si; aš ùtarinu, o áñas žūri, kab dùrnas nežinódami; dar savì·s kampù·s sėdėdami bùsti nekāp “now, sitting at home, you get by poorly (i.e. you will not live without working)”; áñas nusivėdė jį gi·dódami;

fem. sg. anà gulėdami áuga; bėgo jō pati rėgdami; aš (pati) nuvejau tën vergdami; anà sėdėdami miegoj; galù pirkój sėdėdami tik kā dirpt;

masc. and fem. pl. mės kāp pàdegėm, tai kur kas žinódami rašiājom, rasirbūkom; nenorėdami visi mės sazgħadinom ait; mės tadaik kā du·módami sākōm; apā-jom jė·škodami; paz Valērika aidami, užėkit ir paz Barnādika.

Forms with -dami (<damie) may have been generalized from the masculine plural¹⁹, since perhaps the feminine plural ending -damos, too, has been generalized by analogy, as seen in forms that occur occasionally: āni·s ùtarino čà gẽrdamos; tiktai·k kójas at-kula vāiščodamos; rasikirnōčīnė· pamacītku negaledamōs āj “having spread out, she walked slowly, unable to see.” Forms with -damos have become mixed with reflexive half-participle forms in -damosi, e.g.: vī·nas būdamosi tai ir numirīs “one will die while living alone,” kopdamōsi ištrūko áñas “he escaped while hiding”; ir klāusasi ju·gdamōs “and asks, laughing.” Alongside these, an occasional generalized form is also used with the feminine singular ending -a, e.g.: mōža važū·dama numirīs “perhaps she will die on the way”; aš pats išimōkinau (read) ganīdama. A form with -damu was also recorded on tape, e.g.: vī·nas vī·na· dastojinēdamu kab jēmėsi do ir ištezdinē-dami ir visi trīs āni·s tēn (drowned).

Padalyvis

§ 51. In the Zietela dialect, only a couple of forms have been recorded that resemble the present-tense adverbial participle forms of standard Lithuanian and other Lithuanian dialects, but are used in place of the half-participle, e.g.: iš kokū nedėlu· kēturas itai visa iškūlam tep pasistorōjant “over about four weeks we thresh all this by making an effort”; iš čà važāvant tep niūsumau lāpà “while driving from here, I sent a letter like that.” These are probably new forms²⁰, since the functions of the adverbial participle in the dialect are generally served by half-participle and active participle forms.

¹⁹ P. Skardžius considers these forms to have been generalized from the dual; see P. Skardžius, Dėl pusdalyvių raidos, Archivum Philologicum, vol. 6, Kaunas, 1937, p. 105.

²⁰ The forms were recorded from Adolis Žukelis and M. Burkonienė, both of whom had considerable contact with speakers of other Lithuanian dialects. Kateryna Jodienė, a teacher who worked in many places, uses adverbial participles as in standard Lithuanian.

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In place of the present-tense converb, a half-participle is used, e.g.: dirbdami dieną mažasnė, kaip nedirbdami “working during the day is shorter than not working”; aidama reikia atkalbėt ražončių “while walking, one must recite the rosary”; aš ragėjau kiški bėgdami “I saw a hare running”; neragėt aidami “while walking, one cannot see”; rūgūs pjaudamōs, vašarai reikia vešūte padarīt “while cutting the rye, in summer one needs to make a shady place (to rest in)”; mān sasīlgo namie būdamā “I became homesick while staying at home”; kāršta aidamōs; ne vešēi būdama, tai reikia, kad ledōkas būtu šūo “when not living in the village, one needs a fierce dog”; rātas nugrīvo važūodami “the wheel fell off while travelling”; ale apiaudami čīstet ir veksēt “but when peeling (a potato), it is cleaner and quicker”; jō brōlis Vezāučie, važūodami Slāniman bit vīnas “his brother (lived) in Vezaučiai (situated by the road), while travelling to Slanim”; kap rādo kā giroj kopdamōs, parūnko “when they found someone hiding in the forest, they took him.”

Sometimes a half-participle form used in this way is better interpreted as an adverb rather than as a converb, e.g.: vogdami nejėšk, o padslīnk “don’t eat furtively; instead, pull (the plate closer).”

In place of past-tense converbs, an active-voice participle is used, e.g.: reika nejėda; gildāwītis “one must go to bed without having eaten”; negadanai vienam jau likæ “it is not good to be left alone already”; tep langvēst, kap apsāeva “it is so much easier (to walk barefoot) once one has put on shoes,” etc.

No other converb forms or substitutes for them have been recorded.

§ 52. The Zietela dialect verb has numerous distinctive features, which must be explained by the dialect’s prolonged isolation. Consequently, archaic features of inflection have survived in the dialect, first and foremost: athematic forms and the contaminative verb forms that arose through their interaction; the 3rd-person past-tense form bit(i); conditional forms with the postpositions -p(ė), -b(ė); reflexive verbs with final-syllable stress; and so forth. Many of these features are shared by the dialects of the southeastern Lithuanian linguistic periphery; only the form bit(i) points to the Lithuanian dialects of the former East Prussia.

On the other hand, the verb also has quite a few innovations: these include the athematic use of certain thematic verb infinitives, one fossilized past-tense form of the active participle and its use alongside half-participle forms in place of the converb, as well as various competing stem forms and stress anomalies. Many reflexive forms uncharacteristic of Lithuanian are attributable to Slavic influence (auginasi, būstasi, gēmasi and others). Considerably more Slavic analogies could be traced in the work, which is touched on only briefly here.

Few elements of other Lithuanian dialects or of the Lithuanian language are noticeable in the verb’s inflection.

А. ВИДУГИРИС

VERB INFLECTION IN THE ZIETELĖ DIALECT

Summary

Because of the long isolation of the local Lithuanian dialect (it is surrounded by Belarusian), the verb in the Zietelė dialect is highly distinctive. First, it has preserved some archaic features, e.g. athematic forms or contaminated verb forms formed on their basis (aiti | aima, ēsti | ēma, miegti | mieg-

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ma), the 3rd-person singular and plural form of the past tense bit(i), subjunctive forms with the postposition -p(ė), sometimes -b(ė) (1st-person singular aičār / aičārē / aičārē, giedōčār, turēčabēs, 3rd-person singular and plural atšūstu p ganitu pē), reflexive verbs stressed on the ending (3rd-person singular and plural present tense jimasi, sėdasi, past tense jēmėsi, stojosi, future tense gulsis, jimsis, rasis), and others. Most of these features are characteristic of the southeastern peripheral dialects of Lithuanian; only the form bit(i) brings the Zietelė dialect closer to the western Lithuanian dialects that once existed in the territory of former East Prussia.

Second, the dialect is characterized by many innovations, e.g.: some infinitives are used with the meaning of inflected athematic forms (nesėsti — nesėda, samalt — sumala, viršti — virsta); some verbs with a present-tense stem in a have forms based on the past-tense root (krīmta — kremta: krīmto, līnda — lenda: līndo, līpa — limpa: līpo, sniga — snīga: snigo); the number of active participle forms has decreased dramatically: only one invariable, generalized neuter plural form of the past tense has been preserved (dirbę, išaugę, sasiskukę, žaidę). Nowadays, this form also replaces past adverbial participle forms (reika, nejėdę guldāvi tis) (the dialect has no past adverbial participles), while present adverbial participle forms are replaced by half-participle forms (dirbdami diēnā mažāšnė kab nedirbdami), which themselves also vary (dirbdamā/dirbdamī/dirbdamos). Verb forms often show considerable accentual variation: atati|ātai, negirdžū|negirdžū, pašunta|pašūnta, and others. The formation of some reflexive verbs shows direct influence from the surrounding Belarusian language (būstasi, gināusi, kāndasi), but the direct influence of Slavic languages on verb inflection is insignificant.