Principles of recording phonetic features in Lithuanian dialect dictionaries

The article discusses the transcription used in Lithuanian dialect dictionaries. So far, in Lithuania 10 dialect dictionaries have been published, nine on different Aukštaičiai dialects and only one on a Žemaičiai dialect. Although the presentation of phonetic features in dialect dictionaries is quite varied, most of them are based on similar principles, which can be called a simplified and summarized transcription principle. Under this principle, most dictionaries give the most important (distinguishing) features of dialects, namely, the transcription reflects the phonemic inventory, but some of the phonemic variations, especially subtle ones, usually cannot be found in these dictionaries. Fluctuations of particular dialect phonetic features are frequently not reflected either. Texts are presented in a generalized, unified manner, not transcribed directly from the sound recordings, but in accordance with the system – as "it should be pronounced". V. Vitkauskas' Šiaurės rytų dūnininkų šnektų žodynas is likely to be the most comprehensive and accurate in transcription. It covers quite completely the existing phonemic variants of the dialects, prosodic features and attempts to capture the differences in phonetic systems of various dialects