Iš Valstybinės lietuvių kalbos komisijos veiklos

A P Ž V A L G O S, R E C E N Z I J O S, I N F O R M A C I J A ACTIVITIES OF THE STATE COMMISSION OF THE LITHUANIAN LANGUAGE (Prepared on the basis of the Language Commission’s 2007 report) LANGUAGE PROGRAMMES In 2007, three language programmes continued to be implemented: “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 The draft of a new version of the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on the State Language, registered in 2006, continued to be considered by the Seimas Committee on Education, Science and Culture. On 9 November 2007, the Language Commission held a round-table discussion at which participants discussed the wording of the draft law relating to employment relations. The Language Commission surveyed the editorial offices of daily newspapers and cultural publications and publishing houses (more than 30 in total) to find out whether the principles governing the presentation of personal names from other languages in publications should be changed and whether a provision on personal names should be included in the Law on the State Language. An overwhelming majority of respondents believe that the principles set out in Language Commission Resolution No. 60 should not be changed and that a provision on personal names from other languages should not be included in the Law on the State Language. Contributed to the Programme for the Lithuanian Language in the Information Society, approved by Resolution No. 319 of the Government of the Republic of Lithuania of 21 March 2007, pro- Iš Valstybinės lietuvių kalbos komisijos veiklos 291 grammars1 preparation. The Programme measures provide for the introduction of information systems giving access to digital Lithuanian-language resources, increasing the volume of digital texts relevant to the Lithuanian language, standardising Lithuanian terms and lexical units used in information technology, etc. The State Commission for the Lithuanian Language informed Vilnius District Municipality that the name Vilnius r. Lavoriškių Emilii Plater vidurinė mokykla violates the norms of the Lithuanian language. By a decision of the Vilnius Regional Administrative Court, the decision of the Vilnius District Municipal Council of 9 February 2007, “On the naming of the Vilnius District Lavoriškės Secondary School”, was annulled. The Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Lithuania was asked to ensure that the names entered in the Register of Legal Entities comply with the Law on the State Language, the Law on Education, and the general rules of the Lithuanian language. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE LAW ON THE TERM BANK OF THE REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA In 2007, 36,172 term entries were published in the Term Bank of the Republic of Lithuania; 834 of them were assigned the status approved, 35,284 the status recommended, and 50 the status not recommended. The Term Bank now contains about 87,000 term entries in total. In addition to terms from legal acts, the Term Bank also provides terms from other sources. In cooperation with the Institute of Botany, the Lithuanian names of plants in the bamboo subfamily of the grass family, vegetables, and plant species listed in the appendices to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora were published in the Term Bank in 2007—a total of 3,023 names. The Term Bank was also supplemented with data from the following dictionaries: Explanatory Dictionary of Railway Transport Terms, Explanatory Dictionary of Enterprise Management Terms, Explanatory Dictionary of Thermal and Nuclear Engineering Terms, Encyclopedic Dictionary of Means of Protection against Destruction, Dictionary of Artillery Terms, Dictionary of Automation Terms, Register of Ornamental Plant Names, Encyclopedic Dictionary of Education, Dictionary of Mammal Names, Dictionary of Fish Names—a total of 33,000 term entries. 1 Valstybės žinios, 2007, Nr. 40-1487. 292 KALBOS KULTŪRA | 81 INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS Aistė Pangonytė, Chief Specialist of the General Division of the State Commission for the Lithuanian Language, attended the 9th Conference and 23rd Session of the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names (UNGEGN), held in New York from 19 August to 1 September 2007. On 28 September, Margareta Roth, Head of a Unit in the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Translation, visited the State Commission for the Lithuanian Language. They discussed ways to improve the language of European Union documents, particularly their terminology. Irena Smetonienė, Chair of the State Commission for the Lithuanian Language, attended the annual conference of the European Federation of National Institutions for Language (EFNIL), held in Riga on 12–13 November and devoted to European and national language policy. At the end of the year, the State Commission for the Lithuanian Language, the data administrator of the Term Bank of the Republic of Lithuania, signed a membership agreement with the Eurotermbanko consortium (EuroTermBank). Under this agreement, the Term Bank of the Republic of Lithuania became an external database of the Eurotermbanko; users of the Eurotermbanko will also find term entries from the Term Bank of the Republic of Lithuania among their search results. Dite Liepa and Ingrīda Pauniņa, consultants from the Latvian Language Agency, visited the State Commission for the Lithuanian Language. They discussed issues of relevance to both languages, including personal names, company names, the use of trademarks, and other matters. Responses were prepared to the questionnaire for the European Union (EU) multilingualism project on the assessment of EU language policy. It was expressed that EU language policy should be more consistent and focused. The EU should review the principles for funding the development and deployment of language technologies, since the status of the official EU languages varies greatly. STANDARDIZATION AND EXPERT ACTIVITIES In 2007, the State Commission of the Lithuanian Language held 8 meetings. A total of 80 subcommission meetings were held: 46 by the Terminology Subcommission, 10 by the Textbook Subcommission, 9 by the Names Subcommission, 9 joint meetings of the Names and Grammar Subcommissions, 3 by the Temporary Subcommission for Developing Principles for Standardizing New Loanwords, 2 by the Pronunciation and Stress Subcommission, and 1 by the joint Terminology and Grammar Subcommission. Approximately 300 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. Iš Valstybinės lietuvių kalbos komisijos veiklos 293 Terminology. General requirements for compiling terminology dictionaries were prepared, approved by a resolution recorded in the minutes of the State Commission of the Lithuanian Language on 20 December 2007, and published as a recommendation2. At meetings of the State Commission of the Lithuanian Language, 3 terminology dictionaries were considered, 2 of which received a positive assessment; 10 terminology standards prepared by the Lithuanian Standards Department were also considered, 8 of which were approved. At meetings of the Terminology Subcommission, 1,630 terminology entries from laws, government resolutions, and other legal acts were considered. The 3,671 plant names submitted by the Institute of Botany were considered, including lists of the names of plants used for technical purposes, such as timber, fiber, dye, and tanning plants, as well as lists of fish, mollusks, cephalopods, and other names submitted by the Fisheries Department under the Ministry of Agriculture. A booklet entitled “Lithuanian Names of Certain Plant Species Included in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)” was prepared for publication. On 5 June 2007, the State Commission of the Lithuanian Language published the recommendation “On the Lithuanian Names of Certain Plant Species Included in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora”3. Approximately 600 consultations on terminology issues were provided in writing (mostly by email) and by telephone. Grammar and Punctuation. On 5 April, Resolution No. N-1 (110), “On the Declension of Symbolic Names,” was adopted4, with the aim of preventing violations of the inflectional system of the Lithuanian language. At a joint meeting of the Grammar and Terminology Subcommissions, proposals from the Department of Classical Languages of the Faculty of Philology at Vilnius University were discussed concerning Lithuanian forms of terms derived from Greek or Latin with the endings -os, -on, -um, and the like. A year after the State Commission of the Lithuanian Language adopted the resolutions “On the Rules of Mandatory Punctuation” and “On the Rules of Optional Punctuation,” teachers and Lithuanian language matriculation examination assessors were asked how they were managing to apply them. Comments and proposals on how the rules might be refined were forwarded to the Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar Subcommission. Informaciniai pranešimai, 2007, Nr. 100(1). Informaciniai pranešimai, 2007, Nr. 44; patikslinta spalio 25 d., Inf. pranešimai, 2007, Nr. 85. Valstybės žinios, 2007, Nr. 42–1625; taip pat Kalbos kultūra, sąs. 80, p. 188. 294 KALBOS KULTŪRA | 81 Place names and personal names. The list of country names was revised5, and a revised list of the names of lands and regions was prepared, with long and short name variants6; the list of capital names was also revised7. The State Commission of the Lithuanian Language adopted a recommendation on changing the names of railway-station-type settlements8. Notices about this recommendation were sent to 41 municipalities. Comments on the List of State-Protected Natural Heritage Objects, approved by order of the Minister of the Environment, were submitted to the State Service for Protected Areas under the Ministry of the Environment. The List of Natural Monuments must also be amended accordingly. The final linguistic review of the names of rivers forming part of the Cadastre of Rivers, Lakes and Ponds of the Republic of Lithuania was organized (carried out by expert Dr. Laimutis Bilkis). The comments were forwarded to the Environmental Protection Agency. The Road Administration under the Ministry of Transport was informed that in Šalčininkai District the road sign Žalpė had been unjustifiably changed to Labanoro upė. It was requested that the old inscription be restored. About 20 opinions concerning the names of settlements, quarters and water bodies were submitted to municipalities, and more than 50 opinions were prepared on the correctness of street names. The Joint Subcommission on Names and on Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar considered comments accumulated by the secretariat on points 6 and 8 of Resolution No. 60 of the State Commission of the Lithuanian Language, which regulate the principles for adapting personal names and place names from other languages and adding endings to authentic forms. A somewhat broader survey of practitioners (translators and editors) was conducted on the inflection of foreign names with certain endings in connected text; preparation of a final decision was postponed. There is a serious lack of research on personal names in the language, and no normative list of names exists. Therefore, after acquiring Population Register data, a research project entitled “Scientific Analysis of the Names of Lithuanian Citizens and Preparation of Normative Recommendations on Names” was launched. The State Commission of the Lithuanian Language decided to allocate funds to create a database of the names of Lithuanian citizens. A public, free website of names will be created, where parents, registry offices and consulates operating abroad will all be able to find recommendations on the suitability, stress and spelling of names. 5State Gazette, 2007, No. 105–4333; also Language Culture, issue 80, p. 189. 6State Gazette, 2007, No. 138–5707; also Language Culture, issue 81, pp. 298–300. 7State Gazette, 2007, No. 118–4863; also Language Culture, issue 80, pp. 189–191. 8Information Notices, 2007, No. 100. Iš Valstybinės lietuvių kalbos komisijos veiklos 295 In 2007, more than 60 certificates concerning the identity of personal names were issued to various institutions and individuals. Stress. The State Commission of the Lithuanian Language approved Antanas Pakeris, Bonifacas Stundžia, and Danguolė Mikulėnienė’s Guide to the Stress of Standard Lithuanian. Textbook evaluation. The subcommittee for textbook evaluation considered the language of 73 general education school textbooks. A mark certifying linguistic correctness was awarded immediately to 51 textbooks; 21 textbooks were returned to publishers for revision. Lexicon. At its meeting on 15 February, the State Commission of the Lithuanian Language approved the General Principles for Standardizing New Loanwords, prepared by an interim subcommittee. In accordance with these principles, staff of the Language Culture Department of the Institute of the Lithuanian Language began, at the Commission’s request, the project “A Study of the Use of New Foreign Words in Lithuanian: 1998–2008.” The List of Major Language Errors will be expanded on the basis of proposals submitted by the project team. OTHER WORK At the meeting on 15 February, the List of Published Written Heritage Monuments of Significance to Lithuanian Culture was approved. An interim subcommittee comprising specialists in old writings prepared the recommendation “On the General Requirements for Publishing Old Texts of Significance to Lithuanian Culture”9. At the request of the State Commission of the Lithuanian Language, the Institute for Social Research conducted a study entitled “Language at Work.” The study’s data support the main conclusion: the position of the Lithuanian language in employment relations is fairly strong, although one working language is often insufficient for contemporary business. Using funds from the 2006–2015 Programme for the Standardization, Use, Education and Dissemination of the State Language, 8,869 Lithuanian-language publications (dictionaries, monographs, teaching materials, etc.) were purchased and donated to higher education institutions, colleges, libraries in counties and municipalities, and public libraries of national significance. About 100 higher-education diplomas, supplements, addenda, and certificate forms were reviewed. Comments were provided on their language, and it was proposed that programme titles be coordinated with the State Commission of the Lithuanian Language and that requirements for the standardization of terms in course titles be applied more strictly. 9Informaciniai pranešimai, 2007, No. 57(1). 296 KALBOS KULTŪRA | 81 In 2007, about 32,000 language consultations were provided, including about 13,000 online and nearly 19,000 by telephone. Approximately 130 questions are answered each day. The database of the Online Language Consultation Bank was expanded by more than 1,400 new entries over the year (it now contains more than 7,400 headwords). Under the 2006–2015 Programme for the Standardization, Use, Education and Dissemination of the State Language, support was provided for the Lithuanian Radio programme “Make Way for the Word,” Radio A2’s “Language Lessons,” Lithuanian Television’s “(K)laidelė,” LTV Channel 2’s “Word Pocket,” and LNK Television’s “A Word Is Not a Sparrow.” Thematic pages were funded in the magazines Gimtoji kalba, Gimasis žodis, Žvirblių takas. They covered issues in language education, and teachers were introduced to the latest Lithuanian-language computer programs, among other things. Publication of Lithuanian-language pages in the Visaginas newspaper V každyj dom was funded. In 12 issues of Žurnalistų žinios, the “Linguists Advise” column answered 55 questions from the magazine’s readers. Advice on psychiatric language was published regularly in the “Language Corner” column of the magazine Psichiatrijos žinios. At the beginning of 2007, the second National Dictation competition was held. The Language Commission assisted and sponsored the weekly Atgimimas, which organized the event, as a partner. At the suggestion and with the support of the Language Commission, in 2006 the Lithuanian Language Society held the first Language Purity Days, devoted to language issues on television. In 2007, attention was paid not only to the language of television, but also to the language and style of periodicals. The results of the second Language Purity Days were discussed in the magazine Gimtoji kalba (2007, Nos. 11, 12; 2008, No. 1). The Institute of Lithuanian Literature and Folklore, together with the Lithuanian Institute of History, the Institute of the Lithuanian Language, and the State Commission of the Lithuanian Language, held a symposium on January 25 entitled “Duchy or Principality? Problems in Rendering the Names of Realities, Personal Names, and Place Names of Old Lithuania.” Materials were prepared for the symposium on the relationship between and use of principality and duchy; it was emphasized that databases should be created for personal names and place names used in the works of historians and literary scholars, and support from the Language Commission was proposed. Received 2008 07 08 JŪRATĖ PALIONYTĖ State Commission of the Lithuanian Language, Žvejų St. 14A, LT-09310 Vilnius [email protected] Iš Valstybinės lietuvių kalbos komisijos veiklos 297