Rygiškių Jono „Lietuvjų kalbos sintaksės“ pavyzdžiai

V. Labutis. Syntax examples of the language of John of Riga 19 VITAS LABUTIS Vilniaus universitetas LITHUANIAN LANGUAGES OF RIGAS ION EXAMPLES OF SYNtax KEY WORDS: Jonas Jablonskis, syntax, examples, sources, presentation methods. Not so long ago it was 100 years since the appearance of Jono Rygiškio (Jono Jablonskio) Syntax of the Lithuanian Language, I d. (Seinai, 1911)1. Having attempted to discuss the examples of this grammar – a particularly striking feature of it – we should say something about the circumstances in which this work, which is significant for our syntax science and the development of school textbooks to date, was written2. Neither the first Lithuanian grammar of the 17th–18th centuries, nor the scientific grammar created in the second half of the 19th century (Augustas Šleicheris, 1856; Frydrich Kuršaitis, 1876; Antanas Baranauskas Kalbamokslis lietuviszkos kalbos, 1896; Kazimieras Jaunius Lietuvių kalbos gramatika, hektografuota 1897) and other grammatics of lesser importance provided a systematic description of the syntax of the whole Lithuanian language. From the very first lines of Lithuanian grammar bars, J. Jablonskis realized how hard and weed-covered the soil of syntax is. As early as 1890, when reviewing Father Mykolas Miežinis’ Lithuanian grammar, he emphasized what is needed first of all when undertaking such a work: to understand the rules of “our songs, riddles, proverbs, proverbs” (JR IV: 3). Several facts of Lithuanian language syntax were examined by J. Jablonskis in the article "Medega sintaksiui" published in Varpa in 1893. This article was also included in the edited version of J. Jablonski’s Lithuanian grammar chapter “Keli syntaksio įstatymai” (JRR I: 158–177) in 1901. 1 We will quote it from the more accessible to readers J. Jablonski’s Selected Writings, Volume I (compiled by Jonas Palionis), pp. 436–548, and shorten the title to J. Jablonski’s Syntax or simply Syntax. 2 The circumstances of the creation and publication of the syntax have been described by J. Palionis in the introduction to Jono Jablonskio Selected Writings „J. Jablonskis and his Lithuanian language textbooks". All this is discussed in particular detail in A. Piročkinas’s study J. Jablonskis – common Lithuanian language promoter (1978), this and that is highlighted in Arnoldas Piročkinas’s Letters of Jonas Jablonskis (1985) and in several of his articles. The importance of J. Jablonski’s examples of Syntax has also been mentioned in summarizing works on the history of Lithuanian language (Petro Joniko, Jono Palionio, Algirdo Sabaliausko, Zigmo Zinkevičius et al. ). 20 LANGUAGE CULTURE | 85 THE NEED FOR LITHUANIAN LANGUAGE TEXTS – J. JABlONSKIO SYNTACSIS PRETEXTS After the recovery of Lithuanian press, Lithuanian language began to make its way into schools, so there arose a lively business of drawing up Lithuanian language programs and writing textbooks. J. Jablonskis was also involved in this work: he created a Lithuanian language program for elementary schools3 and for future teachers of this subject entering the Panevėžys Teachers’ Seminary, advised the authors of elementary texts (Povilas Višinskis, Ksaveras Sakalauskas and others), participated in elementary texts evaluation competitions. In the elementary books of P. Višinskis and K. Sakalauskas, they tried to realize the ideas of J. Jablonskis that textbooks should first of all be based on living language and folklore. However, there was no fully appropriate textbook of Lithuanian language for elementary schools, even less such textbooks were lacking for higher classes. J. Jablonskis intended to prepare a new edition of the grammar in 1901, where syntax was to be separated from morphology and otherwise much reworked (see Palionis 1957: 32–33). However, in 1909, J. Jablonskis decided to write a separate Syntax of the Lithuanian language. at the time, it seemed to him to be the most necessary systematic syntax textbook. Language practice also lacked systematized syntax rules – without them it was difficult to expect a decrease in errors in this area4. HOW IT WAS WRITTEN AND PRONUNCED J. JABLONSKI'S SYNTHESIS From 1908 to 1910, he worked as a teacher of Latin at the Brest Gymnasium. He was overburdened with pedagogical work, edited Žemaitės stories and was busy with other work, so it was not easy for him to find time to devote himself to Lithuanian language syntax. This is not the first time that J. Jablonskis decided to dedicate his summer holidays to his work. However, the difficulties of fluctuating spelling and the unclear choice of Lithuanian grammar terms were still pressing. 3 J. Jablonski’s Lithuanian language program for schools was approved and published in 1909 in the supplement “Mokykla” of the Lithuanian farmer (Buivydienė 2012: 189). 4 Responding to the concerns of the Textbook Commission, J. Jablonskis stated the lack of many good school textbooks and summarized his thoughts as follows: “How a textbook should be written, what is lacking in the current ones – a very difficult question. We will be able to speak seriously about which textbooks are most needed now when we have decided which textbooks are most needed” (JR V: 236). V. Labutis. Syntax examples of Rygiškių Jono Lithuanian language 21 1 PaV. Photo from the illustrated Lithuanian Christian-Democratic weekly Šaltinis (No. 39) dated 5 October 1909 22 LANGUAGE CULTURE | 85 territory language and decided to involve J. Jablonski in this work. Several times the priests called councils – in one of buvo susirasti patarėjų ir talkininkų. tokia proga pasitaikė netikėtai: kai kurie jaunosios kartos kunigai pagaliau susirūpino apvalyti lietuviškų pothem in Punske in early 1909 they invited J. Jablonski, and a few months later in Vilnius not only Jonas Jablonski, but also Kazimieras Būga, Juozas Balčikonis, Jurgis Šlapelis participated in another council. (see Piročkinas 1978: 62–63)5. In the summer of 1909, several priests from Seins, together with linguists J. Jablonskis, K. Būga, J. Balčikonis and J. Šlapelis, edited the Poterian language. Linguists also began to work on the syntax of Lithuanian (see Figure 1). Here, J. Jablonskis discussed with the collaborators the spelling and basic terms of the planned Syntax6. then in Seine he managed to write a large part of his Syntax. J. Jablonskis continued to create it all year long. He worked hard and spared his health. in a letter to Kazimieras Jokantas admitted that he had worked hard and had no rest (Piročkinas 1985: 160). Most of the Syntax was probably written in the summer of 1910 in Puziniškis, at Petkevičiai manor. He was eventually released and returned to Brest. The text of J. Jablonski’s Syntax was first published in two issues in the monthly journal for priests Vadovas, edited by J. Laukaitis, in the autumn of 1910 (Piročkinas 1978: 69)7. In order to be available to the public, the Syntax had to be published as a separate publication. In early 1911 the first half of this publication appeared, and in early June of the same year the company of Laukaitis, Dvaranauskas and Narjauskas published in Seinai the entire Syntax of the Rygiškių Jono Lietuvų language (see fig. 2)8. This was also published in the newspaper Viltis by the author himself (JR IV: 64). J. Jablonskis regarded this work as the first part of his planned textbook of Syntax and promised to publish the second part – the science of verbs and prepositions – soon. Unfortunately, it appeared only 17 years later. 5 Several photographs taken by the linguistic commission working in Seine. One of them was published in the 1909 issue of Šaltinio, No. 39 (see Figure 1). Interesting information below the photo is that this is where J. Jablonskis wrote Syntax and the linguists who participated in it shared their work. One of the organizers of these works was priest Juozas Laukaitis. He had previously worked as senior assistant of A. Baranauskas, and later taught Lithuanian language at the Seins seminary. He also founded and managed the Catholic publications Guide and Source. J. Laukaitis knew about J. Jablonski's language works and felt favour for him. 6 At the end of the talk, the author thanks his helpers, especially K. Buga: “If it were not for K. Buga, not for his diligence, not for his dedication to the cause of science [...] – the work would be even weaker”. 7 The biography of Fr. J. Laukaitis is described in more detail in the recently published book Lietuvybės kovų verpetuose (in Lithuanian). 8 Three years later, not forgetting how the Seine writers had printed the Syntax in a faulty way and even praised it, J. Jablonskis rebuked with heartache: “The writers of Seine at least learned that syntax, at least that is what we should judge from the present language of the “Source” and the “Guide”” (JR III: 54). V. Labutis. Syntax examples of Rygiškių Jono Lithuanian language 23 2 PaV. Syntax of the Lithuanian language of John of Riga 24 LANGUAGE CULTURE | 85 Atsivertęs J. Jablonskio Sintaksę, apimančią 110 puslapių, skaitytojas turi perskaityti gana informatyvią 4 puslapių „Prakalbą“. Čia autorius labai kukliai calls his publication a “work of haste and hunger”: “not all parts of that part are equally processed, [...] not all are written equally understandably”. Recalling another task of this Syntax, the author says that it will be only a “pin” for the written language, which will not be of much use9. The aforementioned “Talks” about three quarters are devoted to the discussion of examples of syntax and their sources. The author believed that these were extremely important things. Here it says: “The material (later clarified – “examples” (see Figure 3) I collected almost all (“all”) from human language.” (JRR I: 437). In general, “people’s language” is not only selected traditional talk of the villagers, but also folklore – not only heard by the author, but also taken from reliable recorders’ collections. These groups of people’s language sources are attempted to be localized according to the administrative boundaries of the Lithuanian-speaking lands of those times. There, the author had to face considerable difficulties in reconciling the czarist governorates and counties with the dialects. The Syntax uses quite a lot of sources: 51 of them are numbered, but behind many abbreviations there are two or more locations, e.g. : Kp. (22) includes Kupiškio, Šimonių, Skapiškio neighborhoods, and next to it are also Kp.d., i.e. Song of the Cupid. so the sources of examples, apparently, can be seen twice as much or even more. The sources are divided into two main groups: the first – selected examples of people’s spoken language and folklore, the second – written languages. They are not strictly defined, because for Jablonski the quality and reliability of the specimens were more important than the fact that they belonged to which group. The order in which the sources are described is also important, and they are numbered accordingly. By reference to that number, the reader has to figure out what the abbreviation means in the alphabetical list of sources below, since the examples in the text had only an abbreviation and a number. For example, in the alphabetical list we find No. 19 – it is the village Nerekonys between Švobiškis and Joniškis in the description of places in Kaunas governorate10. 9 Nevertheless, J. Jablonski, having repeatedly advised the people of Scripture to read the Syntax carefully (cf. (see below). 10 J. Jablonskis sometimes gives the same abbreviations of the sources as examples in another article. V. Labutis. 25 Sources of examples The syntax begins with the description of Prussian Lithuania. this is the first source – Pr.11. It includes quite a lot of different examples: the colloquial language of this region, songs, riddles, proverbs; besides, here is also included what is taken from the vocabulary and grammar of Friedrich Kuršaitis, from the grammar and chrestomaty of August Schleicher12. In the example syntax, the name of the source is presented in italics, as is its abbreviation. 12 The latter is the second part of A. Šleicher’s Handbuch der litauischen Sprache (Prague, 1857), entitled Litauisches Lesebuch und Glossar. 3 PAV. The Lithuanian language syntax of Jonas Jablonskis "Prakalba" (edited by the author). (published in the library of the Lithuanian Literature and Folklore Institute) "Jablonski's collection". 26 LANGUAGE CULTURE | 85 songs (Vol. 2), recorded by Augusto Leskin. Here are added and Christian "Donatelli (3)". Four sources of examples of Suvalkian language are mentioned: Rygiškiai village in Naumiestis district, Marijampolė and Vilkaviškis districts (just Sv.), Liudvinavo songs (Ld.d.)13, Garliava tales and songs (Grl.d., Grl.p.), once collected by prof. Karlas Brugmanas14. between them is the source of Seinų dzūkai. Thus, among the Suvalkians in the broad sense (according to the Suvalkian Governorate) there is also the source of the Suvalkians in the narrow sense (according to the dialect) and the insertion of the Seine Dzūki. The most abundant sources of examples are from the former Kaunas Governorate, which encompassed most of Žemaitija, Central and Eastern Lithuania – the Kaunas, Raseiniai, Telšiai, Panevėžys, Šiauliai, Ukmergė counties and Zarasai corner neighborhoods of those days. There are as many as 17 sources here with separate links. There are numerous examples collected by J. Jablonski himself from these places, and many of them were also obtained from other linguists or persons with whom the author had to communicate: Juozas Balčikonis, Kazimieras Būga, Kazimieras Jaunius, Jurgis Šlapelis, Petras Avižonis, Jonas Šliūpas and others. From Gruzdžiai (now Gruzdžiai) and Žagarė, two sources (Sln., Sln.d.) are marked with examples of spoken language and published songs provided by Mato Slančiauskas. The Vilnius Governorate had a small number of examples – only from Švenčionys and Trakai counties, but the latter source includes as many as five far-flung districts: Žasliai, Onuškis, Punia, Jieznas, Valkininkai. Examples are also given from lazūnai (Ašmena district) and Zytelas (now Zietelos) (Slanimo district) which belonged to Lithuania. Sometimes specific places J. Jablonski did not nurodo, o vartoja apibendrintus šaltinių pavadinimus: Žemaičių (Žm., Žm.d. 35), Rytų Lietuvos (Rt. 36)15. The examples of written language were used very carefully. The 19th-century sources and "senoby" writings are separated here. Among the first, in addition to the already mentioned writings of K. Donelaitis, he mentions the writings of Motiejus Valančius, Simonas Daukantas, Žemaitė, Anykščių Šilelis, Šiaulėniškės Senelis, Lietuvių pasakas, Visuomenės įnamius, Antano 13 that in 1871 liudvinavo in the surroundings (then in Kalvarija district) Lithuanian folk songs recorded by Filip Fortunatov and Vsevolodas Milleris, printed in Cyrillic in Moscow (1872 and 1873). 14 Published in the collection published by him and A. Leskinas Lietuvių liaudies dainos ir pasakos iš Prūsijos ir Rusijos Lietuvos (in German, 1882). 15 In J. Jablonski’s Syntax, more or less examples are taken from each major adverb; They were almost absent only from the western Dzūkijos (present-day Alytus, Druskininkai, Lazdijai, etc. of the area). V. Labutis. 27 Juška's Songs (tts.) and Dictionary and others. Sometimes the source of the writings is simply marked R. 45. From the “senoby” writings, the works of Mikalojus Daukša, Konstantinas Sirvydas and some other writers are mentioned. It is also used as an abbreviation for Rr. 51 (from the content of the examples it can be assumed that these are simply religious writings). such a quite diverse, even variegated, not everywhere strictly differentiated and defined list of sources suggests that J. Jablonskis collected examples even from the time of his studies and had some kind of their repository. true, in one letter of J. Jablonski to K. Bugai modestly mentioned only about his examples "column" (Piročkinas 1985: 89). Plenty of examples The abundance of examples in J. Jablonski’s Syntax catches the reader’s eye immediately. One of the first critics of this work, the young poet Kleopas Jurgelionis, living in America, half a year later counted about 2300 examples in Syntax. He counted them and was outraged: they were presented here in such a large number “only for the eyes of writers”, and those examples were mostly from Suwałki or from works edited by Jablonski himself. that hotheaded critic cared little about who the examples were for and how they were presented. The aforementioned “Discourse” with many different sources is also apparently not carefully read. Infected with the not very meaningful arithmetic of examples, we counted this and that. Without dismissing the sentences invented and commented by J. Jablonski, we found about 2900 examples. but specific numbers are perhaps less interesting16 than certain types of examples, their comparison, their proportions. The types of examples of J. Jablonski’s Syntax are divided into three main groups: 1) spoken language, 2) folklore, 3) written language. (written) language examples. Examples of spoken language (dialects) make up about a third of all syntactic facts examined. We include in this group not only the examples with direct references from the so-called Suvalkians (Kapsai and Zanaviki), but also the about 100 examples from the Rygiškiai area written by J. Jablonskis himself, presented without any references. Nevertheless, in the Syntax we find a considerable amount of facts collected both from Žemaitija (Alsėdžiai, Kvėdarna and other places) and from Central Lithuania (the districts of Šiauliai, Panevėžys, Pasvalys, Žagarė). Adding in one skry16 those specific numbers paberta and K. Jurgelionis; they commented and supplemented by A. Pirochkin (see Piročkinas 1978: 86). 34 LANGUAGE CULTURE | 85 J. Jablonski’s Syntax supported our grammar standardization with the most systematic description of syntactic phenomena of the Lithuanian language, the methodological direction of which can be considered “from functions to expression”. It was clear to the author that the laws he established could be forgotten after some time, but the examples of good language that show them are engraved in memory, like some kind of road signs, indicating where in a certain case our ancestors were able to express their thoughts in beautiful Lithuanian. Jablonski's System of Syntax, although corrected and supplemented, influenced the strength of our language through many other textbooks and other descriptions of grammar. In 1985, for example, Juozas Masilionis published a new textbook for Lithuanians in the USA, Lithuanian Language Syntax. And here the traditions of J. Jablonski’s Syntax are recognized, which were spread through the textbooks of Peter Klim, Zigmantas Kuzmickis, Leonardas Dambriūnas, Pranas Gailiūnas with Juozas Žiugžda and others. Again, it is emphasized that J. Jablonski’s Syntax has always been an inexhaustible library of examples (Masilionis 1985: 5). In fact, the preposition “Black bread is not hunger” mentioned by J. Jablonski perhaps four times alone would probably be found in every more detailed description of our syntax. CONCLUSIONS 1.J. Jablonskis wrote the Lithuanian language syntax primarily with the gap in the textbooks for the subject for the higher school classes in mind – this partly determined the abundance of examples and their arrangement. He has been collecting examples for Syntax since the time of his studies in Moscow – about 30 years. 2. he began to write syntax while he was a teacher in Brest, in 1909 with collaborators K. Būga, J. Balčikonis, J. Šlapelis, after having received shelter in Seinas. continued this work in the summer of 1910 in Puziniškis, at Petkevičiai manor. A separate publication of Rygiškių Jono Lithuanian language syntax was published in June 1911. Most of the example sources are provided with specific references. 3. According to approximate estimates, there are about 2900 samples. According to the sources, the sample deposits were arranged roughly as follows: about a third of the spoken language, a little more of the folklore and less than a third of the writings. 4.The examples are presented according to the traditional syntax plan: the sentence and its parts, types of sentences, compound connecting and connecting sentences, so-called conjugated secondary sentences and conjunctive sentences, at the end – the use of punctuation. Motivatedly J. Jablonskis defended the narrative V. Labutis. Several methods are used to provide examples of the syntax of Rygiškių Jono Lietuvjų language 35: inductive, deductive and (dalyvinę) kalbą. Ne kartą Sintaksėje primenama, kad sunkesniais atvejais tą patį sakinį galima interpretuoti ir nagrinėti keliais būdais. Pavyzdžiams paco-rationalization. 5. the regular, beautiful examples of Lithuanian language, especially folklore, collected by J. Jablonski, often served as a showcase for our other grammars. J. Jablonski’s Syntax, as a systematic model for the description of Lithuanian language syntax, was more or less used by many authors of Lithuanian language textbooks in the 20th century, as well as by syntax researchers. The rules and usage tendencies he established helped to establish many of the Lithuanian grammar norms. lItERAtūRA Buivydienė V. 2012: lietuvių kalbos mokymas XX a. pradžioje: pirmosios lietuvių kalbos programos ir to laikotarpio vadovėliai. – Naujausi kalbų ir kultūrų tyrimai. Sudarė V. Meiliūnaitė, N. Morozova. Vilnius: Petro ofsetas. Jonikas P. 1987: Lietuvių tauta ir kalba amžių būvyje, Chicago: lituanistikos instituto leidykla. JR I–V: Jablonskio raštai 1–5. Sudarė J. Balčikonis. Kaunas: Švietimo ministerijos leidinys, 1932–1936. JRR I–II: J. Jablonskis. Rinktiniai raštai 1–2. Sudarė J. Palionis. Vilnius: Valstybinė politinės ir mokslinės literatūros leidykla, 1957–1959. Kairiūkštytė N., Gudonytė A. (sud.) 2009: Lietuvybės kovų verpetuose. Vilniaus ir Seinų kraštai XIX a. pabaigoje–XX a. pradžioje, Vilnius: Mokslo ir enciklopedijų institutas. Masilionis J. 1985: Lietuvių kalbos sintaksė, Chicago: lB švietimo taryba. Palionis J. 1955: Įžymus lietuvių kalbininkas Jonas Jablonskis, Vilnius: Valstybinė politinės ir mokslinės literatūros leidykla. Palionis J. 1957: J. Jablonskis ir jo lietuvių kalbos vadovėliai. – J. Jablonskis. Rinktiniai raštai 1. Sudarė J. Palionis. Vilnius: Valstybinė politinės ir mokslinės literatūros leidykla. Piročkinas A. 1978: J. Jablonskis – bendrinės lietuvių kalbos puoselėtojas, Vilnius: Mokslas. Piročkinas A. 1980: J. Jablonskis, Kaunas: Šviesa. Piročkinas A. 1985: Jono Jablonskio laiškai, Vilnius: Mokslas. Rygiškių Jonas. 1911: Lietuvjų kalbos sintaksė, Seinai. Sabaliauskas A. 1979: Lietuvių kalbos tyrinėjimų istorija 1, Vilnius: Mokslas. Zinkevičius Z. 1992: Lietuvių kalbos istorija 5: Bendrinės kalbos iškilimas, Vilnius: Mokslo ir enciklopedijų leidykla. Received 20 December 2012 36 LANGUAGE CULTURE | 85 EXAMPlES IN SYNTACSIS OF THE LITHUANIAN LANGUAGE BY JOHN RICHMOND Summary the first comprehensive and systematic description of the syntax of the Lithuanian language Lietuvų kalbos sintaksė (Syntax of the Lithuanian Language) was presented by Jonas Jablonskis under the pseudonym of Rygiškių Jonas as a textbook of a vitally important part of the language at the time when after the lifting of the ban on the Lithuanian press the Lithuanian language was making its way into schools. Jablonskis wrote Lietuvų kalbos sintaksė in a year. Kazimieras Būga, Juozas Balčikonis and Jurgis Šlapelis helped him resolve issues related to orthography and terminology. Jablonskis’ Lietuvų kalbos sintaksė was published in Seinai on the initiative of the priest Juozas Laukaitis in the monthly of religious direction Vadovas in the autumn of 1910. As a separate book it was published in 1911 also in Seinai. In the foreword of the publication Jablonskis pointed out how important for this work were the examples (2900 of them) and introduced their sources. One third of them are examples of spoken language from various villages, examples from folklore comprise more than a third (over 900) and examples of best language taken from the writings of the 19th century (works of Kristijonas Donelaitis, Žemaitė, Motiejus Valančius, Simonas Daukantas and others) make up less than a third. Examples in Lithuanian language syntax are arranged according to the traditional plan of the textbooks of this subject – a sentence, parts of the sentence, types of the sentence, composite sentences and their kinds. For the first time in lithuanian grammars punctuation marks with the rules of their usage and illustrative sentences were provided. the researched publication helped to bring out and to substantiate the norms of the grammar: first of all it can be seen in the rules set for various matters of syntax and based on convincing examples; in addition various mistakes ingrained in syntactic construction were indicated. the majority of 20th century textbooks of this subject continued the traditions of Jablonskis’ Lietuvų kalbos sintaksė. Some of the examples (especially from the folklore) were widely used by the authors of textbooks as well as scientific works. KEYWORDS: Jonas Jablonskis, syntax, examples, sources, presentation methods. Vitas Labutis Vilniaus universitetas Universiteto g. 5, lt-01513 Vilnius