Aukštaitian dialect

Infobox Language
name = Aukštaitian
nativename = Aukštaičių tarmė
states = Lithuania
region = Aukštaitija, Dzūkija and Suvalkija
speakers =
iso1 =
iso2 =
iso3 =
familycolor = Indo-European
fam1 = Indo-European
fam2 = Baltic
fam3 = Eastern
fam4 = Lithuanian language
script = Roman script
agency =

Aukštaitian dialect (Lithuanian: "Aukštaičių tarmė") is one of the dialects of the Lithuanian language, spoken in 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 Aukštaitian dialect into three sub-dialects based on pronunciation of mixed diphthongs "an", "am", "en", "em" and ogonek vowels "ą" and "ę":
* Western Aukštaitian, most similar to standard Lithuanian, preserves both the diphthongs and the vowels. It is further subdivided into two sub-dialects:
**Kaunas sub-dialect is spoken mostly in Suvalkija. This sub-dialect separates long and short vowels pretty well and properly stresses word endings.
**Šiauliai sub-dialect is spoken in a strip between Samogitia and Aukštaitija. This sub-dialect almost always shortens unaccented long vowels ("dumẽlis" instead of "dūmelis" – little smoke, "vãgis" instead of "vagys" – thieves, "lãpu" instead of "lapų" – leaves) and moves 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 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 spoken mostly in Aukštaitija. It is further subdivided into six sub-dialects.

References

* cite book| title=Tradicijos. Iliustruota Lietuvos enciklopedija |year=2005 |editor=Janina Jašinskienė |location=Kaunas |publisher=Šviesa |pages=55 |isbn=5-430-04158-0