Jonas Klimavičius – leksikologiškiausias terminologas

336 Languages and Culture | 81 ALVYDAS UMBRAS Lithuanian Language Institute On November 26, 2008, the linguist Jonas Klimavičius turned 70 years old. On this beautiful occasion we want to rejoice in the work of the anniversary, remember his tireless standing in the guard of language and wish the hardworking health and endurance in the difficult work. The future scientist, who came from Suvalkija (born in Gerùliškė, Marijampolė district, studied at the Vėšakiškių primary school in the same district and at the Pllviškių secondary school in Vilkaviškis district), received the basics of language science at the then Vilnius Pedagogical Institute. Encouraged by his lecturer Kazimieras Kuzavinis, he successfully entered the field of linguistics at the end of his studies (1961). The Lithuanian Language Institute (until 1990 the Lithuanian Language and Literature Institute) became the place of work to which the jubilee remains faithful to this day. He went through a difficult path – from junior to senior researcher, defended his dissertation (Melioration terminology system, 1993), studied and is studying various fields – lexicology, lexicography, terminology, terminography, language culture, language history and comprehensive grammar. The scientific research and practical activities are reflected in numerous works. First of all, considerable time was devoted to the basic work of lexicography – the great dictionary of Lithuanian language. Its creators can rightly be proud of creating a monument to language. Jonas Klimavičius is one of them. From 1963 he worked with dictionaries for seven years, and later wrote for several years alongside other works. Jonas Klimavičius – the most lexicological terminologist of the 337 Dictionary – is co-author of volumes VIII (1970), IX (1973), X (1976), XIV (1986), XV (1991) – he wrote 270 pages in total (he also contributed a lot to the 2nd edition of volume II (1969) – he prepared over 400 pages). The dictionary of Lithuanian language is the most important and profound source of language data for a linguist – this is clearly seen in most of his scientific works. The dictionary contributed to the fact that the world of words became perhaps the most important passion of the scholar, and this experience was also useful when working on the Contemporary Lithuanian Language Dictionary – Jonas Klimavičius is a member of the editors’ board of the third (1993) and fourth (2000) editions. The work in the terminology group, which began in 1971 (after a couple of decades it became the terminology department, and since 2003 – the terminology centre), only helped to develop this tendency – the number of articles gradually increased, until they finally poured out in a flood. The researcher still devotes most of his time to terminology issues, although he has had and still has various scientific interests during his four decades of work. it is true, if he writes about the history of words, pronunciation, common language or other issues, he often does not avoid connections with terminology. alongside terminology, there is also language culture. Standardization and correction of errors are part of the daily routine of both terminologists and language culture specialists. Jonas Klimavičius has done a lot for the sake of language culture, so editors and stylists are well aware of this scholar and are among the recipients of the researcher’s works. The results of his research, reviews, considerations, proposals, corrections are published in many publications: in Lithuanian Linguistic Issues (Acta Linguistica Lithuanica), in Linguistics, in Baltic Studies, in Terminology, in Language Culture, in Our Language, in Mother Tongue, in Mother Tongue, etc. The editors of the Mother Language are particularly pleased to have such a hard-working man – since 1990 the magazine has published about 400 publications (articles, reviews, answers to questions, tips, etc.). Half of them are in the “Cloth of Questions”, which is read by many. it's all advice, what to fix, how to name better, more accurately, more regularly. Editors and other advisors (teachers, language consultants, etc.) learn from them. probably no one else has written so much in the mother tongue. Before this revival of the publication, about half a dozen similar publications were published in Our Language. and what about the many advice in radio and television language hours... this is part of the difficult normative work, which is even better revealed in the numerous (nearly 50) publications in Language Culture, which mainly analyze various language ills, suggesting how to eliminate them. There is also a separate book dedicated to corrections – Terminologijas taisymai (1992), prepared together with Kazimieras Gaivenis, angele Kaulakiene and stasys Keinis. So... 338 Language Culture | 81 Language culture specialists have been preparing productive dictionaries of errors long before, and this one was more special – the first of its kind and, unfortunately, still the only one. Jonas Klimavičius published his most important articles on terminology in Lithuanian Linguistics Issues (several issues of this journal were dedicated to terminology), and the specialized journal Terminology, founded in 1994 (the first issue was named Terminologijos vagos), soon became the main forum for terminologists. He has published more than 20 articles in this journal, and since the 8th issue (2001) he has been the editor-in-chief. a demanding editor. Who wrote it knows. All articles are carefully read, carefully edited, sparing no comments and suggestions. Many of the author's articles deal with lexicon. The most commonly addressed issues are those of terminological lexicon, but not only – lexicon is often viewed from a broader aspect of common language, especially its norming, based on dialects, and dealing with semantics, origin and development. It is not without reason that the scientist says that he is perhaps the most lexicological terminologist. This can be seen from his 2005 book Works of Lexicology and Terminology: Norm and History, which includes a selection of more important articles from the last couple of decades. The works defend the purity of language, paying great attention to the accuracy and systematicity of terminology. Jon Klimavičius can be recognized by his individual style: his language is very verbal, rare words come alive in his texts, he creates new ones. I like to say it ironically. When analyzing, the researcher often surrounds the language with facts, and sometimes indirectly suggests conclusions to be made themselves. terminology articles – only part of the theoretical and practical terminology work, no less important is the preparation of term dictionaries in groups, reviewing such dictionaries, as well as expertise of terminology standards. hundreds of pages of reviews and expertise terminology. The terminology of various fields has been evaluated, contributed to the improvement of many important terminography publications, from which various ideas for scientific research have been drawn. Jonas Klimavičius is a very active member of the terminology subcommittee of the State Lithuanian Language Commission (he was also a member of the State Lithuanian Language Commission in 1994-2002). At the meetings, to which the researcher comes well prepared, having gathered material, considered proposals, countless terms were discussed – from dictionaries, standards, and a few years ago the collections of term articles from the Lithuanian Republic’s term bank were added. terminology is increasing. for term dictionaries editors, an experienced reviewer or member of the drafting team is a great a. uMbrasas. Jonas Klimavičius – the most lexicological terminologist 339 help – The name of Jonas Klimavičius is usually a sign of the reliability of the terminology dictionary for readers. Hardly anyone can count how many new words, mostly terms, Jonas Klimavičius created. Many of them are still being tested. terminology is an area where a word maker can do a lot. There is no end in sight... We wish you no shortage of ideas and – most importantly – enough strength to implement them. Longest years, colleague.