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96-675: The Lithuanian Riflemen's Union ( LRU , Lithuanian : Lietuvos šaulių sąjunga ), also referred to as Šauliai ( the Riflemen ; from Lithuanian: šaulys for rifleman ), is a paramilitary non-profit organization supported by the Government of Lithuania , active in three main areas: military training, sport, and culture, but this differs between peace and wartime. In peacetime, it prepares Lithuania 's citizens for armed and unarmed resistance, ensures public safety and defends Lithuania's integrity and independence. In wartime it would support

192-652: A Proto-Balto-Slavic stage, from which the Baltic languages retain exclusive and non-exclusive lexical, morphological, phonological and accentual isoglosses in common with the Slavic languages , which represent their closest living Indo-European relatives. Moreover, with Lithuanian being so archaic in phonology, Slavic words can often be deduced from Lithuanian by regular sound laws ; for example, Lith. vilkas and Polish wilk ← PBSl. *wilkás (cf. PSl. *vьlkъ ) ← PIE *wĺ̥kʷos , all meaning " wolf ". Initially, Lithuanian

288-592: A border crossing point in Krakūnai a riflemen and a border guard Gintaras Žagunis was shot to death. Currently, the LRU is divided into ten riflemen regiments (šaulių rinktinė): After Lithuania re-established independence in 1990, the organization was restored but it has not regained its former popularity or influence. Current membership of the Lithuanian Riflemen's Union is 14,000 (in the interwar period it

384-777: A double cross (Vytis cross) on a shield. This is one of the oldest heraldic symbols used in Lithuania. It is also called the Jagiellonian cross because it was used by the Polish King and the Grand Duke of Lithuania Jogaila . During the Lithuanian Wars of Independence Vytis cross became a state military award . The current statute of the LRU states that the symbol of the Union is a golden (yellow) double cross, set in

480-516: A result of a decrease in the usage of spoken Lithuanian in the eastern part of Lithuania proper, in the 19th century, it was suggested to create a standardized Lithuanian based on the Samogitian dialect. Nevertheless, it was not accomplished because everyone offered their Samogitian subdialects and the Eastern and Western Aukštaitians offered their Aukštaitian subdialects. In the second half of

576-627: A single language. At a minimum, transitional dialects existed until the 14th or 15th century and perhaps as late as the 17th century. The German Livonian Brothers of the Sword occupied the western part of the Daugava basin, which resulted in colonization of the territory of modern Latvia (at the time it was called Terra Mariana ) by Germans and had a significant influence on the language's independent development due to Germanisation (see also: Baltic Germans and Baltic German nobility ). There

672-651: A single sound, the velar fricative [ x ] , while dz and dž are pronounced like straightforward combinations of their component letters (sounds): Dz dz [ dz ] (dzė), Dž dž [ dʒ ] (džė), Ch ch [ x ] (cha). The distinctive Lithuanian letter Ė was used for the first time in the Daniel Klein 's Grammatica Litvanica and firmly established itself in Lithuanian since then. However, linguist August Schleicher used Ë (with two points above it) instead of Ė for expressing

768-646: A sport and technology club. Riflemen belonging to the fighting units guard various locations in Lithuania. The LRU operates according to a law on LRU, adopted by the Lithuanian parliament in 2010, and a Statute approved by the Ministry of Defence . The highest ruling body of the Union is the Conference of Members. It decides on the most important matters of the Organisation, adopts decisions and approves

864-409: A stylised frame of golden (yellow) oak leaves. From 1919 to 1940, the riflemen received member badges with numbers. There was also a separate badge for supporters. The badges were worn not only on uniforms but also on civil clothing. The rifleman's badge is a white darkened metal shield, with a contour of a double cross inside. The height of the badge is 47 mm, and the width is 27 mm. The sign

960-513: A unique legal basis. In 1921, 1924, and 1935, laws on the LRU were passed that defined its activities and functions, intended to restrict its autonomy and tie it as closely as possible to the Ministry of Defence and the armed forces . In 1935, the LRU became directly subordinate to the Chief of Defence . The law abolished dual leadership – previously the organisation had been led by the Chairman of

1056-635: Is a Lithuanian neologism, coined by riflemen students for the word "corporation", when they created the first student riflemen corporation in Vytautas Magnus University in 1934. In 2007, a club for riflemen students was established, and on 19 May 2010 it became the Lithuanian riflemen student corporation SAJA. The corporation aims to promote the riflemen union in universities and to unite riflemen students. The corporation has sections in Vilnius, Kaunas, and Klaipėda. Members participate in

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1152-823: Is a translation dating from about 1503–1525 of the Lord's Prayer , the Hail Mary , and the Nicene Creed written in the Southern Aukštaitian dialect. On 8 January 1547 the first Lithuanian book was printed – the Catechism of Martynas Mažvydas . At the royal courts in Vilnius of Sigismund II Augustus , the last Grand Duke of Lithuania prior to the Union of Lublin , both Polish and Lithuanian were spoken equally widely. In 1552 Sigismund II Augustus ordered that orders of

1248-542: Is attached by a metal wrench. A miniature of a rifleman's badge is 20 mm high and 12 mm wide. Lithuanian language Lithuanian ( endonym : lietuvių kalba , pronounced [lʲiəˈtʊvʲuː kɐɫˈbɐ] ) is an East Baltic language belonging to the Baltic branch of the Indo-European language family . It is the language of Lithuanians and the official language of Lithuania as well as one of

1344-442: Is augmented by the fact that Proto-Balto-Slavic is easily reconstructible with important proofs in historic prosody. The alleged (or certain, as certain as historical linguistics can be) similarities due to contact are seen in such phenomena as the existence of definite adjectives formed by the addition of an inflected pronoun (descended from the same Proto-Indo-European pronoun), which exist in both Baltic and Slavic yet nowhere else in

1440-482: Is conservative in its grammar and phonology, retaining archaic features otherwise found only in ancient languages such as Sanskrit (particularly its early form, Vedic Sanskrit ) or Ancient Greek . Thus, it is an important source for the reconstruction of the Proto-Indo-European language despite its late attestation (with the earliest texts dating only to c.  1500 AD , whereas Ancient Greek

1536-549: Is divided into West, North and South; Aukštaitian into West (Suvalkiečiai), South ( Dzūkian ) and East. Lithuanian uses the Latin script supplemented with diacritics . It has 32 letters . In the collation order, y follows immediately after į (called i nosinė ), because both y and į represent the same long vowel [ iː ] : In addition, the following digraphs are used, but are treated as sequences of two letters for collation purposes. The digraph ch represents

1632-637: Is known that Jogaila , being ethnic Lithuanian by the male-line , himself knew and spoke Lithuanian with Vytautas the Great , his cousin from the Gediminids dynasty. During the Christianization of Samogitia none of the clergy, who arrived to Samogitia with Jogaila, were able to communicate with the natives, therefore Jogaila himself taught the Samogitians about Catholicism ; thus he

1728-498: 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 [ ɪ ] , as in English sit , or is silent and merely indicates that the preceding consonant is palatalized . The latter is largely the case when i occurs after a consonant and is followed by a back or a central vowel , except in some borrowed words (e.g.,

1824-456: Is written in a Latin script . In some respects, some linguists consider it to be the most conservative of the existing Indo-European languages , retaining features of the Proto-Indo-European language that had disappeared through development from other descendant languages . Anyone wishing to hear how Indo-Europeans spoke should come and listen to a Lithuanian peasant. — Antoine Meillet Among Indo-European languages, Lithuanian

1920-708: The Compendium Grammaticae Lithvanicae singled out that the Lithuanians of the Vilnius Region ( Latin : in tractu Vilnensi ) tend to speak harshly, almost like Austrians , Bavarians and others speak German in Germany . Due to the historical circumstances of Lithuania , Lithuanian-speaking territory was divided into Lithuania proper and Lithuania Minor , therefore, in the 16th–17th centuries, three regional variants of

2016-582: The Grand Duchy of Lithuania (1/3 residents in Lithuania proper and up to 1/2 residents in Samogitia ) and 53% of residents in Lithuania Minor (more than 90% of the deceased were Prussian Lithuanians ). Since the 19th century to 1925 the amount of Lithuanian speakers in Lithuania Minor (excluding Klaipėda Region ) decreased from 139,000 to 8,000 due to Germanisation and colonization . As

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2112-811: The January Uprising , Mikhail Muravyov , the Russian Governor General of Lithuania , banned the language in education and publishing and barred use of the Latin alphabet altogether, although books continued to be printed in Lithuanian across the border in East Prussia and in the United States . Brought into the country by book smugglers (Lithuanian: knygnešiai ) despite the threat of long prison sentences, they helped fuel growing nationalist sentiment that finally led to

2208-608: The Lithuanian Armed Forces with its fighting units, and use other units to ensure internal stability and defend critical infrastructure. The Lithuanian Riflemen's Union was established in Kaunas on 27 June 1919 as a shooting section within the Lithuanian Sport Union. Several historic events determine its establishment – Lithuania had just declared independence and was asserting it in wars against

2304-529: The Lithuanian nobility to participate in the social-political life of the state. In 1599, Mikalojus Daukša published his Postil and in its prefaces he expressed that the Lithuanian language situation had improved and thanked bishop Merkelis Giedraitis for his works. In 1776–1790 about 1,000 copies of the first Catholic primer in Lithuanian – Mokslas skaitymo rašto lietuviško – were issued annually, and it continued to be published until 1864. Over 15,000 copies appeared in total. In 1864, following

2400-588: The Magistrate of Vilnius be announced in Lithuanian, Polish, and Ruthenian. The same requirement was valid for the Magistrate of Kaunas . In the 16th century, following the decline of Ruthenian usage in favor of Polish in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Lithuanian language strengthened its positions in Lithuania due to reforms in religious matters and judicial reforms which allowed lower levels of

2496-633: The Russian and Ukrainian territory. Hydronyms and archaeology analysis show that the Slavs started migrating to the Baltic areas east and north-east directions in the 6–7th centuries, before then, the Baltic and Slavic boundary was south of the Pripyat River . In the 1960s, Vladimir Toporov and Vyacheslav Ivanov made the following conclusions about the relationship between the Baltic and Slavic languages: These scholars' theses do not contradict

2592-768: The Supreme Soviet of the Lithuanian SSR restored Lithuanian as the official language of Lithuania, under from the popular pro-independence movement Sąjūdis . On 11 March 1990, the Act of the Re-Establishment of the State of Lithuania was passed. Lithuanian was recognized as sole official language of Lithuania in the Provisional Basic Law (Lithuanian: Laikinasis Pagrindinis Įstatymas ) and

2688-413: The United States , Uruguay , and Spain . 2,955,200 people in Lithuania (including 3,460 Tatars ), or about 86% of the 2015 population, are native Lithuanian speakers; most Lithuanian inhabitants of other nationalities also speak Lithuanian to some extent. The total worldwide Lithuanian-speaking population is about 3,200,000. Lithuanian is the state language of Lithuania and an official language of

2784-653: The comparative method . Lithuanian is spoken mainly in Lithuania . It is also spoken by ethnic Lithuanians living in today's Belarus , Latvia , Poland , and the Kaliningrad Oblast of Russia, as well as by sizable emigrant communities in Argentina , Australia , Brazil , Canada , Denmark , Estonia , France , Germany , Iceland , Ireland , Norway , Russia , Sweden , the United Kingdom ,

2880-692: The industrialization in the Soviet Union ). Russian consequently came into use in state institutions: the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Lithuania (there were 80% Russians among the 22,000 Communist Party members in the Lithuanian SSR in 1948), radio and television (61–74% of broadcasts were in Russian in 1970). Lithuanians passively resisted Russification and continued to use their own language. On 18 November 1988,

2976-467: The 13th–16th centuries under the influence of Curonian . Lithuanian dialects are closely connected with ethnographical regions of Lithuania . Even nowadays Aukštaitians and Samogitians can have considerable difficulties understanding each other if they speak with their dialects and not standard Lithuanian, which is mandatory to learn in the Lithuanian education system. Dialects are divided into subdialects. Both dialects have three subdialects. Samogitian

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3072-581: The 18th century, was successful due to many publications and research. In contrast, the development of Lithuanian in Lithuania proper was obstructed due to the Polonization of the Lithuanian nobility , especially in the 18th century, and it was being influenced by the Samogitian dialect. The Lithuanian-speaking population was also dramatically decreased by the Great Northern War plague outbreak in 1700–1721 which killed 49% of residents in

3168-512: The 19th century, when the Lithuanian National Revival intensified, and the preparations to publish a Lithuanian periodical press were taking place, the mostly south-western Aukštaitian revival writers did not use the 19th-century Lithuanian of Lithuania Minor as it was largely Germanized . Instead, they used a more pure Lithuanian language which has been described by August Schleicher and Friedrich Kurschat and this way

3264-648: The 2nd century AD. Lithuanian originated from the Eastern Baltic subgroup and remained nearly unchanged until c.   1 AD, however in c.   500 AD the language of the northern part of Eastern Balts was influenced by the Finnic languages , which fueled the development of changes from the language of the Southern Balts (see: Latgalian , which developed into Latvian , and extinct Curonian , Semigallian , and Selonian ). The language of Southern Balts

3360-464: The Baltic and Slavic languages closeness and from a historical perspective, specify the Baltic-Slavic languages' evolution. So, there are at least six points of view on the relationships between the Baltic and Slavic. However, as for the hypotheses related to the "Balto-Slavic problem", it is noted that they are more focused on personal theoretical constructions and deviate to some extent from

3456-466: The Baltic languages form their own distinct branch of the family of Indo-European languages , and Endzelīns thought that the similarity between Baltic and Slavic was explicable through language contact. There is also an opinion that suggests the union of Baltic and Slavic languages into a distinct sub-family of Balto-Slavic languages amongst the Indo-European family of languages. Such an opinion

3552-644: The Bolshevik Red Army , the West Russian Volunteer Army and the young Polish Armed Forces . Vladas Putvinskis and Matas Šalčius were the Union's most important activists, and Putvinskis became its first commander and main ideologue. Both of them almost simultaneously thought of creating a paramilitary group, but they differently envisioned its scope. In 1919, Matas Šalčius, together with Antanas Vienuolis-Žukauskas , Faustas Kirša  [ lt ] and other employees of

3648-582: The Central Board, elected by riflemen, and by the LRU Commander, appointed by the Minister of Defence. Thus the riflemen were fully integrated in the country's defensive structure, and the district military commanders became commanding officers of rifle regiments. In 1935, the LRU had 33,276 members, of whom 24,976 were soldiers. The organisation had 7,371 rifles and 32 machine guns. By 1940,

3744-495: The Commander of the LRU who is selected by the Minister of Defence. The current Commander of the LRU is lieutenant colonel Linas Idzelis who started his term in 2023. The LRU actively cooperates with the governmental institutions: the Lithuanian military , Police department, Fire and Rescue Department, Lithuanian State Border Guard Service and others. The LRU also includes a riflemen student corporation SAJA. The word "saja"

3840-523: The Constitution of 1992, written during the Lithuanian constitutional referendum . Lithuanian is one of two living Baltic languages , along with Latvian , and they constitute the eastern branch of Baltic languages family. An earlier Baltic language, Old Prussian , was extinct by the 18th century; the other Western Baltic languages, Curonian and Sudovian , became extinct earlier. Some theories, such as that of Jānis Endzelīns , considered that

3936-640: The European Union . In the Compendium Grammaticae Lithvanicae , published in 1673, three dialects of Lithuanian are distinguished: Samogitian dialect ( Latin : Samogitiae ) of Samogitia , Royal Lithuania ( Latin : Lithvaniae Regalis ) and Ducal Lithuania ( Latin : Lithvaniae Ducalis ). Ducal Lithuanian is described as pure ( Latin : Pura ), half-Samogitian ( Latin : SemiSamogitizans ) and having elements of Curonian ( Latin : Curonizans ). Authors of

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4032-637: The European languages of the participants in the Council of Constance in 1414–1418. From the middle of the 15th century, the legend spread about the Roman origin of the Lithuanian nobility (from the Palemon lineage ), and the closeness of the Lithuanian language and Latin, thus this let some intellectuals in the mid-16th century to advocate for replacement of Ruthenian with Latin, as they considered Latin as

4128-673: The Indo-European family (languages such as Albanian and the Germanic languages developed definite adjectives independently), and that is not reconstructible for Proto-Balto-Slavic, meaning that they most probably developed through language contact. The Baltic hydronyms area stretches from the Vistula River in the west to the east of Moscow and from the Baltic Sea in the north to the south of Kyiv . Vladimir Toporov and Oleg Trubachyov (1961, 1962) studied Baltic hydronyms in

4224-614: The LRU had become one of the country's most popular and largest organizations, with about 62,000 members, both men and women. The LRU had units of university students, including the student corporations Saja and Živilė. Many famous politicians ( Antanas Smetona , Rapolas Skipitis , Mykolas Sleževičius , Juozas Urbšys ), artists and other members of the cultural elite ( Antanas Žmuidzinavičius , Unė Babickaitė-Graičiūnienė also known as Une Bay, Antanas Vienuolis-Žukauskas , Petras Vaičiūnas), scientists ( Tadas Ivanauskas , Augustinas Janulaitis , Liudas Vailionis, Antanas Graugrokas) were active in

4320-574: The Nazis. During the Nazi occupation , ex-riflemen formed several underground organisations, such as Laisvės šauliai (Freedom's Riflemen), aimed at restoring Lithuania's independence. When the Soviets returned in mid-1944, many riflemen joined the Lithuanian partisans and fought a guerrilla war against the Soviet Union. Two out of eight guerrillas who signed the declaration of the Union of Lithuanian Freedom Fighters on 16 February 1949, were ex-riflemen: Leonardas Grigonis-Užpalis and Juozas Šibaila-Merainis. Some other ex-riflemen were also prominent among

4416-436: The Polish Ł for the first sound and regular L (without a following i) for the second: łupa , lutas . During the Lithuanian National Revival in the 19th century the Polish Ł was abolished, while 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. Nevertheless, another argument to abolish sz and cz

4512-406: The Polish courtiers. Casimir IV Jagiellon's son Saint Casimir , who was subsequently announced as patron saint of Lithuania, was a polyglot and among other languages knew Lithuanian. Grand Duke Alexander Jagiellon also could understand and speak Lithuanian as multiple Lithuanian priests served in his royal chapel and he also maintained a Lithuanian court. In 1501, Erazm Ciołek , a priest of

4608-459: The Polish dialect in the Vilnius Region and in the northeastern areas in general are very interesting variant of the Polish language as this dialect developed in a foreign territory which was mostly inhabited by the Lithuanians who were Belarusized (mostly) or Polonized, and to prove this Otrębski provided examples of Lithuanianisms in the Tutejszy language . In 2015, Polish linguist Mirosław Jankowiak  [ pl ] attested that many of

4704-404: The Press Office decided to form an organisation that would protect Kaunas; they intended to call it the Steel Battalion. Concurrently another initiative was launched by the Putvinskis-led group, and they prepared the organisation's statute. They aimed to support the Lithuanian military in all of Lithuania. In June 1919, the Press Office employees invited Putvinskis to their meeting. Putvinskis joined

4800-459: The Republic of Lithuania was appointed on 11 November 1918, and the defence minister position was initially assumed by the Prime Minister Augustinas Voldemaras . The situation in Lithuania was tense after World War I . The first decree concerning the national defence was issued on 23 November 1918, which is officially considered the day of the formation of the Lithuanian Armed Forces . On 24 December 1918, lieutenant general Mykolas Velykis became

4896-448: The Utena Regiment Lt. Col. Pranas Bronevičius, and head of the culture section Vincas Daudzvaras. The remaining riflemen began forming anti-Soviet groups and played a role in the uprising of 23 June 1941 , but there is no specific data on how many members participated. On 22 June 1941, Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union and the Baltic states. Initially treated as 'liberators' the situation later became one of 'passive resistance' against

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4992-644: The Vilnius Cathedral, explained to the Pope that the Lithuanians preserve their language and ensure respect to it ( Linguam propriam observant ), but they also use the Ruthenian language for simplicity reasons because it is spoken by almost half of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. A note written by Sigismund von Herberstein in the first half of the 16th century states that, in an ocean of Ruthenian in this part of Europe, there were two non-Ruthenian regions: Lithuania and Samogitia where its inhabitants spoke their own language, but many Ruthenians were also living among them. The earliest surviving written Lithuanian text

5088-447: The Vilnius Region's inhabitants who declare Polish nationality speak a Belarusian dialect which they call mowa prosta (' simple speech '). Currently, Lithuanian is divided into two dialects: Aukštaitian (Highland Lithuanian), and Samogitian (Lowland Lithuanian). There are significant differences between standard Lithuanian and Samogitian and these are often described as separate languages. The modern Samogitian dialect formed in

5184-464: The Vilnius Region, especially when Vilnius Voivode Ludwik Bociański issued a secret memorandum of 11 February 1936 which stated the measures for suppressing the Lithuanians in the region. Some Lithuanian historians, like Antanas Tyla  [ lt ] and Ereminas Gintautas, consider these Polish policies as amounting to an " ethnocide of Lithuanians". Between 1862 and 1944, the Lithuanian schools were completely banned in Lithuania Minor and

5280-435: The acquirement of a foreign speech." Lithuanian was studied by several linguists such as Franz Bopp , August Schleicher , Adalbert Bezzenberger , Louis Hjelmslev , Ferdinand de Saussure , Winfred P. Lehmann and Vladimir Toporov , Jan Safarewicz, and others. By studying place names of Lithuanian origin, linguist Jan Safarewicz  [ pl ] concluded that the eastern boundaries of Lithuanian used to be in

5376-555: The activists took an oath in Kelmė , at the grave of Putvinskis, the founder and ideologue of the LRU. That day is considered to be the day of the restoration of the LRU in Lithuania. The members of the restored Lithuanian Riflemen's Union were active in the movement for reform; they were especially active in guarding the Lithuanian Parliament and other State buildings during the January Events in 1991 and later. On 13 January 1991, two members of Vilnius riflemen regiment were killed: Ignas Šimulionis and Darius Gerbutavičius. On May 19, at

5472-425: The activities of the LRU, help in organizing the summer camps for young riflemen, cooperate with other university organisations. In Chicago, on 7 March 1954, the riflemen who had fled Lithuania due to World War II declared the re-establishment of the LRU, under the name of the National Guard of Lithuania in Exile. The main activists included Mantautas, Pūtvytė-Mantautienė, Valatkaitis, Kalmantas and others. Sections of

5568-504: The administrative division of Lithuania into districts. In 1936, a separate regiment was created for railway industry workers and members of their immediate families. The LRU had three main areas of activities in 1919-1940 – culture, sport, and military training. The riflemen's units had theatres, libraries, and sport clubs alongside orchestras and military bands. The union published the weekly magazine Trimitas . The riflemen were required to educate themselves and to participate in educating

5664-607: The common language emerged. Lithuanians in Lithuania Minor spoke Western Aukštaitian dialect with specifics of Įsrutis and Ragainė environs (e.g. works of Martynas Mažvydas , Jonas Bretkūnas , Jonas Rėza , and Daniel Klein 's Grammatica Litvanica ). The other two regional variants of the common language were formed in Lithuania proper: middle, which was based on the specifics of the Duchy of Samogitia (e.g. works of Mikalojus Daukša , Merkelis Petkevičius , Steponas Jaugelis‑Telega , Samuelis Boguslavas Chylinskis , and Mikołaj Rej 's Lithuanian postil ), and eastern, based on

5760-485: The defence minister just for two days; on the 26th, he was replaced by Jonas Vileišis . As soon as Lithuania began forming its defence institutions, the country had to mobilize and fight the Lithuanian Wars of Independence . The Defence Materiel Agency ( Lithuanian : Gynybos Resursų Agentūra ) is an institution under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of National Defence, and it is responsible for defence procurement and strategies. As of 2023, about 100 people work at

5856-425: The early morning of June 15. The new Soviet People's Government of Lithuania immediately took steps to liquidate the union. Its commander, Colonel Pranas Saladžius, was dismissed on 19 June 1940, and the Chief of Defence division General Vincas Vitkauskas , who was cooperating with the Soviets, ordered the riflemen to hand over their arms to the military on 25 June 1940. On 13 July 13, 1940 a Soviet order to liquidate

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5952-480: The eastern Prussian Lithuanians ' dialect spoken in Lithuania Minor . These dialects had preserved archaic phonetics mostly intact due to the influence of the neighbouring Old Prussian , while other dialects had experienced different phonetic shifts . Lithuanian became the official language of the country following the restoration of Lithuania's statehood in 1918. The 1922 Constitution of Lithuania (the first permanent Lithuanian constitution ) recognized it as

6048-421: The end of the level they pass an examination, and get a certificate and a sign. Starting in 2002, young riflemen summer camps, as well as summer courses and the international training camp "Žalgiris", are organised every summer. 2. Riflemen – persons over 18, who give a rifleman's oath. The riflemen are preparing for armed and unarmed resistance. The LRU Command also operates a militia band, guard of honor company,

6144-432: The first consonant in lūpa [ˈ ɫ ûːpɐ] , "lip", is a velarized dental lateral approximant ; on the other hand, the first consonant in liūtas [ˈ lʲ uːt̪ɐs̪] , "lion", is a palatalized alveolar lateral approximant ; both consonants are followed by the same vowel, the long [ uː ] , and no [ ɪ ] can be pronounced in liūtas ). Due to Polish influence , the Lithuanian alphabet included sz , cz and

6240-426: The formation of standard Lithuanian. The conventions of written Lithuanian had been evolving during the 19th century, but Jablonskis, in the introduction to his Lietuviškos kalbos gramatika , was the first to formulate and expound the essential principles that were so indispensable to its later development. His proposal for Standard Lithuanian was based on his native Western Aukštaitian dialect with some features of

6336-424: The guerrillas, including Juozas Vitkus-Kazimieraitis, Zigmas Drunga-Mykolas Jonas, Dominykas Jėčys-Ąžuolis, and Vladas Montvydas-Žemaitis. The first attempts to restore the LRU were made still during the occupation when the movement for reform started. On 1 June 1989, during a protest in Kaunas by a club of former exiles and the Democrat party, the restoration of the LRU was officially announced. On 20 September 1989,

6432-419: The highest population literacy rates: Vilna Governorate (in 1897 ~23.6–50% Lithuanian of whom 37% were literate), Kovno Governorate (in 1897 66% Lithuanian of whom 55.3% were literate), Suwałki Governorate (in 1897 in counties of the governorate where Lithuanian population was dominant, 76,6% of males and 50,2% of females were literate). Jonas Jablonskis (1860–1930) made significant contributions to

6528-500: The history of the country. According to the law on the Lithuanian Riflemen's Union, any Lithuanian citizen who is over 11 and speaks the official language can join the Union. The members are divided into two groups: 1. Young riflemen – youth, 11–18 years old. All young riflemen give an honorary pledge when joining the Union. The young riflemen receive training based on a 4 level programme. On each level they study Lithuanian history, receive training in leadership and military training. At

6624-413: The independent Republic of Lithuania to the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic within the Soviet Union . Soviet authorities introduced Lithuanian– Russian bilingualism, and Russian, as the de facto official language of the USSR, took precedence and the use of Lithuanian was reduced in a process of Russification. Many Russian-speaking workers and teachers migrated to the Lithuanian SSR (fueled by

6720-622: The language was almost completely eliminated there. The Baltic-origin place names retained their basis for centuries in Prussia but were Germanized (e.g. Tilžė – Tilsit , Labguva – Labiau , Vėluva – Wehliau , etc.); however, after the annexation of the Königsberg region into the Russian SFSR , they were changed completely, regardless of previous tradition (e.g. Tilsit – Sovetsk , Labiau – Polesk , Wehliau – Znamensk , etc.). The Soviet occupation of Lithuania in 1940 , German occupation in 1941 , and eventually Soviet re-occupation in 1944 , reduced

6816-630: The lifting of the ban in 1904. According to the Russian Empire Census of 1897 (at the height of the Lithuanian press ban), 53.5% of Lithuanians (10 years and older) were literate, while the average of the Russian Empire was only 24–27.7% (in the European part of Russia the average was 30%, in Poland – 40.7%). In the Russian Empire Lithuanian children were mostly educated by their parents or in secret schools by "daractors" in native Lithuanian language, while only 6.9% attended Russian state schools due to resistance to Russification . Russian governorates with significant Lithuanian populations had one of

6912-500: The native language of Lithuanians. Initially, Latin and Church Slavonic were the main written ( chancellery ) languages of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, but in the late 17th century – 18th century Church Slavonic was replaced with Polish. Nevertheless, Lithuanian was a spoken language of the medieval Lithuanian rulers from the Gediminids dynasty and its cadet branches: Kęstutaičiai and Jagiellonian dynasties . It

7008-466: The official languages of the European Union . There are approximately 2.8 million native Lithuanian speakers in Lithuania and about 1 million speakers elsewhere. Around half a million inhabitants of Lithuania of non-Lithuanian background speak Lithuanian daily as a second language. Lithuanian is closely related to neighbouring Latvian , though the two languages are not mutually intelligible. It

7104-448: The organisation and became one of the most active members. There were many famous and important Lithuanians among the founders of the Union, including writers Antanas Vienuolis-Žukauskas, Juozas Tumas-Vaižgantas , and Balys Sruoga , poet Faustas Kirša, painter Antanas Žmuidzinavičius and zoologist Tadas Ivanauskas . Initially, only civilians participated, but later soldiers and officers started to actively join its ranks. This reflected

7200-705: The organisation were active in the United States, the UK, Canada, and Australia. Currently, the National Guard of Lithuania in Exile forms an integral part of the LRU. It is headed by Julius Butkus and is active in the United States and Canada, and supports both the Union and the Armed Forces. LRU Commanders-in-Chief were: LRU Chairmen were: From the very beginning, the symbol of the organisation has been

7296-519: The organisation's aim – to unite civilians who wanted to support the military. The ideology and the guiding principles of the LRU were influenced by earlier similar organisations: Sokol in Czechoslovakia , Civil Guard in Finland , and a Swiss paramilitary organisation. Putvinskis stated that: "the Riflemen's Union is an organisation of free citizens, who volunteer their time and efforts for

7392-427: The sake of protecting their homeland." After its establishment in 1919, the LRU quickly expanded throughout Lithuania; many guerilla fighters from recent wars joined the Union. In the beginning, the organisation was divided into sections covering the entire Lithuanian territory, and the sections had riflemen units. In 1925, an administrative reform was carried out, dividing the organisation into regiments, in line with

7488-547: The same. 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). The usage of V instead of W especially increased since the early 20th century, likely considerably influenced by Lithuanian press and schools. The Lithuanian writing system

7584-801: The shape of zigzags through Grodno , Shchuchyn , Lida , Valozhyn , Svir , and Braslaw . Such eastern boundaries partly coincide with the spread of Catholic and Orthodox faith, and should have existed at the time of the Christianization of Lithuania in 1387 and later. Safarewicz's eastern boundaries were moved even further to the south and east by other scholars (e.g. Mikalay Biryla  [ be ] , Petras Gaučas  [ lt ] , Jerzy Ochmański  [ pl ] , Aleksandras Vanagas , Zigmas Zinkevičius , and others). Proto-Balto-Slavic branched off directly from Proto-Indo-European, then sub-branched into Proto-Baltic and Proto-Slavic . Proto-Baltic branched off into Proto-West Baltic and Proto-East Baltic. The Baltic languages passed through

7680-458: The society. To help with that they aimed at building riflemen centres in all cities and towns, where the union was active, with their duty being to national defense. Centres were built in Utena, Tauragė , Alytus , and some other cities and towns. The centres served as meeting and training places for riflemen, and housing their clubs, administration and cultural activities. The organisation received

7776-499: The sole official language of the state and mandated its use throughout the state. The improvement of education system during the interwar period resulted in 92% of literacy rate of the population in Lithuania in 1939 (those still illiterate were mostly elderly). Following the Żeligowski's Mutiny in 1920, Vilnius Region was detached from Lithuania and was eventually annexed by Poland in 1922. This resulted in repressions of Lithuanians and mass-closure of Lithuanian language schools in

7872-695: The specifics of Eastern Aukštaitians, living in Vilnius and its region (e.g. works of Konstantinas Sirvydas , Jonas Jaknavičius , and Robert Bellarmine 's catechism ). In Vilnius University , there are preserved texts written in the Lithuanian language of the Vilnius area, a dialect of Eastern Aukštaitian, which was spoken in a territory located south-eastwards from Vilnius: the sources are preserved in works of graduates from Stanislovas Rapolionis -based Lithuanian language schools, graduate Martynas Mažvydas and Rapalionis relative Abraomas Kulvietis . The development of Lithuanian in Lithuania Minor, especially in

7968-474: The union was issued. In subsequent months, a number of the most active riflemen were arrested as " enemies of the people " and sent to various gulags . In June 1941, the Soviets started a mass deportation that targeted "anti-Soviet elements", including the riflemen. Among those deported were LRU's commander Colonel Pranas Saladžius, the honorary commander of the women's section Emilija Putvinskienė, commander of

8064-477: The union. Even though most members originated from the farmer class, the main principles of the Union also appealed to other classes. Members of the organization are registered in the journal. On 15 June 1940, the Soviet Union occupied Lithuania , and the riflemen, like the rest of the military, were ordered not to resist. Aleksandras Barauskas, a rifleman and border guard, was killed by Red Army soldiers in

8160-411: The writings has survived. The first recorded Lithuanian word, reported to have been said on 24 December 1207 from the chronicle of Henry of Latvia , was Ba , an interjection of a Lithuanian raider after he found no loot to pillage in a Livonian church. Although no writings in Lithuanian have survived from the 15th century or earlier, Lithuanian ( Latin : Lingwa Lietowia ) was mentioned as one of

8256-462: The written language of Lithuania Minor was transferred to resurgent Lithuania. The most famous standardizer of the Lithuanian, Jonas Jablonskis , established the south-western Aukštaitian dialect, including the Eastern dialect of Lithuania Minor, as the basis of standardized Lithuanian in the 20th century, which led to him being nicknamed the father of standardized Lithuanian. According to Polish professor Jan Otrębski 's article published in 1931,

8352-469: Was 62,000). Half of the members are Young Riflemen (11–18 years old), 40% are Combat Riflemen (18 years old until death) and the remaining are Non-combat Riflemen. The LRU greatly values its traditions, so the activities are similar to what they were in the past: there are sport and culture activities, the LRU journal Trimitas (the Trumpet) is being published, the members are encouraged to take interest in

8448-431: Was a spoken language in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Duchy of Prussia , while the beginning of Lithuanian writing is possibly associated with the introduction of Christianity in Lithuania when Mindaugas was baptized and crowned King of Lithuania in 1250–1251. It is believed that prayers were translated into the local dialect of Lithuanian by Franciscan monks during the baptism of Mindaugas, however none of

8544-480: Was able to communicate in the Samogitian dialect of Lithuanian. Soon afterwards Vytautas the Great wrote in his 11 March 1420 letter to Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor , that Lithuanian and Samogitian are the same language. The use of Lithuanian continued at the Lithuanian royal court after the deaths of Vytautas the Great (1430) and Jogaila (1434). For example, since the young Grand Duke Casimir IV Jagiellon

8640-500: Was caused by independent parallel development, and the Proto-Balto-Slavic language did not exist. An attempt to reconcile the opposing stances was made by Jan Michał Rozwadowski . He proposed that the two language groups were indeed a unity after the division of Indo-European, but also suggested that after the two had divided into separate entities (Baltic and Slavic), they had posterior contact. The genetic kinship view

8736-472: Was fascination with the Lithuanian people and their language among the late 19th-century researchers, and the philologist Isaac Taylor wrote the following in his The Origin of the Aryans (1892): "Thus it would seem that the Lithuanians have the best claim to represent the primitive Aryan race , as their language exhibits fewer of those phonetic changes, and of those grammatical losses which are consequent on

8832-468: Was first represented by August Schleicher . Some supporters of the Baltic and Slavic languages unity even claim that Proto-Baltic branch did not exist, suggesting that Proto-Balto-Slavic split into three language groups: East Baltic , West Baltic and Proto-Slavic . Antoine Meillet and Jan Baudouin de Courtenay , on the contrary, believed that the similarity between the Slavic and Baltic languages

8928-485: Was first written down about three thousand years earlier in c.   1450 BC). According to hydronyms of Baltic origin, the Baltic languages were spoken in a large area east of the Baltic Sea , and in c.   1000 BC it had two linguistic units: western and eastern. The Greek geographer Ptolemy had already written of two Baltic tribe/nations by name, the Galindai ( Γαλίνδαι ) and Sudinoi ( Σουδινοί ), in

9024-463: Was less influenced by this process and retained many of its older features, which form Lithuanian. According to glottochronological research, the Eastern Baltic languages split from the Western Baltic ones between c.   400 BC and c.   600 BC. The differentiation between Lithuanian and Latvian started after c.   800 AD; for a long period, they could be considered dialects of

9120-446: Was to distinguish Lithuanian from Polish . 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. Ministry of National Defence (Lithuania) The first cabinet of ministers of

9216-677: Was underage, the supreme control over the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was in the hands of the Lithuanian Council of Lords , presided by Jonas Goštautas , while Casimir IV Jagiellon was taught Lithuanian and customs of Lithuania by appointed court officials. During the Polish szlachta 's envoys visit to Casimir in 1446, they noticed that in Casimir's royal court the Lithuanian-speaking courtiers were mandatory, alongside

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