1. Lithuanian Language Erasmus IP “Modernisation of Europe by Innovating Teacher Training’ 4 – 7 July 2010 Vilnius

2. Lithuanian Regions

3. Lithuanian Language • Lithuanian, lietuvių kalba, is the official state language of Lithuania; • recognized as one of the official languages of the EU; • 2.96 million native Lithuanian speakers in Lithuania and 170,000 abroad; • Lithuanian is a Baltic language, closely related to Latvian; • written in an adapted version of the Roman script.

4. Lithuanian Language The earliest surviving written Lithuanian text is a translation dating from 1503-1525 of the Lord‘s Prayer, the Hail Mary (Sveika Marija), and the Nicene Creed written in the Southern Aukštaitijan dialect. Printed books existed after 1547, when the first book in Lithuanian language was published by Martynas Mažvydas The Catechism (The Simple Words of Catechism)

7. Lithuanian Language The book consists of : - The dedication in Latin „To the Grand Duchy of Lithuania“ - Two prefices in Latin (in prose) in Lithuanian (in verse) - A Primer - The Catechism - The Book of Songs

8. Lithuanian Language • The Lithuanian language under the ban (1864, January Uprising, by Mikhail Muravyov, the Russian Govenor General of Lithuania) • Book smuggling • The ban was lifted in 1904.

9. Lithuanian Language Jonas Jablonskis (1860-1930) contributor to the formation of the standard Lithuanian language; the first to formulate and expound/explain the essential principles of the language; They were written in the introduction to his Lietuviškos kalbos gramatika (Grammar of the Lithuanian Language).

10. Lithuanian Language Source: Lituanus.org

11. Lithuanian Language • The oldest attested form of Greek is Mycenean Creek, • The oldest attested form of Indo-Iranian is Vedic Sanskrit, • The oldest attested form of Slavic is Old Church Slavic • The oldest attested form of Baltic is Old Prussian (avoid confusion with the German dialects) • The oldest attested form of the Germanic language is Gothic

12. Lithuanian Language GRAMMATICAL STRUCTURE • The Lithuanian language is a highly inflectional language • The relationships between parts of speech and their roles in a sentence are expressed by numerous inflections • There are two grammatical genders in Lithuanian – feminine and masculine • There are 5 noun and 3 adjective declensions

13. Lithuanian Language Nouns and other parts of nominal morphology are declined in seven cases: • NOMINATIVE • GENITIVE • DATIVE • ACCUSATIVE • INSTRUMENTAL • LOCATIVE (3 varieties: illative (into), adessive (in, on, at, by), allative (onto)) • VOCATIVE

14. Lithuanian Language Lithuanian has a free, mobile stress, and is also characterized by pitch accent.

15. Lithuanian Language There are 3 verbal conjugations • All verbs have present, past, past iterative and future tenses of the Indicative Mood, Subjunctive or Conditional Mood, Imperative Mood (without distinction of tenses) • 2nd person Sg. Eik (go) • 2nd person Pl. Eikite

16. Lithuanian Language In practical terms: the rich overal inflectional system renders word order less important than in more isolating languages such as English. A Lithuanian speaker may word: • Aš myliu tave (I love you) • Tave aš myliu • Myliu aš tave

17. Lithuanian Language NOMINATIVE CASE (Subject) The phrase: the wolf stands • Sanscrit vŕk-as tiśthati • Lithuanian vilk-as stovi • Latin lup-us stat

18. Lithuanian Language GENITIVE CASE (Possessive/ of word) The phrase: the wolf‘s mother • Sanscrit vŕk-asya mātā • Lithuanian vilk-o mótina • Latin lup-i māter • Greek lúk-ou mētēr

19. Lithuanian Language DATIVE CASE (Indirect Object) The phrase: (he) gives to the wolf • Sanscrit dá-dāti vŕk-āya • Lithuanian dúoda vilk-ui • Latin dat lup-ō • Greek dí-dōsi lúk-ō

20. Lithuanian Language ACCUSATIVE ENDING (Direct Object) The phrase: (he) sees the wolf • Sanscrit paśyati vrk-am • Lithuanian mãto vilk-ą • Latin videt lup-um • Greek horą lúl-on

21. Lithuanian Language VOCATIVE CASE (Calling Case) • Sanskrit vŕk-a • Lithuanian vilk-e • Latin lup-e • Greek lúk-e

22. Lithuanian Language 1st person Singular Sanskritas-mi Lithuanian esu Greekei-mí Latinsum

23. Lithuanian Language 2nd person Singular Sanskrit asi Lithuanian esi Greek eî Latin es

24. Lithuanian Language 3rd person Singular Sanskritas-ti Lithuanian es-ti/yra Greekes-tí Latines-t

25. Lithuanian Language 1st person Plural Sanskrits-mah Lithuanian esame Greekes-mén Latins-umus

26. Lithuanian Language 2nd person Plural Sanskrit s-tha Lithuanian esate Greek es-té Latin es-tis

27. Lithuanian Language 3rd person Plural Sanskrit s-anti Lithuanian yra Greek eisí Latin sunt