Latvijas PSR dialektologu ekspedīcijas 1960. gadā

LIETUVIŲ KALBOTYROS KLAUSIMAI, IV LIETUVOS TSR MOKSLŲ AKADEMIJA LATVIJAS PSR DIALEKTOLOGU EKSPEDĪCIJAS 1960. GADĀ M. GRAUDIŅA In the summer of 1960, dialectologists from the Institute of Language and Literature of the Latvian SSR Academy of Sciences organized two expeditions to collect language material and place names directly from local people in the Krustpils, Madona, Ilūkste and partly Daugavpils districts. A total of 36 collectors took part in these expeditions, gathering materials in 43 dialects. Thus, the expeditions organized by dialectologists in 1960 were able to cover most of the so-called Selonian dialects, which developed in the lands inhabited by the Selonian people on both sides of the Daugava. The aim of the expeditions was to collect material on the phonetics, morphology, syntax and lexicon of the dialects concerned, reflecting the most characteristic features of the dialects of this area; to collect the names of inhabited and uninhabited places; and to record as many dialect texts as possible as material for further research. The Selonian dialects share a whole range of features unknown in other parts of Latvia. Besides the features that unite the Selonian dialects, there are also those that distinguish one dialect from another. At times, the difference is so striking that not only linguists notice it. The difference between the Selonian dialects of Vidzeme and Zemgale is especially pronounced, since the Daugava has always separated them, hindering communication among the people of the region. One of the most characteristic features of the Selonian dialects is the development of a rising intonation, which is unknown in other parts of Latvia. Here, rising intonation is used in place of the broken intonation found in the three-intonation areas, while falling intonation has merged the falling and level intonations of those areas. The rising intonation preserved in the Selonian dialects is older than the broken intonation. As Prof. J. Endzelīns points out in Latviešu valodas gramatikas (pp. 37–38), historically the broken intonation developed in syllables that had once preceded the word accent and had then been pronounced with rising intonation. In the Selonian dialects of Vidzeme and also in some of Zemgale, variations in falling intonation can be heard. This intonation is pronounced both with a sharp fall (abruptly) and with a gradual fall and a slight pitch rise in the first part, thus forming a rising-falling intonation. The sharp fall is most often found before voiceless consonants, while the rising-falling intonation occurs before voiced consonants, e.g., drāuks, drāugi, strādāt etc. Speakers of the dialects do not distinguish level intonation from falling intonation. To speakers of other dialects, too, level intonation seems to them merely to be pronounced a little more slowly. There is no awareness of a difference between falling and level intonation even in a dialect such as that of Elkšņi, where 185 Both intonations occur in the informant’s speech. For example, the informant says: „plāve ār vīnruce“ and in the next sentence: „ār sērpi plāve“. Such instability in intonation shows that the dialect, although speakers do not perceive the difference, already has features that further develop into a distinction between falling and level intonation. The broken intonation is sometimes heard in emphatic speech. For example, the informant in Asare, vividly recalling an event, said: „bet jei stōu koa pa 'golvu dabūšē“, although otherwise she says only „golva“. Broken intonation is also heard in emphatic speech in a few words in Biržai (oārā and prūiam). In nearly all dialects, the negative particle „nē“ is pronounced with broken intonation. The main features that distinguish Selonian dialects from the literary language and other dialects concern pronunciation. For example, in Latvian the ē sound is pronounced broad or narrow depending on which vowel or diphthong follows, or has followed, in the next syllable. In most dialects and in the literary language, there are only a few exceptions to this rule, mainly in declension, where, for example, one finds veci, tēvi, retiem celmiem, dēli, bērzi, and so on. In this respect, speakers of the Vidzeme Selonian dialects observe the rule governing the pronunciation of the ē sound much more consistently—in Cesvaine, Dzelzava, Dzērbene, Koknese, Lazdona, Odziena, Vestiena, Pļaviņas, and elsewhere. There one hears, for example, veci tēvi, retiem celmiem, dēli, bērzi, and so on. In nearly all Selonian dialects, the long narrow ē sound is pronounced broadly, for example, klęç (= klēts), vęž’s (= vēzis), sędēt (= sēdēt), and so on. In some dialects (for example, Kurcuma, Prode, and Pilskalne), one sometimes also hears klīec (= klēts), vięž’s (= vēzis), and other similar forms, though this is not a particularly characteristic phenomenon. The narrow short e sound in word roots has generally remained unchanged, but in final syllables it is pronounced more or less broadly, for example, upę, pridę, puķę, pusę, and so on. In some Vidzeme Selonian dialects, the ending -ę is so broad that it approaches the a sound (Pļaviņas, Saikava). In Zemgale Selonian dialects, the narrow e sound in the root is often assimilated to this broad -ę ending as well, for example, tēļę, eglę, zēmę, and so on, though not very consistently. Thus, for example, one hears zeme and zēmę in the speech of one and the same speaker. The narrow e sound was probably present in monosyllabic infinitives, at least in most Selonian dialects. Monosyllabic infinitives are often pronounced with a broad ę sound, for example, ceļ, mēst, nęst, smęlt, dękt (= degt), and so on. In some Vidzeme Selonian dialects, monosyllabic infinitives are pronounced with an a sound in the root, indicating that an ę sound was once present here. This is the case, for example, in Cesvaine, Sausnēja, Lazdona, and elsewhere, where one says mast (= mest), calt (= celt), and so on. Two-syllable infinitives in these dialects also had an ę sound: for example, razāt (= redzēt), acāt (= ecēt), and so on. Future forms derived from monosyllabic infinitives also have an ā sound in the root, for example, daks (= degs), bāks (= bēgs), cals (= cels); in the future plural, the endings are -sam and -sat, for example, cālsam, cālsat (literary celsim, celsit). Infinitives ending in -ināt are pronounced with an ę sound in all Selonian dialects, which in pronunciation has often developed into an ā sound, for example, mętinot (a relatively new word, and therefore apparently retaining the ę sound), dažināt, ādināt, and so on. The broad ę sound in the roots of these infinitives probably arose through assimilation—it seems that the earlier form here was dęženāt. A similar form, nūodaganāt, is still found in Cesvaine. In the Zemgale Selonian dialects, the broad ę sound has changed into ā, for example, tāūs (= tēvs), dāls (= dēls), vaci cilvēki (= veci cilvēki). (In these dialects, palatal vowels in the following syllable do not affect pronunciation in declension.) This feature is gradually disappearing in the Vidzeme Selonian dialects. 186 In the Selian dialects of Zemgale, the personal pronouns es ‘I’ and mēs ‘we’ are often pronounced with a narrow ē-sound; the plural form is often shortened to mes. In Vidzeme, as and mas || mēs are often heard in place of es and mēs, especially in dialects around Madona. It should be noted that when speakers of the dialects speak in the literary language, the narrow ē often occurs in place of the literary language’s broad ē, e.g., ezers, dēls, teļš, etc. If a velar vowel or diphthong follows in the next syllable and there is no j or palatalization in between, a is often changed to o in almost all the Selian dialects (covered by the expeditions). In the Selian dialects of Vidzeme, this change is also possible when g, ģ, ķ, j, č, dž, š, ž, ļ, ņ is followed by any vowel and is not preceded by r, l, s, p, e.g., gonc (= gans), koķis (= kaķis), vokarejs (= vakarējs), plova (= pļava), etc. In some Selian dialects of Vidzeme, the change is not prevented by certain other consonant clusters. a also changes to o in suffixes and prefixes; this latter feature is almost entirely unknown in the Selian dialects of Zemgale. In the Selian dialects of Vidzeme, the long ā-sound is often replaced by a pure ō-sound (mōsa), whereas in the Zemgale region one hears either oa (mōaṭe)—most often—or uo (mūoṭe)—the latter in Dviete, Pilskalne, Bebrene, and partly also in Slate. The short i-sound does not change, except in the sequence ir, which is changed both to ēr, e.g., zvērbul’s (= zvirbulis), and to ier, e.g., es dzēržu (= es dzirdu). The long ī-sound changes to ei (in most of the dialects) or īi. Sometimes the e-sound in this ei diphthong is very narrow, e.g., upēitē. In the Selian dialects of Daugavpils District, īi and ei predominate, while around Ilūkste ei already begins to occur, e.g., vēirs (= vīrs), reic (= rīts). Velar y is still heard in dialects around Madona (tylks, myza) and partly also in Zemgale—in dialects around Bebrene. In the Zemgale region, however, the y-sound is not used consistently. One and the same speaker may pronounce the same word with either y or i. The principal phonetic feature distinguishing the Selian dialects of Vidzeme from those of Zemgale is the palatal umlaut of vowels, which is absent on the left bank of the Daugava. In the Selian dialects of Vidzeme, a>ę, ā>ǟ or ę, u>ų, uo<uę when palatal vowels or diphthongs follow and none of k, g, ķ, ģ, j, č, dž, š, ž, ļ, ņ intervenes. If the consonants mentioned occur in a cluster with r, l, m, s, z, p, b, t, the umlaut takes place without hindrance, e.g., ēbi (= abi), rēdi (= radi), ķelpi (= kalpi), ruītki (but: bluķi), secēt (= sacīt), zuebi (= zuobi), māšina (= mašīna), etc. Umlaut also occurs before b, p, m, v, r when these were formerly in a cluster with j, which has been lost in pronunciation, e.g., skępa (= skapja), ķēra (= kara), kūrma (= kurmja). In Bērzaune, Sarkaņi, Lazdona, and Prauliena, a is often umlauted to ą; where a has already changed to o, the latter is umlauted to ǫ, e.g., stops (= stabs), stǫbi (= stabi), mos (= mazs), mǫziņš (= maziņš), etc. In the Selian dialects of Zemgale, the long ū-sound changes. In most of the dialects, ou is pronounced in place of ū, e.g., škūnič (= šķūnis), čouka (= cūka), šounu (= šūnu, i.e., šuju), etc., while in some—Bebrene, Dviete, and Pilskalne—iu occurs in place of ū, e.g., biūt (= būt), Ilūkste (= Ilūkste), iūdenc (= ūdens), etc. On the left bank of the Daugava, the diphthong uo changes to ū, e.g., gūs (= guovs), cūs (= zuoss), ūgas (= uogas), etc. The short u-sound remains unchanged, except in the sequence ur, which sometimes changes to uor, e.g., kuormis (= kurmis), though not always and not in every word. The pronunciation of the diphthong ei is not uniform throughout. In most of the Selian dialects, it is pronounced with a broad ę, e.g., meita, tēikas, mēijas, etc., but in some dialects (Bebrene, 187 In Dviete, ai is pronounced in place of ēi, e.g., muna maita (= my daughter). With its broader ē-sound, this ēi differs from the ēi that developed from the long ī-sound. In dialects where ī does not change, ēi is for the most part also pronounced as in the standard language; for example, in Cesvaine they say: I’m going to my daughter. In the Selonian dialects of Zemgale, the diphthong ie changes into a long ī-sound, e.g., sīva (= wife), zīc (= flower), mīrs (= peace), etc. In Vidzeme, this change is relatively rare. The diphthongs ai and ui are pronounced in the Selonian dialects as in the standard language; the diphthong au sometimes causes the a-sound to become labialized (in Vidzeme). A feature of almost all Selonian dialects is the lengthening of short vowels before voiceless consonants, e.g., o:ka (= well), pu:tni, vo:kars (= evening), etc. Such lengthening is not found in some dialects, e.g., in Asare, Prode, and elsewhere. In all Selonian dialects, consonants are palatalized to a greater or lesser degree when they are or have been before palatal vowels. The degree of palatalization is not the same everywhere. Thus, for example, in Asare palatalization occurred before the ž-sound, whereas it was barely perceptible before ē, e.g., nom. upēte (= stream) and acc. upēti (= stream), whereas in the neighboring Slate dialect palatalization was equally strong in these cases. In Selonian dialects, the sound sequence šk is pronounced without softening the ķ, e.g., škounč (= barn), škel̦t (= split). The sound sequence ķš is sometimes metathesized: for example, they do not say aukša (= upper part), but aišra, priška (= front), iškā (= inside), etc. In Slate, Dignāja, Lubāna and, occasionally, elsewhere (Elkšņi, Susēja), č is used in place of ķ, e.g., čēve (= mare), kačs (= cat). As a hypercorrection, the ķ-sound is used in place of č in some Selonian dialects, e.g., ķigāni (= Romani people), ķuška (= snake), in Krustpils and Mētriena. Nominatives ending in -ļs are pronounced with -ļs in some dialects, e.g., ceļš, teļš, in Asare, Elkšņi, Prode, and elsewhere; elsewhere—in parts of Vidzeme too—with -ļs, e.g., ceļš, kupeļs, teļs. Nominatives ending in -ŗš are pronounced with -rs, e.g., kūrs (= which), kārs (= war), vārs (= copper) in Zemgale, and kūrs, ķers, vārs in Vidzeme. The combination -jš likewise has no š-sound, e.g., vējs (= wind), vājs (= weak), etc. Consequently, the š-sound is also uncommon in agent nouns derived from verbs, e.g., kūdļējs (= reaper), vedējs (= driver), etc. The old word sutmalas is found in Aknīste, Susēja and Slate, whereas in other Selonian dialects of Zemgale one hears sudmalas. As in the Lower Latvian dialects, before ķ and g speakers of Selonian dialects pronounce a velar b. In this respect these dialects differ from the Upper Latvian dialects of Latgale. A characteristic feature of Selonian dialects is that long liquids and nasals, as are usual in the standard language, are not generally used in borrowings from other languages, e.g., kana || kona (= jug), bāļva (= bowl), ēlne (= elbow), stals (= stable), etc. Only the words panna and ķemme are sometimes also heard with long nasals. In all Selonian dialects, a t-sound is sometimes inserted between n and s or between ņ and š, but no such insertion occurs between l and s or between ļ and š, e.g., gōnc (= shepherd), bērziņč (= little birch), vasals (= whole), zaļš. In words kaudze, tupe̦le, kruķis, krasts, etc., an s is prefixed, e.g., skāude, stupele, skruk̦is, skrāc, etc. In the future forms of monosyllabic verbs whose roots end in t, d, s, or z, the Selonian dialects of Zemgale have long sibilants or fricatives, e.g., neši, vešu, etc. Often 188 The long sibilant distinguishes the future from the past, e.g., vokār nesi moajād, reit nesi prūjām) (= yesterday you carried it home, tomorrow you will carry it away). These future forms are regularly formed from the infinitive, just as, for example, likšu, liksi from likt. There are considerably fewer peculiarities in morphology. In word formation, there are only a few unusual forms. Thus, for example, in the Selian dialects of Vidzeme, adjectives ending in -ūjis are known and used, e.g., smiltijs in Prauliena, smiltķijs in Sausneja, and elsewhere. Similar forms are also heard in the Zemgale area, e.g., mòalīja zēmē in Asare. Some house names also seem to be derived with this same suffix, e.g., Augstūjas — a homestead in Liepkalne, Kalnījas — a homestead in Ērgļi. Diminutives ending in -uks are very common, e.g., suņuks, mòasuks, gūšuks (= little cow), and elsewhere; especially numerous are such derivatives from personal names. As far as can be observed, these diminutives retain their affectionate meaning, unlike those in other dialects. In Vidzeme, female designations are often derived with -īša, especially when the designation is based on the husband’s occupation, e.g., kalējīša (= wife of a blacksmith), vēverīša (= wife of a weaver), and also Caunīša (= wife of Caune). In the Selian dialects of Zemgale, the forms used here are either -iņe (<-iene) or -īte (<-iete), e.g., kalējīne, skriuderīne, Kalninīte, and so on. Ethnonyms for women are also often derived here with these same suffixes. Peculiarly, they do not say krievs, but rather krīviniks. Names for other ethnicities, however, are not derived with this suffix. In the Selian dialects of Zemgale, derivatives in -atā from numerals are almost unknown. Instead, people say: mēs atgājām trijūs (= we came back as three), vái ta divūs ar boūš bāist? (= will it be frightening for the two of them too?). Derivatives in -ējī are often used to indicate quantity, e.g., munām tāvām bei divei zirgu (= my father had two horses) in Asare and elsewhere. In the Selian dialects of Zemgale, the forms manę, tevę are sometimes heard in the genitive and accusative of personal pronouns, e.g., jis manę napazyna (= he did not recognize me), bes tevę tūr ni'kà nabōis (= without you there will be nothing) and so on. These forms may be related to the Lithuanian forms manè, tavè, and thus be old. In the dative, the first person has the form màn. In Vidzeme: mìn. Possession is expressed in all Selian dialects by muns, muna. These dialects also have the locative form of kas — kamà, which is foreign to the literary language. The pronoun jis, jei (<-ji) is known in the Selian dialects of Zemgale; the form viņš, viņa, borrowed from the literary language, is also occasionally heard. However, jis, jei remains very much alive in people’s consciousness and speech, so that it sometimes appears in speech even when speaking in the literary language. Speakers of the Selian dialects of Vidzeme regard jis, jei as a very distinctly Upper Latvian phenomenon. The prefix and preposition da(-), which are used in these dialects, are foreign to the literary language, e.g., da-it da mežam (= go as far as the forest), daļēju pinū (= I poured in some milk), dapērc vēl vīnu sievām, lobōk ēs (= buy another piglet; it will be better to eat), da vo:karām (= until evening), dalyku es ār (= I added some too), and so on. In the Selian dialects of Zemgale, the use of the preposition and prefix iz(-) instead of uz(-) is also distinctive, e.g., izbrauce iz lada (= drove onto the ice), izlidava iz jumta (= flew onto the roof), izgōzē is golvys (= poured onto the head), and so on. Instead of the literary-language apkārt ‘around’, people often use aplīk — màn bij jōa-it aplēik kolnu (= I had to go around the hill). The past-tense ē-stems of verbs, lost from the literary language, are still alive in the Selian dialects, especially on the left bank of the Daugava, e.g., es vokār braūcu, jis vedę, mes nesām, and so on. 189 Of derived verbs whose infinitives end in -āt or -uot, the past tense is formed with -av-, e.g., jei runava, es zinavu, jūs stāigavāt. The declinable past participle is formed similarly—bōitu zinavuši, jei malavusę. In the Gārsene dialect there are forms with -dav-, e.g., kad gribēdavusi gulēt, tad nevarēdavusi, tāpēc ka spūkuodavusi (= when she wanted to sleep, she then could not, because she had been haunted). Since the people of Gārsene also speak Lithuanian among themselves at home, these forms are probably the result of Lithuanian influence. In general, it is difficult to say what nationality the present-day inhabitants of Gārsene are. They themselves say that about 100 years ago they “became Latvian” and are therefore Latvians. It should be said that all the people of Gārsene speak Latvian and Lithuanian equally well. In all Selonian dialects, reflexive verbs in the first and second person plural have the endings -mēs, -tēs or -mās, -tās, e.g., mēs ceļamēs || ceļamās, jūs ceļatēs || celietās. In verbs derived with a prefix, -sa- is sometimes inserted between the prefix and the stem, e.g., apsasēstis, izastāigūt. In the Vidzeme Selonian dialects, this -sa- sometimes loses its -a-, e.g., o:psprēcēt (= to get married), pārsāstis (= to overeat). In the Zemgale Selonian dialects, conditional forms with -umēm, -umēt are heard in the plural, e.g., itumēm, nastumēt. Participles have preserved ancient forms. Present participles with -us still occur here, e.g., lielajiem viņč nędūdus rūkas (in Vēstiena). Declined participles with -(k)is are also used for the future, e.g., tāus braukšis iz pilsātu, modāte braukšūtē, meitas braukšas, puiši braukšūši (in Asare). These forms, however, are already beginning to be forgotten—they are used relatively rarely. The literary language has a great influence. Often, especially in the presence of children, speakers of the dialects talk among themselves in a fairly good literary language, in which only an occasional characteristic dialect feature is heard. Consequently, the younger generation no longer really knows how to speak the dialect—the dialects are close to extinction. The lexicon seems to be the most persistent feature of the dialects, containing many words unfamiliar in the literary language. The dialects on the left bank of the Daugava are close to Lithuania and show the influence of the Lithuanian language. Both individual words and forms have been borrowed, e.g., the past-tense forms with -dav- mentioned above. The Lithuanian word is girtūklēs (= blueberries), in place of atit anākāt; pažēri is Lithuanian prager­ti (meaning to drink up), e.g., vai ta jis tū (i.e., the kolkhoz) pažērē? (in Asare); bùlbas—potatoes (the name is now hardly used, but formerly it was the only term for potatoes); avēli—beehives; sours—salty; gēlze—iron, etc. These dialects also show strong Slavic influence. For example, people do not say that they speak Latvian, Russian, or Polish, but rather pa latviskām, pa krīviskām, pa pūliskām. There are also direct borrowings. For example, 89-year-old Ilze Ratzobe of Asare says: jis beja jei ilūbeis, naskatīja; moš tu varēsi?, etc. The influence of Russian is especially strong in the Selonian dialects of Daugavpils district, where very few Latvians live. Words such as ustaba (= room), vēirēkšņi (= meadowsweet), aviškas vai āviekstenes (= raspberries), mēlnīgas (= bilberries), virsūne (= top), bāmbērbaki (= large horseflies), škierzlānc (= lizard), svo:ķi (= colostrum), mauļdātis (= to bathe), muzlas (= gums), it lūņkis (= to go to the malt house), ķēte (= left-handed person), špetnis (= nickname), sirūps, accusative sirūbu (= well lining), stōdāigi (= saplings), telōaks (= a small tent), paśule (= swamp), sprēst (= to spin), klukučs rāun (= gathers firewood), tiļs (= close), timss (= dark), and so on, are also not usual in the literary language. 190 The expeditions yielded a substantial collection of place names, numbering more than 21,000 in total. Of these, 15,500 are new, previously unknown names. These names can be used to augment the collections of place names held at the institute and to support future work on place names. The collected place names contain much of linguistic interest. Place names, especially those that have retained their names for centuries, have a history of their own. It is interesting that the Vidzeme Selonian area has several names of Estonian origin. For example, in Patkule there is a farmstead called Musti (Estonian must, ‘black’), and a river called Lisa (Estonian ‘addition’). The name Patkules itself (pronounced Paķile) is also of Estonian origin. The same may be said of Pikāni—a farmstead in Prauliena—and Miņģi—a farmstead in Cesvaine, among others. These place names suggest that Estonians may once have lived in the area. Near the Lithuanian border, many place names are of Lithuanian origin. For example, in Gārsene there is a forest called Ilgabrade. A heavily used road ran through the fairly large forest that separates Latvia from Lithuania, so it took a long time to walk or travel through it. In the Gārsene dialect, the word ilgs ‘long’ is also used in the sense of gars ‘long’, as in Lithuanian. This meaning may also be embodied in the forest’s name. The meadow Gērva kaklis also has a Lithuanian name. The meadow is said to be very boggy, so that only cranes can enter it. In addition, many farmstead names near the Lithuanian border end in -išķi, e.g., Bāltišķi, Girvišķi, Ragaunišķi, and others. It should be noted that many places acquired their names either because of their location or because of some characteristic feature. For example, Garā pļava (‘Long Meadow’) in Asare is a narrow meadow several kilometres long; the hill Āža mugura (‘Goat’s Back’) in Patkule is a pointed hill resembling a goat’s back. Names such as Viļķu kalniņš (‘Wolf Hillock’) in Cesvaine, where wolves used to cross the hillock, and Aitu līcis (‘Sheep Hollow’) in Asare, where wolves often tore sheep apart because they had nowhere to flee, are commonly found. Cesvaine has Stradu birze (‘Thrush Grove’), where many thrushes live; Virumpurs (‘Boiling Swamp’), a very boggy swamp, a veritable churn of mud; and the meadow Zuwenica, said to be so wet that even fish lived there. Place names often changed over the centuries. Thus, in Lubāna an area is called Ērgala. Eagles were once said to occur in this area, and the present name apparently derives from Ērgļu gals (‘Eagle’s End’). Sometimes the origin of a place name is not so easy to imagine. For example, in Asare there was a semi-manor called Patmalnieki. About 150 years ago it was called Gren-cavu, a Latvianized form of the German Grenzhof. Since the little manor was the last one belonging to the lord of Asare, it is easy to understand why it was given that name. The little manor was then renamed Patmalnieki. There were never any mills in this place; moreover, in Asare mills are called sudmalas, not patmalas. Perhaps the word here, if it was not simply invented by chance, derives from the name Pati mala, that is, ‘the borderland’? Many place names are connected with an event. For example, in Asare there is Anča leja (‘Ancis’s Hollow’). During the corvée period, a man named Ancis hanged himself in this hollow because the manor had imposed such heavy corvée duties on him that he could not fulfil them. There is a pit in a nearby field called Madaļiņa—a wolf tore a girl apart there. The pit was named after the girl. In Patkule there is a farmstead called Teļāras, still so called because the manor’s calves used to graze near it. Katorgas kalns (‘Hard-Labour Hill’) in Patkule got its name because it was difficult to work on this hill—it was like being in a penal labour camp. In Cesvaine there is Nuopānu tilts (‘Sighing Bridge’). Beyond the bridge is a steep hill that is difficult to climb, so everyone already sighs on the bridge, knowing that a hard stretch of road lies ahead. 191 Sometimes whole legends tell of the origins of place names. Thus, for example, in Slate there is the Dzelzītis pool (pool), about which the following legend is told: In the stream at Lūčāni (Lūčāni — farmsteads) there is a pool, beside which money is said to have been buried. Once, three men decided to dig up the money so that their poverty would finally end. They dug on Midsummer’s Eve, the only night when hidden treasure could be unearthed. The men had already dug a hole so deep that one of them climbed down into it to pull out the barrel of money. At that moment the devil rushed out of the bushes, took the money, and threw it into the pool. The little barrel had been heavy, almost as if made of iron, so the pool was called the Dzelzītis pool. In Gārsene there is a forest called Kazaskāju. There is a hill in the forest where a castle once stood. Once, a couple of old women went into this forest to pick berries. They saw that there was a castle on the hill and a ball inside it. Beautifully dressed “young ladies” danced so lightly that it was a pleasure to watch them. The old women went closer to get a better look. Then they saw that the dancers had goats’ legs. Realizing that the “young ladies” were witches, the old women fled from the unholy place. But from that time on, the forest has been called Kazaskāju. Odzienas Lake is said to have sailed through the air, hissing. A girl watched it in amazement and said: “Well, it hissed just like a viper.” The lake fell at this spot because its name had been guessed by chance. There are very many legends of this kind in almost all regions of Latvia. Explanations of place names given by the people themselves are also interesting. Sometimes these explanations involve a great deal of imagination, but now and then they are quite plausible, too. Thus, for example, the people of Gārsene explained the name of the hamlet Indāni. A child was once found, and the finders named him Sprīdis, pronounced Sprindis in the Gārsene dialect. Sprindis nevertheless grew into such a tall man that they could no longer call him Sprīdis, so they began calling him Indis. Indis was given land and built himself a house. He had a large family. His children and grandchildren also built houses for themselves in the same place, and thus the Indāni came into being—a whole clan that inhabited the hamlet. It is questionable how true the story of the foundling might be, but a place name can indeed arise from the name of its founder. Sometimes nicknames that arise even today are very well known, showing that place names are based on some characteristic feature. Thus, in Rubeņi, one corner of the district, comprising about 50 houses, is called Koreju. The people living there are said to have split into two groups that do not get along very well with each other. In Vietalva, one area is called Ukrainu—the land there is said to be good and the people live prosperously. Latvijas PSR dialektologi 1961. g. vasarā rīko ekspedīcijas uz Alūksnes un Jēkabpils rajonu. Savācot materiālus Jēkabpils rajonā, būsim ieguvuši faktus sēlisko izlokšņu lielākajā daļā. Izpētot savāktos materiālus, varbūt varēsim iegūt kādas jaunas atziņas par sēļu valodu. DIALECTOLOGICAL EXPEDITIONS OF THE LATVIAN SSR IN 1960 М. Э. ГРАУДЫНЯ Summary In the summer of 1960, the Institute of Language and Literature of the Latvian SSR Academy of Sciences organized two expeditions to collect dialectological material and toponymic data. Both expeditions took place in areas of the so-called Selonian dialects—in the districts of Madona, Krustpils, and Ilūkste, and partly in the Daugavpils district. The 1961 expeditions will cover all the remaining Selonian dialects (in the Jēkabpils district). The Selonian dialects differ from the literary language and from other Latvian dialects in a number of features. One of these features is rising intonation, which is not found in other parts of Latvia. There are also differences in the pronunciation of individual sounds. For example, in the Vidzeme Selonian dialects, the sound ē is pronounced close in inflection when palatal vowels (or a diphthong) occur in the following syllable, even in cases where the root has open ę (tēvi instead of the literary tęvi). The Vidzeme Selonian dialects are characterized by palatal umlaut of vowels, which is not found in the Zemgale Selonian dialects. In turn, some ancient forms have been better preserved in the Zemgale Selonian dialects, e.g., past-tense forms with an ē stem, and the genitive and accusative cases of the personal pronouns manę tavę, etc. On the left bank of the Daugava, the third-person personal pronouns jis, jēi (< ji) are also used; in Vidzeme, this is considered a typically Upper Latvian feature. There are fewer distinctive features in morphology. The Vidzeme Selonian dialects are characterized by the formation of terms for wives from occupational titles and surnames with -iša (kalējīša); adjectives ending in -ijis are also found here (smilktijis). In the Zemgale Selonian dialects, the past tense of verbs in -uot and -āt is formed with the suffix -av- (es zinavu); in the dialect of Gārsene village, past-tense forms are formed with -dav-, e.g., nevarēdava zināt. These forms evidently arose under the influence of Lithuanian. The vocabulary of the Selonian dialects contains many distinctive features. The Zemgale Selonian dialects have more borrowings from Lithuanian (girtūklės, avēli, soūrs, etc.) and Russian than the literary language. The collected toponymic data (more than 21,000 items) constitute interesting material for linguists. The collected toponymic material will augment the Institute’s toponymy card index. The 1960 expeditions have yielded much material for further research. 13. Kalbotyros klausimai. IV