Archivum Lithuanicum

In the spring of 2019, historian Olga Mastianica-Stankevič found the previously unknown tome of Lithuanian grammar, Short Compendium of Lithuanian Grammar (Trumpas lietuviškos gramatikos konspektas), in the archive of Mečislovas Davainis-Silvestraitis in the Library of the Institute of Lithuanian Literature and Folklore. The hectographed grammar book has a small format of 185 × 115 mm, with 32 pages, and without any information concerning the author, place or date of publication. This grammar book is not included in Lithuanian Bibliography of 1862–1904. Short Compendium of Lithuanian Grammar is genetically related to Petras Avižonis’s Lithuanian grammar (1898 or 1899). These two works are similar in structure, the Lithuanian material presented, usage of Latin terms and alphabet. Short Compendium of Lithuanian Grammar is more concise than Lithuanian grammar by Avižonis, but it is not an abbreviated version. This can be seen from the paradigms of nouns, adjectives and verbs: in Short Compendium of Lithuanian Grammar there is usually one example provided, but in Lithuanian Grammar it is often not in the first but in the second position, thus understood as a variant of the norm. If the Short Compendium of Lithuanian Grammar was made by shortening Lithuanian Grammar, the order of the norm variants would probably coincide, i.e. the first variant of Lithuanian Grammar would remain in the same position in the Short Compendium of Lithuanian Grammar. This feature suggests that Short Compendium of Lithuanian Grammar reflects an earlier version of Avižonis’s grammar, not yet edited by Jonas Jablonskis. This is confirmed by an analysis of the use of nasal letters in both works. The Russian inserts and simplified accent system (two accents, gravis and acute) of Short Compendium of Lithuanian Grammar suggest that this work was prepared to teach Lithuanian to those who were proficient in Russian, perhaps students who lived St. Petersburg. Lithuanian Grammar by Avižonis was hectographed in late 1898 or the beginning of 1899. Short Compendium of Lithuanian Grammar was probably completed by the end of 1897, before the grammar of Avižonis was edited by Jablonskis.