J. Kulitāna vārdnīca un izloksne

ENThe article presents an overview of the Lithuanian language in Gārsene dialect. There is evidence that the users of Gārsene dialect were Lithuanians who later got Latvianized. This evidence is sustained by A. Bilenstein and K. Būga, as well as by the materials of dialectologists’ and ethnographers’ field expeditions. The membership in a certain confession has also played a great role. J. Kulitāns’s “Dictionary of Gārsene Dialect” is the only written evidence of the Gārsene Lithuanian dialect. The manuscript of this small dictionary (approximately 3300 entries) is kept at Latvia National Library. The article deals with some phonetic and grammatical features in dictionary. About 20% of words in this dictionary are borrowings from Slavic languages, Latvian, German. A considerable number of words is of international etymology. Phonetic and partially morphological features of J. Kulitāns’s dictionary manifest the closeness of Gārsene Lithuanian and Utena dialects, however the influence of the Latvian language is also evident, but that mostly concerns lexis.