Lithuanian language History of the Lithuanian language Lithuanian

Lithuanian language

History of the Lithuanian language • Lithuanian language belongs to the Baltic group of the Indo. European languages. The only other Baltic language is Latvian. • A couple thousand years ago Baltic languages were spoken in a much larger area, covering also large areas of today's Poland, Russia, and Belarus. This area shrunk due to Slavic expansion and also due to the Germanic crusades that have destroyed the Old Prussian language. The Baltic area continued to shrink in 15 th-19 th centuries as the Baltic languages, including Lithuanian, continued to be spoken mainly by peasants whereas the nobility switched to German or Polish (depending on location), regarded to be more prestigious.

History of the Lithuanian language

History of the Lithuanian language • The 19 th century National Revival restored the prestige of speaking the Baltic languages. Peaceful resistance defended the language under Russian Imperial occupation when it was forbidden to print Lithuanian or to speak Lithuanian in public. A secret book smuggler network was established (recognized as unique by UNESCO) which illegally imported Lithuanian books and press from Germany. Under the influence of linguist Jonas Jablonskis, the language was purified by replacing Slavic loanwords with neologisms and establishing the modern orthography. Due to this reason, 19 th century Lithuanian differs more from modern Lithuanian than English of the era does differ from the modern English. However, several centuries old Lithuanian is still intelligible for a modern person.

Professor Jonas Jablonskis in 1925

History of the Lithuanian language • The culmination of national revival was the 1918 declaration of Lithuanian independence, although the language had to survive another onslaught of Russification under the Soviet occupations of 1940 -1941 and 1944 -1990. During that time, many Russian loanwords entered the Lithuanian language, often unofficially (every Lithuanian had to know and often speak in Russian, therefore, some of them began to include certain Russian words into their Lithuanian speech as well). Post-1990 generations, however, are unlikely to use Russian words in Lithuanian sentences (except for swearing) and such words are increasingly considered "not cool".

The Lithuanian language situation today • Today Lithuanian is the sole official language in Lithuania and while there are official areas where ethnic minorities may use their own languages (for instance as the medium of instruction in their public schools), the position of Lithuanian as a language for interethnic communication strengthened over the time since 1990. It remains to be seen whether this will be true in the future as the English language has displaced Lithuanian from many trademarks in the main cities and English slang entered the conversations.

The Lithuanian language situation today • In addition to standard Lithuanian, there are dialects somewhat corresponding to the ethnographic regions. Discouraged under the Soviet occupation as "tongue of the uneducated" and thus heavily declined in use, the dialects recently earned some respect. Samogitian dialect (so unique it is sometimes called a language) is even used on some local signs.

Lithuanian alphabet, orthography and spelling • Lithuanian is written in the Latin script, but compared to English Lithuanian has 9 additional letters (Ą, Č, Ę, Ė, Į, Š, Ų, Ū, Ž) and lacks 3 (W, Q, X). Unlike English, the Lithuanian spelling is very regular, meaning the words are almost always pronounced as they are written, and most letters have only one possible way to pronounce them. "A" is always pronounced as in the English word "Barn", "I" is pronounced as in "Ship", "E" is pronounced as in "Get", "O" as in "Glory" and "U" as in "Pull".

Lithuanian alphabet, orthography and spelling • The additional Lithuanian vowels sound similar to their ordinary counterparts but must be pronounced longer (e. g. "Ū" and "Ų" are both relatively similar to a long "U"). The only exception is "Ė". The additional consonants sound the following: "Č" is like "Ch" in "Charm", "Š" is like "Sh" in "Ship" and "Ž" is like "S" in "Measure". Unlike English, Lithuanian has only one digraph and that is "Ch", pronounced as "Kh" in "Khan". • The exact pronunciation of several Lithuanian letters differs from their English counterparts. Lithuanian "J" is like "Y" in English while Lithuanian "Y" is like "ee" in "sheep".

Lithuanian grammar • Lithuanian is a synthetic language, meaning that the same word takes different forms when it is used in different contexts. This eradicates the need for grammatical particles. What is said in English in 2, 3 or even 4 words often may be said in Lithuanian using just a single word. For instance "I will come" is "Ateisiu" in Lithuanian, "You will come" is "Ateisi", "I did come" is "Atėjau", "He/she used to come" - "Ateidavo" and so on.

Lithuanian grammar • There are 7 cases (and 2 additional rarely used ones) of the nouns in the Lithuanian language. The verbs have only 4 tenses, however. There is singular and plural. Unlike in English (but like in most other languages) there are genders, with each word being either masculine or feminine.

Lithuanian names • Due to differences in masculine and feminine endings, there are no "universal names" which could be used for both males and females. Female Lithuanian names end in "-ė" or "-a" while most male names end in "-as", "-is" or "-us". • The endings of male and female surnames likewise differ. Furthermore, every female surname has 3 variants: one for an unmarried girl (ending by -aitė, -ytė, -ūtė or -utė), one for a married woman (-ienė) and one optional marriage-neutral, introduced in the 2000 s per a European Union request (-ė).

Lithuanian words and phrases. Greetings. • • Sveiki – Hello Sveiki atvykę - Welcome Labas rytas – Good morning Laba diena – Good afternoon Labas vakaras – Good evening Labanakt – Good night Viso gero – Good bye Malonu susipažinti – Nice to meet you Kaip sekasi? – How are you?

Lithuanian words and phrases. • • Mano vardas. . . – My name is. . . Iš kur esi? – Where are you from? Aš esu iš. . . – I am from. . . Ačiū – Thank you Taip – Yes Ne – No Nesuprantu – I don‘t understand Susinku – I agree

Lithuanian words and phrases. Family, housing • • Mama - Mum Virtuvė – Kitchen Tėtis – Dad Šaldytuvas - Fridge Brolis – Brother Kambarys - Room Sesuo – Sister Miegamasis - Bedroom Močiutė – Grandma Svetainė – Sitting - room Senelis – Granddad Stalas – Table Pusbrolis – Cousin (male) Kėdė - Chair Pusseserė – Cousin (female) Lova - Bed

Lithuanian words and phrases. Food and meals. • • Pusryčiai – Breakfast Mėsa – Meat Peilis - Knife Pietūs – Lunch Žuvis - Fish Vakarienė – Dinner Vaisiai - Fruit Spurga – Doughnut Daržovės - Vegetables Duona – Bread Puodelis - Cup Kumpis – Ham Lėkštė - Plate Pienas – Milk Šaukštas - Spoon Sviestas – Butter Šakutė - Fork

Lithuanian words and phrases. • • • Prašau – Please Skanaus – Enjoy your meal! Kiek tai kainuoja? – How much is it? Kava - Coffee Arbata – Tea Vanduo - Water