Structure of the verb roots of modern Lithuanian

Straipsnyje analizuojamos lietuvių kalbos veiksmažodžio šaknys, aptariamos jų sudėtinės dalys, lyginama stabiliojo ir kintamojo centro šaknų struktūra.The article presents a structural analysis of the verb roots. They are represented by fourteen patterns in modern Lithuanian. The roots of the verbs with two or three consonants (CVC, CVCC, CCVC) have a greater frequency in Lithuanian than the simplest or the „heaviest“ ones. The same dominant structural patterns occur in Lithuanian verb roots as well as in Lithuanian and Latvian nominal roots. As it is well known, the nucleus of the verb root is quite varied and complex. That is why the structure of the stable-nucleus roots (e.g. ėda - ėdė, ėsti „to cat“; dirba - dirbo, dirbti „to work“; plaukia - plaukė, plaukti „to swim“) is compared with those roots the nucleus of which has changed (e. g. geria - gėrė, gerti „to drink“; kerpa - kirpo, kirpti „to cut“; žūva - žuvo, žūti „to die“). The sets of the consonants which occur before the vowels are similar in both groups of the roots: the maximum number of the consonants consists of 3 members (STR). Moreover, the initial consonant clusters are facultative. A more important role is played by final consonant clusters. The maximum number of the consonants in stable-nucleus roots may be four (c. g. inkščia -inkštė, inkšti „to screech“) while the changing-nucleus roots consist of a two-member final cluster (e. g. perka-pirko, pirkti „to buy“). When comparing the final sequences of the verb roots with the nominal roots, we have found that the phonotactic rules of the verb roots are stronger