Viešosios kalbos kokybės samprata Lietuvos Respublikos valstybinės kalbos įstatyme

RITA MILIŪNAITĖ. Viešosios kalbos kokybės samprata Lietuvos Respublikos valstybinės kalbos įstatyme 9 RITA MILIŪNAITĖ Institute of Lithuanian Language oRciD id: orcid.org/0000-0002-2292-1818 Research fields: language policy, normative linguistics, sociolinguistics, neology, language technologies. Doi: doi.org/10.35321/bkalba.2023.96.01 The quality of public language in the Law on Public Language of the Republic of Lithuania KEY WORDS: language policy, public language, language correctness, language functionality, language quality. The article examines one aspect of the Law on the State Language of the Republic of Lithuania and its subsequent drafts: the aim is to determine how this law, which has been included in the list of constitutional laws since 2012, formulates legal provisions on the quality of the public language and how the concept of this concept has changed over time. This aspect symptomatically reflects the long and not entirely consistent legislative path of the state language law from 1995 to the present day. two elements of public language quality are discussed – language correctness and functionality, revealing their relationship with various areas of public language use. It is shown how different draft laws on the state language define the boundaries of these areas differently and how exceptions and reservations are formulated. discussed in one of the drafts of the 2023 state language law proposed a condition to the requirement of correctness of the public language. The four most typical cases are distinguished, loma funkcinio tikslingumo sąvoka, kurios turinys kai kuriais atvejais sudaro when common language norms can be ignored for functional purposefulness, and the question is raised, how this should be reflected in the legal provisions of this law. abstRact the article addresses one aspect of the Law on the state Language of the Republic of Lithuania and its subsequent drafts, aiming to determine how this law, which made the list of constitutional laws in 2012, formulates the legal provisions with regard to the language of the state. Abstract: Globalization, the democratization processes in 10 benDRinė kaLba | 96 regarding the quality of public language, and how the concept of this term has changed over time. the aspect in question symptomatically reflects the long and sometimes chequered evolution of the Law on the state Language from 1995 to the article trains the spotlight on two elements of the quality of public language: the correctness and the functionality of language, revealing the correlation between the these days. two and the various spheres of usage of public language. it shows how different drafts of the Law on the state Language provide different definitions of the boundaries of those spheres, and the clauses and reservations formulated therein. Furthermore, it covers the term ‘functional purpose’ embedded in a 2023 draft, its contents anchoring in some cases a caveat for the requirement of the correctness of public language. the article also identifies the four most characteristic cases when the norms of the standard language can be disregarded for the sake of the functional purpose, and puts the question of how this should be reflected in the provisions of the law up for debate. Eastern European societies that began at the end of the 20th century, the development of the Internet and information technologies, including the later breakthrough of artificial intelligence technologies, as well as the constantly rising global migration waves create changing conditions for the functioning of languages. This has led to more active discussions on various language policy issues, particularly with regard to the use of official languages. It is necessary to rethink the role of languages in modern multilingual and multicultural societies, taking into account the diversity of their variations and forms. why is language politically important in a state? It can be said that it is the engine of state development: language is the shaper of political position, the creator of spiritual, moral, intellectual content, the means of integration and cohesion of state administration and civil society. thus the state’s language policy is one of the instruments of the state’s development. In the Republic of Lithuania, the use of the state language is regulated by the State Language Act (hereinafter referred to as the SLA)1, which was adopted in 1995 and is still in force. it specifies the provision of Article 14 of the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania that the state language is Lithuanian, and establishes the “state language var1 this statement is correct as long as the article is being prepared for the press, but the situation can change at any time, because two new alternative drafts of vkĮ were registered in the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania in 2023. RITA MILIŪNAITĖ. Viešosios kalbos kokybės samprata Lietuvos Respublikos valstybinės kalbos įstatyme 11 Some of the provisions of this law no longer correspond to the changing ir atsakomybę už valstybinės kalbos įstatymo pažeidimus“ (vkĮ 1995, 1 str.). realities of the political, economic, social and cultural life of the state, so it is understandable that there is a need to review the Act. There has been more than one such attempt in almost three decades, but due to various political peripeties, no new draft of this law in the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania has so far passed all the necessary procedures to be able to replace the 1995 adopted vkĮ (hereinafter – vkĮ 1995). one of the important provisions of this law concerns the quality of the public language. The aim of this article is to determine why and how the concept of public language quality has changed in the projects of NGOs and what difficulties are encountered in defining it. The main sources of the research are seven projects of the VKI that functioned in the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania, its committees and working groups of language institutions in 1995 and 2006–2023. It also draws on the experience and personal notes gathered since 2012 in examining these projects and making proposals to policymakers at the institutional level. The article updates the concept of language quality, which is rarely used in the discourse of language policy, and also discusses the content of the concepts of public language, language correctness and functionality. 1) to describe the problem of the quality of the public language and its place in language policy; 2) to examine the concept of public language quality (correctness and functionality) presented in the drafts of the Public Language Act 1995 and later and to determine changes in its content; 3) to assess the appropriateness of the concepts of language correctness and functionality in VKI projects. The qualitative (analytical) research method is applied in order to zuoti ir interpretuoti sąvokas viešosios kalbos kokybė, kalbos taisyklingumas contextualize functionality and define their theoretical perspective in the state language law, as well as a comparative analysis of the legislative texts in order to highlight the provisions of different draft laws on the quality of the public language. However, the article does not talk about the practical implementation of the state language provisions on the quality of the public language. The specific supervision of the quality of the public language, i.e. activities based on state language management measures, depends heavily on the state system of language supervision and would require a separate study. the article, in addition to the Introduction, consists of three parts, a summary and a list of sources and literatūros sąrašai. Pirmoje dalyje atskleidžiama viešosios kalbos kokybės, 12 general language | 96 as an object of the LC, its place in the context of language policy, the problems of this area are described. In the second and third parts the aspect of the quality of public language in the vkĮ 1995 and later projects is examined by showing how the concept of language correctness and functionality has changed. 1. public language quality PRobLematika kaLbos PoLitikos kontekste The notion of public language is important for language policy as an object of public policy, because, being the opposite of private language, it draws a distinction (not always treated equally) between regulated areas of state language use and those left to complete self-regulation. Don Watson, an Australian writer, screenwriter, policy advisor, and creator of public language for policymakers, writes that public language is not the language we use to address our loved ones, postmen, children, or animals (Watson 2003: 1–2). it is the language of public life – the official language of political and business leaders, civil servants, the educational system – i.e. the language of power and influence. In the language policy documents of the Republic of Lithuania, the content of this concept is usually revealed by listing those areas of social activity in which the public language is used. During the discussion of one of the drafts of the VkI (vkĮp 2022), it was proposed to include and define the concept of areas of public life in the list of used concepts, since it is used in the document itself, but its content is not described, i.e. it is unclear what the VkI covers as an object of regulation. This has become particularly relevant in recent times, when not only common language, but also variations of the common language have begun to function in the public sphere (e.g., in social networks and other forms of electronic communication). the proposal was as follows (it is included in the amended vkĪp 2023a): The sphere of public life is the sphere of social activity in which the state language is used. The areas of public life are considered to be: legislation and law enforcement, public administration (the activities of institutions, institutions, enterprises and organizations operating in the Republic of Lithuania), public information, education, science, culture, public services (consumer service and information), labour relations. therefore, in language policy, the concept of public language is currently narrower than “all publicly spoken language”. The language used publicly in social networks and other forms of electronic communication falls within the scope of language policy regulation insofar as it relates to public interest, public information. RITA MILIŪNAITĖ. Viešosios kalbos kokybės samprata Lietuvos Respublikos valstybinės kalbos įstatyme 13 The latter term vkĮp 2023a is also defined, taking into account the Public Information Act of the Republic of Lithuania (viĮ 1996), and its essence is determined by several characteristics: it is information provided by its disseminators with a certain status, available to the public and intended for the public as a subject: Public information – publicly published oral and written information, which is disseminated to the public by all institutions, bodies, enterprises and organizations operating in the Republic of Lithuania or by public information disseminators. The concept of language quality in Lithuania is not yet terminologized, it is used quite rarely and has no clearly defined content. When speaking about the relationship of public language to the norms of general language, the terms regularity, normativity, etc. are used more frequently, but they, as we will see, no longer cover everything that is necessary to describe this relationship in the variety of variations and forms of language that functioned publicly at the beginning of the 21st century. 1.1. Elements of language policy in changing conditions of language functioning Sociolinguistic works generally indicate that language planning, on which language policy is based, consists of four parts, according to the scope of language functioning and its relations with society: language status, language structure (system and use, English language corpus), language teaching and language prestige (see further: baldauf 2006: 147–170; miliūnaitė 2010: 233– 238). In this context, various language policy documents are also being prepared (see Guidelines 2018). They aim to regulate language relations, changes in the structure of the common variant, which usually forms the basis of the state language (to codify norms), to establish the conditions for teaching the state language and to form favourable linguistic attitudes of the public towards the state language. In addition, a system of state language supervision can be established, which would allow control of the implementation of the goals and objectives of language policy, as well as constant monitoring and evaluation of the state language status and the state of the quality of the public language. In the last decade, language policy and supervision of the state language in Lithuania have been increasingly focused on the problems of the functioning of the state language, i.e. its status, rather than on the quality of the public language. Why? even if we say that the common Lithuanian language is already quite mature, anyway 14 benDRinė kaLba | 96 yes, the codification of its norms, due to the changing usage and attitudes of language users, which are shaped by various extralinguistic conditions, is not a final process, and therefore it is always relevant. However, new political and socio-linguistic factors are in fact increasingly motivating concern for the status of the official language. Firstly, there is increased interaction between languages. both the various spheres of activity of society and the designated language users strongly influence the English language. In addition, Lithuania is increasingly receiving multilingual immigrants – both economic, political and war refugees, which cause various problems with the use and teaching of the state language. issues of non-Lithuanian citizens are raised more actively (teaching the mother tongue, use of personal names and place names). secondly, the sociolinguistic situation in Lithuania is influenced by the general context of common European languages, which are currently experiencing a period of post-standardization (see miliūnaitė 2022: 641–644). Since 1995, the spread of the internet and social networks has given many people the opportunity to express themselves publicly, and the resulting public and private use of the internet has greatly changed the public information space. the common language that has prevailed in public until then has to share this space with other variants, especially with substantivart (for the concept see miliūnaitė 2022: 29–30). unedited language created a variety of public language, whereas previously this was only characteristic of private communication (Heuman 2022: 53). third, self-expression has become extremely important, and this is one of the viešoji vartosena rodo, kad silpsta bendrinės kalbos įgūdžiai. reasons why new language phenomena motivated by norm violations have increased. Fourthly, a new factor is rapidly becoming stronger on the Internet – the number of texts created in an unnatural way (machine translation or information generated by artificial intelligence-based chat bots, etc.) is increasing, and the quality of these texts in Lithuanian is far from satisfactory. Fifth, the system of supervision of the state language is liberalised in Lithuania. As early as 2019, administrative penalties for violations of public language correctness were officially abolished, the status of the List of Major Language Errors was removed (but not the list of errors itself). Responsibility for the quality of the public language is transferred to the language users themselves, i.e. left to partial self-regulation: authorised state bodies codify the norms of common RITA MILIŪNAITĖ. Viešosios kalbos kokybės samprata Lietuvos Respublikos valstybinės kalbos įstatyme 15 language, including terminology, and make language recommendations, and the public is expected to follow them in certain areas of public language use. Although the self-regulation of general language norms in Lithuania is relatively weak (see miliūnaitė 2018), part of the society, as in other countries, accepts the ideology of general language, when it is recognized that a civilized society needs a consciously regulated language variant to perform many of the functions of public language. As a result of all these changes, public usage becomes extremely variable, the norm is multicentric, and this raises the question of the quality of public language. correct and functional common language leads to harmonious activities of all institutions, makes public communication smoother, is the basis of quality education, a sign of society culture. Therefore, the quality of the public language is not forgotten in vkĮ and its subsequent projects. 1.2 The State Language Act and its version, the changes in the life of society and the state require the adaptation of the State Language Act adopted in 1995 to new needs. Over the past three decades, several working groups have been formed, several improved drafts of this law have been prepared and their versions have been revised (2006, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2021, 2022, 2023), but so far none of the drafts has been approved in the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania. In 2012, the vkĮ was included in the list of constitutional laws as one of nine laws that must regulate social relations of particular significance and thus ensure their stability (list 2012). Moreover, Article 69 of the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania stipulates that “constitutional laws of the Republic of Lithuania are adopted if more than half of all members of the Seimas vote in favour of them, and are amended by a majority of at least 3/5 of all members of the Seimas”. This means that the importance and legal force of the CAA has increased, and the possibility of subsequently changing something after its adoption has decreased. Therefore, the national language law must cover all areas of language policy and must contain the essential provisions for the functioning of the state language. The main elements of the LSI and subsequent projects for its improvement are the establishment of the status of the Lithuanian language as a state language miausia taisyklingumo) užtikrinimas, atsakomybė už šio įstatymo nuostatų in all areas of public life, including the education system, the implementation of the public language quality (and the system of supervision of its implementation. Over time, the content of almost all these areas has been modified, supplemented and specified. 16 benDRinė kaLba | 96 In various legislation related to the use, standardization and supervision of the state Lithuanian language, not excluding the vkĮ 1995, the correctness of language is referred to as a legal norm, but the content of this concept (more precisely, the concept of correct language) is defined only in some variants of the drafts. Indirectly, correctness is usually associated with compliance with the regulations of the State Lithuanian Language Commission (hereinafter referred to as vLkk) and other sources of codification that establish positive or negative codification. In other words, the correct language phenomena are those that are legalized as general language norms, and the irregular ones are those that are recognized as violations of general language norms (including those included in the list of major language errors, which, as mentioned, has not been abolished, only its legal status has changed since 2019). therefore, the correctness of language is understood as a derived concept, the content and change of which are determined by the sources of general language norms and their violations: normative dictionaries, sets of grammar, spelling and punctuation rules, language recommendations, etc. (see miliūnaitė 2019: 125–126). how specifically the vkĮ and its later versions formulate the provisions of language correctness, what elements form the content of the notion of correctness? 2.1 The 1995 State Language Act formally allocates five chapters of Chapter IX to the correctness of language. State language correctness articles. They have sought to cover different aspects of regularity, not only those distinguished by a single logical basis, but even more broadly. 1) nurodoma, kaip valstybė sudaro sąlygas taisyklingai lietuvių kalbai function: Article 19. The state takes care of the prestige of the correct Lithuanian language, creates conditions for the protection of language norms, personal names, place names, dialects and written language monuments, ensures the material basis for the functioning of the state language, fully supports research into the Lithuanian language as a priority branch of science and scientific institutions studying this language, publishing books on Lithuanian language science and practice. 2) An institution is named which is specifically entrusted with taking care of the state RITA MILIŪNAITĖ. Viešosios kalbos kokybės samprata Lietuvos Respublikos valstybinės kalbos įstatyme 17 Article 20. language and the language norms that form the basis of correctness: the direction and tasks of the state language protection are determined and the language norms are approved by the state Lithuanian language commission. 3) specifies the public language of which persons and which areas of social activity must be correct: 21 straipsnis. the requirements for proper proficiency in the state language are included in the statutes for the certification of civil servants, educators, media and publishing staff and are applied in accordance with the qualifications and duties held. Article 22. Lithuanian public information media (press, television, radio, etc.) and all publishers of books and other publications are obliged to adhere to the correct Lithuanian language norms. Article 23. all public entries must be correct. Article 19 identifies the socio-linguistic aspect of correct language: the desire that correct language be prestigious, i.e. best valued and desired by society. vkĮ 1995 does not specify any broader explanations of what language is correct, let alone any reservations or exceptions when the requirements of correctness can be ignored in public language. Article 20 only mentions that language norms are approved by the vLkk. Thus, the provision is made that according to what this institution decides, and must be oriented, which language is correct, and the state must provide the conditions to protect these norms (art. 19). The first important step towards updating the provisions of the 1995 State Language Act was the draft of the new version of the 2006 State Language Act of the Republic of Lithuania, which was prepared by a working group of qualified lawyers and linguists specially appointed for this work and registered in 2006 – vkĮp 2006. This has already been done when preparing draft amendments to the 1995 Act. The definitions of the following concepts in Article 2 of vkĮp 2006 are relevant to the concept of correctness: function and author’s intentions, i.e. a specific communication situation; 2) functional styles and stylistic requirements (style norms) are observed. 24 common language | 96 1) vartojamos tos kalbos raiškos priemonės, kurios atliepia teksto tikslą, 3.1 Implementation of the language functionality provision in the VKI As it was evident from the previous chapter of this article, since 2011 the concept of language functionality has been gradually introduced into the VKI projects, supplementing one of the most important characteristics of general language – regularity. In the comments to the proposals it is noted that regularity is not the only characteristic of a common language that distinguishes it from other language variants. common language to perform different functions in various areas of public life (the law speaks about them separately: these are the areas of state and its institutions administration, science, public information, etc.). if the language is correct but not functional, it may not be suitable for the needs of public life. adjective functional, -i means, according to the International Dictionary of Words (tŽŽ 2013), “well performing the applicable function, meeting the needs; useful, useful”, thus allows to look more flexibly at some non-normative language phenomena used in public language. as already mentioned In subsection 2.3, Article 20 of vkĮp 2011, the provision on the correctness of the public language in some areas of language usage is clarified as an exception: 2. in stylistically motivated cases, the provisions of paragraph 1 of this Article shall not apply to the language of cinema, theatre, fiction and other fields of artistic creation. During the debate on the vkĮp 2011, the wording “stylistically motivated cases” was widely criticized for its vague content, which could be treated in a very diverse way, and the very provision of this Article 20 (20) – as lacking specific criteria by which to decide whether a case of use can be considered stylistically motivated or not. It is quite understandable that making the rules of style, which in many cases depend on the context and are attributable to the subjective perception of the authors of the text, the subject of a legislative act did not seem acceptable to all the deliberators. at the same time, no solution was found, and the clause on "stylistically motivated cases" was moved from draft to draft. The list of uses to which this exemption applies has also changed. Such areas proposed for 2014 include: RITA MILIŪNAITĖ. Viešosios kalbos kokybės samprata Lietuvos Respublikos valstybinės kalbos įstatyme 25 “dialectal press, books and other publications written in dialect, dialectal radio and television programs or parts thereof”, but this provision appeared only in vkĮp 2021 In Article 16(2): Article 16. The correctness and functionality of Lithuanian language <...> 2. The provisions of paragraph 1 of this Article shall not apply to the language of cinema, theatre, fiction, other fields of artistic creation, as well as dialect press, books and other publications written in dialect, dialect radio and television programmes or parts thereof. At the same time, it is apparent that Article 16(2) of the VkIP 2021 no longer contains the wording “stylistically motivated cases”. Attention was drawn to this in subsequent deliberations, raising the question whether such a provision is not too broad and whether unmotivated violations of general language norms in the areas of public language use mentioned in this paragraph of the article are just as tolerated as motivated non-normative expression. In other words, such wording of Article 16(2) of the 2021 GCPA would imply that the provision on regularity is not applicable to the specified areas of consumption at all. vkĮp 2022 Article 17 (2) does not contain any exception to dialectal use, and instead of stylistic motivation, a wording has appeared that proposes to justify the disregard of the norms of common language for artistic expression: Article 17. 1. the language of legislative acts, documents and public information must comply with the general norms of the Lithuanian language. 2. šis reikalavimas netaikomas literatūros ir meno kūrinių kalbai, kai bendrinės Lithuanian language norms are not observed because of artistic expression. The Joint Working Group, when preparing proposals for improving the 2022 CIP, discussed extensively the provisions of this article. The criterion of artistic expression was assessed as inappropriate for this law, because it is even narrower than stylistic motivation and just as subjective. as shown In subsection 2.4 of the publication article, it was proposed not only to clarify the list of areas of public language that are subject to correctness requirements, but also to change the wording of the disclaimer: Article 19. The correctness and functionality of Lithuanian language This <...> requirement does not apply when the norms of general language are not observed for functional purposefulness or when dialectal language is used. 26 benDRinė kaLba | 96 therefore, instead of stylistic motivation and artistic expression, the concept of functional purposefulness was chosen. it is not defined in IAS 2023a and therefore requires specific clarification. 3.2. Language functionality as a feature of the current public language The concept of functional purposefulness dates back to the time of the Prague Linguistic Club, which developed the ideas of functional linguistics in the 1920s. its members argued that the value of a language unit depends on the communicative situation in which it is used. These ideas had a considerable influence on the interwar and subsequent Lithuanian standardizers of the common Lithuanian language3. how much of these ideas can be applied in today’s linguistic practice, to justify the choice of one or another language phenomenon in public usage from all their diversity? First of all, we need to bear in mind the radical changes in the use of languages and their interaction over a whole hundred years. At the beginning of the 21st century, when the issues of human rights and individual identity are particularly prominent, in the studies of language variantity, the diversity of linguistic phenomena is interpreted not only as a reflection of the social diversity of society, but also as a social semiotic system in which language resources are used to construct various social roles and identities (see eckert 2012: 94). Thus, the purposefulness of the use of language phenomena is already associated not only with language functions, but also with the individualization of linguistic expression. These two elements could constitute the updated content of the notion of functional purposefulness, or functionality of language, which is necessary in relation to the whole variety of variations of use. Functional purposefulness means that, taking into account the functions performed by language, its means of expression are adapted in each case to the specific communication situation and to the author’s linguistic intentions and may not necessarily meet the requirements of correctness. secondly, the interaction between regularity and functional purpose must be re-examined. whether there are defined criteria for determining when a language expression is used purposefully, although 3 Example: “<...> the importance of the criterion of regularity should not be overstated. it would be unwise, for example, to demand regularity from all fictional dialogues, sometimes even a feature of authorial ribbing. but the purposefulness must be teksto, nes <...> tam tikras gerai motyvuotas normų laužymas yra būdingas grožinės kūlooked at in this case as well: the non-observance of the rules must be purposeful” (girdenis, Pupkis 1978: 65; raised by authors). RITA MILIŪNAITĖ. Viešosios kalbos kokybės samprata Lietuvos Respublikos valstybinės kalbos įstatyme 27 does not meet the standards of common language? In other words, is it always possible to objectively determine what function a linguistic phenomenon performs in a particular case and with what purpose the norms are violated? Having in mind the current usage of the public Lithuanian language, it would be possible to distinguish four striking cases where functional purposefulness takes precedence over regularity (also cf. kniūkšta 1994: 10–14). The artistic expression. This is perhaps the clearest manifestation of functional purposefulness, when the norms of common language are ignored in order to achieve various artistic goals (for example, in fiction, creating individualized characteristics of characters, in advertising – in order to attract the attention of buyers, focusing on target groups, etc.). precisely because of this artistic expression appeared in not one of the examined projects of VKI. A typical example of these days is the two-part collection of songs, which has been spreading on the Internet since 2020, especially among young people, later supplemented and released on CDs, called Nykstančios lietuvių liaudies dainos, created by the author Luko šidlauskas, who has named himself Šventinis bankuchenas. The genre of professionally performed folk songs masterfully blends two seemingly incompatible things – the melodies of Lithuanian folk songs, smoothed over the centuries, playing folk music instruments and English jargon vocabulary reflecting the realities of today. (see Figures 1 and 2). 1 Pav. A collection of Lithuanian folk songs on the Internet and a listener's commentary. source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfoyPmgv_c8. 28 common language | 96 2 Pav. Nykstančių lietuvių liaudies dainų rinkinio dainos Ofisėli stiklainėli žodžiai. source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfoyPmgv_c8. The lyrics of the songs read alone do not make a special impression, but non-normative vocabulary, folk tales are characterized by diminutives, as well as spelling errors specifically made in the written texts characteristic of current electronic communication together with rich music help to create a gentle parody of traditional folk songs and at the same time a bright, graceful artistic effect, thus undoubtedly performing the function of artistic expression. The characteristics of the time, social, ideological, etc. This case of functional purposefulness is often expressed in fiction, so if in the usage, especially in the gali būti priskiriamas ir prie aptartosios meninės raiškos. tačiau dabartinėfree (non-informational) journalistic style, advertising may also be purposefully used non-normative means of expression, the purpose of which is to highlight a linguistic feature characteristic of a period or social group, a phenomenon of life (see figure 3). In the first and second examples, the motivated use of the lexical foreignness kaldra, sietka and metallinguistic commentaries of the authors or the graphic exclusion of the non-normative RITA MILIŪNAITĖ. Viešosios kalbos kokybės samprata Lietuvos Respublikos valstybinės kalbos įstatyme 29 word indicate that such language phenomena were chosen deliberately. The third example uses the slang variant viarslinykas of the word verslininkas, which has become a symbol of a modern unreliable entrepreneur, imitating a non-Lithuanian accent. In the fourth example, the actual word Russia is written in lowercase and with a double zz (as a symbol of Russian fascism) for political reasons – to emphasize the condemnation of the Russian war in Ukraine. these and similar non-normative phenomena are interpreted in specific texts as a sign of one or another author’s intentions. Expression of the author’s individuality and identity. The widespread public electronic communication in social networks, as well as free-genre media, allows members of various social groups to express themselves freely in public and to use the most diverse arsenal of means of linguistic expression. However, it is not easy to determine when it is a person’s self-expression and creation of identity through language, and when it is simply a lack of linguistic competence and inability to orient in different linguistic situations, without clarifying the criteria of motivated and unmotivated use. Authenticity of the source (in quotes). this is one of the less discussed cases of functional purposefulness. some texts in current use of different styles and genres are heterogeneous – they contain quotations from other sources or similar insertions. those quotations may have non-normative (motivated or 3 Pav. Examples of media texts with motivated use of non-normative language phenomena 30 benDRinė kaLba | 96 unmotivated) linguistic phenomena, such as norms characteristic of previous periods, unedited or stylistically meaningful norm violations, and texts published in the context of general language, authors are either forced to leave them, or specifically leave them because of the authenticity of the cited sources. One of the more common cases is when news portals publish posts or quotes from social networks in unedited language (which often uses substantive rather than common language). Once in the common language environment (media), such texts balance on the border of motivated and unmotivated non-normative use. strongly motivated quotations of non-normative usage in the media can be detected when the language of the cited sources differs from the general language norms is particularly pronounced. Figure 4 shows two cover excerpts of a conversation recorded secretly by the special services and published on the news portal. The actors who are involved in a political corruption case, but who have earned a considerable reputation in the public until now, meet in a restaurant, do not get one companion and explain their relationships to each other in a language enriched with slang and curses. The news portal, by writing about this case and publishing the transcripts of the conversations, aims to reveal the most authentic picture of the conversations. therefore, the common language text made public has been inserted with jargon quotes. metalinguistic comments (underlined in blue in Figure 4) show the editor’s own relationship with non-normative vocabulary and create a motivational background so that the text remains authentic and does not shock readers and is understandable to them. Figure 4. Secret conversation recording used in a political corruption case. source: lrytas.lt, 2018-05-09. RITA MILIŪNAITĖ. Viešosios kalbos kokybės samprata Lietuvos Respublikos valstybinės kalbos įstatyme 31 The examples given show that the need for reasoned non-normative use is obvious and fully understood today. therefore, the law on the state language should not require the correctness of the public language everywhere and always. The quality of public language in today’s society is largely determined by the functionality of language phenomena understood more broadly than just as stylistic motivation, related to the various linguistic intentions of the authors of texts. and how this provision of functional appropriateness should be conveyed in the language of the law of non-governmental organizations remains problematic and will probably be subject to further discussion. what should be the relationship between correctness and functionality of public language when these two categories come into palaikomas viešasis interesas turėti prestižinę, kodifikuotas normas atitinconflict? It should be recalled that when the public language is intended for the needs of the whole society, there must first be a patient language variant – common language. With changing terms of office of both the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania and the State Lithuanian Language Commission (although the State Language Inspection remained constant), the preparation of the important for the state law on the state language of the Republic of Lithuania, which was included in the list of constitutional laws in 2012, lasted almost three decades. Its legislative process itself was inconsistent and inefficient, since the continuity of the legal logic of the documents was not always maintained, with new drafters being involved (sometimes there was a return to previous versions, although they were probably changed for certain reasons). It is not always possible to trace the reasons for the amendment of one or another legal provision. objective factors of the development of society and language led to a change in the concept of public language quality in the projects of the Republic of Lithuania (compared to 1995). In the latest alternative drafts registered in 2023, vkIP 2023a and vkIP 2023b, the quality of public language is defined in two aspects, although in different wordings: a) according to regularity, b) according to functionality. also the issue of the areas of use of the state language and, separately, those areas that are subject to the correctness requirements, has been solved in the drafts of the vkĮ: vkĮp 2023a clearly identifies them all, although the possibility that something may be excluded or that new areas or reservations may appear remains. 32 general language | 96 The correctness of the public language (mainly where the general variant must be used) remains an important legal provision of the projects. The existence of a language standard is a necessary condition for harmonious institutional activities, smooth public communication, quality education, cultural continuity. the regularity of the vkĪ is defined by two parameters: a) the scope of public language use, b) the conformity of the general codification of Lithuanian language norms. In the current period of the general development of the Lithuanian language, the areas of use of the public language that are not very mature themselves determine the correctness of the language used in them. Therefore, in one of the latest projects of the non-governmental organization, the correctness of the language of the means giai siejamos sritys konkrečiai išvardytos: tai teisės aktų, dokumentų, viof public information, public notices, information about goods and services, educational tools, advertising. language rules and norms) are established or kodifikacijos turinį (bendrinės kalbos normų šaltinius ir juose pateikia- (and) approved, the public is advised about them by the language research and state language supervision institutions. The functionality of language in normative linguistics and stylistics has changed somewhat over time and is understood as the correspondance of means of language expression to specific communication situations, but they are now linked not only to language functions and functional styles, but also to individualization of language expression, creation of personal identity and self-expression. It also includes the motivated non-compliance with general language norms, characteristic of some areas of public language use. However, this should be understood as possible exceptional cases, which should not disturb public communication, destabilize the norms of common language. The most typical cases of the manifestation of functional purposefulness in the current usage of the Lithuanian language (and therefore also the relevant exceptions of the VkĮ, when the requirements of correctness of the public language may not be applied) are the following: 1) artistic expression; 2) historical, social, ideological and other characteristics; 3) expression of the individuality and identity of the author; 4) authenticity of the source (in quotations). The concept of language functionality has been used since 2011, but it is not defined; It was initially associated with the stylistic motivation of language means of expression, later with artistic expression, and in one of the latest projects of the non-profit organization registered in 2023 – with functional purposefulness. This should be taken into account when discussing the provisions of the quality requirements of public language in public RITA MILIŪNAITĖ. Viešosios kalbos kokybės samprata Lietuvos Respublikos valstybinės kalbos įstatyme 33 institutions. The concept of language quality is not directly defined in the vkI projects, but it is implied in this context as the state of language, characterized by compliance with general language norms and performed functions. This requires derivative documents: 1) codified sources of common language norms; 2) further clarification of what functional purposefulness is and how it works in current public usage. However, even with them, the possibility of subjectivity in identifying cases of motivated non-compliance is not ruled out. source guidelines 2018 – State language policy guidelines 2018-2022. Approved by the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania by resolution no. Xiii-1318. 7b6e11e89188e16a6495e98c?jfwid=-g0zrziw17. conclusions 2023 – Resolution of Prieiga internete: https://e-seimas.lrs.lt/portal/legalact/lt/taD/cd058470 the Scientific Council of the Lithuanian Language Institute of 2 March 2023 on the draft Constitutional Law on the State Language of the Republic of Lithuania for 2022 No. XIVP-880(2). Access online: http://lki.lt/report-on-the-decision-of-the-research-council-of-the-lithuanian- -language-institute-on-the-draft-constitutional-law-on-the-state-language-- of-the-republic-of-Lithuania-2022-nrr5kPvzmpcn6zHWgHgqnDPoa. xivp-8802/?fbclid=iwaR38zxr3H0Hrputt9e1giukzWamg8WysqLmd Letter 2015 – Letter of the State Lithuanian Language Commission to the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania “On the Draft Constitutional Law on the State Language of the Republic of Lithuania No. XIIP-558”. Retrieved 2015-03-09. Access on the Internet: https://e-sei mas.lrs.lt/portal/legalact/lt/tak/df804072c63811e48799bc57840226 ce?jfwid=-1l7zm7fqs. List 2012 – Constitutional Act No. XI-1932 of the List of Constitutional Acts of the Republic of Lithuania. Retrieved 15 March 2012. https://e-seimas.lrs.lt/portal/legalact/lt/taD/ tais.420310. viĮ 1996 – Public Information Act of the Republic of Lithuania (July 2, 1996, No. i-1418; valid version 2023-06-01–2023-12-31). Online access: https://e-seimas.lrs.lt/portal/legalact/lt/taD/tais.29884/asr. vkĮ 1995 – Law on the State Language of the Republic of Lithuania (31 January 1995, No. i-779; valid version 2022-07-03). Access on the Internet: https:// www.e-tar.lt/portal/lt/legalact/taR.0b0253bb424c/nPmXwqqtim. vkĮp 2006 – Draft Law No. XP-1320 amending the State Language Act of the Republic of Lithuania. The new version of the State Language Act of the Republic of Lithuania. Retrieved 2006-04-24. Online access: https://e-seimas. lrs.lt/portal/legalact/lt/taP/tais.274470?jfwid=wny8riqw6. vkĮp 2011 – Draft Law No. XP-1320(3) amending the Law on the State Language of the Republic of Lithuania. Retrieved 2011-06-30. Online access: https://e-sei mas.lrs.lt/portal/legalact/lt/taP/tais.402981?jfwid=-wbkgqm837+.