Vowels are divided into:—
- (a) Flats: a, á, o, ó, u, ú;
- (b) Sharps: e, ė, ő, ö, ü, ű; and
- (c) Mediates: é, i, í.
Flats and sharps never occur in the same word, and accordingly as the vowels are of the one or the other class, the words are said to be sharp or flat, and only take suffixes with vowels of their respective class. The mediates occur in both, and such words are then called mixed; they take the suffixes either of the one or of the other class.
Note.—This rule does not prevent, however, the formation of compound substantives of heterogeneous words, but applies only to etymological derivatives. So, for instance, selyemruha is a compound of selyem (silk) and ruha (a gown).
The emphasis rests always on the first syllable.
ACCIDENCE.
The parts of speech are the same as in other languages—viz., Nouns, Verbs, and Particles.
Of these the nouns (substantive, adjective, numeral pronoun) and verbs undergo certain modifications in order to express the various accidental circumstances of number, case, person, time, and place. These modifications are called inflections; and the defining particles joined to the words are called suffixes.
Particles are not inflected, but are used to define the noun or verb.
