19-oji Jono Jablonskio konferencija „Lietuvjų kalbos sintaksės“ šimtmečiui paminėti

230 Languages and Culture | 85 The 19th Jablonec Conference CELEBRATION OF THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF LITHUANIAN LANGUAGE SYNTACSIS The 19th (since 1993) Jon Jablonskis Conference was held at Vilnius University on October 5, 2012. The conference, organized by the Department of General Language of the Lithuanian Language Institute and the Department of Lithuanian Language of Vilnius University, was dedicated to the centenary of the Lithuanian language syntax published in 1911 by John (J. Jablonskis) from Riga. Five presentations on syntax theory and practice were presented: the usage of words, word combinations and sentences were discussed, the tendencies of syntax development were discussed. The benefit and importance of Lithuanian language syntax, called a gift to the Lithuanian language, for schools was emphasized: until then textbooks containing syntax were very lacking. Vitas Labutis (Vilnius University) in his presentation “Examples of the syntax of the Riga language of John of Lithuania, part I, their sources, purpose, presentation methods” discussed more than 2900 examples from spoken and written language presented in the 110-page publication. Most of them were not recorded anywhere else. J. Jablonskis, realizing that the laws and rules of syntax can be determined from the abundance of spoken language, folklore and carefully selected examples of written language, carefully and precisely divided them according to sentence parts, sentence types and other syntactic characteristics, so that such classification was based on later syntax works. J. Jablonski’s Lithuanian language syntax encouraged other linguists to take the path of syntax research more boldly. albINas DruKtEINIs (Klaipeda University) presented the results of the study of semantic sentence structure contraction („Semantic sentence structure contraction: actant incorporation type“), generalization and individual lexical studies. The participants of the conference were interested in the fact that in order to rearrange the sentence structure and create a secondary sentence, there are often possible variations (subjectification, substantivation of the predicate or contraction of its structure, etc.), which express different speaker’s intention. rIta MIlIūNaItĖ (Institute of Lithuanian Language), updating the syntactic constructions of the expression of being, read a presentation at the conference “Expression of being in constructions with the verb to become: contradiction of usage and codification”. The speaker raised the problem that the codified norm is not very frequently The 19th conference of Jon Jablonskis to mark the centenary of Lithuanian language syntax 231 nai coincides with actual usage and is not stable. Although the adjective expressions of the conditional constructions with tapti should be used binary verbs, but in the position of the indicative, when combining verbs, such constructions quite often seem unnatural. In the light of the current usage, it was proposed that the codification of such constructions be reassessed and, if there were strong arguments, adjusted. rasuolĖ VlaDarsKIENĖ (Lithuanian Language Institute), examining the topic “the norming of compound connective sentences”, compared the recommendations for the use of compound sentences presented in previous normative publications with those that are followed now. The main focus was on the elements of connective sentences connected by the word which. It has been discussed when this type of compound sentences are regular and when they should be corrected, because their use has not been properly studied so far. As a result, the norms are not quite clearly defined, and this creates difficulties for language users. Most of the conference participants were of the opinion that it is most important to take into account the meaning of the connecting point, i.e. whether the point specifies the word or the compound with which the pronoun which is combined. The sequence of actions has a slightly lesser influence on the correctness of such sentences. DaIVa ŠVEIKausKIENĖ (Institute of Lithuanian Language) in her presentation “Syntax textbook” raised the problem that Lithuanian language is one of the least computerized in Europe. In Lithuania, textbooks with syntactic functions have not yet been created, while in the world such textbooks (differing in number of languages, annotation form and/or volume) are very popular, their data are widely used in various computer technologies. The speaker discussed plans to prepare a syntactic textbook of Lithuanian language, which, based on dependency grammar and taking into account the principles of traditional grammar, would be extremely valuable for all language users. proposals on how to develop linguistic research and improve the codification of norms were made not only by the speakers, but also by the conference participants. At each conference of Jon Jablonskis, sharing experiences, insights, active discussions, we are pleased that the standardization work of the common Lithuanian language is continuing successfully. Received 2012 12 01 uGNĖ taMaŠausKaItĖ Lithuanian Language Institute P. Vileišio g. 5, lt-10308 Vilnius [email protected]