Jonas Jablonskis ir bendrinės lietuvių kalbos šimtmetis

Jonas Jablonskis and the Centenary of the Common Lithuanian Language 359 JONAS JABLONSKIS AND GENERAL Centenary of the Lithuanian Language (18th Jono Jablonskio Conference 150th anniversary of birth) On October 7-8, the Lithuanian Language Institute hosted the international conference “Jonas Jablonskis and the Centenary of the Common Lithuanian Language” to mark the 150th anniversary of the linguist’s birth1. The eighteenth conference was dedicated to the memory of the creator of the common Lithuanian language, Jonas Jablonskis, to discuss the peculiarities of the creation and development of common languages and to examine the current problems of standardization and future prospects2. Twenty-one papers were presented at the jubilee international conference organized by the Lithuanian Language Institute and the Department of Lithuanian Language of Vilnius University, seven of which were written by scholars from abroad. The conference was attended by invited guests from the United Kingdom, Germany, Norway, Estonia, scientists from neighboring Latvia. The first part of the conference, which was opened by Eglė Lukėnaitė-Griciuvienė, a great-granddaughter of John Jablonskis, was devoted to the life and work of the linguist. The guest presented a recently published book of letters and memoirs (Eglė Lukėnaitė-Griciuvienė, Konstancija and Jono Jablonski family: Jonas Jablonskis through the eyes of grandchildren). It was discussed how justified it is to say that J. Jablonskis is the father of the Lithuanian common language, the linguist’s scientific activities were discussed. In his work he applied not only analogy but also comparative linguistics methods. It is regretted that so far linguists have not tried to highlight the principles of language standardization hidden in J. Jablonskis’ works (Arnoldas Piročkinas, The Conference was supported by the Commission for the Significance of Lithuanian Traditions and Heritage, the Lithuanian Science Council, the Municipality of Šakiai, JSC „Vuorė“ (Šakiai) and JSC „Govilis“ (Utena). 2 The conference program can be found on the website of the Lithuanian Language Institute at http://www. lki.lt/LKI_LT/images/Naujienos/Jono%20Jablonskio%20konferencijos%20programa_2010, tezes – http://www.lki.lt/LKI_LT/images/Naujienos/Jono%20Jablonskio%20konferencijos%20programa_2010, tezes 20tezes 360 LANGUAGE CULTURE | 83 360 LANGUAGE CULTURE | 83 360 LANGUAGE CULTURE | 83 360 LANGUAGE CULTURE | 83 360 LANGUAGE CULTURE | 83 J. Jablonski’s social activities are also discussed in detail, some complex turns of the linguist’s biography are revealed, his works as a teacher, scientist, fighter against the ban on the press – a national awakener of society are reviewed (Vitas Labutis, Jono Jablonski’s fight against the ban on the Lithuanian press). The reasons for the change of Jablonski’s national attitudes are recalled. Comparing the movement of Vincas Kudirka and Jon Jablonskis towards national identity, it can be said that V. Kudirka became the ideologist of the Warp, and J. Jablonskis – an assistant and supporter. Attempts were made to reveal J. Jablonski’s relationship with other Lithuanian cultural figures (Giedrė Čepaitienė, Jonas Jablonskis – bell-player). The part of the conference devoted to individual works of Jan Jablonski examined the lexicographic activity of the linguist, the influence of his works on language organization and stylistics, the importance of published reviews for the development of Lithuanian studies. Reviews and revisions of dictionaries written by J. Jablonski are reviewed. The linguist thought of writing a dictionary himself, and had accumulated a large library of words (Vilija Sakalauskienė, Jono Jablonskio lexicographic activity). In correcting the shortcomings of the language style, he applied criteria of purposefulness, clarity, comprehensibility, first of all he demanded logic of the content of the thought, his articles were written in an objective scientific and especially lively publicistic style (Regina Koženiauskienė, Jono Jablonskio dėmesys stiliui). J. Jablonskis distinguished between insertive sentences and insertive statements and words, and from the syntactic point of view, he associated the insertion of sentences with the connection, joining and coincidence of sentences (Gintautas Akelaitis, Įterpiniai, jų aiškinimas Jono Jablonskio grakščiosios matematikos darbuose). In J. Jablonski’s reviews, the main evaluative principles of language standardization are highlighted. The parallels and polemical positions of him and another opponent – Juozas Tumas-Vaižgantas, whose “Aukštaičių vaizdelius” the linguist has edited, are reviewed (Ilona Čiužauskaitė, Jonas Jablonskis – vauj dovėlių mokykloms recenzentas: Works entrusted to Jablonskis by the Ministry of Education’s Book Publishing Commission). It was clarified what influence J. Jablonskis had on Juozas Damijonaitis’s Lithuanian language in the elementary school. The linguist was mainly concerned with the content of the textbook of Lithuanian grammar for primary school, language teaching methodology, language quality and correctness (Vaida Buivydienė, Five reviews of Jono Jablonskio – five editions of Juozas Damijonaitis’ “The Beginning of Lithuanian Grammar Science”). The history of the correction of the links began with J. Jablonski's work Links and Prepositions. Many of the sentences collected by the linguist from dialects and folklore sources are also found in the works of current researchers, and his way of describing humorous meanings has also been preserved (Irena Smetonienė, Brigita Dambrauskaitė, "Janas Jablonskis ir bendrosios lietuvių kalbos šimtmetis 361" (in Lithuanian). In popularizing J. Jablonski’s creative legacy and standardizing the common language, the works of Petros Būtėnas, the initiator and author of the section “Language corner” of the Panevėžio balsas daily newspaper, were also important (Lionė Lapinskienė, Petras Būtėnas – the successor of Jono Jablonski’s work in the field of language culture). The choice between the original and adapted forms of real names is still the subject of discussion in both Latvia and Lithuania (Dzintra Šulce, Problems of the use of real names of other languages in Latvian). Problems and inaccuracies in the formation of symbolic names of educational institutions in Latvia are caused by contradictions in normative documents and language usage (Velga Laugale, Problems in the standardization of names of schools in Latvia). It was examined how much students’ knowledge of language culture and language usage skills depend on language education in secondary school and changes in the tasks of state examinations (Kęstutis Bredelis, Medicinos studentų kalbos sistemos taikymo įgūdžiai). The part of the conference devoted to the common languages of the European nations and their development provided a brief overview of the development of the common German language and its current situation. The language policy of countries where German is the official language, the relationship of common German with dialects and other European languages, especially with English, were discussed (Gerhard Stickel, Development of European Languages: Common German). The guest from Norway introduced the participants of the conference to the biography of the creator of the new Norwegian written language Ivar Osen (Aasen), his linguistic, literary and social activities, and reviewed the principles of the norming of the new Norwegian written language (Stephen J. Walton, Ivaah ras Aasen and the genesis of the new Norwegian written language). It is discussed to what extent the terms “general” or “normative”, applied to syntax, morphology and vocabulary, are relevant in assessing the pronunciation of users of common British English. Recently, there has been a rise in the view among British linguists that common language can be spoken in any dialect, and that acquired dialect should be understood as a neutral, more indicative variant of common language (Clive Upton, The Place of the "Common" Accent in Common Language: British English and Acquired Dialect). The final session of the conference discussed the role of common languages today, their functioning, standardization issues. The choice of the use of the common and dialectal code by students from Varėna and Telšiai revealed that in the educational domain, which belongs to the official domains and is usually associated with the common code, the dialectal code has become an integral part of linguistic expression (Daiva Aliūkaitė, Jolanta Jončaitė, Common language domains (study of regulations). The guest from Estonia briefly presented the responsible for the planning of the Estonian language 362 LANGUAGE CULTURE | 83 The Estonian language is the official language of Estonia and the Estonian language is the official language of the Estonian Republic. The history of one of the most popular dictionary in Estonia is also reviewed, problems of classification of words by origin and the main improvements of the new edition of the dictionary are discussed (Tiina Paet, Tuuli Rehemaa, New – 8th edition of the “International Dictionary of Words”). Current general problems of Lithuanian language standardization are raised, changes in the concept of standardizers in society since Jablonski’s time are discussed. Today, the manifestations of digital modernity provide the prerequisites to include the most active members of society in normative activities (Rita Miliūnaitė, Common language normers under the conditions of digital modernity). On the second day of the conference, we visited the homeland of Jon Jablonski in Šakiai district. At the closing session-discussion of the conference held at the Zanavykai Regional Museum about the significance of the works of Jon Jablonskis and the immortalization of the memory of the linguist in the region of Šakiai spoke the cultural historian Albinas Vaičiūnas, the mayor of the Šakiai district Juozas Bertašius, the head of the Department of Culture and Tourism of the Šakiai district municipal administration Augenija Kasparevičienė, the senior researchers of the Lithuanian Language Institute Vilija Sakalauskienė and Rima Bacevičiūtė. The participants of the trip visited the farm in Rygiškiai village, where the Jablonski family moved in 1877. Visited the unique wooden octagonal church in Griškabūdis, and In the Zyplių manor. Received 19/11/2010 SKAISTĖ ALEKSANDRAVIČIŪTĖ Institute of Lithuanian Language P. Vileišio g. 5, LT-10308 Vilnius, Lithuania [email protected]