Girdenis (2003: 276–277) states that the contrast between the acute and the cir- cumflex is shared by all dialects of Lithuanian, even though the phonetic corre- lates may differ from Standard Lithuanian (see also Kudirka 2005: 3, Bacevičiūtė 2011: 14–15) for surveys on phonetic studies of the accents in Lithuanian dialects.
The phonetic variation of each of the accents still fits within the bounds of the impressionistic designations by Girdenis, that is, the variants of the acute are still
“sharper” and more “sudden” than the circumflex in a given dialect, and the cir- cumflex is “smoother” and more “spread out” than the acute. The major distinc- tions in the dialect realization of the accents are the following.
First, the acute in most part of the Žemaitian dialect (including Northern Žemaitian, Western Žemaitian, and the adjoining part of Southern Žemaitian) may be pronounced with glottal stop (Zinkevičius 1966: 34) (see map 106 in Grinaveckienė et al. 1982). This type of acute is marked with the diacritic <^>25 in the transcription used by Lithuanian dialectologists, but I will mark it with the
25 The symbol <^> is not normally called “circumflex” in the Baltic linguistics.
symbol [ˀ] also used in Latvian in Section 2.2 (Table 29). Nevertheless, since the variant of the acute without glottal stop is also common, Lithuanian dialectolo- gists do not view the glottal stop as the main phonetic property of the Žemaitian acute. Instead, the latter is described as being shorter and having a more rapidly falling pitch in comparison with the circumflex. For more details on the pho- netic correlates of the Žemaitian acute and circumflex, see Girdenis (1967, 1974, 1996, 1998), Mažiulienė (1996), Atkočaitytė (2002), Murinienė (2007), and other authors.
Second, in Žemaitian and the neighboring part of the Western Aukštaitian, phonetic correlates of the accents are less dependent on the type of the sylla- ble, in that pitch is as important for the contrast in diphthongs and diphthon- gal sequences as for long monophthongs (Pakerys 1982: 154, 183–184) (see also Kačiuškienė & Girdenis 1997). This is closely connected with the third parame- ter of dialectal variation, namely, the duration of the components, as well as the reduction of the first component under the circumflex.
In most part of the Aukštaitian dialect, both low and high vowels acting as the first components of diphthongs and diphthongal sequences are lengthened under the acute. The situation as in Standard Lithuanian, when only low vowels are lengthened in this position, is solely found in a part of Western Aukštaitian (Zinkevičius 1966: 108) (see map 20 in Grinaveckienė et al. 1982; compare examp- les in Table 30).
Thus, the lengthening of the first component under the acute and the second component under the circumflex knows no exception in most Aukštaitian dialects.
In order to maintain the contrast between the accents, these dialects rely on dif- ferences in duration and spectral structure even to a greater extent than Standard Tab. 29: Acute in Northern Žemaitian compared to Standard Lithuanian
Standard Lithuanian Northern Žemaitian Translation pū́ti [ˈpuːtʲɪ]
káulas [ˈkɑˑʊias] or [ˈkɑːʊias]
kálnas [ˈkɑˑinas] or [ˈkɑːinas]
[ˈpuːˀte]
[ˈkɑˑˀʊis] or [ˈkɑːˀʊis]
[ˈkɑˑˀins] or [ˈkɑːˀins]
‘rot’ (inf)
‘bone’
‘hill, mountain’
Tab. 30: Lengthening of high vowels in Aukštaitian
Standard Lithuanian Most Aukštaitian dialects Translation pìrmas [ˈpʲɪrmas]
kùrmis [ˈkʊrmɪs] [ˈpʲiˑrmas] or [ˈpʲiːrmas]
[ˈkuˑrmis] or [ˈkuːrmis] ‘first’
‘mole’
Lithuanian does. In addition, these differences are more pronounced than in Standard Lithuanian. At least in Eastern Aukštaitian, the lengthened compo- nents of diphthongs and diphthongal sequences are longer in both acute and cir- cumflex syllables, and the initial vowels, reduced under the circumflex, are more closed (Kačiuškienė & Girdenis 1997: 31–32). The transcription in Table 31, based on the examples of Kačiuškienė and Girdenis (1997), shows the different quality of the first components of the circumflex diphthongs in Standard Lithuanian and Eastern Aukštaitian.
In most part of the Žemaitian dialect – corresponding to the area where the acute is realized with glottal stop (see map 106 in Grinaveckienė et al. 1982) – the first component of diphthongs and diphthongal sequences is lengthened under both the acute and the circumflex, and the second component under both accents is short (Zinkevičius 1966: 109) (see examples in Tables 32 and 33). Consequently, there is no reduction of the first components under the circumflex. As opposed to Aukštaitian and Standard Lithuanian, the main phonetic correlates of the acute and the circumflex in diphthongs and diphthongal sequences in Žemaitian are pitch and intensity (Kačiuškienė & Girdenis 1997: 33–34).
In two adjoining areas of Southern Žemaitian and Western Aukštaitian, forming, perhaps, a transition zone, the circumflex induces lengthening of both the first and the second components of diphthongs and diphthongal sequences (Zinkevičius 1966: 109) (see map 106 in Grinaveckienė et al. 1982).
Tab. 31: Circumflex diphthongs in Eastern Aukshayt Standard Lithuanian [ɒuˑ], [əiˑ]
Eastern Aukštaitian [ɔuˑ], [ɨiˑ]
Tab. 32: Acute diphthongs and diphthongal sequences in Žemaitian
Standard Lithuanian Žemaitian Translation
káulas [ˈkɑˑʊias] or [ˈkɑːʊias]
kálnas [ˈkɑˑinas] or [ˈkɑːinas] [ˈkɑˑˀʊis] or [ˈkɑːˀʊis]
[ˈkɑˑˀins] or [ˈkɑːˀins] ‘bone’
‘hill, mountain’
Tab. 33: Circumflex diphthongs and diphthongal sequences in Žemaitian and other dialects Standard Lithuanian Southern Žemaitian and
part of Western Aukštaitian Žemaitian Translation iaũkas [ˈiɒuˑkas]
kar̃tas [ˈkərˑtas] [iɑˑuˑks]
[kɑˑrˑts] [iɑˑʊks] or [iɑːʊks]
[kɑˑrts] or [kɑːrts] ‘field’
‘time; occasion’
Lithuanian dialectologists transcribe such diphthongs and diphthongal sequen- ces with the circumflex diacritics on both components, although this is actually meant to be a typographic substitute for the longer circumflex symbol that should cover the letters for both components (Zinkevičius 1994: 32) (see examples in Table 33).
The lengthening of the first component may be accompanied by the drop of the short second component. This process is found in the western part of the Lithuanian area including both Žemaitian and Aukštaitian varieties. In Žemaitian, the second components of the diphthongs ai, ei are deleted under both accents (Zinkevičius 1966: 90–91). The result of the monophthongization is a long vowel, identical to the lengthened first component of the former diphthong (40).
(40) Žemaitian (acute and circumflex) vaĩkas>[vɑːks] ‘child’26
sveĩkas>[sʲvʲổːks] ‘healthy’
mergáitė>[mʲɛrˈgɑːtʲɪ] ‘girl’
par̃šai>[ˈpɑːrˌʃɑː] ‘pig’ (nom.pl)
The second component is only regularly deleted in endings, while in stems, the deletion is subject to areal variation, the exception being some words that only exist with monophthongs in the stem. The monophthongization takes place in both acute and circumflex syllables, which is easily connected to the fact that both accents involve lengthening the first component in Žemaitian.
Although not found in the Aukštaitian dialect of the modern Lithuanian, a similar process is known to have affected the Aukštaitian area of Lithuania Minor in East Prussia (Zinkevičius 1966: 91, 1994: 34). Examples from East Prussia in (41a) also include the diphthong au, which does not undergo the change in Žemaitian.
(41) Aukštaitian in East Prussia a. acute
dáiktas>[dɑːkts] ‘thing’
pavộikslai>[paˈvʲổːkslaɪ] ‘picture’ (nom.pl) šáukštai>[ˈʃɑːkʃtaɪ] ‘spoon’ (nom.pl) b. circumflex
žemaĩtis [ʒʲɛˈmaɪˑtʲɪs] ‘Žemaitian person’
In Prussian Aukštaitian, the second component is retained under the cir- cumflex, where the first component is short, thus confirming the idea that the 26 The more archaic Standard Lithuanian forms are conventionally shown as the input for the change. Post-stressed syllables in Žemaitian may have accents as well as stressed ones.
deletion of the second component simply accompanies the lengthening of the preceding vowel (41b). (In Prussian Aukštaitian, the monophthongization is also absent from unstressed position.)