Dzūkian dialect

Map of the dialects of the Lithuanian language (Zinkevičius and Girdenis, 1965)

  Southern Aukštaitian or Dzūkian sub-dialect

Dzūkian dialect, known in academic works as Southern Aukštaitian dialect, is one of the three main sub-dialects of the Aukštaitian dialect of Lithuanian language. 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, pync instead of pinti – to braid, sveciai instead of svečiai – guests). Since the region borders Slavic lands, the dialect has many Slavic loanwords and barbarisms.

References

• Janina Jašinskienė, ed. (2005). Tradicijos. Iliustruota Lietuvos enciklopedija (in Lithuanian). Kaunas: Šviesa. p. 56. ISBN 5-430-04158-0.