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.[1] 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 (Lithuanian: cik instead of Lithuanian: tik – just, Lithuanian: dzidumas instead of Lithuanian: didumas – size, Lithuanian: pyn instead of Lithuanian: pinti – to braid, Lithuanian: sveciai instead of Lithuanian: 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.