Editing Lithuanian language (section)

==Script==
{{main|Lithuanian orthography}}
{{see also|Lithuanian Braille}}
Lithuanian uses the [[Latin script]] supplemented with [[diacritic]]s. It has 32 [[Letter (alphabet)|letters]]. In the [[collation]] order, ''y'' follows immediately after ''į'' (called ''i [[ogonek|nosinė]]''), because both ''y'' and ''į'' represent the same long vowel {{IPAblink|iː}}:<ref>{{cite web |title=Lietuvių kalbos abėcėlė |url=http://xn--lietuvyb-ceb.lt/standartai/lietuvi%C5%B3-kalbos-ab%C4%97c%C4%97l%C4%97/ |website=Lietuvybė.lt |access-date=15 January 2023 |language=lt}}</ref>
{|class=wikitable style="text-align:center;"
|-
! colspan="32"|[[Capital letters|Majuscule forms]] (also called '''uppercase''' or '''capital letters''')
|-
| A || Ą || B || C || Č || D || E || Ę
| Ė || F || G || H || I || Į || Y || J
| K || L || M || N || O || P || R || S
| Š || T || U || Ų || Ū || V || Z || Ž
|-
! colspan="32"|[[Lower case|Minuscule forms]] (also called '''lowercase''' or '''small letters''')
|-
| a || ą || b || c || č || d || e || ę
| ė || f || g || h || i || į || y || j
| k || l || m || n || o || p || r || s
| š || t || u || ų || ū || v || z || ž
|}

In addition, the following digraphs are used, but are treated as sequences of two letters for collation purposes. The digraph ''ch'' represents a single sound, the velar fricative {{IPAblink|x}}, while ''dz'' and ''dž'' are pronounced like straightforward combinations of their component letters (sounds):

Dz dz {{IPAblink|dz}} (dzė), Dž dž {{IPAblink|dʒ}} (džė), Ch ch {{IPAblink|x}} (cha).

The distinctive Lithuanian letter ''[[Ė]]'' was used for the first time in the [[Daniel Klein (grammarian)|Daniel Klein]]'s ''[[Grammatica Litvanica]]'' and firmly established itself in Lithuanian since then.<ref name="MilinieneVe">{{cite web |last1=Milinienė |first1=Audronė |last2=Subačius |first2=Giedrius |title=Kas išrado raidę Ė? |trans-title=Who invented the letter Ė? |url=https://ve.lt/naujienos/lietuva/lietuvos-naujienos/kas-isrado-raide-e-1583724 |website=Ve.lt |access-date=16 January 2023 |language=lt |date=30 September 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Gedutienė |first1=Audronė |title=Danieliaus Kleino knyga |trans-title=Daniel Klein's book |url=https://maironiomuziejus.lt/post-t-exhibit/danieliaus-kleino-knyga/ |website=Maironiomuziejus.lt |access-date=16 January 2023 |language=lt}}</ref>{{sfn|Subačius|2005|p=9}}<ref>{{cite web |title=Seniausia unikali lietuvių kalbos raidė |trans-title=The oldest unique letter of Lithuanian |url=https://rekordai.lt/rekordai/seniausia-unikali-lietuviu-kalbos-raide/ |website=Records of Lithuania |access-date=16 January 2023 |language=lt}}</ref> However, linguist [[August Schleicher]] used ''Ë'' (with two points above it) instead of ''Ė'' for expressing the same.<ref name="Subacius2019">{{cite web |last1=Antanavičius |first1=Ugnius |title=Pokalbis su filologu G.Subačiumi: kaip atsirado bendrinė lietuvių kalba ir kodėl turime Ė, bet praradome W? |url=https://www.15min.lt/gyvenimas/naujiena/ar-zinai/pokalbis-su-filologu-g-subaciumi-kaip-atsirado-bendrine-lietuviu-kalba-ir-kodel-turime-e-bet-praradome-w-1634-1192962 |website=[[15min.lt]] |access-date=16 January 2023 |language=lt}}</ref> In the ''Grammatica Litvanica'' Klein also established the letter ''[[W]]'' for marking the sound [v], the use of which was later abolished in Lithuanian (it was replaced with ''V'', notably by authors of the ''[[Varpas]]'' newspaper).<ref name="MilinieneVe"/><ref name="Subacius2019"/>{{sfn|Venckienė|2017|p=16-20}} The usage of ''V'' instead of ''W'' especially increased since the early 20th century, likely considerably influenced by Lithuanian press and schools.{{sfn|Venckienė|2017|p=16-20}}

The Lithuanian writing system is largely phonemic, i.e., one letter usually corresponds to a single [[phoneme]] (sound). There are a few exceptions: for example, the letter ''i'' represents either the vowel {{IPAblink|ɪ}}, as in English ''sit'', or is silent and merely indicates that the preceding consonant is [[Palatalization (phonetics)|palatalized]]. The latter is largely the case when ''i'' occurs after a consonant and is followed by a [[Back vowel|back]] or a [[central vowel]], except in some borrowed words (e.g., the first consonant in ''lūpa'' {{IPA|[ˈ'''ɫ'''ûːpɐ]}}, "lip", is a [[Velarized alveolar lateral approximant|velarized dental lateral approximant]]; on the other hand, the first consonant in ''liūtas'' {{IPA|[ˈ'''lʲ'''uːt̪ɐs̪]}}, "lion", is a palatalized [[alveolar lateral approximant]]; both consonants are followed by the same vowel, the long {{IPAblink|uː}}, and no {{IPAblink|ɪ}} can be pronounced in ''liūtas'').

{{multiple image
| align = right
| direction = horizontal
| total_width = 
| header_align = left/right/center
| footer = Title pages of two Lithuanian [[Primer (textbook)|primers]]: ''[[Mokslas skaitymo rašto lietuviško|Moksłas skaytima raszta lietuwiszka]]'' (1783 edition) and ''Mažas lietuviškas elementorius'' (1905 edition), demonstrating changes of Lithuanian orthography in the 19th–20th centuries
| footer_align = left/right/center
| image1 = Lithuanian primer for kids, published in Vilnius, Grand Duchy of Lithuania, 1783 edition.jpg
| width1 = 150
| image2 = Lithuanian language primer, printed in Vilnius, 1905.jpg
| width2 = 156
}}
Due to [[Polonization|Polish influence]], the Lithuanian alphabet included ''[[Sz (digraph)|sz]]'', ''[[Cz (digraph)|cz]]'' and the Polish ''[[Ł]]'' for the first sound and regular L (without a following i) for the second: ''łupa'', ''lutas''.{{sfn|Subačius|2005|p=9}} During the [[Lithuanian National Revival]] in the 19th century the Polish ''Ł'' was abolished, while [[Digraph (orthography)|digraphs]] ''sz'', ''cz'' (that are also common in the [[Polish orthography]]) were replaced with ''[[š]]'' and ''[[č]]'' from the [[Czech orthography]] because formally they were shorter.{{sfn|Subačius|2005|p=9}}<ref name="Subacius2019"/>{{sfn|Venckienė|2017|p=20-25}} Nevertheless, another argument to abolish ''sz'' and ''cz'' was to distinguish Lithuanian from [[Polish language|Polish]].<ref name="Subacius2019"/> The new letters ''š'' and ''č'' were cautiously used in publications intended for more educated readers (e.g. ''Varpas'', ''[[Tėvynės sargas]]'', ''[[Ūkininkas]]''), however ''sz'' and ''cz'' continued to be in use in publications intended for less educated readers as they caused tension in society and prevailed only after 1906.{{sfn|Venckienė|2017|p=20-23}}<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Venckienė |first1=Jurgita |title=Dvejopa XIX a. pabaigos lietuviškų laikraščių rašyba |journal=Raidžių draudimo metai |date=2004 |location=Vilnius |publisher=Lithuanian Institute of History Press |pages=207–213}}</ref>

The Lithuanians also adopted the letter ''[[ž]]'' from the Czechs.{{sfn|Subačius|2005|p=9}}

The [[nasal vowel]]s ''[[ą]]'' and ''[[ę]]'' were taken from the Polish spelling and began to be used by [[Renaissance]] [[Lithuanian literature|Lithuanian writers]], later the Lithuanians introduced the nasal vowels ''[[į]]'' and ''[[ų]]'' as analogues.{{sfn|Subačius|2005|p=9}}<ref name="Subacius2019"/> The letter ''[[ū]]'' is the latest addition by linguist [[Jonas Jablonskis]].{{sfn|Subačius|2005|p=9-10}}<ref name="Subacius2019"/>

A [[Macron (diacritic)|macron]] (on ''u''), an [[ogonek]] (on ''a'', ''e'', ''i'', and ''u''), a [[Dot (diacritic)|dot]] (on ''e''), and ''y'' (in place of ''i'') are used for grammatical and historical reasons and always denote [[vowel length]] in Modern Standard Lithuanian. [[Acute accent|Acute]], [[Grave accent|grave]], and [[tilde]] diacritics are used to indicate [[pitch accent]]s. However, these pitch accents are generally not written, except in dictionaries, grammars, and where needed for clarity, such as to differentiate homonyms and dialectal use.