[Pietinių pietų aukštaičių šnektų žodynas. T. 1, A-M]

ENDictionary of the Southern South Aukstaitian Speeches, Vol. 1, (A-M) (2016) is a source for lexis of South Aukstaitian subdialect (Dzukian), which is compiled of the material collected from spoken language and manuscript sources. The authors of the dictionary, Asta Leskauskaitė and Vilija Ragaišienė, are experienced dialectologist. The dictionary includes spoken hereditary and spoken general lexis, words of foreign origins, as well as more recent or new words with illustrative sentences written in phonetic transcription. The introductory part discusses the area of speeches and their most characteristic features, the structure of the dictionary and the principles of its compilation. All relevant abbreviations are explained separately. The dictionary does not use the nested structure to present prefixed verbs, adverbs together with adjectives, and diminutives together with nouns. All words are arranged sequentially in alphabetical order, thus avoiding artificially created nests. The words are provided with a lot of illustrative material that is collected from spoken speeches. Therefore, the sentences are picturesque, expressive, reflecting the colour of the Dzukian dialect. Illustrative material is rich in comparisons, proverbs and phraseologisms. The authors believe that each entry in the dictionary should contain as many illustrative sentences as possible, which would reflect the whole range of different forms of a specific word. Dictionary of the Southern South Aukstaitian Speeches is a truly valuable work which will help dialect researchers and specialists of lexicography; it will also be a source of information for teachers, lecturers and students. The fact that the Southern South Aukstaitians have finally attracted the attention of dialectologists, and that these speeches are as richly lexicographically illustrated as some other Lithuanian speeches which are codified in dictionaries, should be a great joy.