Lithuanian Lietuvių kalba
Spoken in:	Lithuania, Argentina, Australia, Belarus, Brazil, Canada, Estonia, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Poland, Russia, Sweden, United Kingdom, Ireland, Uruguay, USA
Region:	Europe
Total speakers:	2. Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania (Lietuvos Respublika is a Country in Eastern often referred to as Northern Europe or in the For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Argentina topics. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. Belarus ( Belarusian Беларусь / Biełaruś is a Landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered by Russia to the north and east |utc_offset = -2 to -4 |time_zone_DST = BRST |utc_offset_DST = -2 to -5 |cctld Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia ( Eesti or Eesti Vabariik) is a Country in Northern Europe in the Baltic region Kazakhstan, also Kazakstan ( Қазақстан, Qazaqstan, qɑzɑqˈstɑn Казахстан, Kazakhstán,) officially the Latvia ( Latvija officially the Republic of Latvia (Latvijas Republika is a Country in Northern Europe in the Baltic region. Poland (Polska officially the Republic of Poland Russia (Россия Rossiya) or the Russian Federation ( Rossiyskaya Federatsiya) is a transcontinental Country extending "Sverige" redirects here For other uses see Sweden (disambiguation and Sverige (disambiguation. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Ireland (pronounced /ˈaɾlənd/ Éire) is the third largest island in Europe, and the twentieth-largest island in the world Uruguay.(official full name in República Oriental del Uruguay;, Oriental Republic of Uruguay) is a country located in the southeastern part of South America The United States of America —commonly referred to as the 96 million (Lithuania) 170,000 (Abroad) 3. Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania (Lietuvos Respublika is a Country in Eastern often referred to as Northern Europe or in the 13 million (Worldwide)[1]
Ranking:	144th
Language family:	Indo-European  Baltic   Eastern    Lithuanian
Writing system:	Roman script
Official status
Official language in:	Lithuania, European Union
Regulated by:	Commission of the Lithuanian Language
Language codes
ISO 639-1:	lt
ISO 639-2:	lit
ISO 639-3:	lit
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. This is a list of languages, ordered by the number of native-language speakers, with some data for second-language use List of language familiesA language family is a group of Languages related by descent from a common ancestor called the Proto-language of that family The Baltic languages are a group of related languages belonging to the Indo-European language family and spoken mainly in areas extending east and southeast of the Baltic The Baltic languages are a group of related languages belonging to the Indo-European language family and spoken mainly in areas extending east and southeast of the Baltic A writing system is a type of Symbolic system used to represent elements or statements expressible in Language. Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania (Lietuvos Respublika is a Country in Eastern often referred to as Northern Europe or in the The European Union ( EU) is a political and economic union of twenty-seven member states, located primarily in This is a list of bodies that regulate Standard languages Natural languages Auxiliary languages Interlingua The auxiliary language The State Commission of the Lithuanian Language (Valstybinė lietuvių kalbos komisija is the official language regulating body of the Lithuanian language. ISO 639-1 is the first part of the ISO 639 international-standard language-code family ISO 639-2 is the second part of the ISO 639 standard, which lists codes for the representation of the names of languages ISO 639 -3 (ISO 639-32007 is an international standard for Language codes The standard describes three‐letter codes for identifying languages In Computing, Unicode is an Industry standard allowing Computers to consistently represent and manipulate text expressed in most of the world's

Lithuanian (lietuvių kalba), is the official state language of Lithuania and is recognised as one of the official languages of the European Union. Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania (Lietuvos Respublika is a Country in Eastern often referred to as Northern Europe or in the The European Union ( EU) is a political and economic union of twenty-seven member states, located primarily in There are about 2. 96 million native Lithuanian speakers in Lithuania and about 170,000 abroad. Lithuanian is a Baltic language, closely related to Latvian; however, they are not mutually intelligible. The Baltic languages are a group of related languages belonging to the Indo-European language family and spoken mainly in areas extending east and southeast of the Baltic Latvian language (latviešu valoda is the official state language of Latvia. It is written in the Roman script.

Contents 1 History 2 Classification 3 Geographic distribution 3.1 Official status 3.2 Dialects 4 Sounds 4.1 Vowels 4.2 Consonants 4.3 Phonology 4.3.1 Consonants 4.3.2 Vowels 5 Grammar 6 Vocabulary 6.1 Indo-European vocabulary 6.2 Lithuanian words similar or exact to the Sanskrit 6.3 Lithuanian words loaned from the Germanic 6.4 Loan words 7 Writing system 8 Examples 9 See also 10 References 11 External links

History

Anyone wishing to hear how Indo-Europeans spoke should come and listen to a Lithuanian peasant. A manuscript is any Document that is Written by hand as opposed to being printed or reproduced in some other way Martyno Mažvydo vertimasTranslation of Martynas Mažvydas2jpg|thumb|180px|Martynas Mažvydas translated book]] Martynas Mažvydas (1510 near Žemaičių Naumiestis (now The Lord's Prayer, also known as the Our Father or Pater noster, is probably the best-known Prayer in Christianity.

—Antoine Meillet

Lithuanian still retains many of the original features of the nominal morphology found in the common ancestors of the Indo-European languages, and has therefore been the focus of much study in the area of Indo-European linguistics. Antoine Meillet ( Paul-Jules-Antoine Meillet, November 11, 1866 - September 21, 1936) was one of the most important French linguists Studies in the field of comparative linguistics have shown it to be the most conservative living Indo-European language. ^[2][3]

There have been attempts to suggest the existence of a Balto-Slavic language group after the splitting of the Proto-Indo-European language, with the Slavic and Baltic branches then dividing after a prolonged "period of common language and life" (Szemerényi, 1957). The Balto-Slavic language group consists of the Baltic and Slavic languages, belonging to the Indo-European family of languages However, other linguists (Meillet, Klimas, Zinkevičius) oppose this view, providing arguments against the common Balto-Slavic proto-language, and explaining similarities by a historical period, or several periods, of close contacts. While the possession of many archaic features is undeniable, the exact manner by which the Baltic languages have developed from the Proto-Indo-European language is not clear.

According to some glottochronological speculations the Eastern Baltic languages split from the Western Baltic ones between 400 AD and 600 AD. The differentiation between Lithuanian and Latvian started after 800 AD; for a long period they could be considered dialects of a single language. At a minimum, transitional dialects existed until the 14th or 15th century, and perhaps as late as the 17th century. As a means of recording the passage of Time, the 17th Century was that Century which lasted from 1601 - 1700 in the Gregorian calendar Also, the 13th- and 14th-century occupation of the western part of the Daugava basin (closely coinciding with the territory of modern Latvia) by the German Sword Brethren had a significant influence on the languages' independent development. The Daugava or Western Dvina (Daugava Западная Двина́ (Zapadnaya Dvina Заходняя Дзвiна za'xodnʲaja dzʲvʲi'na Dźwina Düna Väina Latvia ( Latvija officially the Republic of Latvia (Latvijas Republika is a Country in Northern Europe in the Baltic region. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. Bishop Albert of Riga founded the Military order of the Livonian Brothers of the Sword (Fratres militiæ Christi Livoniae Schwertbrüderorden in 1202

The earliest surviving written Lithuanian text is a translation dating from about 1503-1525 of the Lord's Prayer, the Hail Mary and the Nicene Creed written in the Southern Aukštaitijan dialect. The Lord's Prayer, also known as the Our Father or Pater noster, is probably the best-known Prayer in Christianity. The Hail Mary or Ave Maria ( Latin) is a traditional Christian Prayer asking for the Intercession of the Virgin Mary, the The Nicene Creed (ˈnaɪsiːn is an ecumenical Christian statement of faith accepted in the Eastern Orthodox Church, Assyrian Church of Printed books existed after 1547, but the level of literacy among Lithuanians was low through the 18th century and books were not commonly available. The 18th century lasted from 1701 to 1800 in the Gregorian calendar, in accordance with the Anno Domini / Common Era numbering system In 1864, following the January Uprising, Mikhail Muravyov, the Russian Governor General of Lithuania, banned the language in education and publishing, and barred use of the Latin alphabet altogether, although books printed in Lithuanian continued to be printed across the border in East Prussia and in the United States. Year 1864 ( MDCCCLXIV) was a Leap year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Leap year The January Uprising ( Polish: powstanie styczniowe, Lithuanian: 1863 m Count Mikhail Nikolayevich Muravyov ( Михаил Николаевич Муравьёв in Russian) ( April 19, 1845 - June 21 The Lithuanian press ban (spaudos draudimas was a ban on all Lithuanian language publications printed in the Latin alphabet within the Russian Empire, East Prussia (Ostpreußen; Rytų Prūsija or Rytprūsiai; Prusy Wschodnie Восточная Пруссия or Vostochnaya Prussiya) refers to the main part The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Brought into the country by book smugglers despite the threat of stiff prison sentences, they helped fuel a growing nationalist sentiment that finally led to the lifting of the ban in 1904. Knygnešiai (singular knygnešys) a Lithuanian term that has no equivalent in other languages - approximately translation would be book Smugglers Year 1904 ( MCMIV) was a Leap year starting on Friday (link will display calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap year starting on

Jonas Jablonskis (1860-1930) made significant contributions to the formation of the standard Lithuanian language. Jonas Jablonskis ( December 30, 1860,, Šakiai district – February 23, 1930, Kaunas) was a distinguished Lithuanian The conventions of written Lithuanian had been evolving during the 19th century, but Jablonskis, in the introduction to his Lietuviškos kalbos gramatika, was the first to formulate and expound the essential principles that were so indispensable to its later development. His proposal for Standard Lithuanian was based on his native Western Aukštaitijan dialect with some features of the eastern Prussian Lithuanians' dialect spoken in Lithuania Minor. This article discusses the Lithuanian part of the region For the Polish one see Suwałki Region. The term Prussian Lithuanians, Lietuwininkai (singular Lietuwininkas) Lietuvininkai refers to a Western Lithuanian ethnic group which did not form Lithuania Minor (Mažoji Lietuva Kleinlitauen Litwa Mniejsza Máлая Литвá or Prussian Lithuania (Prūsų Lietuva Preußisch-Litauen Litwa Pruska is a historical These dialects had preserved archaic phonetics mostly intact due to the influence of the neighbouring Old Prussian language, while the other dialects had experienced different phonetic shifts. Prussian is an extinct Baltic language once spoken by the inhabitants of the area that later became East Prussia (now north-eastern Poland A vowel shift is a systematic Sound change in the Pronunciation of the Vowel sounds of a Language. Lithuanian has been the official language of Lithuania since 1918. Year 1918 ( MCMXVIII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common During the Soviet occupation (see History of Lithuania), it was used in official discourse along with Russian which, as the official language of the USSR, took precedence over Lithuanian. This article discusses the history of Lithuania and of the Lithuanians. Russian ( transliteration:,) is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991

Classification

Lithuanian is one of two living Baltic languages, along with Latvian. The Baltic languages are a group of related languages belonging to the Indo-European language family and spoken mainly in areas extending east and southeast of the Baltic Latvian language (latviešu valoda is the official state language of Latvia. An earlier Old Prussian Baltic language was extinct by the 19th century; the other Western Baltic languages, Curonian and Sudovian, went extinct earlier. Prussian is an extinct Baltic language once spoken by the inhabitants of the area that later became East Prussia (now north-eastern Poland The term Curonian language (Kurisch kuršu valoda kuršių kalba may refer to two different but related Baltic languages. Sudovian (otherwise known as Jatvingian or Yotvingian) is an extinct western Baltic language in Northeastern Europe. The Baltic languages form their own distinct branch of the Indo-European languages. The Baltic languages are a group of related languages belonging to the Indo-European language family and spoken mainly in areas extending east and southeast of the Baltic

Geographic distribution

Lithuanian is spoken mainly in Lithuania. Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania (Lietuvos Respublika is a Country in Eastern often referred to as Northern Europe or in the It is also spoken by ethnic Lithuanians living in today's Belarus, Latvia, Poland, and the Kaliningrad Oblast of Russia, as well by sizable emigrant communities in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, France, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Russia proper, Sweden, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Uruguay. Belarus ( Belarusian Беларусь / Biełaruś is a Landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered by Russia to the north and east Latvia ( Latvija officially the Republic of Latvia (Latvijas Republika is a Country in Northern Europe in the Baltic region. Poland (Polska officially the Republic of Poland Kaliningrad Oblast (Калинингра́дская о́бласть Kaliningradskaya oblast; informally called Yantarny kray (ru Янта́рный край meaning For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Argentina topics. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. |utc_offset = -2 to -4 |time_zone_DST = BRST |utc_offset_DST = -2 to -5 |cctld Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page The Kingdom of Denmark ( ˈd̥ænmɑɡ̊ (archaic ˈd̥anmɑːɡ̊ commonly known as Denmark, is a country in the Scandinavian region of northern Europe Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia ( Eesti or Eesti Vabariik) is a Country in Northern Europe in the Baltic region This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. Iceland, officially the Republic of Iceland ( ( Ísland or Lýðveldið Ísland ( Ireland (pronounced /ˈaɾlənd/ Éire) is the third largest island in Europe, and the twentieth-largest island in the world Norway ( Norwegian: Norge ( Bokmål) or Noreg ( Nynorsk) officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Constitutional Russia (Россия Rossiya) or the Russian Federation ( Rossiyskaya Federatsiya) is a transcontinental Country extending "Sverige" redirects here For other uses see Sweden (disambiguation and Sverige (disambiguation. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Uruguay.(official full name in República Oriental del Uruguay;, Oriental Republic of Uruguay) is a country located in the southeastern part of South America

2,955,200 people in Lithuania (including 3,460 Tatars), or about 80% of the 1998 population, are native Lithuanian speakers; most Lithuanian inhabitants of other nationalities also speak Lithuanian to some extent. The Lipka Tatars (also known as Lithuanian Tatars, Belarusian Tatars, Lipkowie or Muślimi) are a group of Tatars living on the lands The total worldwide Lithuanian-speaking population is about 4,000,000 (1993 UBS).

Official status

Lithuanian is the state language of Lithuania and an official language of the European Union. An official language is a Language that is given a special legal status in a particular Country, State, or other territory The European Union ( EU) is a political and economic union of twenty-seven member states, located primarily in

Dialects

The Lithuanian language has two dialects (tarmės): Aukštaičių (Aukstaitian, Highland Lithuanian), Žemaičių/Žemaitiu (Samogitian, Lowland Lithuanian), See maps at [1]. Aukštaitija (literary Highlands; oʊkʃteɪtɪˈjʌ is the name of one of five ethnographic Regions of Lithuania. Aukštaitija (literary Highlands; oʊkʃteɪtɪˈjʌ is the name of one of five ethnographic Regions of Lithuania. Samogitia ( Samogitian: Žemaitėjė, Žemaitija literally lowlands) is one of the five Ethnographic Regions of Lithuania. Samogitian (Samogitian Žemaitiu ruoda, Žemaičių tarmė is a dialect (considered as an independent Baltic language by some people outside academic literature There are significant differences between standard Lithuanian and Samogitian. The modern Samogitian dialect formed in the 13th-16th centuries under the influence of the Curonian language. The term Curonian language (Kurisch kuršu valoda kuršių kalba may refer to two different but related Baltic languages. Lithuanian dialects are closely connected with ethnographical regions of Lithuania

Dialects are divided into subdialects (patarmės). Lithuania can be divided into historical and cultural regions (called Ethnographic regions Both dialects have 3 subdialects. Samogitian is divided into West, North and South; Aukštaitian into West (Suvalkiečiai), South (Dzūkai) and East. Dzūkian dialect, known in academic works as Southern Aukštaitian dialect, is one of the three main sub-dialects of the Aukštaitian dialect of Lithuanian language Each subdialect is divided into smaller units - speeches (šnektos).

The standard Lithuanian is derived mostly from Western Aukštaitian dialects, including the Eastern dialect of Lithuania Minor. Lithuania Minor (Mažoji Lietuva Kleinlitauen Litwa Mniejsza Máлая Литвá or Prussian Lithuania (Prūsų Lietuva Preußisch-Litauen Litwa Pruska is a historical Influence of other dialects is more significant in vocabulary of the standard Lithuanian.

Sounds

Vowels

Lithuanian has 12 written vowels. In addition to the standard Roman letters, the ogonek ('little tail') accent (conventionally known as the caudata) is used to indicate long vowels, and is a historical relic of a time when these vowels were nasalized (as ogonek vowels are in modern Polish), and at an even earlier time had made diphthongs with an 'n' sound. The ogonek ( Polish for "little tail" the Diminutive of ogon) is a Diacritic hook placed under the lower right corner of a vowel in the Polish ( język polski, polszczyzna) is the Official language of Poland.

Majuscule	A	Ą	E	Ę	Ė	I	Į	Y	O	U	Ų	Ū
Minuscule	a	ą	e	ę	ė	i	į	y	o	u	ų	ū
IPA	ɐ ɐː	ɐː	æ æː	æː	eː	i	iː	iː	oː o	u	uː	uː

Consonants

Lithuanian uses 20 consonant characters, drawn from the Roman alphabet. The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA is a system of phonetic notation based on the Latin alphabet, devised by the International Phonetic In addition, the digraph "Ch" represents a velar fricative (IPA [x]); the pronunciation of other digraphs can be deduced from their component elements. The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA is a system of phonetic notation based on the Latin alphabet, devised by the International Phonetic

Majuscule	B	C	Č	D	F	G	H	J	K	L	M	N	P	R	S	Š	T	V	Z	Ž
Minuscule	b	c	č	d	f	g	h	j	k	l	m	n	p	r	s	š	t	v	z	ž
IPA	b	ʦ	ʧ	d	f	ɡ	ɣ	j	k	l	m	n	p	r	s	ʃ	t	ʋ	z	ʒ

Phonology

Consonants

		labial	dental	alveo- dental	alveolar	alveo- palatal	velar
plosives	voiceless	p	t				k
	voiced	b	d				ɡ
fricatives	voiceless	f		s		ʃ	x
	voiced			z		ʒ	ɣ
affricates	voiceless			ʦ		ʧ
	voiced			ʣ		ʤ
nasal		m			n
liquid	lateral				l
	glide	ʋ					j
rhotic trill					r

Each consonant (except [j]) has two forms: palatalized and non-palatalized ([bʲ] - [b],[dʲ] - [d], [ɡʲ] - [ɡ] and so on). The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA is a system of phonetic notation based on the Latin alphabet, devised by the International Phonetic Palatalization or palatalisation (ˌpælətəlɨˈzeɪʃən generally refers to two phenomena As a process or the result of a process The consonants [f x ɣ] and their palatalized versions are only found in loanwords. A loanword (or loan word) is a word directly taken into one Language from another with little or no translation The consonants preceding vowels [i] and [e] are always moderately palatalized, a feature common to East Slavic languages and not present in the Latvian language.

Unreleased stops are common in the Lithuanian language over released plosives. An unreleased stop or unreleased plosive is a Plosive consonant without an audible release burst A stop, plosive, or occlusive is a Consonant sound produced by stopping the airflow in the Vocal tract.

(Adapted from http://www.lituanus.org/1982_1/82_1_02.htm with necessary changes according to Lithuanian Language Encyclopedia^[4])

Vowels

There are two possible ways to organize the Lithuanian vowel system. The traditional pattern has six long vowels and five short ones, with length as its distinctive feature:

	Front		Central	Back
	Long	Short		Long	Short
High	iː	i		uː	u
Mid	eː			oː	o
Mid-low	ɛː	ɛ
Low			ɐː		ɑ

(Adapted from http://www.lituanus.org/1982_1/82_1_02.htm and http://www.lituanus.org/1972/72_1_05.htm . )

However, at least one researcher suggests that a tense vs. lax distinction may be the actual distinguishing feature, or may be at least equally important as vowel length. ^[5] Such a hypothesis yields the chart below, where 'long' and 'short' have been preserved to parallel the terminology used above.

	Front		Back
	Long	Short	Long	Short
High	iː	ɪ	uː	ʊ
Mid	eː		oː	ɔ
Low	æː	a	ɐː	ʌ

Grammar

Main article: Lithuanian grammar. Lithuanian grammar is the study of rules governing the use of the Lithuanian language.

The Lithuanian language is a highly inflected language in which the relationships between parts of speech and their roles in a sentence are expressed by numerous flexions. For fusion in Word formation, see Compound (linguistics. A fusional language (also called inflecting language) is a

There are two grammatical genders in Lithuanian - feminine and masculine. In Linguistics, grammatical genders, sometimes also called Noun classes are classes of nouns reflected in the behavior of associated words every noun must belong There is no neuter gender per se, but there are some forms which are derived from the historical neuter gender, notably attributive adjectives. Lithuanian has a free, mobile stress, and is also characterized by pitch accent. In Linguistics, stress is the relative emphasis that may be given to certain Syllables in a word Pitch accent is a linguistic term of convenience for a variety of restricted tone systems that use variations in pitch to give prominence to a Syllable

It has five noun and three adjective declensions and three verbal conjugations. In Grammar, an adjective is a word whose main syntactic role is to modify a Noun or Pronoun, giving more information about the In Linguistics, declension (or declination) is the occurrence of Inflection in Nouns Pronouns and Adjectives indicating For English usage of verbs see the wiki article English verbs. In Linguistics, conjugation is the creation of derived forms of a Verb, Noun or Adjective from its Principal parts by Inflection All verbs have present, past, past iterative and future tenses of the indicative mood, subjunctive (or conditional) and imperative moods (both without distinction of tenses) and infinitive. Present Tense is the first Sagittarius album released in 1968 by Columbia Records. The past tense is a Verb tense expressing action activity state or being in the past of the current moment (in an Absolute tense system or prior Past iterative tense is a Grammatical tense in the Lithuanian language, which denotes complete iterative action in the past as opposed to Past tense (in In Grammar, the future tense is a verb form that marks the event described by the verb as not having happened yet but expected to happen in the future (in an Absolute tense Grammatical mood is one of a set of distinctive Verb forms that are used to signal modality. In Grammar, the subjunctive mood (sometimes referred to as the conjunctive mood) is a Verb mood that exists in many languages The conditional mood is the form of the verb used in Conditional sentences to refer to a hypothetical state of affairs or an uncertain event that is contingent on another set The imperative mood is a Grammatical mood that expresses direct commands or requests Grammatical mood is one of a set of distinctive Verb forms that are used to signal modality. In Grammar, infinitive is the name for certain verb forms that exist in many languages These forms, except the infinitive, are conjugative, having two singular, two plural persons and the third person form common both for plural and singular. Lithuanian has the richest participle system of all Indo-European languages, having participles derived from all tenses with distinct active and passive forms, and several gerund forms. In Linguistics, a participle (from Latin participium, a Calque of Greek μετοχη "partaking" is a derivative of a non-finite Nouns and other declinable words are declined in seven cases: nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, instrumental, locative, and vocative. The nominative case is a Grammatical case for a Noun, which generally marks the subject of a Verb, as opposed to its object or other In Grammar, the genitive case or possessive case (also called the second case) is the case that marks a Noun as modifying another The accusative case ( abbreviated ACC) of a Noun is the Grammatical case used to mark the Direct object of a Transitive The instrumental case (also called the eighth case) is a Grammatical case used to indicate that a noun is the instrument or means by or with which the Locative (also called the seventh case) is a Grammatical case which indicates a location The vocative case is the case used for a Noun identifying the person (animal object etc In older Lithuanian texts three additional varieties of the locative case are found: illative, adessive and allative. Illative case in the Finno-Ugric languages Illative (from Latin illatus "brought in" is in the Finnish language, Estonian language In Finno-Ugric languages, such as Finnish, Estonian and Hungarian, the adessive case (from Latin adesse "to be present" Allative case ( abbreviated ALL, from Latin allāt-, afferre "to bring to" is a type of the locative The most common are the illative, which still is used, mostly in spoken language, and the allative, which survives in the standard language in some idiomatic usages. Illative case in the Finno-Ugric languages Illative (from Latin illatus "brought in" is in the Finnish language, Estonian language Allative case ( abbreviated ALL, from Latin allāt-, afferre "to bring to" is a type of the locative The adessive is nearly extinct.

In practical terms, these declensions render word order less important than in more isolating languages such as English. In morphological typology (in linguistics an isolating language (also analytic language) is any Language in which words are composed of A Lithuanian speaker may word the English phrase "a car is coming" as either "atvažiuoja automobilis" or "automobilis atvažiuoja".

The first prescriptive grammar book of Lithuanian was commissioned by the Duke of Prussia, Frederick William, for use in the Lithuanian-speaking parishes of East-Prussia. It was written in Latin and German by Daniel Klein and published in Königsberg in 1653/1654. Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Königsberg (Karaliaučius Low German: Königsbarg; Królewiec see also other names) was until 1946 the name of Kaliningrad. The first scientific Compendium of Lithuanian language was published in German in 1856/57 by August Schleicher, a professor at Prague University. August Schleicher ( February 19, 1821 – December 6, 1868) was a German linguist born in Meiningen ( Duchy Prague (ˈprɑːg Praha (ˈpraɦa see also other names) is the Capital and Largest city of the Czech Republic. In it he describes Prussian-Lithuanian which later is to become the "skeleton" (Buga) of modern Lithuanian.

Today there are two definitive books on Lithuanian grammar: one in English, the "Introduction to Modern Lithuanian" (called "Beginner's Lithuanian" in its newer editions) by Leonardas Dambriūnas, Antanas Klimas and William R. Schmalstieg, and another in Russian, Vytautas Ambrazas' "Грамматика Литовского языка" ("The Grammar of the Lithuanian Language"). Another recent book on Lithuanian grammar is the second edition of "Review of Modern Lithuanian Grammar" by Edmund Remys, published by Lithuanian Research and Studies Center, Chicago, 2003.

Vocabulary

Indo-European vocabulary

Lithuanian is considered one of the more conservative modern Indo-European languages, and certain Lithuanian words are very similar to their Sanskrit counterparts. Academic Dictionary of Lithuanian (Didysis lietuvių kalbos žodynas or Akademinis lietuvių kalbos žodynas) is the complete Thesaurus of the Lithuanian language See also Lemma (linguistics A headword, head word, lemma, or sometimes catchword is the word under which a set of related Dictionary Sanskrit (sa संस्कृता वाक् saṃskṛtā vāk, for short sa संस्कृतम् saṃskṛtam) is a historical The Lithuanian and Sanskrit words sūnus (son) and avis (sheep) are exactly the same, and many other word pairs differ only slightly, such as dūmas for smoke (dhumas in Sanskrit), antras for second (antaras in Sanskrit), and vilkas for wolf (vrkas in Sanskrit). However, Lithuanian verbal morphology shows many innovations.

Lithuanian has many vocabulary items descended from Proto-Indo-European which are also found in Latin. Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Examples include the following words (the first word is Latin, the second is the Lithuanian cognate): rota — ratas (wheel), senex — senis (an old man), vir — vyras (a man), anguis — angis (a snake in Latin, a species of snakes in Lithuanian), linum — linas (flax, compare with English 'linen'), aro — ariu (I plow), iungo — jungiu (I join), duo — du (two), tres — trys (three), septem — septyni (seven), gentes — gentys (tribes), mensis — mėnesis (month), dentes — dantys (teeth), noctes — naktys (nights), sedemus — sėdime (we sit) and so on. This even extends to grammar, where for example Latin noun declensions ending in -um often correspond to Lithuanian -ų. Many of the words from this list share similarities with other Indo-European languages, including English. However, despite frequent similarities in vocabulary, it should be remembered that Lithuanian is not descended from Latin, Sanskrit or any other attested Indo-European language, but rather they are all descended from Proto-Indo-European.

On the other hand, the numerous lexical and grammatical similarities between Baltic and Slavic languages suggest an affinity between these two language groups. The Slavic languages (also called Slavonic languages) a group of closely related Languages of the Slavic peoples and a subgroup of Indo-European languages However, there exist a number of Baltic (particularly Lithuanian) words, notably those that are similar to Sanskrit or Latin, which lack counterparts in Slavic languages. This fact was puzzling to many linguists prior to the middle of the 19th century, but was later influential in the re-creation of the Proto Indo-European language. The 19th century of the Common Era began on January 1, 1801 and ended on December 31, 1900, according to the Gregorian calendar In any event, the history of the earlier relations between Baltic and Slavic languages and a more exact genesis of the affinity between the two groups remains in dispute.

Lithuanian words similar or exact to the Sanskrit

• Lithuanian du/dvi, Sanskrit dvi/dve, Greek duo/dwo/tyu, Latin duo ("two")
• Lithuanian trys, Sanskrit tri/traya, Greek trios/tria/treis, Latin tres ("three")
• Lithuanian penki(os), Sanskrit páñcan, Greek pente/pende(cis) ("five")
• Lithuanian šeši(os), Sanskrit sas, Greek heks/hecs/hex, Latin secs/sex ("six")
• Lithuanian septyni(os), Sanskrit saptahn/sapta, Greek hepta(cis)/septa, Latin septem ("seven")
• Lithuanian aštuoni(os), Sanskrit ashtan/ashta, Greek akto/okto/oktu(cis), Latin octo ("eight")
• Lithuanian dešimt(is), Sanskrit dasham, Greek deka/deca(cis), Latin deci/decem ("ten")
• Lithuanian žiema, Sanskrit hima ("winter")
• Lithuanian derva/darva, Sanskrit druma/taru ("tree")
• Lithuanian vilkas, Sanskrit vrika ("wolf")

Lithuanian words loaned from the Germanic

• Lithuanian midus, Gothic midu ("mead")

Loan words

In a 1934 book entitled Die Germanismen des Litauischen. Mead (ˈmiːd is a fermented Alcoholic beverage made of Honey, Water, and Yeast. Teil I: Die deutschen Lehnwörter im Litauischen, K. Alminauskis found 2,770 loan words, of which about 130 were of uncertain origin. The majority of the loan words were found to have been derived from the Polish, Belarussian, and German languages, with some evidence that these languages all acquired the words from contacts and trade with Prussia during the era of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Polish ( język polski, polszczyzna) is the Official language of Poland. The Belarusian language, or Belorussian,(беларуская мова BGN/PCGN: byelaruskaya mova, Scientific: belaruskaja mova The German language (de ''Deutsch'') is a West Germanic language and one of the world's major languages. Prussia ( Latin: Borussia, Prutenia; Prūsija Prūsija Prusy Old Prussian: Prūsa) was most recently a historic state The Grand Duchy of Lithuania (Lietuvos Didžioji Kunigaikštystė old literary Lithuanian Didi Kunigiste Letuvos, Ruthenian: Wialikaje Kniastwa Litowskaje ^[6] Loan words comprised about 20% of the vocabulary used in the first book printed in the Lithuanian language in 1547, Martynas Mažvydas's Catechism. Martyno Mažvydo vertimasTranslation of Martynas Mažvydas2jpg|thumb|180px|Martynas Mažvydas translated book]] Martynas Mažvydas (1510 near Žemaičių Naumiestis (now A catechism (ˈkætəkɪzəm κατηχισμός is a summary or exposition of Doctrine, traditionally used in Christian religious teaching from New Testament ^[7] The majority of loan words in the 20th century arrived from the Russian language. Russian ( transliteration:,) is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages ^[8] Towards the end of the 20th century a number of English language words and expressions entered the spoken vernacular of city dwellers, especially the younger ones. English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States ^[9]

The Lithuanian government has an established language policy, which encourages the development of equivalent vocabulary to replace loan words. ^[10]

Writing system

Like many of the Indo-European languages, Lithuanian employs a modified Roman script. It is composed of 32 letters. The collation order presents one surprise: "Y" is moved to occur between "Į" (I nosinė) and "J" because "Y" actually represents a prolonged /iː/.

A

Ą

B

C

Č

D

E

Ę

Ė

F

G

H

I

Į

Y

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

R

S

Š

T

U

Ų

Ū

V

Z

Ž

a

ą

b

c

č

d

e

ę

ė

f

g

h

i

į

y

j

k

l

m

n

o

p

r

s

š

t

u

ų

ū

v

z

ž

Acute, grave, tilde and macron accents can be used to mark stress and vowel length. History An early precursor of the acute accent was the apex, used in Latin inscriptions to mark long vowels. Pitch The grave accent was first used in the polytonic orthography of Ancient Greek, where it occurred only on the last syllable of a word in cases where the The tilde (~ (/ˈtɪldə/ is a Grapheme with several uses The name of the character comes from Spanish, from the Latin titulus A macron, from Greek el μακρόv ( makrón) meaning "long" is a Diacritic ¯ placed over or under a Vowel which was originally In Linguistics, stress is the relative emphasis that may be given to certain Syllables in a word In Linguistics, vowel length is the perceived duration of a Vowel sound However, these are generally not written, except in dictionaries, grammars, and where needed for clarity. In addition, the following digraphs are used, but are treated as sequences of two letters for collation purposes. It should be noted that the "Ch" digraph represents a velar fricative, while the others are straightforward combinations of their component letters.

Dz dz [dz](dzė), Dž dž [dʒ](džė), Ch ch [x](cha).

Examples

• Lithuanian: Lietuviškai ("lietuvishkai", simplified Lithuanian transcription [lĭetuviʃkaĭ])

(language) lietuvių

(nationality) lietuvis (masculine), lietuvė (feminine) ("lĭetuvis", lĭetuvē)

• Hello (informally): labas ("lahbas", [lābas])
• Goodbye (informally): iki! ("iki'", [iki])
• Please: prašau ("prashau", [praʃaŭ])
• Thank you: ačiū ("ahchjooh", [ātʃⁱū])
• That one: tas (masculine), ta (feminine) ("tas, ta")
• How much (does it cost)?: kiek kainuoja? ("kjek kainuoja", [kĭek kainǔoja])
• Yes: taip ([taĭp])
• No: ne ("ne")
• Sorry: atsiprašau ("Atsiprashau", [atsipraʃaŭ])
• I don't understand: nesuprantu ([nesuprantu])
• Do you speak English?: (ar) kalbate angliškai? ([/ar/ kalbate āngliʃkaĭ ?])
• Where is . . . ?: Kur yra? ([kur īra?])
• tea: arbata (arbata)

See also

• Martynas Mažvydas
• Lithuanian dictionaries
• Samogitian language

References

• Leonardas Dambriūnas, Antanas Klimas, William R. Schmalstieg, Beginner's Lithuanian, Hippocrene Books, 1999, ISBN 0-7818-0678-X. Older editions (copyright 1966) called "Introduction to modern Lithuanian".
• Remys, Edmund, Review of Modern Lithuanian Grammar, Lithuanian Research and Studies Center, Chicago, 2nd revised edition, 2003.
• Klimas, Antanas. Baltic and Slavic revisited. Lituanus vol. Lituanus is an English language quarterly journal dedicated to Lithuanian and Baltic languages linguistics political science arts history literature 19, no. 1, Spring 1973 . Retrieved on October 23, 2007.
• Zigmas Zinkevičius, "Lietuvių kalbos istorija" ("History of Lithuanian Language") Vol. 1, Vilnius: Mokslas, 1984, ISBN 5-420-00102-0.
• Remys, Edmund, General distinguishing features of various Indo-European languages and their relationship to Lithuanian, Indogermanische Forschungen, Berlin, New York, 2007.

External links

• Lithuanian linguistics
• Ethnologue report for Lithuanian
• Academic Dictionary of Lithuanian
• Free English-Lithuanian traveler dictionary for print out
• Lithuanian English Dictionary from Webster's Online Dictionary - the Rosetta Edition
• Online Searchable Dictionary - searchable
• English-Lithuanian-German dictionaries and dialogues
• Lithuanian bilingual dictionaries
• The Historical Grammar of Lithuanian language
• Lithuanan and Slovenian language with Japanese translation
• Summer School of Lithuanian at Vilnius University
• Learning Lithuanian in an online Lithuanian school
• Lithuanian Out Loud - Lithuanian lessons in a podcast series
• 2005 analysis of Indo-European lingustic relationships
• French-Lithuanian dictionary free online 36000 entries
• Lithuanian proverbs

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