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PHONETICS
VOWELS By the duration of pronunciation there are long and short vowels. Long vowels, signified by letters ą , ę , ė , į , y , ų , ū are pronounced long. ė
is pronounced with tightened and a little open lips as if smiling, while e
is pronounced with an open mouth (mouth wide open).
Long vowels, signified by letters į
and y
, ų
and ū
, are pronounced the same way. o
is long in Lithuanian words, in international words o
is short. The pronunciation of a and e depends on stress: they can be long (a
, e
) and short (a
, e
). i
and u
are pronounced short. i before u, o, a is a sign of softness and is not pronounced (lietuvių
, brolio
, laukia
), otherwise a short vowel i is pronounced. Combinations ia, iau, iai are pronounced like e
, eu
, ei
(plaukia
, sakiau
, seniai
).
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