The Lithuanian Language: History and Facts
The Lithuanian language is a Baltic language spoken primarily in Lithuania and also by ethnic Lithuanians living in modern-day Belarus, Latvia, Poland, Russia and Ukraine. The most striking features of the Lithuanian language are its lack of noun cases, gender endings on nouns and verbs as well as its use of inflections.
The Lithuanian language is one of the most ancient languages in Europe. It has been preserved and developed for more than 200 years, and it is still spoken today by over 2 million people living in Lithuania.
Interesting Facts about the Lithuanian Language
Let's take a look at some of the most interesting facts about the Lithuanian Language.
First Book Published In the Lithuanian Language
The first book he printed was the Protestant Catechism of Martynas Mažvydas. It combined religious and folk literature in order to help educate people about religion without requiring priests or other literate people to act as interpreters.
Grammatical Gender in the Lithuanian Language
The nouns in the Lithuanian language have two grammatical genders i.e. Masculine and Feminine. The adjectives and pronouns have three grammatical genders i.e. masculine, feminine and neuter.
The Longest Word in the Lithuanian Language
‘Nebeprisikiškiakopūsteliaujantiesiems’ is the longest word in the Lithuanian language. It is 37 letters long. Its meaning is very hard to explain which is why it is nearly impossible to translate it.
Lithuanian Language Was Banned In the Russian Empire
All sorts of publications in the Lithuanian language that used Latin alphabets were banned in the Russian Empire from 1865 - 1904.
Which Language Is The Lithuanian Language Similar To?
From the living languages, the Lithuanian language is most similar to the Latvian language.
Official Language
The Lithuanian language is the official language of the Baltic country Republic of Lithuania. It is also an official language of the European Union.
Total Speakers of the Lithuanian Language
More than 80% population of Lithuania speak the Lithuanian language. There are around 3 million speakers of Lithuanian language all over the world.
Dialects of the Lithuanian Language
There are two major dialect of the Lithuanian language i.e. Aukštaitija and Samogitian. These dialects differ in pronunciation, but not to a significant extent. The standard Lithuanian language is based on Aukštaitija dialects.
Lithuanian Alphabet and Script
The Lithuanian language is written in the Latin script. There are 32 letters in the Lithuanian language. The Lithuanian alphabets are mostly based on the Latin alphabets.
Grammatical Cases Are There In the Lithuanian Language
There are 7 grammatical cases in the Lithuanian language which include; Genitive, dative, nominative, accusative, locative, instrumental and vocative.
Vowels in the Lithuanian Language
There are a total of 10 vowels in the Lithuanian language. i.e. four short vowels and six long vowels.
Ease of Learning
The Lithuanian language is fairly difficult to learn. Even though the Latvian language is considered somewhat similar to the Lithuanian language, it can be difficult for them to learn and speak the Lithuanian language. It can take up to 2 to 3 years to learn the Lithuanian Language at a basic level. However it may take up to 7 years for a new speaker to get fluent in Lithuanian Language.
