PHONETICS

ACCENTUATION

The stress in Lithuanian moves freely, therefore any syllable of a word can be stressed: the beginning of a word (vakaras , didelis ), the middle (gyvena , studijuoja ), the end (vakare , gyvenu ).

The stress helps to distinguish between words and word forms: aukštas "tall" and aukštas "floor", turi "you have" and turi "he has".

When the form of a word changes, the stress can shift from one syllable to the other according to certain rules: studentas , studentą , studentu , studentus ; gyvena , gyvenu , gyveni .

The accentuation rules are rather difficult; therefore before starting learning a language it is advisable to remember new words with their stress position.

You can check the position of stress in dictionaries.

3 stress signs are used in Lithuanian: ` ˜ ΄.

Syllable marked by the sign ` is pronounced short: mama , turi .

Syllable marked by the signs ΄ and ˜ is pronounced long: brolis , labas .

The sign ΄ signifies the acute. In pronunciation the beginning of a vowel or a diphthong is emphasized, the tone falls down: tėvas , saulė .

The sign ˜ signifies the circumflex. In pronunciation the end of a vowel or a diphthong is emphasized, the tone rises: dėdė , daug .