The main problem for the martyrs trying to speak Lithuanian is
diphtongs "ie" and "uo". "Ei" (like in "Maine") and "ou" (like
in
"row) are frequent in other languages but "ie" and "uo" aren't.
I've been looking forward to your contribution
hoping you would tell us someting about these diphthongs. I'd be interested in
two things: from the descriptions I've read and from my own informal
observations of spoken Lithuanian I gather that they are in fact long mid-high
vowels ([e:] and [o:]) preceded by semivocalic onglides. If so, something like
[je:], [wo:] could do as a rough transcription. Do you
agree?
This is interesting.
Unfortunately, I haven't been sufficiently exposed to spoken Lithuanian, but
from the little I've heard (combined with what I've read) I've gotten the
impression that these diphtongs are diphthongs, something like [iɜ]
and [uɐ]. Of course, I could be wrong, but I wonder if our different
impressions might have something to do with the accents. Schematically,
your impression would then be based on words like puõdžius and
riẽstas,
mine on words like púodas and ríetas. Eh?