Archivum Lithuanicum

The language model of Auszra (1883–1886, A) was formed on the basis of Handbuch der Litauischen Sprache by August Schleicher (1856) and Grammatik der littauischen Sprache by Friedrich Kurschat (1876). The publishers of A chose the subdialect of the southwest Highlanders as the basis for their language; its main distinctive features were maintained even when the editors changed. However, the editors’ opinions differed on some language issues. The article analyses how the language of A was changed by the editors Jonas Basanavičius (A1–A5 1883), Jurgis Mikšas (A1–A4 1883; A5/6 [7/8] 1884–A4 1886), and Jonas Šliūpas (A6 1883–A5/6 [7/8] 1884). In the first issues A1–A4 1883 the long vowel [i͘] was marked <y> (sakyti), [č] <cz> (Czekai), [š] <sz> (raszte), [v] <w> (sweczias), [ž] <ź> (źemes). The endings of the instr. sg. of ()ā,ē stem nouns and adjectives were ‑(i)a (skara), ‑e (upe); nom. pl. of (i)ŏ stem nouns and adjectives ‑ei (Totorei), instr. pl. ‑eis (paupeis). The digraph <uo> [uo], used in A1 1883, was replaced by <ů> (nůbodźei) from A2 1883; in A4 1883 <v> (Viešpatie) appeared instead of <w>. A2–A4 1883 shows the influence of Mikšas: he took the diacritical letters <ê, ô, û> from Prussian Lithuanian writing, as well as the praes. 1, 2 pl. of the verb būti with <ē> (ēsame) and praet. 3 of tapti–tapē.