laikotarpiais

Laikotarpiais is a Lithuanian grammatical form and a noun-related concept used to discuss divisions of time. The base noun laikotarpis means a period of time or a time interval; laikotarpiais is its instrumental plural form. In scholarly writing, laikotarpiai and its inflected forms are used to refer to multiple time periods and to indicate the scope or means associated with that time framing.

In terms of meaning, laikotarpiai denotes specific segments within a larger chronology, such as historical eras, phases of a project, or windows of data collection. The instrumental plural form laikotarpiais appears in sentences where the action is related to the time periods as an instrument, scope, or means, for example in phrases describing analysis or observation conducted across several time periods.

Usage and contexts: The term commonly appears in history, archaeology, archaeology-inspired historiography, and other disciplines that organize information by time. It helps researchers articulate how observations, events, or data vary across different intervals. For example, in Lithuanian academic writing one might encounter statements like data collected across laikotarpiais, or analyses conducted through the lens of multiple time periods. The form also appears in explanations of chronology, periodization, and temporal segmentation within a text.

Related concepts include laikotarpiai (time periods) and laikotarpių analizė (analysis of time periods). While laikotarpiais is a grammatical inflection, the underlying concept of time periods remains central to organizing historical, archaeological, or longitudinal information.

See also: time period, chronology, periodization.