Lithuanianlanguage

Lithuanian language, or Lietuvių kalba, is a Baltic language of the Indo-European family. It is primarily spoken in Lithuania, with small communities in Poland, Latvia, Belarus, and a large diaspora worldwide. It is one of the oldest living languages in Europe and notable for retaining many features of Proto-Balto-Slavic. Lithuanian has two principal dialect groups, Aukštaitian (Highland) and Žemaitian (Samogitian), with numerous subdialects.

Linguistic classification: It belongs to the Baltic branch alongside Latvian and the now-extinct Old Prussian. Standard Lithuanian is largely based on Aukštaitian dialects. The language uses the Latin alphabet with diacritics, and the modern orthography was largely shaped by the philologist Jonas Jablonskis in the early 20th century. The alphabet has 32 letters, including ą, č, ę, ė, į, š, ų, ū, ž.

Grammar: Lithuanian is highly inflected. Nouns have seven cases and two genders, and adjectives agree with nouns. Verbs are conjugated for tense, mood, voice, person, and number; there are past, present, and future tenses, and participles and gerunds are used. Word order is relatively free but typically follows subject–verb–object. There is a rich system of inflectional endings that convey grammatical relations.

Usage and status: Lithuanian is the official state language of Lithuania and is used in education, government, media, and public life. It is studied by learners worldwide and is supported by cultural and linguistic institutions, including language commissions and research centers. The language is also preserved through literature, folklore, and digital media.