Iš Valstybinės lietuvių kalbos komisijos veiklos

APŽVALGOS, RECENZIJOS, INFORMACIJA FROM THE ACTIVITIES OF THE STATE COMMISSION OF THE LITHUANIAN LANGUAGE (Prepared on the basis of the 2008 report of the Language Commission) LANGUAGE PROGRAMMES Three language programmes continued: “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. The Programme for the Preservation of Dialects and Ethnic Place Names was implemented by 7 institutions. Two modern electronic resources completed in 2008 are worthy of mention: the computer dictionary Lietuvių tarmės. III dalis / Lithuanian dialects. Volume III (Institute of the Lithuanian Language) and the database of dialectal material from the northeastern Vilnius area (Vilnius University). Work continued on an electronic search system for dialect data (based on the Lietuvių kalbos atlaso), and texts in various dialects and subdialects were prepared for research and educational purposes. The Programme for the Standardisation, Use, Development and Dissemination of the State Language was implemented by 33 institutions. Particular attention was paid to public language education and development, and to disseminating language standards. The third volume of the dictionary Pasaulio vietovardžiai, of particular importance to the public, was prepared: Afrika. Antarktida. Australija. Okeanija. In 2008, 2,554 publications in 62 titles were distributed free of charge to public libraries at universities, colleges, counties, institutions of national importance and municipalities. These included terminology dictionaries, editions of old written monuments, monographs, publications on language usage, and other publications intended for public education, development, research and study. From the programme’s funds Iš Valstybinės lietuvių kalbos komisijos veiklos 317 funding was provided for the preparation of electronic versions of ten terminology dictionaries and educational language resources, the teaching of language for specific purposes at higher education institutions, state-language courses for residents of Lithuania whose first language is not Lithuanian, and other activities. LEGAL PROTECTION OF THE STATE LANGUAGE The State Commission of the Lithuanian Language prepared a draft of the Guidelines for State Language Policy for 2009–2013. The aim of the Guidelines is to anticipate developments in the use of Lithuanian as the state language in 2009–2013, and the main language policy goals and tasks associated with them in various areas of state and public life. The draft was prepared on the basis of the draft revised State Language Law; therefore, the Seimas should consider the draft Guidelines only after adopting the new law. The Language Commission’s opinion on the compatibility of provisions of the Law on the State Language and the Law on National Minorities governing public inscriptions (in this case, street names) was submitted to the Government of the Republic of Lithuania and other state institutions. It was emphasised that the Law on National Minorities does not provide for street names to be displayed in a language other than the state language; consequently, claims by some politicians that the provisions of the aforementioned laws are inconsistent are unfounded. The Language Commission expressed its opinion to the Government of the Republic of Lithuania and the Ministry of Education and Science that the transition envisaged in the draft amendment to the Law on Education to teaching some subjects in the state language under the basic and secondary education curricula at schools where curricula are currently delivered in the languages of national minorities would help pupils at those schools attain the required level of proficiency in the state language. This would give them equal opportunities to acquire a profession, compete in the labour market and integrate into the country’s society. In 2008, the Language Commission prepared drafts of three resolutions of the Government of the Republic of Lithuania. One resolution was particularly important1: it required state research institutions to submit terminology entries to the Terminology Bank of the Republic of Lithuania, administered by the State Commission of the Lithuanian Language (previously, only ministries and government agencies had been subject to such requirements); this activity was also recommended for state universities. 1Valstybės žinios, 2008, No. 67-2530. 318 KALBOS KULTŪRA | 82 On 19 April 2008, the Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania ruled to uphold the decision of the Vilnius Regional Administrative Court of 22 June 2007, which had found unlawful the decision of Vilnius District Municipality to register the name of the educational institution Vilniaus r. Lavoriškių Emilii Plater vidurinė mokykla. At the request of the State Commission of the Lithuanian Language and the Language Inspectorate, the Government Representative for Vilnius County prevented the unregistrable name from taking effect by appealing the aforementioned municipal council decision to the regional administrative court. Suggestions were submitted to the Office of the European Affairs Committee of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania on how legal and organizational measures could be used to improve the language quality of translations of European Union documents and of Lithuanian legislation based on the provisions of those documents. On 23 December, a round-table discussion, “Teachers’ Language: Problems and Solutions,” was held at the State Commission of the Lithuanian Language. Representatives of the Ministry of Education and Science, the State Commission of the Lithuanian Language, and the Language Inspectorate who took part in the discussion emphasized that many teachers in general education schools pay too little attention to the correctness of their language. Participants discussed what legal and methodological measures could encourage teachers to improve their language. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE LAW ON THE TERM BANK OF THE REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA In 2008, more than 48,000 approved, recommended, or non-recommended terminology entries were uploaded to the information system of the Term Bank of the Republic of Lithuania. Of these, 43,000 entries (data from terminology dictionaries in various fields) were uploaded to the Term Bank’s interim database. In 2008, 1,396 entries for legal acts were published in the public Term Bank (http://terminai.vlkk.lt): 1,251 approved terms, 54 recommended terms, and 91 non-recommended terms. A total of 92,449 terms are publicly available in the bank. In 2008, the Term Bank published Lithuanian names for timber, fibre, resin-producing, tannin-bearing, and other plants used for technical purposes (1,397 names). The glossary data were also supplemented with material from Inžinieriai, technikai ir technologai, Aiškinamojo kvalifikacijų sistemos terminų žodyno, Politikos mokslų enciklopedinio žodyno. A total of 1,365 terminology entries were added. Iš Valstybinės lietuvių kalbos komisijos veiklos 319 STANDARDIZATION AND EXPERT WORK In 2008, the State Commission of the Lithuanian Language held 7 meetings. A total of 102 subcommittee meetings were held: 47 by the Terminology Subcommittee, 18 by the Textbook Subcommittee, 16 by the Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar Subcommittee, 15 by the Names Subcommittee (5 jointly with the Pronunciation and Stress Subcommittee), 3 by the Pronunciation and Stress Subcommittee, 2 by groups preparing professional-language programmes, and 1 by the Dictionary Subcommittee. About 160 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 State Commission of the Lithuanian Language, 6 terminology dictionaries were considered and received positive assessments, and 18 terminology standards were approved. At meetings of the Terminology Subcommittee, 6 terminology dictionaries and 19 terminology standards were considered, as were terminology submissions from state institutions’ terminology commissions relating to 15 laws, 10 Government resolutions, and other legal acts (1,204 terminology entries in total). A list of invertebrate names, received in response to an inquiry from European Commission terminologists, was considered, as were golf terms, dentistry terms, new terms from the Radioelektronikos terminų žodyno, and others. A total of 2,568 plant names were considered (for ornamental plants, plants used for technical purposes, fodder plants, medicinal plants, and others). The recommendation “On Lithuanian Names for Timber, Fibre, Resin-Producing, Tannin-Bearing, and Other Plants Used for Technical Purposes” was published, having been approved by a protocol decision of the State Commission of the Lithuanian Language on 25 June 20082. About 800 consultations were provided by email and telephone on terminology, replacing foreign words, and translation. Grammar, spelling and punctuation. A working group was formed to review the spelling rules of the Lithuanian language (A. Kazlauskienė, N. Linkevičienė, A. Malakauskas, R. Rinkauskienė, N. Sližienė, D. Vaišnienė). At the group’s meetings, drawing on draft solutions to problem questions prepared by 10 experts, participants considered the spelling of nasal letters in word roots; disputed cases involving the spelling of short and long vowels in verb roots and derivatives; the solid and separate spelling of Lithuanian and non-Lithuanian words and components; the formation and spelling of abbreviations; capitalization; and other matters. The work was scheduled to continue in 2009. Personal names and place names. At meetings of the Names Subcommittee, the origins and stress patterns of Baltic compound names, as well as newly coined nam- 2 Informaciniai pranešimai, 2008, Nr. 47-655. 320 KALBOS KULTŪRA | 82 two evaluation matters related to the electronic database of Lithuanian citizens’ names under preparation, several issues concerning the codification of place names in northern Lithuania, and the place names in volume 3, World Place Names: Africa. Antarctica. Australia. Oceania, of the dictionary published on commission from the State Commission of the Lithuanian Language. More than 60 findings on the correctness of names of residential areas, bodies of water, and streets were submitted to municipalities. More than 40 certificates concerning the identity of personal names were submitted to various institutions and individuals. Stress. On October 2, decisions were adopted in the minutes concerning the stress patterns of certain polysyllabic nouns of foreign origin, derived adjectives, and adverbs. In light of tendencies documented in usage, the decisions were supplemented with new stress variants. Textbook evaluation. On April 3, a resolution was adopted, “On amendments to the resolution of the State Commission of the Lithuanian Language of May 29, 2003, ‘On approval of the procedure for evaluating the linguistic correctness of general education subject textbooks’”3. Provisions on the evaluation of vocational education textbooks by the Language Commission were incorporated into the resolution. The subcommittee for textbook evaluation considered 80 textbook manuscripts (186 manuscript books, of which 139 were for general education and 47 for vocational education). A mark certifying linguistic correctness was granted immediately to 98 general education textbook books and 8 vocational education textbook books. 41 general education textbook books and 39 vocational education textbook books were returned to publishers for revision. One general education book and 8 vocational education books did not receive the correctness mark (after two rounds of revisions, their language quality was deemed unsatisfactory, so the textbooks will not be considered again). Lexicon. On October 2, a decision was adopted in the minutes, “On the recommendation ‘On the names of inhabitants of states’”4. In light of word-formation rules, usage needs, and tendencies, a list of names for the inhabitants of all the countries of the world was presented. OTHER WORK At the beginning of the year, a letter was sent to the chairs of university and academy senates and to rectors concerning the teaching of language for specific purposes. They were asked to provide deta- 3 Valstybės žinios, 2008, Nr. 42-1602. 4 Informaciniai pranešimai, 2008, Nr. 79-1018. Iš Valstybinės lietuvių kalbos komisijos veiklos 321 subjects, and at what level (compulsory, elective, or freely elective) the language of the specialist field is taught under the new study programmes at each higher education institution, and how many credits are allocated to it. The responses received show that higher education institutions strive, insofar as possible, to follow the recommendations set out in the model Programme for the Language of the Specialist Field prepared by the State Commission of the Lithuanian Language. A working group formed by the State Commission of the Lithuanian Language prepared a draft programme for the language of the specialist field in pedagogical studies. The Speaker of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania, the Deputy Speakers, and the Chair of the Committee on State Administration and Local Authorities were contacted regarding several terms proposed in the draft Law on Local Self-Government: the word savivaldybė, used in the unusual sense of an administrative territorial unit; the foreignism šaltyšius; and the ethnographism krivulė. The Commission’s opinion on šaltyšiaus and krivulės was taken into account. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania was asked to ensure that the foreignism troika (an informal working group of three European Union states) was not used in translations of European Union documents. The Ministry’s attention was drawn to the fact that this was not the first instance of disregarding the norms of standard Lithuanian and creating a new variety of the language—a Brussels variety. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs instructed the institutions concerned not to use the foreignism troika; the form trejetas is now used in the EU database (IATE). Discussions were held with the responsible state institutions and mobile network companies about supporting Lithuanian characters on mobile phones. On 28 February, the situation and prospects of the Lithuanian language in the electronic environment were discussed at the Ministry of Culture. Mobile network operators decided to provide users with more information about which mobile phone models support Lithuanian characters. Letters were sent to the Council of Judges and the Ministry of Justice regarding the provision of language expert assessments, which remains unregulated to this day. It was proposed to address the problem through organizational measures—by adding Lithuanian language specialists and specialists in other languages to the list of court experts. The diploma forms, supplements, appendices, and certificates of twenty-seven higher education institutions were reviewed (more than 500 pages). Comments were provided on their language. In 2008, approximately 33,000 language consultations were provided, of which 13,160 were online and 19,650 by telephone. About 130 questions are answered each day. In 2008, more than 400 new entries were added to the online Language Consultation Bank database (which now contains more than 7,800 headwords). Each month 322 KALBOS KULTŪRA | 82 The bank's visitors' search results are compiled, and a top twenty of the questions of greatest interest to the public is drawn up and published in the “News” section of the Commission's website. Under the 2006–2015 Programme for the Standardisation, Use, Education and Dissemination of the State Language, support was provided for the LTV2 channel programme “A Pocketful of Words” (52 episodes), the LNK television programme “A Word Is No Sparrow” (52 episodes), and the Alytus regional television programme “In Search of a Word” (52 episodes). The thematic pages “Standardisation and Oversight of the State Language” in the journal Gimtoji kalba were funded. The thematic pages in the journals Gimtasis žodis, Žvirblių takas were also supported. The publication of Lithuanian studies pages in the Visaginas newspaper V každyj dom is funded. An overview of the sociological study “Language at Work,” commissioned by the State Commission of the Lithuanian Language, was prepared and submitted to Gimtajai kalbai. At the beginning of 2008, the third National Dictation contest was held. The Language Commission assisted and supported the weekly Atgimimas, which organised the event. Between the first and second rounds of the National Dictation, visitors to the Language Commission's website voted for the most beautiful Lithuanian word. The word ačiū (“thank you”) was chosen as the most beautiful, while ta prasme (“I mean”) was voted the most irritating verbal weed. To encourage pupils to use Lithuanian characters and correct Lithuanian in the electronic environment, the online contest “A Clear Head—Clear Language” was held live on 27 February. About 2,500 pupils in grades 7–8 from schools throughout Lithuania took part. With support from the State Commission of the Lithuanian Language, the Lithuanian Language Society held its second Language Purity Days at the end of 2007, monitoring television programmes in the autumn season. On 26 January 2008, television representatives were briefed at the Language Commission on the results of the Language Purity Days. It was emphasised that too little attention is paid to the correctness of the language used by hosts and regular participants in entertainment programmes. Received 25 November 2009 JŪRATĖ PALIONYTĖ State Commission of the Lithuanian Language 14A Žvejų St., LT-09310 Vilnius [email protected] Iš Valstybinės lietuvių kalbos komisijos veiklos 323