Kalbinė įvairovė šiuolaikiniame pasaulyje: kalbos galia ir prestižas

BENDRINĖ KALBA 92 (2019) www.bendrinekalba.lt ISSN 2351-7204 JURGITA JAROSLAVIENĖ Institute of Lithuanian Language GINTARĖ JUDŽENTYTĖ-ŠINKŪNIENĖ University of Vilnius LANGUAGE DIVERSITY IN THE MODERN WORLD: THE POWER AND PRESTIGE OF LANGUAGE 26th Jon Jablonskis Conference KEY WORDS: Jonas Jablonskis, conference, linguistic diversity, power of language, prestige. On October 3-4, 2019, the Institute of Lithuanian Language hosted the 26th 1 International Scientific Conference Jablonskis conference Linguistic Diversity in the Modern World: Language Power and Prestige. The organizers of the event, the Centre for General Language Research of the Institute of Lithuanian Language (hereinafter – LKI) and the Department of Lithuanian Language of the Institute of Applied Linguistics of the Faculty of Philology of Vilnius University (hereinafter – VU), invited the international academic community to discuss linguistic diversity in languages, dialects and linguistic communities, the peculiarities of language usage and standardization, the change of language norms, the relationship between general language and dialects and other language variants, trends in European language policy and planning, the power and prestige of language, the development of advanced linguistic tools and electronic services, the benefits of digital language resources, and more. Participants from 15 countries read 45 presentations on these topics. The thesis of the reports are prepared in electronic format. Based on the reports, in 2020 the Journal of Common Language will publish scientific and popular 2 science publications. Both days of the conference began with plenary sessions. At the first meeting, chaired by Dr. Albina Auksoriūtė (LKI) and Prof. dr. Irena Smetonienė (VU), guest speaker 1 More information about other conferences can be found at http://lki.lt/26-oji-tarptautinemoksline-jono-jablonskio-konferencija/ and at http://www.jablonskio-konferencija.flf.vu.lt/lt/. 2 Theses can be downloaded from the LKI website at http://lki.lt/26-oji-tarptautine-moksline-jonojablonskio-konferencija/. JURGITA JAROSLAVIENĖ. GINTARĖ JUDŽENTYTĖ-ŠINKŪNIENĖ. Linguistic diversity in the modern world: the power and prestige of language | 2 doi.org/10.35321/bkalba.2019.92.08 BENDRINĖ KALBA 92 (2019) www.bendrinekalba.lt ISSN 2351-7204 Dr. Sabine Kjær, Vice-President of the European Federation of National Institutions for Language (EFNIL; hereinafter referred to as the Federation), Chair of the Danish Language Technology Committee and former Director of the Danish Language Board, discusses trends in Kirchmeier supažindino su Federacijos veikla, apžvelgė Europos kalbų politikos klausimus, policy planning and the state of language technology development in Denmark and other European countries. 1 PAV. Iš kairės: dr. Albina Auksoriūtė (Lietuvių kalbos instituto direktorė), prof. dr. Irena Smetonienė (professor at Vilnius University), Dr. Sabine Kirchmeier (vice-president of the European Federation of National Language Institutions, chair of the Danish Language Technology Committee, former director of the Danish Language Board), Prof. Dr. Inesa Šeškauskienė (Dean of the Faculty of Philology, Vilnius University) In the words of the speaker, the Federation currently unites 40 of the most important language organizations and other national language institutions representatives from various European member states (see Figure 2). The main objectives and research areas of the Federation are related to the diversity of European official languages, multilingualism, legal regulation of official (state) languages, language policy, planning, general language status, digital language resources, language technologies, language use in the media, education and other important areas of public life, language teaching, language dissemination. To JURGITA JAROSLAVIENĖ. GINTARĖ JUDŽENTYTĖ-ŠINKŪNIENĖ. Linguistic diversity in the modern world: the power and prestige of language | 3 doi.org/10.35321/bkalba.2019.92.08 BENDRINĖ KALBA 92 (2019) www.bendrinekalba.lt ISSN 2351-7204 achieve its goals, it carries out various projects, conducts surveys, organizes an annual conference and other targeted meetings. 2 PAV. Based on the results of a recent study, Dr. Sabine Kirchmeier pointed out that in 21 European countries, languages are regulated by constitutions, language laws and/or other documents. Differences in regulation depend on historical circumstances and traditions, on the formation of common languages and other peculiarities. In Denmark, for example, the Constitution was adopted in 1849 and has been amended only a few times since then, with relatively minor changes. When the country was still homogeneous and one language was spoken, no one thought about special language regulations. The following countries have state language(s) regulated by constitutional provisions, language laws nuostatų įtraukimą į Konstituciją dėl danų kalbos vartojimo. and other documents: Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Austria, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, the United Kingdom, Greece, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Suomijoje, Slovakijoje, Slovėnijoje. Danijoje, Norvegijoje, Švedijoje, Islandijoje, Vokietijoje, JURGITA JAROSLAVIENĖ. GINTARĖ JUDŽENTYTĖ-ŠINKŪNIENĖ. Linguistic diversity in the modern world: the power and prestige of language | 4 doi.org/10.35321/bkalba.2019.92.08 BENDRINĖ KALBA 92 (2019) www.bendrinekalba.lt ISSN 2351-7204 In Hungary, Bulgaria, the language(s) is(are) regulated either by the constitution or by the įstatymu ir (arba) kitais dokumentais, o Belgijoje – konstitucija ir kalbos įstatymu. language law. Language technologies and digital language resources were discussed as a means to keep a language alive or even to revive it, strengthen it (see Icelandic, Greenland, samių kalbas). Another honourable guest speaker – Prof. Dr. Frans Hinskens from the Meertens Institute and Radboud University in the Netherlands – introduced the past and present of the common Dutch language, drawing attention to the rapidly changing language norms and how the language is regulated by law. The guest presented the results of a recent large-scale online survey that assessed the general use of Dutch in key areas of everyday life and revealed the attitudes of users towards the language (see Figure 3). 3 PAV. Prof. dr. Frans Hinskens (Meertens Institute, Radboud University, The Netherlands) The third guest speaker of the plenary session Prof. Dr. Ari Páll Kristinsson from the Árni Magnússon Institute of Icelandic Studies spoke about the current situation of the Icelandic language, discussed the importance of language policy in Iceland and the need for public JURGITA JAROSLAVIENĖ. GINTARĖ JUDŽENTYTĖ-ŠINKŪNIENĖ. Linguistic diversity in the modern world: the power and prestige of language | 5 doi.org/10.35321/bkalba.2019.92.08 BENDRINĖ KALBA 92 (2019) www.bendrinekalba.lt ISSN 2351-7204 awareness, the availability and dissemination of language promotion tools, and highlighted the impact and importance of language technology, digital and other advanced tools in promoting the mother tongue and strengthening the prestige of the language (see Figure 4). 4 PAV. Prof. dr. Ari Páll Kristinsson (Árni Magnússon Institute of Icelandic Studies) The scientific discussions continued in four sessions. The first meeting was chaired by doc. dr. Gintarė Judžentytė-Šinkūnienė (VU). A presentation on Catalan language and its dialects was given by Prof. Pietro Umberto Dini from Italy (University of Pisa). The professor discussed Catalan as a “medium-sized” language in the context of language policy, ideology and practice and emphasized the importance of the language for the nation, providing examples from the history of the Catalan language. Dr. Audrius Valotka (VU) raised the question of prescriptivism and scientificity in linguistics, analyzed the transition from pure to applied science, discussed the prospects of experimental development. Natalia Dankova (University of Quebec, Canada) examined adjectives and their variation in French from a psycholinguistic point of view. Prof. dr. Jurgis Pakerys and Ignas Rudaitis (VU) presented the formal basis of Lithuanian noun conjugations. They recalled that the Lithuanian dialects were first described by Klein in 1653. The report presents a new attempt to formalize noun conjugation using an algorithm. Results obtained to compare JURGITA JAROSLAVIENĖ. GINTARĖ JUDŽENTYTĖ-ŠINKŪNIENĖ. Linguistic diversity in the modern world: the power and prestige of language | 6 doi.org/10.35321/bkalba.2019.92.08 BENDRINĖ KALBA 92 (2019) www.bendrinekalba.lt ISSN 2351-7204 with previous classifications of Lithuanian noun conjugations. Doc. dr. Danila Zuljan Kumar (Franjo Ramovš Institute of Slovenian Language, Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts) concluded the session by discussing how to revive a disappearing language and how to use culture and art to reawaken the power of language. Prof. dr. The second meeting, led by Danguolė Mikulėnienė (LKI), mainly discussed issues of linguistic identity and variantity in dialects. Prof. dr. Daiva Aliūkaitė (VU Kaunas Faculty) spoke about the vitality of local variants in the regions, presented the positions of the Žemaites and Southern Highlanders and their paradoxes. The question was raised whether the vitality and prospective of local codes always depends only on favourable linguistic conditions. The paper argues that the similarity of the language’s mother code to the common language may lead to the spread and vitality of the local code. In summary, it was stated that the vitality of local variants in regions can be determined not only by non-linguistic circumstances (see favourable attitudes), but also by the linguistic characteristics of the variant itself. Prof. dr. Ineta Dabašinskienė (VDU) examined the issue of linguistic identity and attitude of the Visaginas community and the realities related to it. The presentation shows what is happening in everyday linguistic practice, starting with ethnolinguistic nationalism, drawing attention to the dominance of the post-Soviet heritage, postmodernist approach to diversity and multilingualism. Doc. Christa Schneider (University of Bern, Switzerland) and Prof. Dr. Vytautas Kardelis (VU) presented the notation of linguistic variantity in maps in the past and now. The session was concluded by Dr. Nijolė Tuomienė (LKI) – she discussed the use of languages in border areas, drew attention to aspects of competition and interaction, examined natural communication situations during language (code) change, when speakers are well versed in and use several languages at the same time, actively alternating them in conversations. According to the researcher, although local variants of Lithuanian, Polish and Belarusian have been studied for more than a century, only comprehensive studies of recent years have shown that the study of bilingual or even trilingual environments will be successful if two or all three spoken languages sistemą; sudėtingoje kalbinėje aplinkoje negali būti tiriama, pavyzdžiui, tik vienos kalbos are studied at the same time, rather than each separately, delving into each as a separate phonetics or lexicon. The third session was chaired by Dr. Larisa Taranenko (National Technical University of Ukraine) universiteto Igorio Sikorskio Kijevo politechnikos institutas). Šis posėdis pradėtas dr. Pijaus with a presentation by Dr. Kasparaitis and Dr. Margaritos Beniušės (VU) on statistical parametric synthesis of Lithuanian voice: a statistical parametric method used for the first time for Lithuanian voice synthesis, using neural networks, implemented in a software package JURGITA JAROSLAVIENĖ. GINTARĖ JUDŽENTYTĖ-ŠINKŪNIENĖ. Linguistic diversity in the modern world: the power and prestige of language | 7 doi.org/10.35321/bkalba.2019.92.08 BENDRINĖ KALBA 92 (2019) www.bendrinekalba.lt ISSN 2351-7204 Merlin, a special set of linguistic features adapted to the Lithuanian language and rules for grouping features have also been compiled. It was assessed that the intelligibility and acceptability of the statistically parametrically synthesized voice far outperforms the so far best considered synthesizer operating by unit selection method. In addition, the acceptability of synthesized voice is close to that of natural voice recordings. Furthermore, L. Taranenko presented a description of typical background concepts of small English folklore. Zinaida Pakholok (Open International University for Human Development, Luck Institute for Human Development) analyzed the category of repetition in linguistic discourse. The fourth meeting, chaired by Dr. Agnė Aleksaitė (LKI), started by Santa Jērāne (Latvian Language Institute of the University of Latvia). She talked about lexical definitions, distinguishing theoretical and practical problems. Doc. universitetas) analizavo specifinius kalbinius ir nekalbinius aspektus, turinčius įtakos stiliaus dr. Yuliya Vyshenskaya from Russia (Herzen State University) The session was concluded by Dr. Anželika Smetonienė (LKI): the researcher talked about the diversity of Slavisms and hybrids in the Pirmosios konferencijos dienos vakarą pranešėjai dalyvavo ekskursijoje po LKI Proverbs of the Samogitians by Motiejus Valančius. interactive language museum Lithuanistikas židinys, which exhibits a number of unique language toys, books and objects of linguists, documents important to the language. On the second day of the conference the plenary session was chaired by Dr. Jurgita Jaroslavienė (LKI). First spoke the honourable guest Prof. dr. Birutė Klaas-Lang from Estonia (University of Tartu) (see Figure 5). She presented Estonian language policy and sustainability issues in higher education. There was a discussion about positive discrimination, the development of language attitudes and personal responsibility to speak their mother tongue. The state support to ensure the sustainability of the Estonian language in all areas of life, including higher education and research, was welcomed. JURGITA JAROSLAVIENĖ. GINTARĖ JUDŽENTYTĖ-ŠINKŪNIENĖ. Linguistic diversity in the modern world: the power and prestige of language | 8 doi.org/10.35321/bkalba.2019.92.08 5 PAV. Prof. dr. Birutė Klaas-Lang (University of BENDRINĖ KALBA 92 (2019) www.bendrinekalba.lt ISSN 2351-7204 Tartu) and Dr. Albina Auksoriūtė (Lietuvių kalbos institutas) Another invited plenary speaker – Dr. (HP) Rita Miliūnaitė (LKI) presented the situation of the Lithuanian common language in the context of the dynamics of postandartizacijos laikotarpiu (žr. 6 pav.). European common languages in 6 PAV. Dr. (HP) Rita Miliūnaitė (Institute of Lithuanian Language) JURGITA JAROSLAVIENĖ. GINTARĖ JUDŽENTYTĖ-ŠINKŪNIENĖ. Linguistic diversity in the modern world: the power and prestige of language | 9 doi.org/10.35321/bkalba.2019.92.08 BENDRINĖ KALBA 92 (2019) www.bendrinekalba.lt ISSN 2351-7204 Based on the most important characteristics of common language, such as commonness to the whole society, homogeneity of norms, stable codification and prestige, the researcher presented theoretical insights that would allow the common Lithuanian language to apply one or another model of its dynamics – destandardization, demotization, restandartization. The concept of intermediate variant between regiolects and common language – substantivar – is updated, which can help explain the changes in the modern common Lithuanian language usage. The plenary session is closed Prof. dr. Irena Smetoniene (VU) presented: the professor analyzed what the concept of language means to Lithuanians, spoke about language as the basis of nationality and part of culture, emphasized that through language customs can be transmitted, regardless of the person’s place of residence (see Figure 7). The report highlights all the main concepts of language. 7 PAV. Prof. dr. In the fifth session led by Irena Smetonienė (Vilnius Toliau mokslinės diskusijos vyko atskiruose posėdžiuose. Dr. Elenos Riekhakaynen University) (St. Petersburg State University) several presentations were devoted to experimental phonetics. Dr. Alla Kalyta (National Institute for Emotional and Pragmatic Analysis technikos universiteto Igorio Sikorskio Kijevo politechnikos institutas) pristatė metodą, skirtą of Ukrainian Language) and another speaker from Ukraine – Dr. Mykolas Kutsenko (Military Institute of Telecommunications and Information Technology) analyzed the role of phonetic means in determining sincerity in English condolence statements. Dentist Victoria Artjomenko from Riga (DentalArt) and Dr. Solveiga Čeirāne (Riga Stradiņa University) talked about the search for acoustic parameters to help evaluate