Vietų vardų kirčiavimo problemos

ENThis article, based on sociolinguistic questionnaire data, aims to analyze the problems of the accentuation of the place names. The questionnaires, consisting of around 30 place-names were presented to 104 randomly chosen undergraduate students, studying in a few Universities based in Kaunas. The data gained from the questionnaires revealed some tendencies, which may be stated as follows: 1) the majority of the students are hardly aware of the peculiarities of the accentuation paradigms; 2) even those who remember some of the accentuation rules, are barely capable to apply them practically; 3) not all the place-names cause difficulties - some of them were pronounced with no mistakes in all the given forms by all the applicants (Birštonas, Biržai, Aleksotas, Vilnius, Balbieriškis, etc.); 4) the analysis shows that many of the students underestimate the importance of the right pronunciation and correct Lithuanian. Some students pointed out that their language is very much affected by TV and other media people. According to the authors, it is necessary to make teaching accentuation more effective in general education as well as high schools and to enhance students' motivation to learn correct accentuation and put stress correctly especially while speaking in public.