Main changes in the accentuation of spoken Lithuanian, their intensification and importance for the development of the accentual system of modern Lithuanian and for the codification of standard language

Article deals with the intensification of the following changes, which are characteristic of the accentuation of spoken Lithuanian during last decades. The shortening of the distance between stressable syllables from two or three to one syllable in compounds and derivatives belonging to the mobile accent class. The replacing of mobile stress with fixed stress in compounds. The strengthening of the domination among affixes, which manifests itself both in the replacing of seldom non-dominant affixes with dominant ones in new derivatives and the diminishing of the number of exceptions in the lists of words belonging to dominant affixes. The shifting of stress from the base stem syllable to the adjacent syllable, which is next to the suffix in a group of derivatives formed by adding suffixes "-iškas", "-a", "-ininkas", "-ė", "-inti", "-ina", "-o". Extension of prefixe retraction rule to the "-ia" conjugation verbs having long circumflex root. The shifting of tone from acute to circumflex in the roots of a group of disyllabic "-ia" conjugation verbs on one hand, and from circumflex to acute in the roots of a group of disyllabic "-a" conjugation verbs and present tense forms of "-o" conjugation verbs on the other hand. The changes from 1 to 5 show the strengthening of the role of affixes in the accentuation system of Modern Lithuanian, i.e. stress tends to fall either on the suffix resp. connecting vowel or on the syllable which is next to the suffix or morpheme boundary in compounds. The 6th change demonstrates the ongoing connection between circumflex and soft consonants on one hand and between acute and hard consonants on the other hand. All changes are important for the development of the accentuation system of Modern Lithuanian, and in general are recognized by codifiers of Standard language