Summary

The Lithuanian tongue in Gruzdžiai environs

Juozas Pabrėža

The phonetic peculiarities discussed in the paper show that the Gruzdžiai sub-dialect should be attributed to the Šiauliai version of the West Aukštaičiai (western Upper Lithuanian) dialect: diphthongs am, an, em and en as well as nasal vowels ą, ę remain unchanged; long weak vowels are shortened, general retraction of accent is observed. There are also some traces of neighbouring dialects in the Gruzdžiai sub-dialect–the Kaunas version of the West Aukštaičiai (consonant n is often being dropped in the infinitives -enti, -inti and forms produced from these infinitives; sometimes long and semi-long vowels are heard in weak positions) and Žemaičiai (Samogitian) dialect (reduction of endings, retraction of accent in polysyllabic words to the first syllable).