TERMINOLOGISTS’ PAPERS AT THE INTERNATIONAL BALTIST CONGRESS IN RIGA

The IX International Congress of Baltists was held in Riga on 3–6 October 2000, with the theme “The Baltic Languages Through the Ages.” At its two plenary sessions and sessions of four sections, participants reviewed problems in grammar, lexicology, lexicography, semantics, phonetics, onomastics, stylistics, language culture, textology, early texts, sociolinguistics, computational and mathematical linguistics, as well as general questions of Baltic studies. A considerable number of papers were also presented on synchronic linguistics.

The congress was opened by Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga, President of the Republic of Latvia. Papers were presented by linguists from Lithuania, Latvia, Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Germany, Italy, and Sweden.

A considerable number of terminologists also participated in the congress. Lithuanian terminologists presented two papers. Research associate Albina Auksoriūtė gave a paper on the mushroom names used by Laurynas Ivinskis, one of the distinguished creators of Lithuanian natural-science terminology in the mid-nineteenth century, as presented in his mushroom atlas and “Prigimtūmenė.” The paper discussed the names of mushroom genera and species and compared them with the terms used by J. Pabrėža.

The abstract of senior research associate Stasys Keinys’s paper, which was not presented at the congress, addresses the national character of Lithuanian terminology. It is now very common to talk about the international character of terms and terminology, since many international terms are used in various fields. However, according to the author, “the international character of what is expressed by means of language reflects the international character of the language itself,” because every language is unique. The terminology of every national language is unique as well. St. Keinys discusses two main ways of creating terms: terminologization of common words and term formation using the resources of one’s own language. Both the earliest creators of Lithuanian terminology and the creators of Lithuanian scientific language from the first half of the nineteenth century to the beginning of the twentieth century used these methods.

The paper by senior research associate Angelė Kaulakienė, “Trends in the Changing Sources of Lithuanian Terminology,” focuses on

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the main ideas address the problem of the distinctiveness of Lithuanian terminology. The author also emphasizes that the resources of one’s own language were and remain one of the most important sources for creating terminology. At present, a new trend in the changing sources of Lithuanian terminology can be observed: borrowing terms, which is unfortunately sometimes entirely unjustified and leads to a disproportion between native and borrowed terminology. To avoid this, the author proposes following the principle of linguistic purity advocated by our terminology pioneer, Prof. S. Šalkauskis, and creating as many Lithuanian terms as possible. Terms, like words in the general language, should be standardized through their synonyms.

Three papers on terminology were presented by Riga scholars.

Ilga Brigzna’s paper was entitled “Terminology Problems in Translating Specialized Texts from German into Latvian” (“Terminologieprobleme bei der Übersetzung der Fachtexte vom deutschen ins Lettische”). The role of translators of specialized texts is becoming increasingly significant. They are expected to have not only an excellent command of language but also expertise in the subject matter. Translators working from German into Latvian face additional difficulties: in many fields of science and technology, approved terms are lacking. Thus, when translating, Latvian equivalents often have to be coined on the spot for German words. This is because the traditions of translating specialized texts into Latvian were neglected for many years. For the most part, only literary texts were translated. Theoretical literature, too, dealt almost exclusively with the analysis and evaluation of translations of literary texts. The author identifies long and complex German words as a particular difficulty in translating specialized texts.

The paper by Riga terminologist Biruta Uzijos, “The Dynamics of Modern Terminology” (“Dynamics of modern terminology”), is concerned with philosophical problems in terminology. She briefly discusses very broad concepts, such as “human being,” “peace,” and others.

How the language of Latvian law took shape, what influenced its development during the Soviet years and after the restoration of independence, the characteristics of the language of Latvian law, and issues concerning the standardization of legal terminology—these are the subjects addressed by Andrejs Veisbergs in his paper “The Language of Latvian Law

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formation – results up to the year 2000” (“Shaping latvian legal language – the results by year 2000”).

The next congress of Balticists is scheduled to be held in Vilnius in 4 years.

Palmira ZEMLEVIČIŪTĖ

Palmira ZEMLEVIČIŪTĖ Lietuvių kalbos institutas Antakalnio g. 6 LT–2055, Vilnius

2000 10 16

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