The Dzūkian dialect (Lithuanian: dzūkų tarmė), known in academic works as Southern Aukštaitian dialect (Lithuanian: pietų aukštaičių patarmė), is one of the three main sub-dialects of the Aukštaitian dialect of Lithuanian language. Dzūkian dialect is spoken in Dzūkija, southern Lithuania. Its most distinctive feature is replacing t, d before i, į, y, ie and č, dž with c and dz (cik instead of tik – just, dzidumas instead of didumas – size, pyn instead of pinti – to braid, sveciai instead of svečiai – guests). Another notable feature is the lengthening of vowels in closed syllables ending in sonorants, for example: tìltas (bridge) becomes tyltas, bùlvė (potato) - būlvė, or pìrmas (first) - pyrmas. Since the region borders Slavic lands, the dialect has many Slavic loanwords and barbarisms.
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Dzūkian dialect in the context of Regions of Lithuania
Lithuania can be divided into five historical and cultural regions (called ethnographic regions). The exact borders are not fully clear, as the regions are not official political or administrative units. They are delimited by culture, such as country traditions, traditional lifestyle, songs, tales, etc. To some extent, regions correspond to the zones of Lithuanian language dialects. This correspondence, however, is by no means strict. For example, although the Dzūkian dialect is called South Aukštaitian, it does not mean that Dzūkija is part of Aukštaitija. In certain parts of some regions, dialects of other regions are spoken, while for example in Samogitia, there are three indigenous dialects (southern, northern and western Samogitian), some of which are subdivided into subdialects.