Zietelos lietuvių šnekta

LTZietelos lietuviai mokslininkų ir kultūros veikėjų minimi nuo 1827 m. Pati šių apylinkių šnekta pradėta tirti XIX a. pabaigoje. Šioje monografijoje pateikta 1955-1990 m. Zietelos apylinkėse surinkta šnektos medžiaga. Ją sudaro trys skyriai: įvadas, fonetika ir morfologija. Stengtasi išryškinti būdingesnius šnektos bruožus, juos gretinti su atitinkamomis kitų tarmių ypatybėmis ir kiek Įmanoma paaiškinti jų kilmę. Apsupta kitakalbių, Zietelos šnekta pamažu merdėjo, kol į XX a. pabaigą visiškai ištirpo. Nebeliko ja kalbančių žmonių, tačiau liko šis paminklas - pasišventėlio mokslininko darbas. Tikimės, kad leidinys bus naudingas ne tik lituanistikos tyrėjams, bet it visai pasaulio lingvistikai. [Anotacija knygoje]

ENThe Zietela subdialect is one of the basic subdialects of Lithuanian outside the present-day boundaries of the Republic of Lithuania - in Belarus, Dziatlava (Diatlov, Zietela) district, Hrodna (Grodno, Gafdinas) oblast. The place-name itself (pronounced Zhela, Zytela in Lithuanian, Zietela, Zytela, Zycela in Belarusian) is an old proper noun which was Polonized as Zdzqciot, still further changed into Diatlov in Russian and Dziatlava in Belarusian. The word Zietela is also used in reference to (1) a nearby brook (its more frequent Slavic form was Zietelka, now Dziat- lauka and (2) a shallow and recently drained lake, which was mentioned in the Hypatian Chronicle as Zjato (Zyatho) in 1253. In the time of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania Zietela was a district and parish town in the Slonim (Slanymas) county (at a distance of ca. 50 km), the palatinate of Trakai and later Navagrudak (Naugardukas) (ca. 35 km away), which the local population of Zietela called Naugardas. Under Russian rule the district of Zietela of the county of Slonim belonged to the province of Grodno and again to the Nowogrudok palatinate under Polish control. The Lithuanian subdialect of Zietela is distinguished from other dialects not only by its being the most southerly area of Lithuanian but also by its most peculiar archaic traits. Actually it does not coincide with any one of the present-day Lithuanian dialects or subdialects. The researchers are primarily puzzled by the fact that this dialect is not a continuation of the adjacent Southern Aukstaitian dialect, but of the slightly more distant South-Western Aukstaitian of Kaunas. Besides, it is considered a linguistic relic of Yotvingians (Sudovians and Dainavians) - western Balts, who previously had inhabited this territory.Due to age-long isolation and close contacts with the Slavic languages the Zietela subdialect has acquired many innovations, doublet and other curious forms. That is why this dialectal variety deserves special attention. The collection of the material for this monograph started in 1955 and continued until the year when the last native speaker of the dialect was alive, i.e. 1990. The book consists of three chapters: Introduction, Phonetics and Morphology. It also contains bibliography and several indexes: of words of other languages, place-names and personal names. Lithuanian words and their forms are not indexed, since they can easily be found in Zietelos šnektos žodynas (Vilnius, 1998) compiled by Aloyzas Vidugiris. The analysis is carried out in the traditional method, paying particular attention to the characteristic dialectal features, their correspondences with other dialects, their distribution, and if possible, their origin. Attention to Zietela Lithuanians has become noticeable since the 1820s. Usually three (less often five) villages were mentioned: Zasččiai (Bel Zasecca, Rus Zaset’e, Pol Zasiece)*, Pagiriai (Slav Pogiry), Narčiai (Slav Nortsevichy'), Dainava (Slav Yatvez), Kurpešiai (Slav Kurpeshy) and occasionally Pinčiai (Slav Pinchitsy). True, in the environs of Zietela there are more villages bearing Lithuanian (Baltic) names. The locals say that some time ago Lithuanian was spoken as far as Dvafčius (Slav Dvorets). The West Baltic times are attested probably by such place-names as Svitez' (< Seitingis'), Zelva, Zietela, Zasėčiai, Dainava (Slav Ydtvez'), Pinčiai and other names, let alone purely Baltic hydronyms of the right bank of the Nemunas River.The investigation of the Zietela subdialect began in the late nineteenth century. Dialect research fieldwork was conducted by Eduard Wolter in 1886, 1888, 1896, 1908 and 1909, Jan Rozwadowski in 1901 and 1903, Kazimieras Būga in 1906, Peter Arumaa in 1930, Jurgis/Georg Gerul(l)is in 1929 and 1930, Christian Stang in 1930 and Antanas Valaitis in 1933. In 1955 the first Lithuanian postwar expedition was led by Juozas Senkus; the author of this work also became interested in this dialect at the same time. In 1958 Professor Juozas Balčikonis, a group of Lithuanian dialec- tologists with prominent guests from Moscow Viacheslav Ivanov and Vladimir Toporov visited this area. In 1964 and 1968 the phonological system of the Zietela subdialect was studied in comparison with those of Belarusian, Polish and other Lithuanian fringe subdialects by the Moscow linguist Tamara Sudnik. The Ukrainian specialist of Baltic languages Anatolii Nepokupnyi was the first to investigate the place-names of the environs of Zietela in 1970. Nearly his entire scholarly activity, related to the research of the old Balto-Slavic linguistic and cultural relations, has led him to the conclusion that the subdialect of Zietela is a basic fringe site of substratum Balticisms. In the early nineteenth century the number of the Lithuanians inhabiting the district of Zietela must have been around a thousand, since the figure of nearly 900 was mentioned several times in regard to three (Zase- čiai, Paginal and Narčiai) and sometimes five villages. In 1886, however, there were 1,156 speakers of Lithuanian throughout the whole district. Subsequently the number of the Lithuanians was steadily diminishing. In 1955-1956 there were still about 50 elderly persons whose knowledge of Lithuanian was good or satisfactory; approximately a similar number of Lithuanian speakers left for Poland at that time. The last native speakers of the Zietela dialect died out in the 1980s. [...]. [From the publication]