Jonas Jablonskis ir bendrinės lietuvių kalbos šimtmetis

JONAS JABLONSKIS AND THE CENTENARY OF STANDARD LITHUANIAN (The 18th Jonas Jablonskis Conference, marking the 150th anniversary of his birth) On October 7–8, an international conference, “Jonas Jablonskis and the Centenary of Standard Lithuanian,” was held at the Institute of the Lithuanian Language 1. Held for the eighteenth time, the conference was dedicated to commemorating Jonas Jablonskis, the creator of the standard language, discussing the distinctive features of the formation and development of standard languages, and examining current issues in language standardization and future prospects2. Twenty-one papers were presented at the jubilee international conference organized by the Institute of the Lithuanian Language and the Department of Lithuanian Language at Vilnius University, seven of them by scholars from abroad. The conference was attended by invited guests from the United Kingdom, Germany, Norway, and Estonia, and scholars from neighboring Latvia also took part. The first part of the conference, opened by Jonas Jablonskis’s great-granddaughter Eglė Lukėnaitė-Griciuvienė, focused on the linguist’s life and work. The guest presented a recently published book of letters and memoirs (Eglė Lukėnaitė-Griciuvienė, The Konstancija and Jonas Jablonskis Family: Jonas Jablonskis Through the Eyes of His Great-Grandchildren). The conference considered how justified it is to call J. Jablonskis the father of the Lithuanian standard language, and discussed the linguist’s scholarly work. In his work, he applied not only the method of analogy but also the methods of comparative linguistics. It was regretted that linguists have so far not attempted to bring out the principles of language standardization embedded in J. Jablonskis’s works (Arnoldas Piročkinas, On the ques- 1 The conference was supported by the Commission for the Commemoration of the Traditions and Heritage of Lithuanian Studies, the Research Council of Lithuania, Šakiai District Municipality, UAB “Vuorė” (Šakiai), and UAB “Govilis” (Utena). 2 Read the conference program on the Institute of the Lithuanian Language website at http://www.lki.lt/LKI_LT/images/Naujienos/Jono%20Jablonskio%20konferencijos%20programa_2010, abstracts – http://www.lki.lt/LKI_LT/images/Naujienos/Jono%20Jablonskio%20konferencijos%20tezes Jonas Jablonskis ir bendrinės lietuvių kalbos šimtmetis 359 some of the arguments about Jonas Jablonskis’s linguistic work). J. Jablonskis’s public activities were also discussed in detail; some complex turns in the linguist’s biography were brought to light, and his work as a teacher, scholar, fighter against the press ban, and awakener of national consciousness was surveyed (Vitas Labutis, Jonas Jablonskis’s Struggle Against the Lithuanian Press Ban). The reasons for changes in J. Jablonskis’s national attitudes were recalled. Comparing the paths taken by Vincas Kudirka and Jonas Jablonskis toward national identity, one can say that V. Kudirka became the ideologue of Varpas, while J. Jablonskis became its assistant and supporter. An attempt was made to reveal J. Jablonskis’s relationship with other figures in Lithuanian culture (Giedrė Čepaitienė, Jonas Jablonskis—the Varpas Contributor). The conference section devoted to individual works by Jonas Jablonskis examined the linguist’s lexicographic activities, the influence of his works on language cultivation and stylistics, and the importance of published reviews for the development of Lithuanian studies. Reviews of dictionaries written by J. Jablonskis and editorial work were surveyed. The linguist had also considered writing a dictionary himself and had amassed a large collection of word slips (Vilija Sakalauskienė, Jonas Jablonskis’s Lexicographic Activities). In correcting stylistic shortcomings in language, he applied the criteria of appropriateness, clarity, and comprehensibility, first and foremost requiring logical coherence in the content of ideas; his articles were written in a factual scholarly style and, especially, a lively journalistic style (Regina Koženiauskienė, Jonas Jablonskis’s Attention to Style). J. Jablonskis distinguished parenthetical sentences from parenthetical expressions and words; from the perspective of syntax, he linked sentence insertion with subordination, coordination, and agreement (Gintautas Akelaitis, Parenthetical Elements and Their Interpretation in Jonas Jablonskis’s Grammar Works). J. Jablonskis’s reviews reveal the main evaluative principles of language standardization. Parallels and polemical positions were surveyed between his work and that of another opponent, Juozas Tumas-Vaižgantas, whose “Aukštaičių vaizdeliai” had been edited by the linguist (Ilona Čiužauskaitė, Jonas Jablonskis as a Reviewer of School Textbooks: Works Assigned to Jablonskis for Review by the Ministry of Education’s Book Publishing Commission). The influence J. Jablonskis had on the language of Juozas Damijonaitis’s elementary Lithuanian-language textbook was also explored. The linguist was most concerned with the content of a Lithuanian grammar textbook for primary school, language-teaching methodology, language quality, and correctness (Vaida Buivydienė, Five Reviews by Jonas Jablonskis—Five Editions of Juozas Damijonaitis’s “A Primer in Lithuanian Grammar”). The history of case correction began with J. Jablonskis’s work Cases and Prepositions. Many sentences the linguist collected from dialects and folklore sources can also be found in the work of contemporary researchers, and his method of describing case meanings has likewise been retained (Irena Smetonienė, Brigita Dambrauskaitė, Nominative 360 KALBOS KULTŪRA | 83 revision history). The work of Petras Būtėnas, initiator and author of the “Language Corner” column in the daily newspaper Panevėžio balsas, was also important in promoting J. Jablonskis’s creative legacy and standardizing the standard language (Lionė Lapinskienė, Petras Būtėnas – Jono Jablonskio darbų tęsėjas kalbos kultūros srityje). The choice between original and adapted forms of proper names remains a subject of debate in both Latvia and Lithuania (Dzintra Šulce, Kitų kalbų tikrinių vardų vartojimo problemos latvių kalboje). Problems and inaccuracies in forming symbolic names for Latvian educational institutions arise from contradictions between regulatory documents and language use (Velga Laugale, Latvijos mokyklų pavadinimų norminimo problemos). The paper examined the extent to which students’ knowledge of language culture and language-use skills depend on language education in secondary school and changes in state examination tasks (Kęstutis Bredelis, Medicinos studentų kalbos sistemos taikymo įgūdžiai). The conference session devoted to the standard languages of European peoples and their development briefly surveyed the development and current state of standard German. It discussed the language policies of countries where German is an official language, the relationship between standard German and dialects and other European languages, especially English (Gerhard Stickel, Europos kalbų raida: bendrinė vokiečių kalba). A guest from Norway introduced conference participants to the biography and linguistic, literary, and civic activities of Ivar Aasen (Aasen), creator of the new Norwegian written language, and surveyed the principles for standardizing that written language (Stephen J. Walton, Ivaras Aasenas ir naujosios norvegų rašomosios kalbos genezė). The discussion considered the extent to which the terms “standard” or “normative,” when applied to syntax, morphology, and vocabulary, can be used to assess the pronunciation of users of standard British English. Recently, a view has been gaining ground among linguists in the United Kingdom that standard language can be spoken in any dialect, while Received Pronunciation should be understood as a neutral, more prescriptive variant of the standard language (Clive Upton, „Bendrinio“ akcento vieta bendrinėje kalboje: britų anglų kalba ir įgytoji tartis). The final conference session discussed the role of standard languages today, their functioning, and issues of standardization. The choices made by Varėna- and Telšiai-region pupils in using standard and dialect codes revealed that, in the domain of education—which belongs to the official domains and is usually associated with the standard code—the dialect code has become an integral part of linguistic expression (Daiva Aliūkaitė, Jolanta Jončaitė, Bendrinės kalbos domenai (nuostatų tyrimai). A guest from Estonia briefly introduced the institutions responsible for Estonian language planning and the documents regulating the use of the Estonian state language. Jonas Jablonskis ir bendrinės lietuvių kalbos šimtmetis 361 (Peeter Päll, Bendrinė kalba – kam ir kodėl?). The history of compiling one of the most popular dictionaries in Estonia was also reviewed, and issues in classifying words by origin and the principal improvements in the new edition were discussed (Tiina Paet, Tuuli Rehemaa, Naujas – 8-asis „Tarptautinių žodžių žodyno“ leidimas). Current problems in standardizing Lithuanian were raised, and changes in society’s perceptions of language standardizers since Jablonskis’s time were discussed. Today, manifestations of digital modernism create opportunities to involve the most active members of society in standardization work (Rita Miliūnaitė, Bendrinės kalbos normintojai skaitmeninio modernizmo sąlygomis). On the second day of the conference, Jono Jablonskis’s native region in Šakiai District was visited. At the Zanavykai Regional Museum, the final conference session and discussion on the significance of Jono Jablonskis’s work and commemorating the linguist in the Šakiai region featured cultural historian Albinas Vaičiūnas; Juozas Bertašius, mayor of Šakiai District; Augenija Kasparevičienė, head of the Culture and Tourism Division of the Šakiai District Municipal Administration; and Vilija Sakalauskienė and Rima Bacevičiūtė, senior researchers at the Institute of the Lithuanian Language. Participants in the trip visited the homestead in Rygiškiai village, to which the Jablonskis family moved in 1877. They also visited the unique octagonal wooden church in Griškabūdis and Zypliai Manor. Received 2010 11 19 SKAISTĖ ALEKSANDRAVIČIŪTĖ Institute of the Lithuanian Language 5 P. Vileišio St., LT-10308 Vilnius [email protected] 362 KALBOS KULTŪRA | 83