THE 19TH JONO JABLONSKIS CONFERENCE TO MARK THE CENTENARY OF LITHUANIAN LANGUAGE SYNTAX

The nineteenth (since 1993) Jono Jablonskis Conference took place at Vilnius University on October 5, 2012. Organized by the Department of Standard Language of the Institute of the Lithuanian Language and the Department of Lithuanian Language of Vilnius University, this year’s conference was devoted to marking the centenary of Rygiškių Jonas’s (J. Jablonskis’s) Lietuvių kalbos sintaksė, published in Seinai in 1911. Five papers on syntactic theory and practice were presented: speakers discussed the use of words, word combinations, and sentences, and examined trends in the development of syntax. The benefits and importance of Lietuvių kalbos sintaksė, described as a gift to the Lithuanian language, for schools were emphasized: until then, textbooks containing a section on syntax had been sorely lacking.

In his paper “Examples in Part I of Rygiškių Jonas’s Lie-tuvių kalbos sintaksės, Their Sources, Purpose, and Methods of Presentation,” VITAS LABUTIS (Vilnius University) discussed the more than 2,900 examples from spoken and written language presented in the 110-page publication. Most of them had not been recorded anywhere else. Recognizing that syntactic laws and rules could be established from an abundance of spoken language, folklore, and carefully selected examples of written language, J. Jablonskis meticulously and precisely classified them according to sentence constituents, sentence types, and other syntactic features; this classification was therefore also used in later syntactic works. J. Jablonskis’s Lietuvių kalbos sintaksė encouraged other linguists, too, to venture more boldly into syntactic research.

ALBINAS DRUKTEINIS (Klaipėda University) presented the results of research into the reduction of semantic sentence structures (“Reduction of Semantic Sentence Structure: The Type Involving Actant Incorporation”), including both generalizing research and studies of individual lexemes. Conference participants were interested to learn that restructuring a sentence and creating a secondary sentence often allow for variation (subjectivization, nominalization of the predicate, or reduction of its structure, etc.), expressing different speaker intentions.

RITA MILIŪNAITĖ (Institute of the Lithuanian Language), drawing attention to syntactic constructions expressing states, presented the paper “Expression of State in Constructions with the Verb tapti: The Conflict Between Usage and Codification” at the conference. The linguist raised the problem that the codified norm does not always—

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—coincide with actual usage and is not stable. Although predicate adjectives in constructions with tapti should take the double-case construction, such constructions quite often seem unnatural when the cases are matched in attributive position. In light of current usage data, it was proposed that the codification of these constructions be reassessed and, if compelling arguments were found, revised.

RASUOLĖ VLADARSKIENĖ (Institute of the Lithuanian Language), addressing the topic “Standardization of Complex Sentences with Subordinate Clauses,” compared recommendations for the use of complex sentences in earlier prescriptive publications with those followed today. Most attention was devoted to subordinate clauses linked by the word kuris. Participants discussed when this type of complex sentence is correct and when it should be revised, since its usage has yet to be properly investigated. As a result, the rules are not clearly defined, and language users face difficulties. Most conference participants held that the key consideration should be the meaning of the subordinate clause—that is, whether it specifies the word or phrase with which the pronoun kuris agrees. The sequence of actions was considered somewhat less influential in determining whether such sentences are correct.

In her paper “Syntactic Corpus,” DAIVA ŠVEIKAUSKIENĖ (Institute of the Lithuanian Language) raised the issue that Lithuanian is one of the least computerized languages in Europe. No corpora identifying syntactic functions have yet been created in Lithuania, whereas such corpora are very popular elsewhere in the world (they differ in the number of languages, annotation format, and/or scope), and their data are widely used in various computer technologies. The speaker discussed plans to compile a Lithuanian syntactic corpus which, based on dependency grammar and taking account of the principles of traditional grammar, would be extremely valuable to all language users.

Suggestions on how to develop language research and improve the codification of standards came not only from the speakers but also from conference participants. At every Jono Jablonskis Conference, participants share their experience and insights and engage in lively discussion, while celebrating the fact that the work of standardizing the norms of standard Lithuanian is continuing productively.

Received 2012 12 01

UGNĖ TAMAŠAUSKAITĖ

Institute of the Lithuanian Language

5 P. Vileišio St., LT-10308 Vilnius

[email protected]

19-oji Jono Jablonskio konferencija Lietuvių kalbos sintaksės šimtmečiui paminėti

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