Iš Valstybinės lietuvių kalbos komisijos veiklos

APŽVALGOS, RECENZIJOS, INFORMACIJA ACTIVITIES OF THE STATE COMMISSION OF THE LITHUANIAN LANGUAGE (Prepared on the basis of the 2009 report of the Language Commission) LANGUAGE PROGRAMMES The main aims and objectives of the Language Commission’s activities are implemented through language programmes approved by the Government of the Republic of Lithuania. In 2009, three language programmes continued to be carried out: “Legal and Administrative Supervision of the State Language,” the 2001–2010 Programme for the Preservation of Dialects and Ethnic Place Names, and the 2006–2015 Programme for the Standardisation, Use, Development and Dissemination of the State Language. LEGAL PROTECTION OF THE STATE LANGUAGE Employees of the Language Commission actively participated in drafting an amendment to Article 135 of the Statute of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania, which is very important for the quality of the terminology used in legal acts. The article now includes a provision that the explanatory memorandum submitted to the Seimas together with every draft law must state whether the draft law was prepared in accordance with the requirements of the laws on the State Language and on the Procedure for Drafting Laws and Other Legal Normative Acts, and whether it complies with the norms of standard Lithuanian; it must also state whether the concepts in the draft and the terms denoting them have been assessed in accordance with the Law on the Term Bank and its implementing legal acts. Comments and suggestions were submitted to various institutions concerning 10 draft laws and other legal acts. The Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Lithuania was alerted to concerns about the quality of teachers’ language, and it was proposed that additions be made to the Regulations for the Attestation of Teach- 342 KALBOS KULTŪRA | 83 ers and Student Support Specialists to help ensure that teachers of various subjects use correct language. The Ministry of Education and Science’s proposal on integrated teaching of a subject and a foreign language in secondary and basic education programmes was considered. In the Commission’s view, integrated teaching in basic school would be premature, since at that stage pupils have not yet acquired subject knowledge (especially vocabulary) in their native language. The Language Commission’s opinion on problems concerning the use of the state language in educational institutions of municipalities in Vilnius County was submitted to the Seimas Committee on Education, Science and Culture. It was emphasised that the state’s education policy regarding schools where instruction is not in Lithuanian should be reviewed first. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE LAW OF THE REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA ON THE TERM BANK The Term Bank of the Republic of Lithuania continued to be supplemented and maintained. In 2009, more than 1,000 entries of legal act terms were published in it, as well as 13,000 terms taken from terminology dictionaries and other sources (another 10,000 entries from terminology dictionaries were entered into the Bank’s interim database). At the end of the year, the Term Bank contained a total of 145,395 entries: 5,171 approved terms, 139,116 recommended terms, and 1,108 non-recommended terms. At the joint meeting of the Seimas Committees on European Affairs and on Education, Science and Culture on 1 April 2009, a decision was adopted seeking to ensure cooperation between Lithuanian experts and translators, terminologists and editors of EU institutions on the one-stop-shop principle. The State Commission of the Lithuanian Language, as the coordinating institution, was tasked with reconciling the opinions of experts from terminology commissions of Lithuanian state institutions and/or research and higher education institutions, as well as linguists and terminologists, and submitting final decisions on terms to translation departments of EU institutions. STANDARDIZATION AND EXPERT ACTIVITIES In 2009, the Language Commission held 6 meetings. The subcommissions held 79 meetings: Terminology – 41, Proper Names – 18, Textbooks – 15, Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar – 2, Pronunciation and Accentuation – 1, Joint Iš Valstybinės lietuvių kalbos komisijos veiklos 343 Accentuation and Proper Names – 1, Dictionary – 1, and the group preparing the Language Programme for Teacher Training – 1. About 150 expert opinions were prepared for various institutions and individuals on personal names, place names, terms and concepts, the names of companies, institutions and organizations, the language of documents, and other matters. Terminology. At meetings of the Language Commission, 4 terminology dictionaries were reviewed and given a positive assessment; 9 terminology standards and more than 1,000 legal act terms were approved. The Terminology Subcommission reviewed 1,224 term entries from 39 draft legal acts and 12 inventoried legal acts, submitted to the Term Bank by terminology commissions of 17 state institutions. It also reviewed terminology dictionaries (5), Lithuanian terminology standards (8), names of poisonous plants (120), crustacean nomenclature names (118), the list of terms in the publication “Fundamentals of Professional Driving Practice,” and a list of cosmetics vocabulary submitted by the Lithuanian Association of Cosmetics and Household Chemicals Manufacturers “Likochema.” A recommendation, “Lithuanian Names of Medicinal Plants,” was prepared and approved by a protocol resolution of the State Commission of the Lithuanian Language on 9 April 20091. A recommendation on Lithuanian names of melliferous plants was also prepared, while recommendations on Lithuanian names of forage plants and ornamental plants, as well as a book of Lithuanian names of plants used for technical purposes, were being prepared. About 600 consultations on terminology, replacing foreign words, and translation were provided by email and telephone. The main recipients were translators and editors of European Union institutions, Lithuanian national experts, as well as Lithuanian civil servants, employees of private institutions, and other inquirers. Personal Names and Place Names. The State Commission of the Lithuanian Language adopted a resolution on changing the names of countries2 and a resolution on changing the names of capital cities3. The Proper Names Subcommission continued to review material from the Register of Names of Lithuanian Citizens: names of Baltic origin that are not included in the dictionary of the origins of Lithuanian names by Kazimieras Kuzavinis and Bronys Savukynas, which has hitherto been regarded as a recommended reference work, Dictionary of the Origins of Lithuanian Names, 1 Informaciniai pranešimai, 2009, Nr. 30–409. 2 Valstybės žinios, 2009, Nr. 21-845. 3 Valstybės žinios, 2009, Nr. 21-846. 344 KALBOS KULTŪRA | 83 forms, accentuation, work, spelling, and conformity to language standards. The dictionary World Place Names, Volume 3, Africa. Antarctica. Australia. Oceania, was also considered: its reviews and final text, as well as the texts in Part 1 of Volume 4, Asia, and the rules for adapting some Asian languages. At the request of the editors of the Office for Official Publications of the European Communities (OPOCE), comments were provided on the appendix to the European Union Institutions Translation Guide, which gives the names of countries, territories, capitals, inhabitants, monetary units, and descriptive terms. More than 80 opinions were provided to municipalities on the correctness of the names of residential areas, bodies of water, and streets (848 names were evaluated). Consideration began of the list of place names in the Trakai lake district prepared by the administration of Trakai National Historical Park. The Language Commission advises the public and civil registry offices on the correctness of personal names. In 2009, more than 30 certificates concerning personal-name identity were provided to various institutions and individuals. Grammar, spelling, and punctuation. The working group established the previous year to review Lithuanian spelling rules continued its work: draft rules were prepared for forming, writing, and using abbreviations and symbols, and for the use of capital letters; several new cases of formal spelling were discussed. Accentuation. On November 26, 2009, a recommendation entitled “On the accentuation of the surnames ending in -ė that do not indicate a woman’s marital status” was approved by a protocol resolution. The accentuation of 2,952 botanical names (in a recommended list of medicinal and melliferous plants) was checked, as was the accentuation in terminological dictionaries assessed by the Language Commission. Lexicon. On May 14, 2009, a recommendation entitled “On the names of inhabitants of territories and regions”4 was approved by a protocol resolution. Textbook assessment. By resolution of the State Commission of the Lithuanian Language5, several provisions of the Description of the Procedure for Assessing the Language Correctness of General Education and Vocational Education and Training Textbooks were clarified. The textbook assessment subcommittee considered 66 general education textbooks (some textbooks consist of several parts; a total of 106 textbook manuscript volumes were considered). The mark certifying the correctness of the language immediately 4 Informaciniai pranešimai, 2009, Nr. 39(1)–534. 5 Valstybės žinios, 2009, Nr. 82–3438. Iš Valstybinės lietuvių kalbos komisijos veiklos 345 80 books were approved, and 26 were returned to publishers for revision (10 books were returned twice). In 2009, no textbooks were rejected outright (that is, textbooks that would have failed to meet language-correctness requirements for a third time). The Textbook Assessment Subcommittee reviewed and approved the general review of the language of textbook manuscripts prepared by Rita Urnėžiūtė; it was published on the Language Commission’s website. OTHER ACTIVITIES By a resolution recorded in the minutes of 9 April6, the Language Programme for Teacher Education Studies was approved; it is recommended for all higher education institutions that train future teachers. The Legal Institutions Department of the Ministry of Justice and the Migration Department under the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Lithuania were offered ways to address the difficulties caused for citizens and foreign nationals by different procedures for transliterating first and last names applied in different periods. UAB “Microsoft Lietuva” was contacted and asked to refute the claim that “Microsoft” prohibits the installation of national products in its products, including the original “Palemonas” computer font created on commission from the Language Commission. The reply stated that “Microsoftas” not only does not prohibit the installation of “Palemonas,” but has even created a tutorial video showing how to do it. About 35,000 language consultations were provided, including over 13,000 online and about 22,000 by telephone. In 2009, the Language Consultation Bank database was supplemented with more than 900 new entries (it now contains over 8,700 headwords). Under the 2006–2015 Programme for the Standardisation, Use, Promotion and Dissemination of the State Language, support was provided for preparing daily news summaries in Lithuanian for Visaginas municipal community television’s “Russkaja volna”; producing LNK television’s educational and informative programme “Žodis – ne žvirblis”; and producing the educational radio programmes “Žodis mano lūpose” for “Laisvoji banga.” Funding was provided for the preparation, publication and distribution of thematic pages entitled “Dissemination of State Language Standards” in the journal Gimtoji kalba. The Language Commission, together with the company “Tilde IT,” the Ministry of Education and Science, and the public relations agency “Strateginių komunikacijų centras” 6 Informaciniai pranešimai, 2009, Nr. 31–433. 346 KALBOS KULTŪRA | 83 organized the competition “Clean Language – Clear Mind” for students in grades 7–9 at Lithuanian general education schools: The aim of the competition, organized online for the second year and attracting great interest, is to encourage students to use Lithuanian characters and correct Lithuanian in the electronic environment. The State Commission of the Lithuanian Language assisted and supported as a partner the weekly Atgimimas, which organized the 4th National Dictation competition. On April 23, 2009, the Office of the Inspector of Journalist Ethics, Mykolas Romeris University, and the State Commission of the Lithuanian Language held the forum “Lithuanian on the Internet: Challenges, Opportunities, Prospects.” The forum presentations and discussions addressed how to establish the Lithuanian language in the online sphere, now that there are almost no technical obstacles to using Lithuanian characters in website and blog texts as well as in email messages. On October 1–2, 2009, the 13th seminar of the Baltic Division of the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names (UNGEGN) took place in Vilnius. The organizers were the State Commission of the Lithuanian Language and the National Land Service. Received 2010 11 12 JŪRATĖ PALIONYTĖ State Commission of the Lithuanian Language 14A Žvejų Street, LT-09310 Vilnius [email protected] Iš Valstybinės lietuvių kalbos komisijos veiklos 347