Samogitian ( endonym : žemaitiu kalba or sometimes žemaitiu rokunda , žemaitiu šnekta or žemaitiu ruoda ; Lithuanian : žemaičių tarmė, žemaičių kalba ), often considered a dialect of Lithuanian , is an Eastern Baltic language spoken primarily in Samogitia .
31-595: Mažeikiai ( pronunciation ; Samogitian : Mažeikē ; Latvian : Mažeiķi ; Polish : Możejki ) is a city in northwestern Lithuania , on the Venta River . It has a population of around 32,000, making it the eighth largest city in Lithuania. The city is the administrative center of Mažeikiai District Municipality in Telšiai County . It is the largest city that does not have its own county . Mažeikiai
62-599: A jebentas! – "can't be!" (Lith. negali būti! ) and many more. Samogitian is divided into three major dialects: Northern Samogitian (spoken in Telšiai and Kretinga regions), Western Samogitian (was spoken in the region around Klaipėda , now nearly extinct, – after 1945, many people were expelled and new ones came to this region) and Southern Samogitian (spoken in Varniai , Kelmė , Tauragė and Raseiniai regions). Historically, these are classified by their pronunciation of
93-615: A very rich system of participles, which are derived from all tenses with distinct active and passive forms, and several gerund forms. Nouns and other declinable words are declined in eight cases: nominative , genitive , dative , accusative , instrumental , locative ( inessive ), vocative and illative . The earliest writings in Samogitian dialect appear in the 19th century. Famous authors writing in Samogitian: There are no written grammar books in Samogitian because it
124-506: Is currently in decline, with limited presence in media and education. Efforts are being made to preserve the language, including local initiatives and cultural societies. The Samogitian language, heavily influenced by Curonian , originated from the East Baltic proto-Samogitian dialect which was close to Aukštaitian dialects . During the 5th century, Proto-Samogitians migrated from the lowlands of central Lithuania, near Kaunas , into
155-745: Is different from standard Lithuanian. Dual is preserved perfectly while in standard Lithuanian it has been completely lost. The differences between nominals are considerable too. The fifth noun declension has almost completely merged with the third declension. The plural and some singular cases of the fourth declension have endings of the first declension (e.g.: singular nominative sūnos , plural nom. sūnā , in standard Lithuanian: sg. nom. sūnus , pl. nom. sūnūs ). The neuter of adjectives has been pushed out by adverbs (except for šėlt 'warm', šalt 'cold', karšt 'hot') in Samogitian. Neuter pronouns were replaced by masculine. The second declension of adjectives has almost merged with
186-557: Is mobile but often retracted at the end of words, and is also characterised by pitch accent . Samogitian has a broken tone like the Latvian and Danish languages. The circumflex of standard Lithuanian is replaced by an acute tone in Samogitian. It has five noun and three adjective declensions . Noun declensions are different from standard Lithuanian (see the next section). There are only two verb conjugations. All verbs have present , past , past iterative and future tenses of
217-432: Is no new literature in Samogitian either, as authors prefer standard Lithuanian for its accessibility to a larger audience. Out of those people who speak Samogitian, only a few can understand its written form. Migration of Samogitian speakers to other parts of the country and migration into Samogitia have reduced contact between Samogitian speakers, and therefore the level of fluency of those speakers. There are attempts by
248-501: Is used for this, as in standard Lithuanian. A Samogitian computer keyboard layout has been created. Samogitian alphabet: Curonian language The Curonian language ( German : Kurisch ; Latvian : kuršu valoda ; Lithuanian : kuršių kalba ), or Old Curonian , was a Baltic language spoken by the Curonians , a Baltic tribe who inhabited Courland (now western Latvia and northwestern Lithuania ). Curonian
279-465: Is verb conjugation . The past iterative tense is formed differently from Lithuanian (e.g., in Lithuanian the past iterative tense , meaning that action which was done in the past repeatedly, is made by removing the ending -ti and adding -davo ( mirti – mirdavo , pūti – pūdavo ), while in Samogitian, the word liuob is added instead before the word). The second verb conjugation merged with
310-619: The Dubysa and Jūra basins, as well as into the Samogitian Upland . They displaced or assimilated the local, Curonian-speaking Baltic populations. Further north, they displaced or assimilated the indigenous Semigallian -speaking peoples. Assimilation of Curonians and Semigallians gave birth to the three Samogitian subdialects. In the 13th century, Žemaitija became a part of the Baltic confederation called Lietuva (Lithuania), which
341-593: The Lithuanian word Duona, "bread". They are referred to as Dounininkai (from Douna ), Donininkai (from Dona ) and Dūnininkai (from Dūna ). The Samogitian language is rapidly declining: it is not used in the local school system and there is only one quarterly magazine and no television broadcasts in Samogitian. There are some radio broadcasts in Samogitian (in Klaipėda and Telšiai ). Local newspapers and broadcast stations use standard Lithuanian instead. There
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#1732791548414372-482: The Samogitian Cultural Society to stem the loss of the dialect. The council of Telšiai city put marks with Samogitian names for the city at the roads leading to the city, while the council of Skuodas claim to use the language during the sessions. A new system for writing Samogitian was created. The first use of a unique writing system for Samogitian was in the interwar period , however it
403-473: The indicative mood , subjunctive (or conditional ) and imperative moods (both without distinction of tenses) and infinitive . The formation of past iterative is different from standard Lithuanian. There are three numbers in Samogitian: singular , plural and dual . Dual is almost extinct in standard Lithuanian. The third person of all three numbers is common. Samogitian as the standard Lithuanian has
434-754: The Latvian and Lithuanian, namely the Samogitian dialect . No written documents in this language are known, but some ancient Lithuanian texts from western regions show some Curonian influence. According to Lithuanian linguist Zigmas Zinkevičius , long and intense Curonian–Lithuanian bilingualism existed. There are only few onomastics in the region considered to have been inhabited by the Curonians. There are attested names of Curonian noblemen such as: Lammekinus [ lv ; lt ] , Veltūnas , Reiginas , Tvertikis , Saveidis . Additionally,
465-531: The Samogitian Cultural Society discourages these conventions and recommends using the letters with macrons above instead. The use of double letters is accepted in cases where computer fonts do not have Samogitian letters; in such cases y is used instead of Samogitian ī, the same as in standard Lithuanian, while other long letters are written as double letters. The apostrophe might be used to denote palatalization in some cases; in others i
496-630: The construction of the New Church of Saint Francis of Assisi. In 1928 the Mažeikiai Museum was founded by teacher Stasys Ličkūnas. According to the official website of the Mažeikiai district municipality, the museum preserves and exhibits archaeological, historical, ethnographic, and folk art collections of the Samogitia region. Mažeikiai has one of the largest cultural centres in Lithuania. It
527-696: The dialect, in particular phonetics. The earliest writings in the Samogitian language appeared in the 19th century. Samogitian and its subdialects preserved many features of the Curonian language, for example: as well as various other features not listed here. The earliest writings in Samogitian language appeared in the 16th century ( Catechism of Martynas Mažvydas has been written mostly in south Samogtian dialect), more in 18th century (starting with "Ziwatas Pona Yr Diewa Musu Jezusa Christusa" written in 1759 in north Samogitian dialect). ( ɤ ) ė may be retracted in some sub-dialects to form ( ɤ ) represented by
558-517: The district centre. In 1980 an oil refinery plant Mažeikių Nafta was opened. Today it is one of the largest industrial plants in Lithuania. In 1999, it was privatized and sold to an American company Williams International . In 2001, facing financial problems, Williams sold the refinery to Yukos . However, Yukos ran afoul with the Russian government and, facing bankruptcy, sold the refinery to PKN Orlen in 2006. In 2004, Mažeikių Nafta financed
589-548: The district with 21 rural and 2 urban branches. Mažeikiai is twinned with: Samogitian language It has preserved many features of the extinct Curonian language , such as specific phonological traits and vocabulary. Samogitian differs significantly from standard Lithuanian in phonetics, morphology, syntax, and lexis, with unique archaic features not found in other Lithuanian dialects. This difference often causes speakers of Aukštaitian dialects to not be able to understand speakers of Samogitian. The use of Samogitian
620-476: The first declension, with only singular nominative case endings staying separate. The formation of pronominals is also different from standard Lithuanian. Samogitian also has many words and figures of speech that are altogether different from typically Lithuanian ones, e.g., kiuocis – basket (Lith. krepšys , Latvian ķocis ), tevs – thin (Lith. plonas, tęvas , Latvian tievs ), rebas – ribs (Lith. šonkauliai , Latvian ribas ),
651-404: The first in Samogitian. The plural reflexive ending is -muos instead of expected -mies which is in standard Lithuanian ( -mės ) and other dialects. Samogitian preserved a lot of relics of athematic conjugation which did not survive in standard Lithuanian. The intonation in the future tense third person is the same as in the infinitive, in standard Lithuanian it shifts. The subjunctive conjugation
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#1732791548414682-401: The first years of independence, Mažeikiai was subject to a territorial dispute between Lithuania and Latvia because of its importance as a railway hub between the Latvian cities of Riga , Jelgava and Liepāja. In 1921 Latvian claims for the town were rejected by an international commission. A hospital and a library were opened in 1922 and a museum in 1928. In 1939, the population of the town
713-618: The letter õ. Tėkrus → tõkrus, lėngvus → lõngvus, tėn → tõn. The vowel can be realized as close-mid central [ɘ] or close-mid back [ɤ], depending on the speaker. The Samogitian language is highly inflected like standard Lithuanian , in which the relationships between parts of speech and their roles in a sentence are expressed by numerous flexions. There are two grammatical genders in Samogitian – feminine and masculine. Relics of historical neuter are almost fully extinct while in standard Lithuanian some isolated forms remain. Those forms are replaced by masculine ones in Samogitian. Samogitian stress
744-958: Was an Indo-European language of the Baltic branch, as proven by Jānis Endzelīns . Curonian's relation to other Baltic languages is unclear: Old Curonian disappeared in the course of the 16th century. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union , the Baltic states saw a revival of scientific and cultural interest in extinct Baltic languages and tribes, including Yotvingian , Curonian, and Old Prussian . Samogitian words such as kuisis (mosquito), pylė (duck), blezdinga (swallow), cyrulis (skylark), zuikis (hare), kūlis (stone), purvs (marsh), and pūrai (winter wheat) are considered to be of Curonian origin. Further words show similarities with Old Prussian: * kela and Old Prussian : kelan compared to Lithuanian : rãtas , Latvian : rats , all meaning wheel. Curonian left substrata in western dialects of
775-789: Was considered to be a dialect of Lithuanian , but there were some attempts to standardise its written form. Among those who have tried are Stasys Anglickis [ lt ] , Pranas Genys [ lt ] , Sofija Kymantaitė-Čiurlionienė , B. Jurgutis , Juozas Pabrėža [ lt ] . Today, Samogitian has a standardised writing system but it still remains a spoken language, as nearly everyone writes in their native speech. Samogitian differs from Standard Lithuanian in phonetics , lexicon , syntax and morphology . Phonetic differences from standard Lithuanian are varied, each Samogitian subdialect (West, North and South) has different reflections. Standard Lithuanian → Samogitian The main difference between Samogitian and standard Lithuanian
806-416: Was constructed. In 1893, the town had 13 shops and 5 alehouses. In 1894 an Eastern Orthodox church was built, and a synagogue had been founded several years earlier. In 1902 a Catholic church was established, followed by an Evangelical-Lutheran church in 1906. From 1899 to 1918 the town was called Muravyov . In 1919, Mažeikiai became the county centre and received the rights of self-government. During
837-400: Was established in 1946 as a culture house . In 2005 it moved to a new building which has three halls: the great hall contains 750 seats, the small hall has 250 seats, while the entertainment hall has up to 500 seats. The centre has 20 amateur art collectives. In 1922 a public library was founded in the city. In 1975 it moved to a new three-story building. In 1976 it became a central library in
868-765: Was first mentioned in written sources in 1335. A chronicler of the Livonian Order wrote about a campaign of the Order, during which the land of Duke Mažeika was devastated. It was located in the Duchy of Samogitia in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania within the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth . The town started growing rapidly in 1869 when the Libau–Romny Railway connecting Vilnius and Liepāja
899-535: Was formed by Mindaugas . Lithuania conquered the coast of the Baltic Sea from the Livonian order . The coast was populated by Curonians , but became a part of Samogitia . From the 13th century onwards, Samogitians settled within the former Curonian lands, and intermarried with the population over the next three hundred years. The Curonians were assimilated by the 16th century. Its dying language has influenced
930-574: Was neglected during the Soviet period, so only elderly people knew how to write in Samogitian at the time Lithuania regained independence. The Samogitian Cultural Society renewed the system to make it more usable. The writing system uses similar letters to standard Lithuanian, but with the following differences: As previously it was difficult to add these new characters to typesets, some older Samogitian texts use double letters instead of macrons to indicate long vowels, for example aa for ā and ee for ē; now
961-518: Was recorded as 5,618. In 1940 26 industrial companies, 4 banks and a credit union operated in Mažeikiai. During World War II , Mažeikiai was under occupation of Nazi Germany from 26 June 1941 until 31 October 1944. It was administered as a part of the Generalbezirk Litauen of Reichskommissariat Ostland . In August 1941, a mass killing occurred in which 4,000 Jews from the Mažeikiai district were killed. In 1950, Mažeikiai became