Angelė Kaulakienė. Lietuvių fizikos terminijos raida

ALBINA AUKSORIŪTĖ Institute of the Lithuanian Language Angelė Kaulakienė. THE DEVELOPMENT OF LITHUANIAN PHYSICS TERMINOLOGY: MONOGRAPH. Vilnius: Technika, 2009, 440 pp. In 2009, a monograph by linguist Associate Professor Dr. Angelė Kaulakienė, The Development of Lithuanian Physics Terminology, was published. The appearance of this monograph was indeed an important event for Lithuanian terminology; its author, an experienced terminologist, examines in detail the development of Lithuanian physics terminology in the book, from the first popularizing physics articles published in the earliest Lithuanian newspapers, Keleivyje (1849–1880) and Aušroje (1883–1886), to the latest prescriptive terminographic publications on physics. As stated in the preface, the monograph “grew out of the author’s many years of research and a substantial body of articles published in Lietuvių kalbotyros klausimai, Kalbos kultūra, Lituanistica, Terminologija and other scholarly publications.” The book consists of two parts: the first, theoretical part, Lithuanian 268 Albina Auksoriūtė | the development of physics terminology examines three stages in the development of physics terminology, while the second part presents a dictionary of the development of physics terms. The first chapter, The First Stage in the Development of Physics Terminology, analyzes the terminology in popularizing physics articles in the newspapers Keleivis and Aušra, as well as in Petro Vileišis’s (1851–1926) textbook Populariškas rankvedis fizikos (1899). The terms are examined in terms of their origins and formation; their variation and synonymy, as well as the categorical polysemy of the terms in P. Vileišis’s textbook, are discussed. Concise summary conclusions are provided after the detailed study of each subsection. The author begins her examination of the second stage in the development of physics terminology by discussing the terminology in Igno Končiaus’s manuscript Physics Textbook. Ig. Končius wrote the textbook for gymnasiums and completed it at the end of 1919, but it was never published. Interestingly, Ig. Končius consulted and corresponded with K. Būga; the monograph’s author presents K. Būga’s suggestions and corrections. In the subsection of the second chapter titled The Beginnings of Lithuanian Physics Terminography, the list of terms compiled by Ig. Končius, Terminai fizikos reikalams, is analyzed. It was reviewed by J. Jablonskis and considered by the Terminology Commission of the Ministry of Education. As the book states, “This is a bilingual (Lithuanian and Russian) dictionary of terms, containing elements of an explanatory dictionary. An effort was made to include as much of the terminology of physics and technology of the time as possible” (90). The monograph discusses in detail the terms and technical vocabulary presented in Terminai fizikos reikalams, their explanations, the synonyms and variants offered, and the beginnings of term standardization clearly visible in the dictionary. It concludes that this dictionary is “the first stage in Lithuanian physics terminography, paving the way for other dictionaries of physics terms” (90). Another source from the second stage in the development of physics terminology discussed in the monograph is Konstantino Šakenio’s Fizika (1920), a textbook intended for students in the upper grades of gymnasium. It was written at the same time as the aforementioned textbook by Ig. Končius, so a separate subsection of the monograph examines the mechanics terminology in the physics textbooks by Ig. Končius and K. Šakenis. Having discussed and compared the mechanics terms in both publications, the author emphasizes that “from the variation in the names of mechanics concepts, the synonymy and systematization of terms, and the coordination of specific and related terms in the aforementioned textbooks, it can be concluded that physics terminology was still being created at that time and displayed all the characteristics of a formative stage in terminology development” (110). Terminologija | 2009 | 16 269 The study of the second stage in the development of physics terminology concludes with an examination of the terminology of the first Lithuanian physics textbook for higher education. In 1923–1926, Prof. V. Čepinskis wrote a comprehensive experimental physics textbook Fizikos paskaitos, which is something of a first Lithuanian physics encyclopedia. As the author observes, “Fizikos paskaitos undoubtedly had a considerable influence on the development of Lithuanian physics terminology, especially since the professor constantly had to consult J. Jablonskis and the Terminology Commission operating under the Ministry of Education about the appropriateness of terms” (111). This textbook was the principal physics textbook for higher education and was used by students of various specialties. A. Kaulakienė examines the terms in this textbook in detail and states “that already in the first decades of the 20th century, a certain part of physics terminology had become established. On the other hand, the extensive synonymous and variant expression of both simple and compound terms points to another fact: some concepts still had no established terms. The terminology for such concepts was still being developed” (135). In presenting the third stage in the development of physics terminology, the author analyzes, in the first and second subsections, the formation, origin, synonymous and variant expression of terms in Povilas Brazdžiūnas’s Bendrosios fizikos vadovėlio (vols. I–IV, 1960–1965), as well as the terminology of magnetism and electricity in the textbooks by K. Šakenis, V. Čepinskis, and P. Brazdžiūnas from the perspective of usage. It might also have been useful in this chapter to discuss the terminology in textbooks by the renowned physicist K. Baršauskas (M. Krikščiūnas, K. Rindzevičius, K. Baršauskas, Fizika (I, 1940); K. Baršauskas, Fizika (III–IV, 1947)). First, these textbooks were not edited, and thus their terminological vocabulary has remained authentic. Moreover, the physics terms used by K. Baršauskas and his colleagues would have enriched not only the third chapter of the monograph but also the Dictionary of the Development of Physics Terms itself. Perhaps this suggestion will encourage the author to prepare a separate and comprehensive Dictionary of the Development of Physics Terms, covering even more physics sources. A. Kaulakienė separately discusses and summarizes the synonymous and variant expression of terms across all three stages in the development of physics, showing which synonym groups were used at each stage, identifying how they were presented, assessing the ratio of Lithuanian to borrowed physics terms at different stages of development, surveying the factors that determine synonymy and variation in physics terminology, and analyzing the undesirable effects on terminology caused by synonymy between Lithuanian and borrowed terms. At the end of the subsection, the author draws two important conclusions: 270 Albina Auksoriūtė | “First, the requirement that a term be unambiguous is unattainable in the practice of this terminology. Thus, the aforementioned requirement for a term could be regarded as optional, but not essential. Second, the optional nature of the requirement should be based only on justified term synonymy (when a concept is named by a Lithuanian term and a borrowed term), and on variation in compound and elliptical terms” (182). In Lithuanian terminology, the boundary between synonymous and variant terms has still not been clearly and strictly defined. This is also discussed in footnote 6 of the monograph. The monograph nevertheless shows that the author’s concept of a variant is somewhat broader. This broader understanding of a variant should perhaps be regarded as the author’s prerogative, though it could be open to discussion. The last subsection of the third chapter examines the standardizing aspect of Lithuanian physics dictionaries and compares and discusses four dictionaries of physics terms: Terminai fizikos reikalams (1923–1924), Fizikos terminų žodynas (1958), Fizikos terminų žodynas (1979), and Fizikos terminų žodynas (2007). At the end of the first, theoretical part of the book, fairly concise yet comprehensive conclusions are presented, which the author concludes with the statement that “current physics terminology is fairly well standardized and corresponds to the possible cases of ideal nomination, in which a term names only one concept and a concept corresponds to only one term” (198). In the second part of the book, A. Kaulakienė presents a dictionary of the development of physics terms, in which terms are arranged alphabetically in nested entries and in chronological order of usage; moreover, each term, synonym, or variant that changed over the course of its development is illustrated with a sentence or fragment from a source. The dictionary includes most of the principal related and specific physics terms, presenting not only the principal terms from the sources discussed in the first part of the monograph but also all their synonyms and variants, together with authentic source excerpts that explain the concepts. The dictionary’s headword list is based on the Fizikos terminų žodynais published in 1979 and 2007, but in her dictionary the author also includes several terms absent from those dictionaries, which are used in the physics publications discussed in the first part of the book. The author’s carefully compiled dictionary clearly shows when each related and specific term first came into use, how the concept’s designation developed, and which term has become established in current usage. The dictionary therefore contains exceptionally valuable material on physics terminology that can serve as the basis for many further scholarly studies. Terminologija | 2009 | 16 271 It should be noted that we have not yet had monographs in which a terminologist-linguist has conducted a comprehensive study of the development of terminology in a particular field of science over almost 160 years. This work is therefore important not only for terminologists, but also for specialists in the field under analysis—physicists. Received 2009-12-23 Albina Auksoriūtė Institute of the Lithuanian Language 5 P. Vileišio St., LT-10308 Vilnius Email: [email protected] 272 Albina Auksoriūtė