Svetimžodžio „aftepartis“ atitikmenų vertinimas interneto komentaruose

DAIVA MACKO Institute of the Lithuanian Language ASSESSMENT OF EQUIVALENTS FOR THE FOREIGN WORD AFTERPARTIS IN ONLINE COMMENTS KEYWORDS: equivalent, language attitudes, dissemination of norms, foreign word. 1. INTRODUCTORY NOTES On 8 April 2010, the State Commission of the Lithuanian Language (hereinafter VLKK) invited readers of the online news portal “Delfi” to suggest equivalents for selected foreign words (DELFI 2010). Each week a new foreign word was presented, and it was promised that the best of the proposed equivalents would be selected. Somewhat later, this direction of the VLKK’s work was also defined in the Principles for Providing Recommendations on the Use of Foreign Words, approved on 27 May 2010, which provided, among other things, for “encouraging users of the Lithuanian language to create their own words to name new phenomena of life” (Rekomendacijos 2010). On 28 October 2010, apparently having also taken readers’ suggestions into account, the Language Commission approved the Recommended List of Equivalents for Foreign Words (Atitikmenų sąrašas 2010). On 7 April 2011, the VLKK prepared a draft protocol resolution supplementing the List of Equivalents for Foreign Words (Atitikmenų sąrašas 2011), and on 8 April the media reported on this draft resolution in online news portals. The article “Afterpartis1: džūzgės, povakaris or pratęstuvės?” (DELFI 2011), published on the “Delfi” portal on 8 April 2011, received the most reader comments (495). It discussed three equivalents for aftepartis considered by the VLKK (povakaris, pratęstuvės, džūzgės), and equivalents proposed for the foreign words acid rock, flashmob and barista. It is noted that the Language Commission prepared a draft protocol resolution on the List of Equivalents for Foreign Words— 1 In Lithuanian usage, the adapted form of the loanword after-party varies. In the article (except in quotations), the variant closest to spoken language, aftepartis, is used. 136 KALBOS KULTŪRA | 85 of the loanwords list, but information about the equivalents afterparty included in it—povakaris and pratęstuvės—is insufficient: As many as three Lithuanian equivalents were proposed for the term “afterparty,” which came from English. However, in the view of the State Commission of the Lithuanian Language, the most accurate replacement for this loanword would be “povakaris.” It was also proposed that parties be continued at “pratęstuvės” or “dūzgės.” The quoted statements are worded in such a way that it is not entirely clear which equivalents for afterparty the State Commission of the Lithuanian Language merely considered, and which it included in the final list of equivalents. One might get the impression that all three equivalents—povakaris, pratęstuvės, and dūzgės—were included in the list. Moreover, the article does not mention that language users also proposed equivalents for loanwords (DELFI 2010). Because of the article’s wording, quite a few commenters misunderstood the published information, which shaped the direction of the discussion. For example, many commenters discussed and evaluated the equivalent dūzgės, which, as later became clear, was never included in the State Commission of the Lithuanian Language list, because this unusual word caught the eye in the article’s very title. The State Commission of the Lithuanian Language’s position on this equivalent was presented in another article published on the same day (Miknevičius 2011): According to her (State Commission of the Lithuanian Language chair Irena Smetonienė. – D. M.), “the Commission is often criticized for paying little heed to public opinion”; therefore, readers of an online news portal were asked which equivalent they would like to see for the term “afterparty,” which came from English. This is how “dūzgės” came to be among the suggestions submitted to the Commission. “Is ‘dūzgės’ a bad word? No. Is it funny? Yes. Nevertheless, the Commission rejected this option,” said I. Smetonienė. However, “povakaris” made it into the List of Loanword Equivalents, because this option was proposed by more than 160 residents. The aim of the article is, by conducting a linguistic analysis of the loanword afterparty and its equivalents, to examine, on the basis of online comments, the criteria by which online readers evaluate Lithuanian equivalents for this loanword. An examination of how this loanword and its equivalents are evaluated also reveals broader societal linguistic attitudes toward the standardization of loanwords. First, it is necessary to establish the origin of the loanword under discussion—that is, how the word after-party is defined in English lexical sources—and the characteristics of the Lithuanian equivalents for the loanword afterparty. D. MACKO. Svetimžodžio afterparty atitikmenų vertinimas interneto komentaruose 137 2. ANALYSIS OF THE FOREIGN WORD AFTERPARTIS AND ITS EQUIVALENTS 2.1. Data from English Lexical Sources The foreign word afterpartis is the English word after-party (this spelling is given in the online Merriam Webster (hereafter MW) and Oxford (hereafter OD) dictionaries; spelling variants are afterparty; after party). The earliest known use of after-party dates to 1961 (MW). It is a compound word made up of two elements: the prepositional element after (“after”) and the noun party (“party”). English lexical sources define after-party with only one meaning: a gathering held after a preceding gathering: • A party for invited guests held after the main party or event (MW). • A party held after another event, especially after a concert or another party (OD). The online English-speaking community explains this word somewhat more broadly. For example, based on articles in the encyclopedia “Wikipedia” (hereafter Wi), the following semantic components of after-party can be distinguished: 1) a phenomenon of modern society, in the context of entertainment and socializing; students. For example: an event after a wedding, a dance, an official event (ceremony), a concert, a premiere, or a nightclub; 2) an event that is necessarily preceded by another significant event; 3) the same invited guests usually attend both the main event and the event that follows it. The community-edited dictionary (hereafter UD) offers similar definitions of after-party—a gathering after a nightclub or bar has closed; a party after another party. It also gives a shade of meaning not mentioned in “Wikipedia”: a party where illegal intoxicants are consumed. Also worth mentioning are related words formed in a similar way to after-party but not included in official English lexical sources: pre-party and its synonym before party. The English-speaking online community uses these words to refer to a gathering of people who will attend a party, usually with the aim of drinking because drinks are more expensive at the party, or because this is a way to have fun and create a mood and atmosphere (UD). Another meaning is a brief gathering— 138 KALBOS KULTŪRA | 85 a gathering at which preparations are made for the main event (festive makeup is applied, costumes are put on) and whose guests usually travel together to the main event (Wi). 2.2. Use of the foreign word aftepartis in Lithuanian The meaning of aftepartis is defined as follows in the Database of Lithuanian Neologisms (hereafter ND): “Aftepartis – most often, the continuation of an official event in an informal setting.” In usage, both the original foreign-word form (all three spelling variants, after-party, after party or afterparty, sometimes set off with quotation marks) and morphologically adapted variants (inflected forms of the word, e.g., afterpartis) are recorded. The shortened form afteris is also used. E.g.: Our car park will be decorated with cars belonging to participants in the Eastern European Drifting Championship; they will gather here to celebrate afterpartį!!! (IK 2011 07 02) You know, she was a wife in the usual sense—a household pet. I just gave her a job, and immediately she grew wings. The running around and corporate parties began, along with afteparčiai. (IK 2011 03 07) Afteris: M.A.M.A. “afteris” with the stars – until dawn [headline] (II 2012 01 09) Having just about made it through to Sunday, the dancers plan to meet up and invite everyone to a free “after-party” in Vilnius, at 6 p.m., at the “Liv Lounge” restaurant (“Vilniaus Vartai,” 4 Tumėno St.). (II 2009 03 24) And those who enjoy after party and wine are all invited to the “Play” club after the films to discuss the works they have seen. The after party will be held every evening from 9 p.m. (II 2010 10 07) This time, the LOFTAS arts factory becomes the official “Mados infekcija” afterparty organizer. (II 2011 11 12) The database also lists less common Lithuanian variants of the words related to the foreign word afterparty, pre-party and before party: prepartis (“an informal get-together (often involving alcohol) before an official event; a pre-event party”) and beforepartis (“an informal get-together organized before an official event (a pre-event party)”). E.g.: Well, if we’re heading to some little club at nine, we get together at six for a prepartį, so we have time both to play drinking games and to get to the club. (IK 2012 04 11) After parties there’s usually an after party, so Rumbi has been putting on before parties for a whole month now.before party. (ND II 2011 08 05) D. MACKO. Svetimžodžio aftepartis atitikmenų vertinimas interneto komentaruose 139 2.3. Presentation of the most popular equivalents of the foreign word aftepartis in lexicographic works Before the VLKK announced the search for equivalents of aftepartis, this foreign word did not compete with Lithuanian equivalents in usage. Quite simply, there had been no need for words with this meaning until now, and there had not been time to coin new ones. Povakaris and dūzgės have meanings other than “an after-party” both in the Dictionary of the Lithuanian Language (hereafter LKŽ) and in the Dictionary of Contemporary Lithuanian (hereafter DLKŽ). The equivalent povakaris was probably coined anew, based on the English model (preposition + noun), rather than by adapting an existing word of this formation to express a new concept. The meanings of pavakaris given in LKŽ2 are: late afternoon (1); evening grazing of livestock (2); afternoon snack (3); in DLKŽ: late afternoon. The word pratęstuvės is not recorded in lexicographic sources; only the verb pratęsti, with the same meaning, is recorded: to continue carrying out (6); to make longer in duration (7) (LKŽ); to postpone, prolong (DLKŽ). The plural noun buzzes is not included in dictionaries; only the count noun buzz (from to buzz) is listed – a frivolous woman (2) (LKŽ). The meanings of the verb to buzz are: to whir as insects or bullets fly, machines turn, wind blows, and so on; to hum, rattle (1); to make noise, revel, have fun (4) (LKŽ); to produce a faint, thin sound, hum, rattle, whir (DLKŽ). 2.4. Prevalence of Lithuanian equivalents for the foreign word aftepartis in Lithuanian usage No instances of the word buzzes are provided in the VDU corpus—only the word form buzz is recorded; however, investigation revealed that this was the third-person singular past tense form of the verb to buzz. The word Afterwork occurs only twice in the corpus, and the word afterparty does not occur. These words are used in the corpus with meanings other than an extension of an event. Using the internet search tool Google, the most results were found for forms of the equivalent buzzes (18,800), considerably fewer for afterwork (1,220) and afterparties (469)3. Before the consideration of adding buzzes to the List of Equivalents for Foreign Words, use of this word was not recorded. Paradoxically, however, after the VLKK decided not to include the equivalent buzzes in the final List of Equivalents for Foreign Words, this word gradually began to spread in online texts and continues to As presented in the sources.2 The search was conducted only for the nominative form.3 140 KALBOS KULTŪRA | 85 has been in use to this day, while the equivalents included in the list, pratęstuvės and povakaris, are used only sporadically; sometimes the foreign word is given in parentheses, on the assumption that the reader may not understand the Lithuanian equivalent, e.g.: On Sunday, after the live broadcast, the team from the LNK project “Lietuvos balsas” traditionally continued the evening at dūzgėse. (ND II 2012 05 28) Donatas does not intend to attend the official semifinal dūzges. He will go to rest at the hotel, where Lithuanians in Baku are throwing him a celebration. [About the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest. – D. M.] (II 2012 05 25) The evening program at the “Centras11” Festival dūzgių (on October 9 at the “Kultūra” café (K. Donelaičio 16) will be opened by David Ellis, a friend from England, long awaited and last seen in Kaunas ages ago. (II 2011 09 23) This Friday, May 25, “The Prodigy” dūzgės will take place for the first time in Lithuania, on the airwaves of the “Power Hit Radio” station. (II 2011 05 21) On Sunday night, not only the participants in “Lietuvos balsas” but also the teachers and organizers of the LNK project gathered at the dūzgėse, held at the “Seacret” club. (II 2011 05 21) Povakaris begins when the party at the club gets boring, the night gets underway and there are too many people, but you don't want to head home early… (II 2011 07 26) After the “official” part, everyone who came can look forward to a wild pratęstuvės with folkoteka..! (II 2012 03 10) Can't make it to today's LA Christmas event at 18:00? Join us at the pratęstuvėse (afterparty)! (IK 2011 12 29) Based on these data, it can be concluded that Lithuanian equivalents for afteparčio only appeared in usage once they began to be discussed publicly. 3. ANALYSIS OF COMMENTS Of the 495 comments on the article published on the Delfi portal (see Introductory Notes), 283 were selected for analysis. The most informative were considered to be comments that presented the following: a) equivalents for afteparčio proposed by readers; b) evaluation of equivalents for afteparčio considered by the VLKK, and its implications (e.g., linguistic attitudes); c) reasoning about the standardization of loanwords. D. MACKO. Svetimžodžio aftepartis atitikmenų vertinimas interneto komentaruose 141 Based on the initial analysis, comments were divided into the following thematic groups according to the authors’ evaluative attitudes: 1) general evaluation of loanword standardization; 2) evaluation of Lithuanian equivalents for afteparčio according to the following criteria: a) semantics, b) productivity and functionality, c) predictions of prevalence; 3) proposals for other equivalents. 3.1. General assessment of the standardization of loanwords In the discussion examined, people not only share opinions about equivalents for the specific word afteparčio and other loanwords, but also discuss much broader questions of language standardization. Criticism is voiced (most often directed at linguists and the work they do—and not always constructively); more rarely, suggestions are made to those who standardize the language. There were approximately twice as many comments expressing unfavorable views of language standardization as favorable, constructive ones. Many of these assessments had already been voiced in earlier online discussions about language, in which the meaningfulness of linguists’ work was also questioned, coercive methods of standardization were perceived, and it was proposed that only the communicative function of language be respected, and so on (Miliūnaitė 2006, 2009; Nevinskaitė 2008). The comments examined repeat the view that a Lithuanian equivalent is unnecessary both for the word aftepartis and for other loanwords in general, on the grounds that they are all international words and therefore should not be replaced4: Why make people’s lives more difficult? I don’t understand... Around the world, the practice is that if a word is new, it can be borrowed from the original language; after all, that is what happened with Lithuanian too—some words became Lithuanianized, but are of foreign origin. Among Indians, every other word is English, because their old language has no equivalents for new things. I see no alternative to international words... Most new words are international. And there’s no need to rave here about preserving the language by eliminating international words... If linguists only know how to translate, then rock music should also be eradicated from the Lithuanian language. Let it be a sour stone or a crag. There should be a referendum on this. 4 The spelling and punctuation of the comments have been corrected slightly, while preserving all their other linguistic features, except where authentic spelling illustrates the position expressed in the comment. 142 KALBOS KULTŪRA | 85 After all, you don’t call your Jeep a heavy goods vehicle. You call it a Jeep... Why??? You have to be consistent in everything... Such arguments only confirm that the public lacks information about the criteria (or does not seek it out) on the basis of which Lithuanian substitutes are proposed for loanwords, and the cases in which a word is recognized as international. It was mentioned more than once in the discussion that language users themselves could also help disseminate Lithuanian equivalents. Some comments reveal language users’ awareness and willingness to take responsibility and participate in the process of language standardization, while language preservation is seen as part of fostering national identity5: It doesn’t take much intelligence or imagination simply to Lithuanianize an English word by adding a Lithuanian ending, but what will the Lithuanian language turn into in a few years? <...> After all, inventing a new, original Lithuanian word is a wonderful opportunity for self-expression! If you don’t like the efforts of linguists, why not try doing it yourselves? Lithuanian equivalents are absolutely necessary, since Lithuanian is one of the oldest languages and is very rich; foreign words should not be used. That reluctance to create words in one’s own language shows people’s provincial way of thinking and lack of identity. It is a peasant mentality, in which people are ashamed of anything of their own in front of city dwellers and try to imitate them. It is appalling and sad that Lithuanians have so little self-respect. A free person speaking with Lithuanians would never say “afterpaty”... it’s just awful. “Dūzgės” isn’t great either, of course, but at least the effort deserves praise. I’m in favor of many new concepts having a Lithuanian word. Several comments criticize language users’ preconceived, stereotype-based attitudes, draw attention to bias in judgments, and point to the influence of the way popular people (“authorities”) speak on whether a particular word catches on and is used6: Everyone is mocking the Language Commission now, but if “dūzgės” were to pop up in some advertisement or some Lithuanian celebrity said it, everyone would start calling it that. We can’t create anything ourselves; why can’t we be proud and have our own style, using words in our own style, exactly as we want? “Dūzgės,” for instance, is a really fun little word, and I genuinely think it’s great; it even brings a pleasant smile to my face. It’s a really cool little word—fun. 5 Apie kalbinio sąmoningumo ugdymo svarbą žr. Miliūnaitė 2006: 77–78. 6 For more on the sociopsychological preconditions for borrowing foreign words, see Vaicekauskienė 2007: 78. D. MACKO. Svetimžodžio aftepartis atitikmenų vertinimas interneto komentaruose 143 In addition, language users miss a sense of system in language-planning work, and therefore are quick to conclude that linguists’ advice arises from “having nothing better to do.” Perhaps because the criteria for language planning have remained elusive to some, categorical statements appeared in the discussion, reflecting an inclination to follow one’s own judgment and disregard linguists’ proposals (“I’ll speak however I want”). Some feel that an unnatural, artificial language is being imposed, and they also perceive coercion. For example: Well, let the linguists speak that way themselves if they want to so badly; people will speak however they want, and no one will stop them from speaking the way they want!!!! It feels as though they want to force us to speak a synthetic language, that is, a language that ordinary Lithuanians have to learn in addition... Besides, language is like a living creature; it changes along with people. Only dead languages, such as Latin, do not change. Yet it seems linguists think otherwise. Either language must not change, or we have to use obviously absurd neologisms... No language “enthusiast” will prove that we need to use a different form, because that enthusiasm comes through COERCION... Psychological, perhaps, but COERCION... By the way, psychological coer-cion hurts considerably more.. Some commenters suggest paying attention only to language’s communicative purpose—that is, it is enough to speak in such a way that speakers understand one another: I think movement and language are the basis of communication among people and nations. It doesn’t matter how, as long as you can communicate, that’s good. The purpose of language is to convey thoughts simply and quickly from one person to another, distorting them as little as possible. Anything that goes beyond these bounds is just beating around the bush. I just don’t understand at all why we should artificially create words that simply don’t exist in Lithuanian. If you say such a new word to a Lithuanian speaker and they don’t understand what it means, then the word is completely unsuitable. A simple way to check whether the word will be used.:) The comments quoted show that there is a lack of information about the principles of language-planning work. In addition, it is important that information be presented clearly to language users and not mislead them; otherwise, paradoxical reactions arise—people criticize the VLKK for variants of equivalents that they themselves proposed. Disseminating information about language-planning criteria is essential, because users intuitively seek them out themselves and, when information is lacking, tend to think that no criteria for language planning exist at all. For example: 144 KALBOS KULTŪRA | 85 Who has the right to invent them [new words]—if not the people themselves, over time? But here, you see, a few old ladies have the right to shape the entire Lithuanian language and culture according to their own wishes. Language and words should develop naturally, rather than being invented by linguists—changing words... The best thing would be to hold a competition and let people themselves suggest a replacement. Then select the most successful one, rejecting those that do not meet the language standards. The language belongs not to linguists, but to all of us. Why are there no votes, or at least polls? 3.2. Assessment of Lithuanian equivalents for the foreign word aftepartis The equivalent of aftepartis that received the most positive evaluations was dužgės (33 positive evaluations). Some commenters expressed agreement with or rejected an equivalent without giving reasons for their assessments. Even the most laconic commenters reacted to the equivalent dužgės with particular emotion and enthusiasm; it even stirred patriotic feelings. Readers readily incorporated this equivalent into their own usage, and some immediately offered possible examples of how it could be used: Dužgės sounds cool, I liked it:D And I liked dužgės. So Lithuanian. Come on, fall in love with our language! I like dužgės:)))))))))) IT SOUNDS GREAT AND FUN!!!:)))))))) Dužgės, dužgės, dužgės. You couldn’t come up with anything better. Duuuuuuužgės duuuuuuuuužgės, let’s go to the duuuuuuuužgės. A ridiculously funny word. Our crew approves of dužgės! We’re already using this word... Tonight’s dužgės were really good. Several people explained why they consider dužgės the most acceptable equivalent. One argument was its sound: the word’s sound was perceived as resembling Spanish, which was seen as an advantage. The simplicity of the word’s formation was also viewed favorably: It has a nice ring to it, e.g. “let’s go to dužges”—it somehow even sounds Spanish;) Dužgės—at last, they’ve considered who needs the word most: young people, after all, so they came up with a really fun word. Good that it isn’t a compound or formed from a root and prefix. An energetic word. D. MACKO. Svetimžodžio aftepartis atitikmenų vertinimas interneto komentaruose 145 Some criticized the complicated spelling of the word dūzgės and other equivalents: Young people communicate a lot in WRITING nowadays, and simply don’t use letters like Ą Č Ę Ė į š ų ū Ž, so I guess they should have suggested not DŪZGĖ but DŪZGĖ. As always, some kind of nonsense, full of diacritics, little hooks, compound words... Almost impossible to pronounce. Other equivalents received fewer and less extreme evaluations: It really livens up and enriches the language; I like sour rock and povakaris, while pizza is, for example, keptainis, and sushi is ryžsuktinis. I really like the word pratęstuvės. I choose “pratęstuvės”—it sounds normal! Pratęstuvės and sąspietis sound cool;DD The proposed povakaris is sufficiently neutral and good. 3.3. Semantics of Lithuanian equivalents for the foreign word afterpartis In the comments examined, the semantic aspects of equivalents for the foreign word afterpartis were discussed most extensively; of these, commenters were most interested in the equivalent dūzgės. For more than one commenter, the word dūzgės was associated with bees, though other associations were also expressed. Based on the comments, at least three shades of meaning of the word dūzgės can be distinguished, which proved important to the commenters: 1. Associated with bees, beekeepers, and so on (the first meaning of dūgzti in LKŽ is “to hum, said of flying insects”). One commenter drew attention to the accidental contextual similarity between the words dūzgės and sąspietis (the equivalent of flashmob), since the latter probably brought to mind the word spiečius: Dūzgės, sąspietis... Did linguists really suggest these, and not some beekeepers? People who agree here with the word “dūzgės” coined by linguists have probably never used the word “afterpartis” in their lives and do not even understand its meaning, but probably now think it has something to do with bees and the buzzing of bees. ‘Dūzgės’ somehow brings bees to mind, honey harvesting. Maybe there’s some logic to it... If there are no bees there, then what’s buzzing?.. Dūzgė—what does that have to do with parties? Nobody buzzes there; they should call a beehive a dūzgė. 2. Negative connotations. This shade of meaning is also given in the dictionary (a frivolous woman, DLKŽ). Some commenters state that in everyday speech- 146 KALBOS KULTŪRA | 85 those using the equivalent dūzgės or its verbal form dūzginti(s) with this or a similar meaning: Suggest that you go and hang out with some girl—you might get slapped in the face if she’s very high-minded... Where we’re from, “dūzgės” was what they called girls you could hang out with. The name “dūzgės” suits sluts very well... They work their tails off. We conducted an experiment: we called the men back and suggested “hanging out” after work... What do you think, did they understand us perfectly?! 3. Other meanings. For one participant in the discussion, the sound of the word dūzgės brought to mind a piece of machinery (to hum while machines are running, DLKŽ): To me, “dūzgės” maybe brings to mind a humming coffee grinder or a loom. Another commenter recognized the dictionary meaning to hum, buzz, have fun (DLKŽ): I don’t know what those dūzgės are either, but at least I’m trying to understand; apparently something is buzzing there, so to speak, having fun. For some commenters, the semantically most accurate equivalent of afterparty seemed to be pratęstuvės. Although another suggested equivalent, povakaris, could be considered the most accurate because it follows the working principle of after-party (after + evening, i.e. an event after a party), some pointed out that here an event called a vakarėlis (party) does not necessarily take place in the evening. From this perspective, the equivalent pratęstuvės seems more rational and precise. The opinion was also expressed that this equivalent reflects the essence of the phenomenon more accurately than dūzgės: Well, pratęstuvės sounds quite normal, since an afterparty need not necessarily be in the evening... For afterparty, a compound word would be better, one carrying the sense that it is something added to the main event, whereas dūzgės is too much of a separate, independent word. That is why pratęstuvės is more suitable. I’m curious why the equivalent of party, vakarėlis, caught on. Most parties don’t usually start in the evening at all, but at night, and continue until morning.:) One comment drew attention to the related term after-party, pre-party (a note on consistency): Now all that’s left is to come up with an interesting name for pre-party.:D D. MACKO. Svetimžodžio afterpartis atitikmenų vertinimas interneto komentaruose 147 3.4. Productivity and functionality of Lithuanian equivalents for the foreign word aftepartis The article’s commenters supplied plenty of examples illustrating the use of proposed equivalents for the foreign word. These playfully test the productivity and functionality of the new word in various linguistic situations and attempt to model how the equivalent would function in real-life speech. Based on the comments analyzed, it can be argued that although dūzgės were ultimately not included in the final list of equivalents, they were the most acceptable to internet users, or at least aroused the greatest curiosity, since the comments included quite a few sentences, albeit in a somewhat mocking tone, showing how this equivalent fits with other words. To describe the action, readers proposed the forms dūgzti, padūgzti, dūzgintis, pasidūzginti; names for participants in the event were also suggested: dūzgelis and dūzgelė. It is worth noting that the foreignism aftepartis does not offer such derivational possibilities. One comment revealed a connection between the verb pasidūzginti and the slang term pasitūšinti—this rhyme, it seems, could help the Lithuanian equivalent take root in informal, non-public speech as well. These examples of usage supplied by readers show that language users have an instinct for language which enables them to apply new words in use in an elegant and inventive way: LET’S GO PARTY – LET’S GO DŪZGINTI!!!!:DDDD Hey! Who’s going to the dūzgės;DD And those for whom even the heavy ball proves too heavy can padūgzti with friends at a soccer match. … when I was dūzgiau-ing yesterday, I couldn’t even find my wallet today [...]. I rushed to the gathering with a coffee maker in hand, and lo and behold—there were already dūzgės there... The hackers were dūzginosi at their screens. I saw lots of tuštutės7 at Tom’s dūzgė:DDDDDDDDDDD A participant would be a dūzgelis or dūzgelė. 3.5. Predictions about the adoption of Lithuanian equivalents for the foreign word aftepartis Some discussion participants expressed their views in comments on whether the equivalents would catch on. Usually these comments were concise, but some participants supported their opinions with arguments that— 7The commenter mentions a Lithuanian slang equivalent, fifa, which was actively discussed in other online forums, including the discussion section of the VLKK website. 148 KALBOS KULTŪRA | 85 Most considered the equivalent dūzgės, and nearly all enthusiastically agreed that this equivalent should catch on in the language. They gave as reasons either that other equivalents had also seemed strange at first but later caught on, or that dūzgės is a very funny word and would therefore appeal to language users, even if they used it with a different meaning from the one proposed: Those “dūzgės” sound so crazy that perhaps they’ll catch on even better than the boringly normal “povakariai” or “pratęstuvės”. Dūzgės will catch on because it’s a very funny word.:) Oh, “dūzgė” is a pretty good word. It sounds good.:))) Why not? Maybe it’ll catch on.:D Pratęstuvės—great. It’ll catch on. After a wild party, on to dūzgės. It’s all very simple; I think this little word will catch on. Maybe it’ll even replace “tūsą” itself. Just dūzgės, because, as someone already wrote here, it’s a very funny word and will catch on quickly. “Let’s go to dūzgės,” “Shall we dūzginsim after the party?” “Let’s go padūzginti.” I think ordinary people will just change its meaning a little... Others commented with doubts about whether the equivalent would catch on: Dūzgės is “cool,” but the question is whether it’ll catch on. Well, mėsaĭnis caught on, and it sounded awful at first. Dūzgės... Oh yeah:D Pretty good word... Why use Americanisms when we can come up with words of our own like this? (I’d have come up with pašventęs, actually:D, but dūzgės is even better—maybe it’ll catch on after this article.) Fun suggestions, that’s all; maybe something will catch on over time. Some were skeptical: It will catch on just like the trolleybus =wire-bender. The negative opinion about the adoption of “buzzwords” was based on the argument that afterpartis does not belong to the official lexicon, so there is no point in standardizing it; moreover, people who disregard the official linguistic environment will still tend to use the loanword they already know rather than get used to an unfamiliar equivalent: Those linguists [...] invent words that will never catch on, though we will be required to use them in official documents. But I doubt that afterpartis even appears in such documents. So why invent it? D. MACKO. Svetიმžodžio aftepartis atitikmenų vertinimas interneto komentaruose 149 3.6. Equivalents for the loanword aftepartis proposed by users In all, readers proposed 52 equivalents for aftepartis in the comments examined (12 of them vulgarisms and barbarisms). These are among the more interesting ones: pribaigtinės, nulūžtinės, pošventis, šėlionė, trūkbalis, džegudžionėliai, balausās, šventipiečiai, pratęstukas, povakarone, trūkvakaris. Some of the proposed equivalents do not conform to language norms (dasimuštukė, alasas, pobalius, etc.). 4. STANDARDIZATION CRITERIA APPLIED BY USERS When evaluating equivalents for loanwords, the authors of the comments examined did not directly apply or identify correctness as a criterion, even though it is recognized as one of the most important in language standardization. For example, attention is drawn to this criterion in an article on another news portal addressing the same topic of supplementing a list of loanwords, which quotes Irena Smetonienė, chair of the VLKK (Miknevičius 2011): “The commission does not come up with Lithuanian equivalents for loanwords that need one on its own. Specialists from various fields contact us when they face the question of how to replace one term or another in Lithuanian. Our staff then search the internet to see what equivalents are already in use. The variants they find are submitted to the commission for consideration. If a word is correctly formed and some people use it, it is included in the List of Loanword Equivalents,” kaunodiena.lt quoted Irena Smetonienė, chair of the VLKK. The equivalents for aftepartis proposed by users suggest that correctness is often disregarded. However, whether consciously or intuitively, commenters took the criterion of systemic consistency into account when evaluating the equivalents: discussing aftepartis also brought to mind prepartis, which, like beforepartis, had gone unnoticed by the Language Commission8. The examples of equivalent usage examined show that the productivity of the equivalents was being tested. The discussion also addressed semantic aspects of the equivalents—how adequately the equivalent matched the meaning of the borrowing (see Norminimo principai 2007). Economy 8 Another article’s reader also drew attention to this sarcastically: If there is already AFTERIS (English AFTER, Lithuanian PO [AFTER]), then there must also be BEFORIS. Surely you could have written what the BEFORIS was like (that is, BEFORE in English, Lithuanian PRIEŠ [BEFORE] the awards). Then you could move on to AFTERIO (that is, PO... [AFTER...] the awards). Or perhaps there will soon be BETVYNĖS (English BETWEEN, that is, between... the awards). A gang of idiots mangling the Lithuanian language with loanwords! SHAME!!! (Juška 2012) 150 KALBOS KULTŪRA | 85 The criterion was not commented on in the discussion, most likely because all three Lithuanian equivalents for *aftepartis* were either shorter or made up of the same number of syllables as the loanword *aftepartis*. CONCLUSIONS 1. The evaluations of Lithuanian equivalents for the loanword *aftepartis* offered by readers in the comments examined can be classified according to three criteria: the semantic properties of the equivalent; the derivational potential and/or functionality of the new word; and predictions about whether the proposed equivalent will catch on. The discussion reviewed also reveals public attitudes toward the problem of Lithuanian equivalents: it highlights gaps in the systematicity of language planning and in the implementation of norms, as well as problems in the understanding of loanwords. 2. Some of the criteria used by participants in the discussion examined to evaluate equivalents for loanwords coincide with those followed by the VLKK (Norminimo principai 2007). 3. Although many commenters tend to react negatively to language planning, most view the proposed aftepartis equivalents favorably; moreover, there is no shortage of suggestions for alternative equivalents. 4. Among the main expectations of language users are to participate in the language-planning process and to safeguard the communicative function of language (not to impede communication). The comments analyzed show that what is least clear to the online community is the distinction between international words and loanwords, and the rationale behind it. 5. The criticism expressed by language users concerns such perceived shortcomings of language planning as a lack of systematicity, its coercive nature, and the “synthetic” result of such planning—a “contrived” (unnatural) language. 6. It can be argued that language users resist language planning when they lack sufficient information about its rationale; therefore, when introducing Lithuanian equivalents, it is important to provide a clear justification for the planning decisions and to disseminate the norms being introduced. ŠALTINIAI DELFI 2011: „Afterpartis“: dūzgės, povakaris ar pratęstuvės? Prieiga per internetą: <http://www.delfi.lt/news/daily/lithuania/afterparti-kalbininkai-siulo-vadinti-dzugemis.d?id=44160179> 2011 m. balandžio 8 d. (žiūrėta 2012 m. gegužės mėn.). D. MACKO. Svetimžodžio aftepartis atitikmenų vertinimas interneto komentaruose 151 DLKŽ 2011: Dabartinės lietuvių kalbos žodynas. Trečias elektroninis leidimas. Vilnius: Lietuvių kalbos institutas. Prieiga per internetą: <http://dz.lki.lt> (žiūrėta 2012 m. gegužės mėn.). II: interneto informacija (naujienų portalai, elektroniniai leidiniai ir pan.). IK: interneto komunikacija (forumai, tinklaraščiai, socialiniai tinklai ir pan.). LKŽ 2005: Lietuvių kalbos žodynas. Elektroninis leidimas. Vilnius: Lietuvių kalbos institutas. Prieiga per internetą: <http://www.lkz.lt> (žiūrėta 2012 m. gegužės mėn.). MW: Merriam-Webster. Prieiga per internetą: <http://www.merriam-webster.com> (žiūrėta 2012 m. gegužės mėn.). ND: Lietuvių kalbos naujažodžių duomenynas. Prieiga per internetą: <http://naujažodziai.lki.lt> (žiūrėta 2012 m. gegužės mėn.). OD: Oxford Dictionary. Prieiga per internetą: <http://oxforddictionaries.com> (žiūrėta 2012 m. gegužės mėn.). UD: The Urban Dictionary. Prieiga per internetą: <http://www.urbandictionary.com> (žiūrėta 2012 m. gegužės mėn.). VDU: VDU tekstynas. Prieiga per internetą: <http://tekstynas.vdu.lt/tekstynas> (žiūrėta 2012 m. gegužės mėn.). Wi: Wikipedia. Prieiga per internetą: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page> (žiūrėta 2012 m. gegužės mėn.). LITERATŪRA Atitikmenų sąrašas 2010: Protokolinis nutarimas dėl svetimžodžių atitikmenų sąrašo. Valstybinės lietuvių kalbos komisijos protokolinis nutarimas PN-6, 2010 m. spalio 28 d. Prieiga per internetą: <http://www.vlkk.lt/lit/95215> (žiūrėta 2012 m. gegužės mėn.). Atitikmenų sąrašas 2011: Dėl Valstybinės lietuvių kalbos komisijos 2010 m. spalio 28 d. protokolinio nutarimo Nr. PN-6 „Dėl svetimžodžių atitikmenų sąrašo“ papildymo. Valstybinės lietuvių kalbos komisijos protokolinis nutarimas Nr. PN-4, 2011 m. balandžio 7 d. Prieiga per internetą: <http://www.vlkk.lt/lit/97210> (žiūrėta 2012 m. gegužės mėn.). DELFI 2010: Siūlykite lietuviškus atitikmenis svetimybėms! 2010 m. balandžio 8 d. Prieiga per internetą: <http://www.delfi.lt/news/daily/lithuania/siulykite-lietuviskus-atikmenis-svetimybems.d?id=30856273&categoryID=7> (žiūrėta 2012 m. gegužės mėn.). Juška K. 2012: M.A.M.A. „afteris“ su žvaigždėmis – iki paryčių, 2012 m. sausio 9 d. Prieiga per internetą: <http://pramogos.delfi.lt/people/mama-afteris-su-zvaigzdemis-iki-paryciu.d?id=53906971> (žiūrėta 2012 m. gegužės mėn.). 152 KALBOS KULTŪRA | 85 Miknevičius L. 2011: Į „dūzges“ po vakarelio neisime, 2011 m. balandžio 8 d. Prieiga per internetą: <http://kauno.diena.lt/naujienos/lietuva/i-duzges-po-vakarelio-neisime-atnaujinta-343897#axzz1vgxnzJ17> (žiūrėta 2012 m. gegužės mėn.). Miliūnaitė R. 2006: Internetinė visuomenė ir kalbininkai: pokalbis įmanomas? – Bendrinės kalbos norminimas ir vartojimas [mokslo straipsnių rink.]. Vilnius: Mokslo ir enciklopedijų leidybos institutas, 62–81. Miliūnaitė R. 2009: Interneto komentuotojų nuostatos dėl lietuvių kalbos priežiūros. – Kalbos kultūra 82, 149–172. Nevinskaitė L. 2008: Kalbos politikos vertinimas interneto komentaruose. – Kalbos kultūra 81, 245–265. Norminimo principai 2007: Bendrieji naujųjų skolinių norminimo principai, 2007 m. vasario 15 d. Prieiga per internetą: <http://www.vlkk.lt/lit/88922> (žiūrėta 2012 m. gegužės mėn.). Rekomendacijos 2010: Dėl rekomendacijų dėl svetimžodžių vartojimo teikimo principų. Valstybinės lietuvių kalbos komisijos protokolinis nutarimas Nr. PN-4, 2010 m. gegužės 27 d. Prieiga per internetą: <http://www.vlkk.lt/lit/93829> (žiūrėta 2012 m. gegužės mėn.). Vaicekauskienė L. 2007: Naujieji lietuvių kalbos svetimžodžiai, Vilnius: Lietuvių kalbos institutas. Gauta 2012 06 15 EVALUATION OF THE EQUIVALENTS OF THE LOANWORD AFTEPARTIS IN THE COMMENTS OF THE INTERNET COMMUNITY Summary The paper deals with readers’ comments on the article “Afterpartis”: dūzgės, po-vakaris ar pratęstuvės?“ published on the internet news portal “DELFI” on 8 April 2011. An attempt is made to establish the criteria on which the evaluations of the Lithuanian equivalents of the loanword afterpartis (afterparty) are based. In addition, the general linguistic attitudes of society towards the codification of loanwords are overviewed. The reviewed comments were divided into groups according to their subject: evaluation of loanwords, evaluation of the Lithuanian equivalents of afterpartis, and proposals for other equivalents. Analysis of the general loanword evaluation shows that the communicative function of language is most valuable for many language users, while the conceptions of an international word and a loanword D. MACKO. Svetimžodžio afterpartis atitikmenų vertinimas interneto komentaruose 153 and their limits are the most problematic. Although the majority of the participants of this discussion think negatively of language codification their criticism shows that on the one hand language users are not indifferent to language codification, yet on the other hand they lack information about language norms, yet their implementation. The research established that the Lithuanian equivalents of afterpartis were evaluated thoroughly by the readers – semantic content, easiness of derivation and functionality were taken into consideration as well as the probability of entering usage. The researched comments lead to the conclusion that the internet community considered the criteria of systematicity, derivability and adequacy of meaning and did not apply the criteria of linguistic correctness. It appears that readers tend to find derivational relations between words intuitively and apply them creatively when using new equivalents of loanwords. There is a probability that society would take language norms and codification criteria into consideration more if it had more information about them. This is confirmed by the numerous examples of the usage applications of the new equivalents provided by the readers as well as by the wish of language users to participate in language standardization activities as revealed by the discussion. KEYWORDS: equivalent, linguistic attitudes, dissemination of norms, loanword. DAIVA MACKO Lietuvių kalbos institutas P. Vileišio g. 5, LT-10308 Vilnius [email protected] 154 KALBOS KULTŪRA | 85