Consonant changes in the Klaipėda region highlanders dialects: the 21th century situation

This paper describes the former Klaipėda region Highlanders area (from Smaliniñkai (Jùrbarkas region) to Juknáičiai (Šilùtė region)) dialectal situation and usage characteristics of consonants in the specific habitat in the beginning of the 21st century. Recent observations suggest that most of cons...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Rima Bakšienė
Format: Article
Language:deu
Published: Vilnius University 2014-12-01
Series:Lietuvių Kalba
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.journals.vu.lt/lietuviu-kalba/article/view/22652
_version_ 1818337400821121024
author Rima Bakšienė
author_facet Rima Bakšienė
author_sort Rima Bakšienė
collection DOAJ
description This paper describes the former Klaipėda region Highlanders area (from Smaliniñkai (Jùrbarkas region) to Juknáičiai (Šilùtė region)) dialectal situation and usage characteristics of consonants in the specific habitat in the beginning of the 21st century. Recent observations suggest that most of consonant changes (hardening of consonants, usage of middle l’, aspirated and slightly voiceless voiced consonants and etc.) described in the previous works of dialectologists captured in the beginning of 21st century. In the old local population language the use cases of hard consonants in the positions of iota softening before suffixes and endings appear quite often. Consonant hardening begins at about Viešvilė surrounding area (Jùrbarkas region) and stronger going westward, mostly hardening cases recorded in the central area of descriptive dialects of Rukai, Pagėgiai, Bitėnai. The most common hardened consonants in the positions of iota softness are r, v, n, example: tràktọrùs ~ traktorius ‘tractor’, keturu∙ ~ keturių ‘of four’; daržõ∙vu. ~ daržovių ‘of vegetables’, lietùvu. ~ lietuvių ‘of Lithuanians’; ˈran.kinu ~ rankiniu ‘manual’, žinuõ∙s ~ žinios ‘news’. A much less often consonants hardening occurs in the root, example: trùš’u. ~ triušių ‘of  rabbits’, gro∙vi∙s ~ griovys ‘ditch’, suntini ~ siuntinį ‘parcel’. In the dialects of the 21st century “middle” l’, common for Klaipėda residents is systematically preserved. In common position of hard l usage in general language this consonant sounds as soft by ear, example: l’a.pαi ~ lapai ‘leafs’, bl’o.gã.i. ~ blogai ‘bad’, kul’dava ~ kuldavo ‘whacked’. In those positions, where in general language it is normal to pronounce the soft l’, example: in iota softening positions this consonant sounds almost as hard l: kõ∙kl’u∙ ~ koklių ‘of  tiles’, kaul’ukùs ~ kauliukus ‘dices’, *š’auluõs ~ Šiauliuose ‘in Šiauliai’. Also other consonant changes occur sometimes in described area: non-motivated softness, aspiration, contraposition neutralization of voiceless and voiced consonants and etc. To be highlighted, as it was earlier as in the presence all described consonant changes are not systematic (are variable) in dialect. Consonant hardening phenomenon is undoubtedly related to the West Lithuanian area of dialects which are characterized by the declination of soft stems.
first_indexed 2024-12-13T14:54:37Z
format Article
id doaj.art-05fa9e730ceb44b18aef65b7d5475009
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 1822-525X
language deu
last_indexed 2024-12-13T14:54:37Z
publishDate 2014-12-01
publisher Vilnius University
record_format Article
series Lietuvių Kalba
spelling doaj.art-05fa9e730ceb44b18aef65b7d54750092022-12-21T23:41:16ZdeuVilnius UniversityLietuvių Kalba1822-525X2014-12-01810.15388/LK.2014.22652Consonant changes in the Klaipėda region highlanders dialects: the 21th century situationRima Bakšienė0The Institute of the Lithuanian LanguageThis paper describes the former Klaipėda region Highlanders area (from Smaliniñkai (Jùrbarkas region) to Juknáičiai (Šilùtė region)) dialectal situation and usage characteristics of consonants in the specific habitat in the beginning of the 21st century. Recent observations suggest that most of consonant changes (hardening of consonants, usage of middle l’, aspirated and slightly voiceless voiced consonants and etc.) described in the previous works of dialectologists captured in the beginning of 21st century. In the old local population language the use cases of hard consonants in the positions of iota softening before suffixes and endings appear quite often. Consonant hardening begins at about Viešvilė surrounding area (Jùrbarkas region) and stronger going westward, mostly hardening cases recorded in the central area of descriptive dialects of Rukai, Pagėgiai, Bitėnai. The most common hardened consonants in the positions of iota softness are r, v, n, example: tràktọrùs ~ traktorius ‘tractor’, keturu∙ ~ keturių ‘of four’; daržõ∙vu. ~ daržovių ‘of vegetables’, lietùvu. ~ lietuvių ‘of Lithuanians’; ˈran.kinu ~ rankiniu ‘manual’, žinuõ∙s ~ žinios ‘news’. A much less often consonants hardening occurs in the root, example: trùš’u. ~ triušių ‘of  rabbits’, gro∙vi∙s ~ griovys ‘ditch’, suntini ~ siuntinį ‘parcel’. In the dialects of the 21st century “middle” l’, common for Klaipėda residents is systematically preserved. In common position of hard l usage in general language this consonant sounds as soft by ear, example: l’a.pαi ~ lapai ‘leafs’, bl’o.gã.i. ~ blogai ‘bad’, kul’dava ~ kuldavo ‘whacked’. In those positions, where in general language it is normal to pronounce the soft l’, example: in iota softening positions this consonant sounds almost as hard l: kõ∙kl’u∙ ~ koklių ‘of  tiles’, kaul’ukùs ~ kauliukus ‘dices’, *š’auluõs ~ Šiauliuose ‘in Šiauliai’. Also other consonant changes occur sometimes in described area: non-motivated softness, aspiration, contraposition neutralization of voiceless and voiced consonants and etc. To be highlighted, as it was earlier as in the presence all described consonant changes are not systematic (are variable) in dialect. Consonant hardening phenomenon is undoubtedly related to the West Lithuanian area of dialects which are characterized by the declination of soft stems.https://www.journals.vu.lt/lietuviu-kalba/article/view/22652none
spellingShingle Rima Bakšienė
Consonant changes in the Klaipėda region highlanders dialects: the 21th century situation
Lietuvių Kalba
none
title Consonant changes in the Klaipėda region highlanders dialects: the 21th century situation
title_full Consonant changes in the Klaipėda region highlanders dialects: the 21th century situation
title_fullStr Consonant changes in the Klaipėda region highlanders dialects: the 21th century situation
title_full_unstemmed Consonant changes in the Klaipėda region highlanders dialects: the 21th century situation
title_short Consonant changes in the Klaipėda region highlanders dialects: the 21th century situation
title_sort consonant changes in the klaipeda region highlanders dialects the 21th century situation
topic none
url https://www.journals.vu.lt/lietuviu-kalba/article/view/22652
work_keys_str_mv AT rimabaksiene consonantchangesintheklaipedaregionhighlandersdialectsthe21thcenturysituation