摘要：The article analyses the ratio between compound graphemes and phonemes symbolised by the compound graphemes in the early lexicography of Simonas Daukantas: Lithuanian headings in the publication Epitome Historiae Sacrae of Simonas Daukantas published in 1838 in St. Petersburg and Ƶodrodys toie kningelieie essontiu żodiù and Polish– Lithuanian Dictionary (there a few hypotheses on the dating of the dictionary – 1839–1842 or 1846) and Lithuanian-Latin Dictionary (compiled between 1842 and 1850 and edited after 1851). Though the above-mentioned works are written in the Northern Samogitian (specifically, town of Kretinga) dialect, the discussed compound graphemes most often represent the Highland phonetics in the word stems. Some of the graphemes bear one meaning. It has been established that frequency of the use of compound graphemes in the early lexicography of Simonas Daukantas is determined by the nature of dictionary (whether the dictionary is printed or manuscript). The number of compound graphemes is far bigger in the printed issue. The frequency of the use of graphemes also depends on the fact where the letters are used – in the first or second part of the work which is better ordered. The analysis of graphemes used in the dictionaries that were compiled at different times reveals that the use of graphemes deteriorates starting from printed dictionary (1838) to manuscript dictionaries (1846 and 1851). Thus the use of graphemes is determined by extra-linguistic factors. Keywords: meaning of grapheme; early lexicography of Simonas Daukantas; compound grapheme; innovations in orthography; extra-linguistic factors
