Aukštaitian () is one of the
dialect
A dialect is a Variety (linguistics), variety of language spoken by a particular group of people. This may include dominant and standard language, standardized varieties as well as Vernacular language, vernacular, unwritten, or non-standardize ...
s of the
Lithuanian language
Lithuanian (, ) is an East Baltic languages, East Baltic language belonging to the Baltic languages, Baltic branch of the Indo-European language family. It is the language of Lithuanians and the official language of Lithuania as well as one of t ...
, spoken in the
ethnographic regions of
Aukštaitija,
Dzūkija and
Suvalkija. It became the basis for the standard Lithuanian language.
Classification
Revised classification of the dialects, proposed in 1965 by linguists
Zigmas Zinkevičius and
Aleksas Girdenis, divides the Aukštaitian dialect into three sub-dialects based on pronunciation of the mixed
diphthong
A diphthong ( ), also known as a gliding vowel or a vowel glide, is a combination of two adjacent vowel sounds within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: that is, the tongue (and/or other parts of ...
s ''an'', ''am'', ''en'', ''em'' and the
ogonek
The tail or ( ; Polish: , "little tail", diminutive of ) is a diacritic hook placed under the lower right corner of a vowel in the Latin alphabet used in several European languages, and directly under a vowel in several Native American langu ...
vowels ''ą'' and ''ę'':
Western Aukštaitianmost similar to standard Lithuanianpreserves both the diphthongs and the vowels. It is further subdivided into two sub-dialects:
* The Kaunas sub-dialect is spoken mostly in
Suvalkija. This sub-dialect separates long and short vowels pretty well and properly
stresses word endings.
* The Šiauliai sub-dialect is spoken in a strip between
Samogitia and Aukštaitija. This sub-dialect almost always shortens
unaccented long vowels (''dumẽlis'' instead of 'little smoke', ''vãgis'' instead of ''vagys'' 'thieves', ''lãpu'' instead of ''lapų'' 'leaves') and moves the accent mark from the end of the word (''ràsa'' instead of ''rasà'' 'dew', ''tỹliu'' instead of ''tyliù'' 'I am silent', ''žmònos'' instead of ''žmonõs'' 'wives').
Southern Aukštaitian preserves the diphthong, but replaces ''ą'' and ''ę'' with ''ų'' and ''į'' (''žųsis'' instead of ''žąsis'' 'goose', ''skįsta'' instead of ''skęsta'' 'drowns'). It is spoken mostly in
Dzūkija and therefore is known as the
Dzūkian dialect.
Eastern Aukštaitian replaces the diphthongs with either ''un'', ''um'', ''in'', ''im'' or ''on'', ''om'', ''ėn'', ''ėm'' (''pasumda'' instead of ''pasamdo'' 'hiring', ''romstis'' instead of ''ramstis'' 'support'). The ogonek vowels are replaced with either ''ų'', ''į'' or ''o'', ''ę''/''ė'' (''grųštas'' or ''groštas'' instead of ''grąžtas'' 'drill', ''grįšt'' instead of ''gręžti'' 'to drill'). It is mostly spoken in
Aukštaitija. It is further subdivided into six sub-dialects.
References
Sources
*
Lithuanian dialects
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