Dzūkian dialect (Lithuanian: dzūkų tarmė), known in academic works as Southern Aukštaitian dialect (Lithuanian: pietų aukštaičių patarmė), is one of the three main sub-dialects of the Aukštaitian dialect of Lithuanian language.[1] Dzūkian dialect is spoken in Dzūkija, southern Lithuania. Its most distinctive feature is replacing t, d before i, į, y, ie and č, dž with c and dz (cik) instead of (tik – just, (dzidumas instead of didumas – size, pyn instead of pinti – to braid, sveciai instead of svečiai – guests). Another notable feature is the lengthening of vowels in closed syllables ending in sonorants, for example: tìltas (bridge) becomes tyltas, bùlvė (potato) - būlvė, or pìrmas (first) - pyrmas. Since the region borders Slavic lands, the dialect has many Slavic loanwords and barbarisms.
References
- ↑ Mileris, Egidijus (2021). "Commemorative coin Dedicated to Dzūkija (from the series "Lithuanian Ethnographic Regions")" (PDF). Lietuvos Bankas.
- Janina Jašinskienė, ed. (2005). Tradicijos. Iliustruota Lietuvos enciklopedija (in Lithuanian). Kaunas: Šviesa. p. 56. ISBN 5-430-04158-0.