A Short grammar of Lithuanian

• Internet Archive: knygos tekstas

ENThe present short grammar of Contemporary Standard Lithuanian was originally scheduled for the early nineties when the Soviet rule in Lithuania had just come to an end, at a time with sprouting contacts with the countries of the West. For several reasons, however, the completion of the book was delayed. Despite this delay, the author believes that there is still a considerable need for a grammar of Lithuanian of this size in English; the need for a tool like this can even be said to be stronger today when contacts with the West have become consolidated and normalized than, say, in 1990. The book has been written primarily for students of Lithuanian as a foreign language at university level, but can also be used by others. It fulfills (and goes slightly beyond) the need for grammatical training for a BA-degree in the UK and the USA or the Foundation level (a one-year unit of study after an introductory course) in Scandinavia. Thus, the grammar contains the fundamentals of the phonology, morphology (with short passages also on word formation), and syntax of Lithuanian. Syntax is concentrated in the last chapters of the book (Case, The Sentence, Agreement and Word Order) - with the exception of the syntax of adjectives, numerals and participles which for practical reasons has been incorporated and dealt with in chapters 3, 4 and 5 bearing appropriate headings. The present volume is primarily a synchronic, prescriptive (normative), not a descriptive grammar. Notes on certain diachronic items as well as supplementary information are given in small type. Where appropriate, short Lithuanian-English, Lithuanian-Scandinavian and similar remarks are presented. The examples used for illustrations have been taken mainly from dictionaries and newspapers or have been made up by the author and checked with informants. Stress and intonation are given only for single words, not for sentences or word groups. [...] [Extract, p. 17].