International Scientific Conference

The Grammatical and Lexical System of Language, Its Functionality and Normativity

SOLVITA LABANAUSKIENĖ

Institute of the Lithuanian Language

This spring, the Department of Latvian and General Linguistics and the Department of Baltic Linguistics of the Latvian Studies and Baltic Studies Division at the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Latvia held the 48th international conference Valodas gramatiskā un leksiskā sistema, tās funkcionalitāte un normatīvums (The Grammatical and Lexical System of Language, Its Functionality and Normativity), dedicated to the eminent Latvian linguist, folklorist, literary scholar, and educator Arturs Uozuolas (Arturs Ozols). On March 15–16, speakers from Latvia, Lithuania, Russia, and Finland came to the university to discuss.

The morning session of the first day was devoted to exploring A. Uozuolas’s personality and work. In his paper Arturs Uozuolas and Latvian Literary Studies, Ojārs Lāmas (Ojārs Lāms) introduced the scholar’s articles, which are important for the study of modern literary trends in Europe, as well as unpublished materials on literary studies and lecture notes on the history of Latvian literature. Māra Vīksna (Māra Vīksna) and Rita Treija spoke about archival materials on A. Uozuolas held in the collections of the Latvian Folklore Repository, which attest to the researcher’s ability to inspire young people to take an interest in collecting folklore. Ilona Miezytė (Ilona Miezīte), representing the Museum of Writing and Music (formerly the Rainis Museum of Literature and Art), surveyed A. Uozuolas’s professional work (including his doctoral dissertation on the syntax of Latvian folk songs) and personal life. She recounted that in the final years of his life A. Uozuolas had begun writing a humorous play whose protagonist was probably based on himself, while the other characters were his female linguist colleagues.

Later, work continued in two sections. In the first section, Language Standardization, Dzintra Lele-Rozentalė (Dzintra Lele-Rozentāle) and Ineta Baluode (Ineta Balode) spoke about the “pidginization” of the nineteenth-century land surveyors’ era, characterized by excessively correct speech (Fardon (= Pardon)), the use of Baltic German language elements (/g/ > /j/), and so on.

Terminologija | 2012 | 19

247

Rasuolė Vladarskienė mentioned current problems in language editing of translations of European Union documents, including terminology, morphology, and syntax. The speaker emphasized the need to ensure that translations are correct, since translations of European Union documents directly affect standard Lithuanian. In R. Vladarskienė’s words, when translating EU documents it is essential not to stray from the original; consequently, long, structurally complex, unclear sentences from EU documents find their way into Lithuanian texts and alter the distinctive features of administrative style cultivated over decades.

In her paper, Valda Salminia (Valda Salmiņa) drew attention to trends in the use of Armenian names in Latvian—the existence of parallel forms and the reasons for them.

The Lithuanian Neologism Database was presented by Rita Miliūnaitė. The linguist highlighted the project’s theoretical and practical aims: to create a database, continually add new Lithuanian vocabulary to it, and, over time, use scholarly research to reveal a systematic picture of this lexicon. According to R. Miliūnaitė, the neologism database shows that Lithuanian has sufficient word-formation resources to renew itself and meet the most varied needs of the society that uses it.

In the second section, Grammar and Lexicon, Bronius Maskuliūnas examined texts from the eighteenth century, one of the least studied periods in the development of the Lithuanian written language. He took a closer look at one aspect of written Lithuanian usage: the expression of reflexivity.

Anna Frydenberga (Anna Frīdenberga) explained the motivation for derivatives formed with the Latvian suffix -ība (-yba) in the works of Georgo Mancelio, the first Latvian linguist and writer. In the young linguist’s view, names of properties formed with the suffix ^*-ībā constitute a distinct word-formation type characteristic specifically of the Baltic languages.

Rolandas Kregždys’s paper addressed the renewed relevance of a methodology for determining the grammatical form of Lithuanian lexemes, based on semasiological analysis, which is important not only for establishing a word’s etymology but also for codifying its grammatical meaning.

Lienė Markus-Narvila (Liene Markus-Narvila) spoke about Germanisms in the southwestern Kurzeme dialects and their sources. She noted that some Germanisms remain vigorous even at the beginning of the twenty-first century, with phonetic and morphological variants found in the dialects.

After the opening of the exhibition 100 Years of Arturs Uozuolas, Dzintra Paegle (Dzintra Paegle) spoke about A. Uozuolas’s forgotten manuscript on methodology, while Lidija Leikuma discussed the continuing relevance of A. Uozuolas’s approach to teaching the Latvian language.

248

Solvita Labanauskienė

Tarptautinė mokslinė konferencija Kalbos gramatinė ir leksinė sistema, jos funkcionalumas ir normatyvumas

The afternoon session of the conference was devoted to discussing issues concerning the mother tongue. Ina Boikienė and Nadežda Ševeliova discussed the development of students’ creative abilities in mother-tongue (Russian) lessons. According to the speakers, the issue is relevant because developing creative abilities is an important condition for fostering a student’s personality.

Vineta Vaivadė (Vineta Vaivade), a methodologist in the Education Department of the Latvian Language Agency, surveyed issues of education quality in Latvia from various perspectives. Having examined Latvian-language teaching materials for grades 5–9 published by several publishing houses, she drew the following conclusions: a) there is no shared understanding of learning skills; b) students are not provided with examples or procedures for completing tasks; c) there is a lack of development of independent learning skills, etc.

Ingrida Balčiūnienė and Gintara Povilai­tienė presented a methodology for developing coherent storytelling using picture sequences. They devoted considerable attention to the context of the task, which gives children additional opportunities to better understand the functions, structure, and rules of coherent storytelling.

Evelina Zilgalvė (Evelīna Zilgalve) discussed the criteria for distinguishing particles from adverbs and reviewed problematic cases.

Three papers were presented in the section Lexicon and Terminology, examining plant names. Laimutė Baluodė (Laimute Balode) analyzed the use of the appellative liepos in Latvian toponymy. The first part of the paper focused on objects named using the lexeme liepa; place-name nomination was briefly considered, while in the second part the author examined derivatives of the word liepa.

Regina Kvašytė presented the paper The Lexicon of Latvian Folk Songs in Lithuanian: Tree Names. The speaker gathered material from the collection of Latvian folk-song texts My Little Horse Gallops (1989; translated by Sigitas Geda) and found that the tree name most frequently encountered in the translations is ąžuolas, with beržas appearing half as often.

Solvita Labanauskienė spoke about the Lithuanian and Latvian names of plant genera in the flora of the Baltic countries. She discussed morphologically unanalyzable genus names, derivatives, and compounds, highlighting their similarities and differences.

The final paper in this section, by Ineta Bernota, was devoted to culinary terms in the first cookbooks published in Latvian.

The second day of the conference began with Diana Laiveniecė (Diāna Laiveniece) and Normundas Dzintaras (Normunds Dzintars) of the University of Latvia. The speakers surveyed A. Uozuolas’s contribution to Latvian-language teaching methodology. Inta Urbanoviča presented significant material on A. Uozuolas’s history of linguistics, reflecting the development of European structuralist ideas.

Terminologija | 2012 | 19

249

In the Grammar section, presentations examined issues in morphology and syntax. Lyga Vogina (Līga Vogina) discussed A. Uozuolas’s observations on sentence semantics. According to the presenter, the linguist’s doctoral dissertation focuses largely on syntactic matters, Questions of the Syntax of Classical Latvian Folk Songs. Other issues in Latvian syntax were discussed in presentations by Natalija Perkova (Natalia Perkova) (The Use of Possessive Pronouns and the Dative Case in Latvian Sentences with Nonverbal Predicates), Lienė Kalviša (Liene Kalviša) (Necessitative Mood and Evidentiality), and Linda Apsė (Linda Apse) (Characteristics of the Meanings and Usage of the Preposition ANT).

Gita Elksnytė (Gita Elksnīte) presented on adjectival phrases in seventeenth-century dictionaries. The presenter compared the types of syntactic relations used in these phrases in the dictionaries of Georg Mancel, Janis Langijs (Jānis Langijs), and Kristofor Fyreker (Kristofors Fīrekers).

In the Lexicology and Lexicography section, Brigita Bušmanė spoke about the semantics of the verb to eat. She showed that synonyms for this word recorded in dialects can indicate the intensity, speed, duration, and manner of the action, among other things. Janina Švambarytė-Valužienė presented a historical dictionary of the vocabulary of narrative folklore by Matas Slančiauskas and his collaborators, currently in preparation, which includes vocabulary from Northern Lithuania.

Ilga Migla presented on phraseological comparisons in Latvian folk songs. According to the researcher, A. Uozuolas lists in his works the plant and tree names that predominate in Latvian folk songs: linden, oak, rose, flower.

In her presentation, Violeta Černė examined how the names of musical instruments are presented in the explanatory Dictionary of the Lithuanian Language, drawing attention to the fields for semantic data and illustrations.

Diana Šilobritaitė discussed the period in which Lithuanian mathematical terminology took shape, from the late nineteenth century to the first half of the early twentieth century, and the terminology used in the first printed Lithuanian arithmetic textbooks. She compared the textbooks of prominent public figures Povilas Matulionis, Jonas Spudulis, and Petras Vileišis, and analyzed mathematical terms.

The afternoon Phonetics section focused on the acoustic properties of Latvian speech sounds. Presentations on the subject were given by Juris Grigorjevas (Juris Grigorjevs) (Acoustic Characteristics of Latvian Lateral Consonants and Trills), Inesė Indričanė (Inese Indričāne) (Distinguishing the Voiceless Affricates /c/, /č/ from the Consonants /ts/ and /tš/), and Solveiga Čeiranė (Solveiga Čeirane) (Comparison of Formant Transitions in CV or VC Sequences

250

Solvita Labanauskienė

Tarptautinė mokslinė konferencija Kalbos gramatinė ir leksinė sistema, jos funkcionalumas ir normatyvumas

comparison: CV or VC). Ilzė Auzinia (Ilze Auziņa), Gunta Nešporė (Gunta Nešpore), and Baiba Saulýtė (Baiba Saulīte) spoke about the intonation of spoken texts.

In the second section, Dzintra Šulce (Dzintra Šulce) examined issues of language standardization. She analyzed the minutes of meetings held from 1933 to 1942 by the Linguistics Section of the Riga Latvian Society. The presenter outlined Janis Endzelynas’s (Jānis Endzelīns) views on the formation, usage, and spelling of particular grammatical forms.

Daiva Murmulaitytė discussed how the Institute of the Lithuanian Language seeks to apply the principle of systematicity when presenting derivatives in the Dictionary of Standard Lithuanian now being compiled, and the difficulties encountered. Three types of derivatives were examined: abstract nouns derived from verbs and nouns, diminutives, and derivatives with the prefix ne-.

Vilija Sakalauskienė discussed problems in presenting synonymous meanings in explanatory dictionaries of the Lithuanian language. In her view, the debates that have arisen show that the problem of synonymy is becoming highly relevant. This calls for renewed attention to synonymy and the concept of a synonym, a review of dictionaries already published, and particular care in compiling new ones.

Latvian scholar Olga Uozuolinia (Olga Ozoliņa) examined medieval standard French in her presentation.

The conference’s closing presentations focused on A. Uozuolas’s work on syntax. Andra Kalnača presented A Contemporary Interpretation of Arturas Uozuolas’s Analytic Debitive, while Ilzė Lomanė (Ilze Lokmane) presented Arturas Uozuolas and Problematic Issues in Contemporary Syntax.

International thematic conferences dedicated to A. Uozuolas have been held in Riga since 1965, and the organizers are inviting participants to meet again next year. A collection of the conference presentation abstracts has been published.

Received 2012-11-16

Solvita Labანauskienė, Institute of the Lithuanian Language, P. Vileišio St. 5, LT-10308 Vilnius, Email: [email protected]

Terminologija | 2012 | 19

251