Samogitian ( sgs, žemaitiu kalba, link=no or sometimes ', ''žemaitiu šnekta'' or '; lt, žemaičių tarmė, žemaičių kalba) is an
Eastern Baltic language spoken mostly in
Samogitia
Samogitia or Žemaitija ( Samogitian: ''Žemaitėjė''; see below for alternative and historical names) is one of the five cultural regions of Lithuania and formerly one of the two core administrative divisions of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania ...
(in the western part of
Lithuania
Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...
). In Lithuania, it is mostly treated as a dialect of
Lithuanian, but it is also considered as a separate language by some linguists inside and outside of Lithuania. Its recognition as a distinct language is increasing in recent years, and attempts have been made to
standardize it.
The Samogitian language should not be confused with the
interdialect of the Lithuanian language as spoken in the
Duchy of Samogitia
The Duchy of Samogitia ( lt, Žemaičių seniūnija, sgs, Žemaitėjės seniūnėjė, pl, Księstwo żmudzkie)Grzegorz Błaszczyk, ''Żmudź w XVII i XVIII wieku: zaludnienie i struktura społeczna'', Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza w Pozn ...
before Lithuanian became a written language, which later developed into one of the two variants of written Lithuanian used in the
Grand Duchy of Lithuania
The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a European state that existed from the 13th century to 1795, when the territory was partitioned among the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia, and the Habsburg Empire of Austria. The state was founded by Li ...
based on the so-called middle dialect of the
Kėdainiai
Kėdainiai () is one of the oldest List of cities in Lithuania, cities in Lithuania. It is located north of Kaunas on the banks of the Nevėžis River. First mentioned in the 1372 Livonian Chronicle of Hermann de Wartberge, its population is 23, ...
region. This was called the Samogitian (Žemaitian) language; the term "Lithuanian language" then referred to the other variant, which had been based on the eastern
Aukštaitian dialects centred around the capital
Vilnius
Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urb ...
; Samogitian was generally used in the Samogitian Diocese while Lithuanian was generally used in the Vilna Diocese. This Samogitian language was based on western Aukštaitian dialects and is unrelated to what is today called the Samogitian language - it is instead the direct ancestor of the modern Lithuanian literary language.
History
![Baltic Tribes c 1200](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/13/Baltic_Tribes_c_1200.svg)
Samogitian, heavily influenced by
Curonian, originated from the East Baltic proto-Samogitian language, which was close to the
Aukštaitian dialect of Lithuanian.
During the 5th century, Proto-Samogitians migrated from the lowlands of central Lithuania, near
Kaunas
Kaunas (; ; also see other names) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the largest city and the centre of a county in the Duchy of Trakai ...
, into the
Dubysa
Dubysa, at 131 km, is the 15th List of rivers of Lithuania, longest river solely in Lithuania. It originates just a few kilometers from Lake Rėkyva near Šiauliai city. At first it flows south, but at Lyduvėnai turns southeast and near Ar ...
and
Jūra
The Jūra is a river in Lithuania and a right tributary of the Nemunas (Neman). It mostly follows a meandering and natural course, although two concrete dams of hydroelectric power plants prevent paddling, as do dense vegetation in its upper re ...
basins, as well as into the
Samogitian highlands. They displaced or assimilated the local, Curonian-speaking
Balts
The Balts or Baltic peoples ( lt, baltai, lv, balti) are an ethno-linguistic group of peoples who speak the Baltic languages of the Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages.
One of the features of Baltic languages is the number ...
. Further north, they displaced or assimilated the indigenous,
Semigallian-speaking peoples. Assimilation of Curonians and Semigallians gave birth to the three Samogitian dialects: "Dounininkų", "Donininkų" and "Dūnininkų."
In the 13th century, Žemaitija became a part of the Baltic confederation called the
Duchy of Lithuania
The Duchy of Lithuania ( la, Ducatus Lithuaniae; lt, Lietuvos kunigaikštystė) was a state-territorial formation of ethnic Lithuanians that existed from the 13th century to 1413. For most of its existence, it was a constituent part and a nucle ...
(''Lietuva''), which was formed by
Mindaugas
Mindaugas (german: Myndowen, la, Mindowe, orv, Мендог, be, Міндоўг, pl, Mendog, c. 1203–1263) is the first known Grand Duke of Lithuania and the only crowned King of Lithuania. Little is known of his origins, early life, or r ...
. Lithuania conquered the coast of the
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain.
The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...
from the
Livonian Order
The Livonian Order was an autonomous branch of the Teutonic Order,
formed in 1237. From 1435 to 1561 it was a member of the Livonian Confederation.
History
The order was formed from the remnants of the Livonian Brothers of the Sword after the ...
. The coast was populated by
Curonians
:''The Kursenieki are also sometimes known as Curonians.''
The Curonians or Kurs ( lv, kurši; lt, kuršiai; german: Kuren; non, Kúrir; orv, кърсь) were a Baltic tribe living on the shores of the Baltic Sea in what are now the western p ...
, but became a part of the
Duchy of Samogitia
The Duchy of Samogitia ( lt, Žemaičių seniūnija, sgs, Žemaitėjės seniūnėjė, pl, Księstwo żmudzkie)Grzegorz Błaszczyk, ''Żmudź w XVII i XVIII wieku: zaludnienie i struktura społeczna'', Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza w Pozn ...
. From the 13th century onwards, Samogitians settled within the former Curonian lands, and intermarried with that population over the next three hundred years. During the
Christianization of Samogitia, none of the clergy, who came to the Duchy of Samogitia with King
Władysław II Jagiełło
Jogaila (; 1 June 1434), later Władysław II Jagiełło ()He is known under a number of names: lt, Jogaila Algirdaitis; pl, Władysław II Jagiełło; be, Jahajła (Ягайла). See also: Names and titles of Władysław II Jagiełło. w ...
of Poland, were able to communicate with the natives, therefore Jagiełło himself taught the Samogitians about
Catholicism
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
, as he was able to communicate in Samogitian.
The Curonians had a huge cultural influence upon Samogitian and Lithuanian culture, but they were ultimately assimilated by the 16th century. Its dying language has enormously influenced the dialect, in particular phonetics.
The earliest writings in Samogitian appeared in the 19th century.
Phonology
Samogitian and its dialects preserved many features of the Curonian language, for example:
*widening of proto-Baltic short i (i → ė sometimes e)
*widening of proto-Baltic short u (u → o)
*retraction of ė in northern dialects (i → ė) (pilkas → pėlks)
*preservation of West Baltic diphthong ei (Lithuanian ie → Samogitian ėi)
*no t' d' palatalization to č dž (Latvian š, ž)
*specific lexis, like cīrulis (lark), pīle (duck), leitis (Lithuanian) etc.
*retraction of stress
*shortening of ending -as to -s like in
Latvian and
Old Prussian
Old Prussian was a Western Baltic language belonging to the Baltic branch of the Indo-European languages, which was once spoken by the Old Prussians, the Baltic peoples of the Prussian region. The language is called Old Prussian to avoid con ...
(
Proto-Indo-European
Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. Its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-European languages. No direct record of Proto-Indo-E ...
o-stem
In Indo-European studies, a thematic vowel or theme vowel is the vowel or from ablaut placed before the ending of a Proto-Indo-European (PIE) word. Nouns, adjectives, and verbs in the Indo-European languages with this vowel are thematic, and tho ...
)
as well as various other features not listed here.
The earliest writings in the Samogitian language appeared in the 19th century.
Grammar
The Samogitian language is highly
inflected
In linguistic morphology, inflection (or inflexion) is a process of word formation in which a word is modified to express different grammatical categories such as tense, case, voice, aspect, person, number, gender, mood, animacy, and defini ...
like
Lithuanian, in which the relationships between parts of speech and their roles in a sentence are expressed by numerous flexions.
There are two
grammatical genders
In linguistics, grammatical gender system is a specific form of noun class system, where nouns are assigned with gender categories that are often not related to their real-world qualities. In languages with grammatical gender, most or all noun ...
in Samogitian – feminine and masculine. Relics of historical
neuter are almost fully extinct while in Lithuanian some isolated forms remain. Those forms are replaced by masculine ones in Samogitian. Samogitian
stress
Stress may refer to:
Science and medicine
* Stress (biology), an organism's response to a stressor such as an environmental condition
* Stress (linguistics), relative emphasis or prominence given to a syllable in a word, or to a word in a phrase ...
is mobile but often retracted at the end of words, and is also characterised by
pitch accent
A pitch-accent language, when spoken, has word accents in which one syllable in a word or morpheme is more prominent than the others, but the accentuated syllable is indicated by a contrasting pitch ( linguistic tone) rather than by loudness ( ...
. Samogitian has a broken tone like the
Latvian and
Danish
Danish may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark
People
* A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark
* Culture of Denmark
* Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...
languages. The circumflex of Lithuanian is replaced by an acute tone in Samogitian.
It has five
noun
A noun () is a word that generally functions as the name of a specific object or set of objects, such as living creatures, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, or ideas.Example nouns for:
* Living creatures (including people, alive, d ...
and three
adjective
In linguistics, an adjective (list of glossing abbreviations, abbreviated ) is a word that generally grammatical modifier, modifies a noun or noun phrase or describes its referent. Its semantic role is to change information given by the noun.
Tra ...
declensions
In linguistics, declension (verb: ''to decline'') is the changing of the form of a word, generally to express its syntactic function in the sentence, by way of some inflection. Declensions may apply to nouns, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, and a ...
. Noun declensions are different from Lithuanian (see the next section). There are only two
verb
A verb () is a word (part of speech) that in syntax generally conveys an action (''bring'', ''read'', ''walk'', ''run'', ''learn''), an occurrence (''happen'', ''become''), or a state of being (''be'', ''exist'', ''stand''). In the usual descri ...
conjugations. All verbs have
present
The present (or here'' and ''now) is the time that is associated with the events perception, perceived directly and in the first time, not as a recollection (perceived more than once) or a speculation (predicted, hypothesis, uncertain). It is ...
,
past
The past is the set of all events that occurred before a given point in time. The past is contrasted with and defined by the present and the future. The concept of the past is derived from the linear fashion in which human observers experience t ...
,
past iterative and
future
The future is the time after the past and present. Its arrival is considered inevitable due to the existence of time and the laws of physics. Due to the apparent nature of reality and the unavoidability of the future, everything that currently ...
tenses
In grammar, tense is a category that expresses time reference. Tenses are usually manifested by the use of specific forms of verbs, particularly in their conjugation patterns.
The main tenses found in many languages include the past, present, ...
of the
indicative mood
A realis mood (abbreviated ) is a grammatical mood which is used principally to indicate that something is a statement of fact; in other words, to express what the speaker considers to be a known state of affairs, as in declarative sentences. Mos ...
,
subjunctive
The subjunctive (also known as conjunctive in some languages) is a grammatical mood, a feature of the utterance that indicates the speaker's attitude towards it. Subjunctive forms of verbs are typically used to express various states of unreality ...
(or
conditional) and
imperative mood
The imperative mood is a grammatical mood that forms a command or request.
The imperative mood is used to demand or require that an action be performed. It is usually found only in the present tense, second person. To form the imperative mood, ...
s (both without distinction of tenses) and
infinitive
Infinitive (abbreviated ) is a linguistics term for certain verb forms existing in many languages, most often used as non-finite verbs. As with many linguistic concepts, there is not a single definition applicable to all languages. The word is deri ...
. The formation of past iterative is different from Lithuanian. There are three numbers in Samogitian:
singular
Singular may refer to:
* Singular, the grammatical number that denotes a unit quantity, as opposed to the plural and other forms
* Singular homology
* SINGULAR, an open source Computer Algebra System (CAS)
* Singular or sounder, a group of boar, ...
,
plural
The plural (sometimes abbreviated pl., pl, or ), in many languages, is one of the values of the grammatical category of number. The plural of a noun typically denotes a quantity greater than the default quantity represented by that noun. This de ...
and
dual. Dual is almost extinct in Lithuanian. The third person of all three numbers is common.
Samogitian as the Lithuanian has a very rich system of participles, which are derived from all tenses with distinct active and passive forms, and several gerund forms. Nouns and other declinable words are declined in eight cases:
nominative
In grammar, the nominative case (abbreviated ), subjective case, straight case or upright case is one of the grammatical cases of a noun or other part of speech, which generally marks the subject of a verb or (in Latin and formal variants of Engl ...
,
genitive
In grammar, the genitive case (abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that marks a word, usually a noun, as modifying another word, also usually a noun—thus indicating an attributive relationship of one noun to the other noun. A genitive can al ...
,
dative
In grammar, the dative case (abbreviated , or sometimes when it is a core argument) is a grammatical case used in some languages to indicate the recipient or beneficiary of an action, as in "Maria Jacobo potum dedit", Latin for "Maria gave Jacob a ...
,
accusative
The accusative case (abbreviated ) of a noun is the grammatical case used to mark the direct object of a transitive verb.
In the English language, the only words that occur in the accusative case are pronouns: 'me,' 'him,' 'her,' 'us,' and ‘the ...
,
instrumental
An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to instru ...
,
locative
In grammar, the locative case (abbreviated ) is a grammatical case which indicates a location. It corresponds vaguely to the English prepositions "in", "on", "at", and "by". The locative case belongs to the general local cases, together with the ...
(
inessive
In grammar, the inessive case (abbreviated ; from la, inesse "to be in or at") is a locative grammatical case. This case carries the basic meaning of "in": for example, "in the house" is in Finnish, in Estonian, () in Moksha, in Basque, in ...
),
vocative
In grammar, the vocative Grammatical case, case (list of glossing abbreviations, abbreviated ) is a grammatical case which is used for a noun that identifies a person (animal, object, etc.) being addressed, or occasionally for the noun modifiers ...
and
illative
In grammar, the illative case (; abbreviated ; from la, illatus "brought in") is a grammatical case used in the Finnish, Estonian, Lithuanian, Latvian and Hungarian languages. It is one of the locative cases, and has the basic meaning of "int ...
.
Literature
The earliest writings in Samogitian dialect appear in the 19th century. Famous authors writing in Samogitian:
* also called Giedraitis (1754–1838) Bishop of Samogitia from 1801, champion of education and patron of Lithuanian literature, published the first translation of the
New Testament
The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christ ...
into ''język żmudzki'' (
Polish
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles
Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...
for "Samogitian language") in 1814. It was subsequently revised a number of times.
* and his heroic poem “Biruta”, first printed in 1829. “Biruta” became a hymn of Lithuanian student emigrants in the 19th century.
*
Simonas Stanevičius
Simonas Tadas Stanevičius (; 26 October 1799 in Kanopėnai near Viduklė – 10 March 1848 in Stemplės near Švėkšna) was a Lithuanian writer and an activist of the "Samogitian Revival", an early stage of the Lithuanian National Revival.
Biog ...
(Sėmuons Stanevėčios) with his famous book “” (Six fables) printed in 1829.
*
Simonas Daukantas
Simonas Daukantas ( pl, Szymon Dowkont; 28 October 1793 – 6 December 1864) was a Lithuanian/Samogitian historian, writer, and ethnographer. One of the pioneers of the Lithuanian National Revival, he is credited as the author of the first book o ...
(Sėmuons Daukonts in Samogitian), he was the first Lithuanian historian writing in Lithuanian (actually in its dialect). His famous book – “” (Customs of ancient Lithuanian highlanders and Samogitians) was printed in 1854.
*
Motiejus Valančius
Motiejus Kazimieras Valančius ( pl, , also known by his pen-name ''Joteika'' and ''Ksiądz Maciek''; 1801–1875) was a Catholic Bishop of Samogitia, historian and one of the best known Lithuanian/Samogitian writers of the 19th century.
Biogr ...
(Muotiejos Valončios or Valontė) and one of his books “” (Joseph of Palanga), printed in 1869.
There are no written grammar books in Samogitian because in Lithuania it is generally considered to be a dialect of
Lithuanian, but there were some attempts to standardise its written form. Among those who have tried are , ,
Sofija Kymantaitė-Čiurlionienė,
B. Jurgutis, .
Today, Samogitian has a standardised writing system but it still remains a spoken language, as nearly everyone writes in their native speech.
Differences from Lithuanian
Samogitian differs from Lithuanian in
phonetics
Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that studies how humans produce and perceive sounds, or in the case of sign languages, the equivalent aspects of sign. Linguists who specialize in studying the physical properties of speech are phoneticians. ...
,
lexicon
A lexicon is the vocabulary of a language or branch of knowledge (such as nautical or medical). In linguistics, a lexicon is a language's inventory of lexemes. The word ''lexicon'' derives from Koine Greek language, Greek word (), neuter of () ...
,
syntax
In linguistics, syntax () is the study of how words and morphemes combine to form larger units such as phrases and sentences. Central concerns of syntax include word order, grammatical relations, hierarchical sentence structure ( constituency) ...
and
morphology
Morphology, from the Greek and meaning "study of shape", may refer to:
Disciplines
* Morphology (archaeology), study of the shapes or forms of artifacts
* Morphology (astronomy), study of the shape of astronomical objects such as nebulae, galaxies ...
.
Phonetic differences from Lithuanian are varied, and each Samogitian dialect (West, North and South) has different reflections.
Lithuanian ~ Samogitian
* Short vowels:
** ''i'' ~ short ''ė'', sometimes ''e'' (in some cases ''õ'');
** ''u'' ~ short ''o'' (in some cases ''u'');
* Long vowels and diphthongs:
** ''ė'' ~ ''ie'';
** ''o'' ~ ''uo'';
** ''ie'' ~ long ''ė'', ''ėi'', ''ī'' (''y'') (West, North and South);
** ''uo'' ~ ''ō'', ''ou'', ''ū'' (West, North and South);
** ''ai'' ~ ''ā'' ;
** ''ei'', ''iai'' ~ ''ē'';
** ''ui'' ~ ''oi'';
** ''oi'' (''oj'') ~ ''uo'';
** ''ia'' ~ ''ė'';
** ''io'' ~ ''ė'';
* Nasal diphthongs:
** ''an'' ~ ''on'' (''an'' in south-east);
** ''un'' ~ ''on'' (''un'' in south-east);
** ''ą'' ~ ''an'' in south-eastern, ''on'' in the central region, ''ō'' / ''ou'' in the north;
*** unstressed ''ią'' ~ ''ė'';
** ''ę'' (e) ~ ''en'' in south-eastern, ''ėn'' in the central region and ''õ'', ''ō'' or ''ėi'' in the north;
** ''ū'' ~ ''ū'' (in some cases ''un'', ''um'');
** ''ų'' in stressed endings ~ ''un'' and ''um'';
*** unstressed ''ų'' ~ ''o'';
** ''y'' ~ ''ī'' (''y''), sometimes ''in'';
*
** ''i'' from
Proto-Balto-Slavic
Proto-Balto-Slavic (PBS or PBSl) is a linguistic reconstruction, reconstructed hypothetical proto-language descending from Proto-Indo-European language, Proto-Indo-European (PIE). From Proto-Balto-Slavic, the later Balto-Slavic languages are tho ...
*ī ~ ''ī'';
** ''u'' from PBSl *ō (Lithuanian ''uo'') ~ ''ō'' / ''ou'' / ''ū'' (West / North / South)
** ''i'' from PBSl*ei (Lithuanian ''ie'') ~ long ''ė'' / ''ėi'' / ''ī'' (West / North / South)
* Postalveolar consonants
** ''č'' ~ ''t'' (also ''č'' under Lithuanian influence);
** ''dž'' ~ ''d'' (also ''dž'' under Lithuanian influence);
The main difference between Samogitian and Lithuanian is verb
conjugation
Conjugation or conjugate may refer to:
Linguistics
* Grammatical conjugation, the modification of a verb from its basic form
* Emotive conjugation or Russell's conjugation, the use of loaded language
Mathematics
* Complex conjugation, the chang ...
.
The
past iterative tense is formed differently from Lithuanian (e.g., in Lithuanian the
past iterative tense, meaning that action which was done in the past repeatedly, is made by removing the ending ''-ti'' and adding ''-davo'' (''mirti'' – ''mirdavo'', ''pūti'' – ''pūdavo''), while in Samogitian, the word ''liuob'' is added instead before the word). The second verb conjugation is extinct in Samogitian, it merged with the first one. The plural reflexive ending is ''-muos'' instead of expected ''-mies'' which is in Lithuanian (''-mės'') and other dialects. Samogitian preserved a lot of relics of athematic conjugation which did not survive in Lithuanian. The intonation in the future tense third person is the same as in the infinitive, in Lithuanian it shifts. The subjunctive conjugation is different from Lithuanian. Dual is preserved perfectly while in Lithuanian it has been completely lost.
The differences between
nominals are considerable too.
The fifth noun declension has almost become extinct, it merged with the third one. The plural and some singular cases of the fourth declension have endings of the first one (e.g.: singular nominative ', plural nom. ', in Lithuanian: sg. nom. ', pl. nom. '). The neuter of adjectives is extinct (it was pushed out by adverbs, except ' 'warm', ' 'cold', ' 'hot') while in Lithuanian it is still alive. Neuter pronouns were replaced by masculine. The second declension of adjectives is almost extinct (having merged with the first declension)—only singular nominative case endings survived. The formation of pronominals is also different from Lithuanian.
Other morphological differences
Samogitian also has many words and figures of speech that are altogether different from typically Lithuanian ones, some were borrowed from the neighbouring
Latvian language
Latvian ( ), also known as Lettish, is an Eastern Baltic language belonging to the Baltic branch of the Indo-European language family, spoken in the Baltic region. It is the language of Latvians and the official language of Latvia as well as ...
. e.g., ' 'basket' (Lith. , Latvian ), ' 'thin' (Lith. , Latvian ), ' 'ribs' (Lith. , Latvian ), ' 'can't be!' (Lith. ).
Dialects
![Map of Samogitian dialect](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/36/Map_of_Samogitian_dialect.svg)
Samogitian is divided into three major dialects: Northern Samogitian (spoken in
Telšiai
Telšiai (; Samogitian: ''Telšē'') is a city in Lithuania with about 21,499 inhabitants. It is the capital of Telšiai County and Samogitia region, and it is located on the shores of Lake Mastis.
Telšiai is one of the oldest cities in Lithua ...
and
Kretinga
Kretinga (; german: Crottingen) is a City in Klaipėda County, Lithuania. It is the capital of the Kretinga district municipality. It is located east of the popular Baltic Sea resort town of Palanga, and about north of Lithuania's 3rd largest c ...
regions), Western Samogitian (was spoken in the region around
Klaipėda
Klaipėda (; ; german: Memel; pl, Kłajpeda; russian: Клайпеда; sgs, Klaipieda) is a city in Lithuania on the Baltic Sea coast. The capital of the eponymous county, it is the third largest city and the only major seaport in Lithuan ...
, now nearly extinct, – after 1945, many people were expelled and new ones came to this region) and Southern Samogitian (spoken in
Varniai
Varniai (; Samogitian language, Samogitian: ''Varnē''; pl, Wornie) is a city in the Telšiai County, western Lithuania. In the Middle Ages the city was known as Medininkai (Samogitian language, Samogitian: ''Medėninkā'').
It was established ...
,
Kelmė
Kelmė (; is a city in northwestern Lithuania, a historical region of Samogitia. It has a population of 8,206 and is the administrative center of the Kelmė district municipality.
History
Kelmė's name may come from the Lithuanian ''kelmynės'' ...
,
Tauragė
Tauragė (; see other names) is an industrial city in Lithuania, and the capital of Tauragė County. In 2020, its population was 21,520. Tauragė is situated on the Jūra River, close to the border with the Kaliningrad Oblast, and not far from th ...
and
Raseiniai
Raseiniai (; Samogitian: ''Raseinē'') is a city in Lithuania. It is located on the south eastern foothills of the Samogitians highland, some north from the Kaunas–Klaipėda highway.
History
Grand Duchy of Lithuania
Raseiniai is one of th ...
regions). Historically, these are classified by their pronunciation of the
Lithuanian word ''Duona,'' "bread." They are referred to as
Dounininkai (from ''Douna''),
Donininkai (from ''Dona'') and
Dūnininkai (from ''Dūna'').
Political situation
Samogitian is rapidly declining: it is not used in the local school system and there is only one quarterly magazine and no television broadcasts in Samogitian. There are some radio broadcasts in Samogitian (in
Klaipėda
Klaipėda (; ; german: Memel; pl, Kłajpeda; russian: Клайпеда; sgs, Klaipieda) is a city in Lithuania on the Baltic Sea coast. The capital of the eponymous county, it is the third largest city and the only major seaport in Lithuan ...
and
Telšiai
Telšiai (; Samogitian: ''Telšē'') is a city in Lithuania with about 21,499 inhabitants. It is the capital of Telšiai County and Samogitia region, and it is located on the shores of Lake Mastis.
Telšiai is one of the oldest cities in Lithua ...
). Local newspapers and broadcast stations use Lithuanian instead. There is no new literature in Samogitian either, as authors prefer Lithuanian for its accessibility to a larger audience. Out of those people who speak Samogitian, only a few can understand its written form well.
Migration of Samogitian speakers to other parts of the country and migration into Samogitia have reduced contact between Samogitian speakers, and therefore the level of fluency of those speakers.
There are attempts by the
Samogitian Cultural Society to stem the loss of the language. The council of
Telšiai
Telšiai (; Samogitian: ''Telšē'') is a city in Lithuania with about 21,499 inhabitants. It is the capital of Telšiai County and Samogitia region, and it is located on the shores of Lake Mastis.
Telšiai is one of the oldest cities in Lithua ...
city put marks with Samogitian names for the city at the roads leading to the city, while the council of
Skuodas
Skuodas (; Samogitian: ''Skouds'') is a city located in Klaipėda County, in northwestern Lithuania, on the border with Latvia. The Bartuva river flows through the town.
History
Skuodas was first mentioned in written sources in 1253. At t ...
claim to use the language during the sessions. A new system for writing Samogitian was created.
Writing system
The first use of a unique writing system for Samogitian was in the
interwar period
In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days), the end of the World War I, First World War to the beginning of the World War II, Second World War. The in ...
, however it was neglected during the
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
period, so only elderly people knew how to write in Samogitian at the time Lithuania regained independence. The Samogitian Cultural Society renewed the system to make it more usable.
The writing system uses similar letters similar to the ones in Lithuanian orthography, but with the following differences:
*There are no
nasal vowel
A nasal vowel is a vowel that is produced with a lowering of the soft palate (or velum) so that the air flow escapes through the nose and the mouth simultaneously, as in the French vowel or Amoy []. By contrast, oral vowels are produced wit ...
s (therefore no need for letters with ogoneks: ą, ę, į, ų).
*There are three additional vowel length, long vowels, written with
Macron (diacritic), macrons above (as in
Latvian): ā, ē, ō.
*Long i in Samogitian is written with a macron above: ī (unlike Lithuanian where it is y).
*The long vowel ė is written like ė with macron: Ė̄ and ė̄.
Image:E smg.jpg In the pre-Unicode 8-bit computer fonts for Samogitian, the letter 'ė with macron' was mapped on the code of the letter õ. From this circumstance a belief sprang that 'ė with macron' could be substituted with the character õ. It is not so, however. In fact, if the letter 'ė with macron' is for some reason not available, it can be substituted with the doubling of the macron-less letter, that is, 'ėė'.
*The letter õ is used to represent a vowel characteristic of Samogitian that does not exist in Lithuanian, the unrounded back vowel . This letter is a rather new innovation which alleviates the confusion that came from having two different sounds both represented by the letter ė. The letter ė could be realised as a close-mid front unrounded vowel (Žemaitėjė) or as an unrounded back vowel (Tėn) or (Pėlks) → Tõn, Põlks. This new letter takes over the unrounded back vowel, while ė retains the close-mid front unrounded vowel sound.
*There are two additional
diphthongs
A diphthong ( ; , ), also known as a gliding vowel, 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 the speech o ...
in Samogitian that are written as
digraphs: ou and ėi. (The component letters are part of the Lithuanian alphabet.)
As previously it was difficult to add these new characters to typesets, some older Samogitian texts use double letters instead of macrons to indicate long vowels, for example aa for ā and ee for ē; now the Samogitian Cultural Society discourages these conventions and recommends using the letters with macrons above instead. The use of double letters is accepted in cases where computer
font
In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a typeface. Each font is a matched set of type, with a piece (a "sort") for each glyph. A typeface consists of a range of such fonts that shared an overall design.
In mod ...
s do not have Samogitian letters; in such cases y is used instead of Samogitian ī, the same as in Lithuanian, while other long letters are written as double letters. The
apostrophe
The apostrophe ( or ) is a punctuation mark, and sometimes a diacritical mark, in languages that use the Latin alphabet and some other alphabets. In English, the apostrophe is used for two basic purposes:
* The marking of the omission of one o ...
might be used to denote
palatalization in some cases; in others i is used for this, as in Lithuanian.
A Samogitian computer keyboard layout has been created.
Samogitian alphabet:
Samples
See also
*
Samogitian Wikipedia
*
Latgalian language
Latgalian (''latgalīšu volūda'', lv, latgaliešu valoda) is an Eastern Baltic language belonging to the Baltic branch often spoken in Latgale, the eastern part of Latvia. It is debated whether it is a separate language with heavy Latvian ...
References
External links
*
Samogitia*
Samogitian dictionary
{{Authority control
Lithuanian dialects
Articles citing ISO change requests
Dialect
The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of Linguistics, linguistic phenomena:
One usage refers to a variety (linguisti ...