Terminologei ir pedagogei Angelei Kaulakienei – 75

257Terminologija | 2021 | 28 doi.org/10.35321/term28-12 Terminologist and educator Angela Kaulakiene – 75 years LINA RUTKIENĖ Lietuvių kalbos institutas ORCID id: orcid.org/0000-0001-6661-3115 On June 15, 2015, a terminologist, educator, humanities scholar and professor, Dr. On the occasion of this Dr. Angelė Kaulakienė celebrated a beautiful 75-year anniversary. The important anniversary, we want to remember her extensive activities, future terminologist was born in Panevėžys district, Naujamiestis, in the family of Juozas and Janina Mogenys. When Angela was six months old, her parents moved to live by the sea – in Klaipėda. The girl’s childhood was like most post-war children: standing in queues for bread, helping parents with household chores, playing childish games – the foundations of buildings destroyed during the Second World War became playgrounds. As a child, the future terminologist was interested in everything related to language. It was strange to her that Lithuanian language is not the same everywhere: klaipėdiškiai 258 Lina Rutkienė | Terminologist and teacher Angela Kaulakiene – 75 children laughed at her Panevėžys dialect, passed on by her parents. The future linguist decided early to learn Russian: the teacher became a neighbor’s peer girl, and Angela taught her Lithuanian. The basics of Russian language acquired in childhood came in handy to improve this language in school, and later – to write a dissertation and work on terminology. The future terminologist learned French well at the 9th Secondary School in Klaipėda (where A. Kaulakienė studied from 1954 to 1965), where she was taught by the excellent teacher Pranutė Grigaitė, who graduated from the Sorbonne University. His interest in the language, as well as literature, was strengthened by the Lithuanian language and literature lessons given by the school director, Steponas Skeivius, a deserving teacher of the Lithuanian SSR. This teacher tried to present the facts of language and literature in a broad context, expanding the horizons of the students. Inspired by the teacher’s lessons, four classmates, including the future terminologist, came to Vilnius to study Lithuanian language and literature. Thus, in 1965 Angelė Mogenytė entered the Vilnius State Pedagogical Institute – from that time began the period of her life in Vilnius. Angela liked to study, her studies went well, but she did not know about the fact that taps terminologe, prisimena, net pagalvoti negalėjo – žodį terminologija išgirdo tik atėjusi dirbti į Lietuvių kalbos ir literatūros institutą. she started working in the Dictionaries Department of this Institute in 1969. A. Kaulakienė (she married the physicist Juozas Kaulakis in the fourth year) started working in the Institute in 1969. Meetings with personalities, professionals in their field often change the direction of a person’s activity or even life – this influence was made on the young linguist not only by the Lithuanianist S. Skeivys from the 9th secondary school in Klaipėda, but also by the famous dictionaryist and pedagogue J. Kruopas – it was he who brought A. Kaulakienę to the science of terminology. J. Kruopas “offered Angela Kaulakiene to work in the Terminology group being created in the Dictionaries Department. The young linguist happily agreed, not well knowing how difficult the task was” (Vladarskienė 2015: 6). Initially, the Terminology Group consisted of only two employees: A. Kaulakienė and Jonas Klimavičius, later joined and became the head of this group K. Gaivenis. One of the most important works of the group was the translation of the book of the Russian engineer and terminologist Dmitry Lotte, How to Work on Terminology: Fundamentals and Methods (1968) (Terminological Work: Fundamentals and Methods) (1973). This book helped A. Kaulakiene to understand the requirements of terms, to understand how terms systems should be formed. Only after translating this book and having acquainted with 259Terminology | 2021 | 28 following the principles of terminological work, the young researcher was offered to write scientific articles, and later – to prepare a doctoral dissertation. Already the first publications were devoted to the current issues of Lithuanian terminology. While working at the Institute – assisting dictionaries and writing publications for scientific journals (Kalbos kultūrai, Mūsų kalbai, etc.), science popularization and other publications (Sovietinis mokytojas, Vakarinės naujienos, later – Lietuvos rytas, Inžinerija, etc.) – the terminologist revealed herself as a responsible promoter of language, who cares about the correctness and purity of language – a number of her publications are dedicated to discussing language ills. The terminologist explained the issues of terminology, semantic accuracy, motivation, synonymy, systematicity. During the Soviet period, when Lithuanian terminology was flooded with terms made according to Russian language construction models, terminological and normative work was particularly important. The researcher proposed Lithuanian borrowed equivalents, new creations corresponding to the Lithuanian word formation system, it was important for her that the word structure and its use did not contradict the “established laws of word formation of the Lithuanian language” (Kaulakienė 1984). A. Kaulakienė recalls that the head of the Terminology Group, K. Gaivenis, urged the employees to react quickly to borrowed terms from the Russian language, to propose Lithuanian terms so that the borrowed terms would not become frequently used. The terminologist did not avoid discussing children’s language, seeing them as the target of her articles (by the way, we are now very much missing such responsibility for children’s language in the media). For example, in 1983, the Lithuanian pioneer, discussing the types of bicycles, considering the essential characteristics of the concept and convenience for users, proposed the term scooter. The researcher is pleased that this relative term has become established in usage, and species terms have also appeared. While working at the Institute, the young terminologist enrolled in the PhD program in philology and wrote her doctoral dissertation Values in current Lithuanian technical terminology, which she defended at Vilnius University in 1983 (nostrified as a doctor of humanities in 1993). A. Kaulakienė chose the topic according to its relevance – at the time, a lot of terms were created according to models of other languages using native morphemes. The research of the terminology of technical sciences was continued. When Lithuanian computer terminology began to emerge, A. Kaulakienė became involved in research on terminology in this field. She was particularly concerned that Lithuanian computer terminology should be systematized and standardized, so that the ratio of Lithuanian and borrowed terms would be acceptable. During her terminological work she had to communicate with specialists from other fields of science and gained the latest scientific knowledge from them. This communication led to joint publications, e.g. 260 Lina Rutkienė | Terminologist and educator Angela Kaulakiene – 75 years old, with physicist Valerijonas Žalkauskas and design specialist Giedrė Fledžinskiene researched computer colour terms and prepared an article covering physics, art, computer science and language knowledge (for more see Fledžinskienė et al. 2000), A. Kaulakienė studied and wrote about computer terminology with physicist Vytautas Valiukėnas (see Kaulakienė, Valiukėnas 1996). General articles by specialists of different fields, which explain new concepts and terms that denote them, are very important in introducing motivated, accurate and correct terms into usage. As a competent specialist, A. Kaulakienė evaluated the terms of school textbooks, scientific and popularization journals, bilingual and multilingual dictionaries, worked in the Terminology Subcommittee of the State Lithuanian Language Commission, in the editorial boards of linguistic publications, guided and assisted thesis students, was a member of doctoral committees (defence councils). A. Kaulakienė’s terminographic work deserves special attention. The terminologist is the co-author of the Dictionary of Radioelectronics Terms (2000), Explanatory Dictionary of Textile Terms (2001), Dictionary of Automation Terms (2004), Electronic Dictionary of Radioelectronics Terms (2005, 2011), Great English-Lithuanian Polytechnic Dictionary [electronic resource] (2012). In total, the researcher contributed to the preparation of more than 50 dictionaries: not only she prepared them (she was one of the editors of the dictionaries), but also reviewed them, arranged their terms. The terminology of physics, radio electronics, metrology, automation, electrical engineering, computer science and other fields of science and technology has been systematized and standardized thanks to terminologist A. Kaulakienė. A. Kaulakienė worked at the Lithuanian Language Institute (until 1991 – Lithuanian Language and Literature Institute) for 38 years (1969–2007). Most of A. Kaulakienė’s articles written at the Institute have been included in the collection of articles Terminology. Terminology. Terminia (2014). In the description of the linguist’s activity, one more direction should be added – pedagogical activity. Deepening her knowledge of technical terminology was perhaps the main reason why A. Kaulakienė was invited to work in technical universities. The knowledge of pedagogical work acquired in Vilnius State Pedagogical Institute could already be applied in practice in these universities. Since 1995, A. Kaulakienė has been teaching language culture of the specialty, one of the most important topics of which is terminology of the specialty, at Kaunas University of Technology, where she was head of the Lithuanian Language Department (1996–2000). “A demanding, principled, but at the same time empathetic, understanding and supportive manager, collegial, never refusing to help and encouraging to improve. A talented lecturer. 261Terminologija | 2021 | 28 specialist with a thorough knowledge of her field,” says Vilija Celiešienė, a lecturer at this university and A. Kaulakienė’s colleague (Angelė Kaulakienė: bibliographical index 2015: 10). In 2001, the terminologist was invited to work at Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, until 2012 she was head of the Lithuanian Language Department. “One of Kaulakienė’s greatest merits in VGTU is that she initiated the consultation of master’s students on the writing of thesis and the language correctness check of thesis; This forced not only students to pay more attention to the correctness of language, but also their supervisors to be more interested in the possibilities of creating suitable terms,” writes the current head of the Lithuanian Language Department Rasuolė Vladarskienė (2016: 20), continuing the work started by A. Kaulakienė. As head of the Department of Lithuanian Language, the linguist was particularly concerned about the qualification of the lecturers of the Department, demanded professionalism, and also sought to create conditions at the University that would form a positive attitude of lecturers and students to the mother tongue. In the universities, A. Kaulakienė also proved herself as an excellent teacher, appreciated by students. The lecturer did not spare her time for student consultations, carefully checked the master’s thesis, explained the language shortcomings of these works. The linguist tried not only to teach the language of the specialty, but also to form a broader view of the Lithuanian language, to develop young people’s respect for the language. Working with students, delving into their specialty language encouraged A. Kaulakiene not only to write scientific articles about the student language, about the necessity of teaching the specialty language culture in higher education institutions, but also to prepare educational publications. While working at Kaunas University of Technology, together with colleagues Leonora Domininka Barzdžiukienė and V. Celiešienė, she published the textbook Finished thesis: Linguists’ advice: theory and organization (1992, 2005), and at Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, together with colleagues Angelika Petrėtienė, Lina Rutkienė and Regina Žukienė, she published the textbook Linguists’ advice for students: theory and practice (2007, 2008, 2010). It should be mentioned that the transferred books were supplemented with relevant material – the terminologist was constantly interested in the topical issues of the language of her specialty and encouraged others to do so: both lecturers and students. While heading the Department of Lithuanian Language at Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, A. Kaulakienė was also a teacher of junior colleges, became an unofficial editor of articles of the Department’s employees – she felt responsible for the quality of the work of others. She looked at the texts of other authors with great respect and responsibility: she corrected precisely, even checked quotations, but only corrected what was necessary, she did not impose her own opinion. In 2009, the terminologist published her most important work – the monograph Lietuvių 262 Lina Rutkienė | Terminologist and teacher Angela Kaulakiene – 75 years of development of physics terminology. This book is based on many years of research and articles published in Lithuanian linguistics journals on physics terminology. The monograph examines the terms collected in Aušra (1883–1886), iš ilgą – 160 metų – laikotarpį apimančių šaltinių – nuo pirmųjų populiarinamųjų fizikos straipsnių, išspausdintų laikraščiuose Keleivis (1849–1880) up to the latest standardized terminographic publications of physics. The book also reveals the author’s experience as a dictionarist: one of the components of the publication is a dictionary of the evolution of physics terms. This dictionary shows the “beginning of the use of the term, the development of the designation of the concept, the term that has entered into force in the current use, so the dictionary presents an incredibly valuable material of physics terminology, on the basis of which more than one scientific research can be carried out”, says Albina Auksoriūtė (2009: 271). A. Kaulakienė’s monograph is a particularly valuable publication on Lithuanian terminology, and the results of the research presented in it are an important source of terminological information. The results of A. Kaulakienė’s extensive scientific and pedagogical activities are used by numerous representatives of Lithuanian technical sciences, authors of textbooks, dictionaries and other scientific publications, translators and editors, future and current linguists. The linguist’s works are significant not only for Lithuanian terminology, but also for Lithuanian scientific discourse in general. “I enjoyed working,” is how A. Kaulakienė, Ph.D. in Humanities, a terminologist, terminographer, reviewer and educator, describes the reason for her extensive work. We draw from her not only knowledge of terminology science, but also responsibility and modesty. LITTERACY 2009: The Angel of the Night. The development of Lithuanian physics terminology [review]. – Terminology 16, 268–272. Fledžinskienė Giedrė, Kaulakienė Angelė, Žalkauskas Valerijonas 2000: Computer color terms. – Terminology 7, 9-17. 1983: Bicycle, Scooter and Sticker. – Lithuanian Pioneer, January 22. Kaulakienė Angelė 1984: The language of technical specialists is poor. – Evening News, March 19. Kaulakienė Angelė, Valiukėnas Vytautas 1996: Computing and its basic terms. – Terminologija 3, 56–64. Vladarskienė Rasuolė 2015: Angelė Kaulakienė – terminologist and educator. – Angelė Kaulakienė: bibliographical index, ed. O. Juršaitė, L. Rutkienė, Vilnius: Technika. Vladarskienė Rasuolė 2016: The Creative Terminologist (Angela Kaulakiene – 70 years old). – Mother Tongue, June, 19–21. Retrieved 2021-08-18 Lina Rutkienė Lietuvių kalbos institutas P. Vileišio g. 5, LT-10308 Vilnius, Lithuania E-mail lina.r[email protected]