Latvijas lietuviešu sarunvalodas specifika: darbības vārdu lietošana
Specificity of the spoken language of Latvian Lithuanians: the use of verbs

Summary/Abstract: Lithuanians living in Latvia usually use their mother tongue in daily communication; therefore, the functions of this language have become narrower. Mostly a variety of spoken language is attributed with a common feature of a freer use and neglect of linguistic requirements. Living in a foreign linguistic environment, it is difficult to avoid the impact of other languages; therefore, in the present case Lithuanian as a native language can be impacted by the Latvian language as a dominating language of state residents. Changes in the native language observed in a foreign language environment have already been investigated in various aspects, usually at the levels of phonetics and lexis. The presentation will investigate the use of one of the parts of speech, verb, in more detail. In the spoken Lithuanian language of Latvian Lithuanians we noticed certain specificity in choosing verbs. Some cases reveal the impact of the linguistic environment, for instance, semantically incorrect (of the other meaning) verbs are used in sentences. Verbs of the Lithuanian language include elements of composition which is characteristic to the Latvian language, usually prefixes. Quite often cases of literally translated Latvian verbs are observed. Verbal constructions following an example of the Latvian language are used. Also, the Lithuanian language of Latvian Lithuanians, like spoken Lithuanian of Lithuanians living in Lithuania, is characteristic of abundance of vernacularisms, loan-translations or barbarisms. A clear feature of spoken language is the shortening of endings in sentences. The investigated choice of verbs and the use of their forms prove that some verbs or their forms are broadly spread in spoken Lithuanian language of Latvian Lithuanians; other cases ought to be treated as individual (occasional).

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