Būtent kas yra būtent
What, after all, is Būtent?

Summary/Abstract: The object of this paper is the word būtent, which is one of the grammatical particles. The choice is not accidental, for the word būtent is classified as a particle only by the Dabartinės lietuvių kalbos žodynas (Dictionary of Contemporary Lithuanian, 1972), whereas in other linguistic words published then or later it is not mentioned at all nor is it included in any of the groups of particles distinguished by their shades of meaning with respect to whether they are clarifying, distinguishing, demonstrating, denying, affirming, emphasizing, fortifying, inquiring, doubting, comparing, desiring, or encouraging. Even grammars of the Lithuanian language fail to mention būtent as a particle. It is only in descriptions of Lithuanian punctuation (1992, 2006) that būtent is identified not just as a conjunctive word placed between a generalizing word and the sentence parts explicating it, but also as particle having modal significance; but here attention is entirely devoted only to punctuation. In the electronic Dabartinės lietuvių kalbos žodynas (Dictionary of Contemporary Lithuanian, 2011) the word būtent is characterized only as a conjunction.

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