Kazys Ulvydas – kalbos kultūros puoselėtojas

BENDRINĖ KALBA 93 (2020) http://journals.lki.lt/bendrinekalba ISSN 2351-7204 FOR THE 110TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE DIFFERENT LINGUIST KAZIUS ULVYDAS RASUOLĖ VLADARSKIENĖ Institute of Lithuanian Language Kazys Ulvydas – a well-known Lithuanian linguist of the second half of the 20th century, a correspondent member of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences, who devoted his life to the Lithuanian language: its teaching, research and promotion. He was a broad-minded scholar, worked hard in various fields of linguistics, perfectly knew all aspects of the Lithuanian language: pronunciation, pronunciation, vocabulary, morphology, syntax, noun, punctuation, spelling. Besides that, he was an active organizer of work, a leader and, in today’s terms, an opinion-former, an influence-maker. With an exceptional charisma, perfectly combining the subtleties of rhetoric and didactics, he managed to attract the Rasuolė Vladarskienė. Kazys Ulvydas – a promoter of language culture | 2 doi.org/10.35321/bkalba.2020.93.16 BENDRINĖ KALBA 93 (2020) http://journals.lki.lt/bendrinekalba ISSN 2351-7204 attention of many people and remain in their memory as an incomparable speaker. Kazys Ulvydas was born on August 27, 1910 in Kėdainiai district, Bagotėlė palivarke. He studied at the Apytalaukis and Kėdainiai elementary schools, then at the Kėdainiai and Kaunas Jesuit gymnasiums. In 1930–1937 he studied Lithuanian studies and classical philology at Vytautas the Great University, then continued his studies and graduated in 1940 at Vilnius University. In 1942–1949 he taught at Kaunas University, in 1949–1956 at Vilnius University. In 1951 he began working at the 1 Lithuanian Language Institute, where he worked until his death. Died on 16 March 1996. Reikšmingiausius savo darbus K. Ulvydas nuveikė dirbdamas Lietuvių kalbos ir literatūros institute. He was the head of three departments: Language History and Dialectology, Dictionary and Contemporary Lithuanian Language. For him, the Lithuanian language was the greatest wealth of the nation, and he considered it his duty to preserve, enrich and pass on this wealth to future generations, and he invited all readers of his works to do so. He worked on those works which he considered to be the most necessary for the preservation and promotion of the Lithuanian language. Being an excellent organizer, K. Ulvydas led the preparation of the largest collective works of Lithuanian linguistics, the Lithuanian Language Dictionary and the Lithuanian Language Grammar. He assembled authors’ collectives, taught them and led their work. The work of this distinguished Lithuanian linguist has been published in several publications. Vytautas Ambrazas and Elena Valiulytė have given a detailed overview of K. Ulvydas’s life and work in the article “Lingvistas Kazys Ulvydas” in the introductory part of the monograph “Lietuvių kalbos prieveiksmiai”, published after his death. In this article, K. Ulvydas is called the last representative of the classical linguistics school, consistent with the traditions of 1 From 1952 to 1990 he worked at the Institute of Lithuanian Language and Literature, and from 1991 he worked again at the Institute of Lithuanian Language. Rasuolė Vladarskienė. Kazys Ulvydas – a promoter of language culture | 3 doi.org/10.35321/bkalba.2020.93.16 BENDRINĖ KALBA 93 (2020) http://journals.lki.lt/bendrinekalba ISSN 2351-7204 a successor; It discusses the most important areas of the linguist’s activity: lexicography, grammar work, language culture education and separately reviewed adverb studies, as this was the most widely studied object of research by the scientist. In commemorating the 110th anniversary of Kazimieras Ulvydas, let us once again recall one of the academician’s areas of work – language management and standardization activities. Regarding K. Ulvydo language standardization activities, it should first be said that in a broad view, the reflection of the normative aspect can also be found in darbuose: ir Lietuvių kalbos žodyne, ir Lietuvių kalbos gramatikoje. Ryškiausi šios srities darbai yra publications not directly related to language management. Let us speak and write correctly. The academician’s work on language culture has been thoroughly examined in the publications of the journal Kalbos kultūra, which he founded himself: Pranas Kniūkšta „Kazys Ulvydas apie kalbos kultūrą ir visuomenę“ (78 vols., 2005), Jonas Palionis „Iškilisis lietuvių bendrinės kalbos mokytojas Kazys Ulvydas (100-osioms akademiko gimimo metinėms)“ (83 vols., 2010). The journal Language Culture was founded in 1961 as a publication of language practice. Kazys Ulvydas was the organizer of the publication and a long-term editor-in-chief (1961–1991, vols. 1–61), he wrote 45 articles for this publication (five of them with co-authors). 2 K. Ulvydas thus formulated the task of the Language Culture publication, and at the same time his language normative activity: “not only to raise the culture of spoken and written language, providing society with 2 It is also important to note that the publication continues to be published, although its nature and name have changed – today it is a scientific journal Common Language. In 1990, the monthly journal Mother Tongue, dedicated to practical language issues, was restored, and Kalbos kultūra turned its focus to the theory of language culture, current usage and sociolinguistics, and became a peer-reviewed scientific journal (1994–2003, editor Pranas Kniūkšta). In 2014 (from volume 87 onwards), the title of the publication was changed to Common Language, following a change in the concept of language culture (increasingly it is perceived as cultured speech and no longer associated with theoretical studies of language standardization). Rasuolė Vladarskienė. Kazys Ulvydas – a promoter of language culture | 4 doi.org/10.35321/bkalba.2020.93.16 BENDRINĖ KALBA 93 (2020) http://journals.lki.lt/bendrinekalba ISSN 2351-7204 It is not only to provide reasoned, argumented advice, but also to popularize linguistic thought, to expand the linguistic horizon of the reader, to awaken his interest in the mother tongue, to make kalbos kūrybos proceso dalyviu, <…> ugdyti skaitytojo kalbos jausmą, <…> skiepyti skaitytojui him aware of the love and respect for the mother tongue” (On one of the most important tasks of “Language Culture”, vol. 11, 1966). Similarly, the task of K. Ulvydas’s radio speech lessons “Let’s speak and write correctly” (1957–1984) could be described. These radio shows were very popular and people listened to them all over Lithuania. As recalled by a former researcher of the Lithuanian Language Institute, a collaborator of Kazis Ulvydas, doc. dr. Angelė Kaulakienė, in her husband’s hometown, in the Kupiškis district, in autumn, when digging potatoes, a radio receiver was placed near the potato field so that the potato diggers would not miss the hour of K. Ulvydas’s speech. People not only enjoyed listening to the radio speeches, but also sent letters with questions, which K. Ulvydas tried to answer. The listeners were so fascinated by the powerful voice, the exceptional timbre of the voice, and the passion with which the linguist explained the subtleties of the language that they themselves tried to imitate the voice intonations and created jokes parodying those speech lessons. After several decades it would be interesting to find out what was being talked about in those hours, why they so enchanted the people of that time, that their echoes still echo to this day. He was a regular in the weekly newspaper Kalba Vilnius (1967, 1969, 1973, 1976, 1977, 1980). Unfortunately, few audio recordings have survived, but Kazis Ulvydas’s daughter Eglė Bugenienė has preserved the manuscripts of the texts of the radio hours and has kindly allowed us to get acquainted with two of them. These are the Rasuolė Vladarskienė. Kazys Ulvydas – a promoter of language culture | 5 doi.org/10.35321/bkalba.2020.93.16 BENDRINĖ KALBA 93 (2020) http://journals.lki.lt/bendrinekalba ISSN 2351-7204 manuscripts of radio programmes conducted in 1962–1964 (35 programmes) and 1978 (38 programmes) 3 (see Figure 1) and typewriting. Hours were held once a week – on Saturdays (on some manuscripts the time is also written – some 11 a.m., more 2.05 p.m.). 1 PAV. When you look at the manuscripts of Kazimieras Ulvydas’ radio talks, you can see that he very often answered listeners’ questions during his talks. Perhaps this was one of the secrets why everyone listened to them so gladly: the senders of questions were waiting for answers, and others were curious who was asking (the questioner was always clearly identified, stating the name (often the name, sometimes the position) and the address). 3 I sincerely thank Eglė Bugeniene for the pleasant communication and the opportunity to get to know Manuscripts of Kazis Ulvydas. Rasuolė Vladarskienė. Kazys Ulvydas – kalbos kultūros puoselėtojas | 6 doi.org/10.35321/bkalba.2020.93.16 BENDRINĖ KALBA 93 (2020) http://journals.lki.lt/bendrinekalba ISSN 2351-7204 where he lives) and what he asks. Such direct communication with specific people gave the impression that it is very easy to talk to a respected scientist and find out his opinion on issues of interest (see Figure 2). 2 PAV. A listener's greeting to K. Ulvydas on the occasion of the New Year 4 There were also thematic sessions that lasted for several shows, for example: Language disorders in some scientific works (5 sessions), Dictionary inaccuracies in the press language (12 sessions), 5 Let’s remove medical language disorders (2 sessions). These titles show that the language shortcomings of different areas of language use (various professions) were examined. I cared. There were a variety of questions. Norėta išsiaiškinti taisyklingą kirčiavimą, pvz.: ištiktukinės Kitas dėmesio vertas dalykas – klausimų turinys: ko to meto žmonės klausdavo, kas jiems kilmės veiksmažodžių su priesaga -ėti (pvz.: kvarksėti, niurnėti) sudurtinių žodžių (pvz., pusiasalis), neveikiamųjų įvardžiuotinių dalyvių (pvz., rašomasis, -oji), tarptautinių žodžių (pvz.: atmosfera, Dėkoju Eglei Bugenienei už leidimą skelbti. 4 5 The names of the channels are underlined in the manuscripts. Rasuolė Vladarskienė. Kazys Ulvydas – a promoter of language culture | 7 doi.org/10.35321/bkalba.2020.93.16 BENDRINĖ KALBA 93 (2020) http://journals.lki.lt/bendrinekalba ISSN 2351-7204 Epoch), place names (e.g. Prague, Rome). There were also questions about pronunciation, for example, whether to pronounce the hard or soft l in the words kelkis, gulkis, vilkis, vilkikas, the pronunciation of long and short vowels, e in international words. They also asked about the meaning, usage (e.g., veliumas) and origin (e.g., perkūnas) of Lithuanian (e.g., tymas, teisena) and international (e.g., kolosas, stormas) words. It is also used in the form of a short-form (e.g., "I'm sorry, I'm sorry"). Another group of questions – word formation problems, for example, how to name people according to their place of residence, or properly formed words (e.g.: photofilms, dumpster). The abundance of questions about the use of non-Lithuanian real names and names shows that this problem was relevant to language users earlier, and from the formulation of the questions it can be concluded that there were clearly contradictory opinions at that time. Questioned about appropriate forms of non-Lithuanian real names, adaptation, grammar, transliteration of Lithuanian-Russian and Russian-Lithuanian real words, did not support Lithuanianization of foreign names; also wondered why Belarusian real names are transcribed from Russian and not from Belarusian. A number of questions have been asked about personal names. Asked about the formation of female surnames (e.g.: Senkienė or Senkuvienė); about the correct forms of surnames in common language (e.g.: Narmantas or Narmontas); about the plural of surnames (e.g.: Mažeikai, Daukšai, if vienaskaitos formos Mažeika, Daukša), apie žargoninį vardų trumpinimą (pvz.: Lionka, Gedma, Jurka, Milka); the origin of local names (e.g. Balsupiai, Skardupiai, Balsė, Pabradė) was investigated. The listeners were interested in spelling questions: spelling of place names (e.g.: Biliakiemis, Nevėžis), spelling of the sound j in international words (e.g.: paviljonas, milijonas, legionas), they were asked whether it would not be worth to give up nasal letters. Rasuolė Vladarskienė. Kazys Ulvydas – a promoter of language culture | 8 doi.org/10.35321/bkalba.2020.93.16 BENDRINĖ KALBA 93 (2020) http://journals.lki.lt/bendrinekalba ISSN 2351-7204 Interested in the correct use of conjugations and prepositions, e.g.: became a teacher or teacher, ask him or ask him, breathe through the nose or through the nose. After reading the manuscripts of the radio programmes, the argumentation of K. Ulvydas’ language recommendations begins to become clear. Usually, the linguist explained the language phenomenon in question quite broadly, based on similar analogous examples, and if appropriate, gave examples from other languages. In suggesting corrections, he presented several correct equivalents, for example, he suggested replacing the unnecessary borrowed word biskį (birch) with a string of the most beautiful Lithuanian words: truputis, truputėlis, truputytis, trupučiukas, mažumėlė, kruopelė, kruopelytė, kruopeliūtė (17 April 1963). K. Ulvydas often acknowledged the similarity of forms, e.g.: įsirpti and išsirpti, the plural noble endings ašių and ašių. In his opinion, it is impossible to say which form should be considered the norm, because it is a non-established "transitory" phenomenon, and therefore both forms should be tolerated (1963 04 17), but about the proximity of the dictionary he said that absolute proximity of the dictionary is not liked in language, because it creates certain difficulties, especially trying to get rid of nearby terms that represent various concepts of the field of science. The linguist not only examined the correctness of language expression in detail, but also encouraged the listeners to be interested in language matters themselves and to try to clarify the problems in dictionaries or other publications: “When questions arise about the meaning of an international word, it is necessary to take a dictionary of international words.” (1963 12 06). Sometimes they simply pointed to books and their chapters where you could read about the topics you were interested in. He did not support unnecessary corrections, because he believed that only what was truly correctable needed to be corrected or changed in the language, and unjustified corrections only autoritetą. Todėl ne vienoje valandėlėje kantriai ir argumentuotai klausytojams aiškino jų Rasuolė Vladarskienė. Kazys Ulvydas – a promoter of language culture | 9 doi.org/10.35321/bkalba.2020.93.16 BENDRINĖ KALBA 93 (2020) http://journals.lki.lt/bendrinekalba ISSN 2351-7204 mislead readers and undermine the unjustified correction proposals of the language correctors. For example, based on the criterion of the stability of the norm, he stated that “if we start to replace the usual, universally accepted statements to call (call) the phone with the word to call, we would not serve the language at all, but only disrupt the already accepted and universally accepted norm” (15 April 1978). He invited the listeners to contribute to the collection of the wealth of words of the native language for the Lithuanian language dictionary – he called it a patriotic duty: “if society realized the importance of collecting the treasure of words for the culture of the nation, the importance of this collected treasure for future generations, it could in a short time accomplish simply a miracle in the history of Lithuanian culture – it could save from destruction and oblivion every year thousands of the most beautiful words and sayings” (09/09/1978). It is also worth mentioning that the linguist perceived language culture not only as correct, but also as cultured, polite speaking, so he taught the listeners that “[i]n writing and speaking, it is not necessary to use means of politeness, a certain gentleness, because they improve human relations. There is no excess of formulas of politeness and gentleness in Lithuanian, so let us not be reluctant to learn from other languages, for example, Polish, Russian, English and especially French” (24 June 1978). A quick glance at the manuscripts of Kazis Ulvydas’s radio talks, conducted several decades ago, shows that readers were concerned and doubted about similar questions, which are actively discussed today (about spelling, pronunciation, writing of non-Lithuanian real names, etc.). The linguist’s answers to the questions asked give a clearer picture of his sincere and responsible language normative work and the criteria for making recommendations. The most taisymų nuosaikumas, atsargumas: „Norint, kad taisymai būtų įtikinamesni ir duotų naudos, taisyti obvious need to be very careful and only what is really wrong and correctable” (More caution in language corrections, Kalba Vilnius, 1977, 21). The corrections were based on the peculiarities of the language system,