Rule of the penultimate syllable

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The rule of the penultimate syllable (priešpaskutinio skiemens taisyklė) regulates the emphasis on certain word forms in the Lithuanian language .

Forms that meet this rule emphasize the root of the word if the penultimate syllable is unstressed or carries the accent tone . If the penultimate syllable would receive the grinding tone when the word stem was emphasized or would be emphasized briefly, the ending is emphasized instead.

This rule applies to:

  • the accusative plural of all nouns, adjectives and pronouns
  • the instrumental singular of the nouns of the 1st, 2nd and 5th inflection classes , all adjectives and pronouns
  • the nominative and accusative dual
  • the 1st and 2nd person singular of all verbs in the present or unique past

Compare the forms of the verbs di̇̀rbti (3rd person present di̇̀rba ) and gyvénti ( gyvẽna ) in the present tense:

1st person Sg. di̇̀rbu gyvenù
2nd person Sg. di̇̀rbi gyveni̇̀
3rd person Sg. di̇̀rba gyvẽna

The rule of the penultimate syllable prohibits the form * gyvẽnu , but allows di̇̀rbu , since the penultimate syllable is abrupt. (The grave accent here denotes the burst tone, not the short tone, as explained in the Tones section of the Lithuanian alphabet article.)

Sometimes two word forms differ only in their accentuation, e.g. B. tùri “he has” and turi̇̀ “you have”; tramvãjus "the tram (nominative)" and tramvajùs "the trams (accusative)". In these examples, the second form is end-stressed because of the rule of the penultimate syllable. However, there are also words for which the rule of the penultimate syllable prohibits the ending stress, e.g. B. the accusative plural of sūnùs “the son” can only be sū́nus , since the penultimate syllable here carries the accusatory tone.

literature

  • Asta Adelė Rėbždaitė (editor): Lietuvių kalbos žinynas. Šviesa, Kaunas 2003. ISBN 5-430-03745-1