Tarptautinė mokslinė konferencija „Letonika ir kultūrų migracija“

International Scientific Conference Letonica and the Migration of Cultures SOLVITA LABANAUSKIENĖ Institute of the Lithuanian Language On 23–24 February 2015, the Institute of the Latvian Language at the University of Latvia held its annual international scientific conference Letonika un kultūru migrācija, dedicated to commemorating the 142nd anniversary of the birth of Latvian linguist Jānis Endzelīns (Jānis Endzelīns). Papers were presented in Latvian, Lithuanian, English, and Russian. The presentation in the plenary session on the first day was devoted to examining J. Endzelīns’s activities from 1947 to 1950. Latvian linguist Sarma Kļaviņa (Kļaviņa) (Riga) spoke about the accusations levelled at the world-renowned Baltic scholar of ignoring the teachings of the “new science of language” created by the Marxist academician Nikolai Marr. Ina Druviete (Druviete) (Institute of the Latvian Language, University of Latvia) introduced the 2014 decision of the Saeima of the Republic of Latvia to supplement the 1922 Constitution of the Republic of Latvia with an Introduction (known as the Preamble), setting out constitutional values. Onomastics specialist Ojārs Bušs (Ojārs Bušs) (Institute of the Latvian Language, University of Latvia) commented on explanations of the origins of several Latvian towns (Priekule, Staicele, Viļaka). Rihards Balodis (Rihards Balodis) and Ināra Opmanė (Ināra Op mane) (Institute of Mathematics and Computer Science, University of Latvia) presented information about the capabilities offered by their institute’s computer-resource services. A paper on Slavic-origin loanwords and inherited words in Latvian was delivered by Igors Koškins (Igors Koškins) (Faculty of Humanities, University of Latvia), focusing on the onomasiological aspect and historical Latvian dictionaries. Zaiga Ikere (Ikere) (Daugavpils University) presented a paper entitled “The Interpretation of Connotations in Linguistics and the Communicative Value of the Word bāleliņš [‘dear lad, little clover’ – S. L.].” This word is a folkloric poeticism which, when used sarcastically in media language, has acquired a pejorative connotation. The author of the paper provided examples of the word illustrating its emotional expressiveness. Terminoloģija | 2015 | 22 223 The work then continued in two sections. The first section focused more closely on lexicology and terminology. In her paper “The Spatial Meaning of the Lithuanian Preposition per and the Latvian Preposition pār,” Sandra Gaigalaitė (Vilnius University) presented the meanings of the prepositions in question, established from the collected research material. Anitra Roze’s (Roze) (Institute of the Latvian Language, University of Latvia) paper surveyed the origin of the colour term pilka, its earliest recorded instances in Latvian lexicographic sources (from the seventeenth century), and features of its treatment in present-day dictionaries and language use. Sanita Lazdiņa (Lazdiņa) (Rēzekne Higher Education Institution), conducting a sociolinguistic study, sought to establish the language situation and usage in the Latvian–Estonian border area. In her paper “The Expression of Time in Phraseology,” Aida Čižikaitė, drawing on the Dictionary of Lithuanian Phraseology, examined how time is expressed through phraseological units, whether phraseology is suitable at all for defining the expression and passage of time and human existence in time, literally or figuratively. Māris Baltiņš (Māris Baltiņš) (State Language Centre) spoke about the University of Latvia’s contribution during its years of operation from 1919 to 1944. The speaker’s aim was to assess how those engaged in education at the university managed, during its first 25 years, to ensure the teaching process fully and to create and develop a system of terms in their respective fields. The Lithuanian speaker Albina Auksoriūtė (Institute of the Lithuanian Language) examined the work of the Terminology Commission from 1951 to the end of 1971, when the Terminology Council was established under the Presidium of the Academy of Sciences of the Latvian SSR. It was emphasised that during the Commission’s years of activity, the foundations were laid for the further successful organisation of Lithuanian terminology, and forms and methods of work were established that endured and continued to develop. Solvita Štekerhofa (Ventspils University College) spoke about the development and terminology of criminal-law language under the influence of Russian and German legal cultures in the first Latvian-language newspaper of the nineteenth century, “Pēterburgas avīzes” (“St Petersburg Newspapers”). Anos Vulānės (Anna Vulāne) (Faculty of Education, Psychology and Art, University of Latvia) paper was devoted to terminology in Latvian language teaching. The speaker highlighted the significant changes in Latvia’s education system that began in the late twentieth century and discussed terms introduced in teaching materials and methodological publications (dotted discussion, active notes, Proppo cards, bingo, snake, and others), including terms that had been successfully coined or translated as well as less suitable ones for teaching content. The final paper in the first section, presented by Dace Strelēvica-Uošinia (Dace Strelevica-Ošiņa) (Institute of the Latvian Language, University of Latvia), discussed linguistic terminology as a stylistic device used in poetry. 224 Solvita Labanauskienė Tarptautinė mokslinė konferencija Letonika ir kultūrų migracija In the second section, Renāte Siliņa-Piņķe (Renāte Siliņa-Piņķe) (Institute of the Latvian Language, University of Latvia) discussed lexical Germanisms. She also outlined the structure and sources of a database under development and raised several current issues. Jūlija Gabranova, representing the Higher School of Economics and Culture, considered the relationship between Belarusian and Latvian and its prospects in Latvian linguistics. She stated that Belarusian is of little significance in Latvia, and a survey showed that, compared with the situation at the beginning of the twentieth century, the younger generation of Latvians now has little knowledge of the language. Brigita Bušmane (Bušmane), a linguist at the Institute of the Latvian Language, University of Latvia, presented names for dumplings of Slavic origin (kliockas and zacirka, and their variants) in Latvian dialects. The guest from Poland, Małgorzata Ostrówka (Institute of Slavic Studies), spoke about tombstone inscriptions in the Latgale region (in Rēzekne and Krāslava), bearing witness to the cultures and languages present there. Daiva Sinkevičiūtė (Vilnius University) delivered the paper “Names of Latvians in Lithuania: Grammatical Adaptation and Variation According to Data from the Population Register of the Republic of Lithuania.” According to her, Latvians holding citizenship of the Republic of Lithuania have mostly been given single-part names, which are grammatically adapted in different ways: some have endings typical of Lithuanian, for example, Oskaras, Rimantas; others are names without endings, for example, Vaclav, Žigurd; and still others are written with the ending -s, characteristic of Latvian, for example, Aivars, Edgars. An intermediate group comprises names ending in -is, for example, Arnis, Janis, which are characteristic of Latvians and compatible with Lithuanian. Ilga Jansone (Jansone), director of the Institute of the Latvian Language, University of Latvia, spoke about how, when farmers were given surnames in 1826, a small semantic group of surnames emerged, based on another anthroponym. Sanda Rapa (Institute of the Latvian Language, University of Latvia), speaking about desemantization in Latvian toponymy, discussed partial and complete desemantization and transemantization. A guest from the Institute of Regional Studies at Rēzekne Higher Education Institution gave a paper on the linguistic landscape of the multicultural and multilingual Latvian city of Daugavpils in the nineteenth–twenty-first centuries (that is, information about the city and its inhabitants, the diversity of events and processes, as well as the language situation and citizens’ language skills, and the cultural history and socioeconomic situation of particular localities). Beatrise Reidzāne (Beatrise Reidzāne) of the Institute of Literature, Folklore and Art, University of Latvia, presented a study focusing on the wolf and bear in folk songs, given that these are popular characters across all related European languages. The second day of the conference began with Ieva Fībiga (Fībiga) (Riga Classical Gymnasium). She discussed medical language and its development in Ancient Greece. According to her, texts on medical subjects can be regarded as part of the ancient world Terminoloģija | 2015 | 22 225 scientific texts (if we compare them, say, with poetic or epic texts). It is precisely in these texts that concepts are found which later became the foundation of modern medical terminology. Palmira Zemlevičiūtė (Institute of the Lithuanian Language) continued the discussion of medical terminology. She reviewed the first Lithuanian periodical devoted to medicine, which appeared only in the first decade of the 20th century. According to the speaker, the enthusiasm and dedication of the Lithuanian doctors who wrote for Medicina ir gamta, their concern for the purity and Lithuanian character of their professional language, and their recognition of everyday language as the main source of terminology could serve as a fine and worthy example for today’s medical terminology professionals. Bronius Maskuliūnas’s (Šiauliai University) presentation discussed the use of diacritical marks on vowels in one of the largest Lithuanian publications of the 16th century—the so-called 1600 Postilė of Jokūbas Morkūnas. This is a Lithuanian translation of a collection of sermons by the Polish Reformer Mikołaj Rej. In conclusion, the scholar observed that all the graphemes under discussion are used rather inconsistently and sporadically in J. Morkūnas’s Postilė. J. Morkūnas mostly published Polish books, and the Lithuanian one he probably published was only the one discussed here; this may therefore be one of the reasons for the inconsistent spelling in the Postilė. The presentation on phonetics (“Classification of Latvian and Lithuanian monophthongs”) was delivered by Jurgita Jaroslavienė (Institute of the Lithuanian Language) and Juris Grigorjevas (Grigorjevs) (LU Institute of the Latvian Language). In their words, the presentation examined acoustic parameters proposed by various authors and used to define distinctive acoustic features, comparing how universally they can be applied to classifying vowels not only in Lithuanian and Latvian but also in other languages. Inesė Indričānė (Inese Indričāne) and Jolita Urbanavičienė (Institute of the Lithuanian Language) discussed the spectral characteristics of plosive consonants. According to them, this study is innovative because it compares data from spectral analyses of plosive consonants in Latvian and Lithuanian using the same, previously agreed methodology. The afternoon session of the conference opened with Māris Kūlis (LU Institute of Philosophy and Sociology). He presented the ideas of the Italian philosopher and rhetorician Giambattista Vico, which draw attention to the influence of language on society, civilization, and the state. Ieva Elsberga (University of Latvia), Sandra Kalniņa (Kalniņa) (Ventspils Evening Secondary School), and Laura Ritenberga (Riga) discussed contemporary interpretations of the concepts linguistic environment and language of the environment. Andris Hiršas (Hiršs) (LU Institute of Philosophy and Sociology) considered what language meant in the metaphysics of the Tartu personalists. Maija Brēde’s (Brēde) (LU Faculty of Humanities) presentation focused on linguistic elements, 226 Solvita Labanauskienė Tarptautinė mokslinė konferencija Letonika ir kultūrų migracija that express uncertainty or supposition (for example, apparently, I think). Having analyzed material from various discussion programs, the speaker concluded that these are an integral part of conversation, revealing not only the speaker’s doubt but also a simple habit. After the coffee break, the presentations addressed questions of lexicography and literature. Santa Jeranė (Jērāne) (LU Institute of the Latvian Language) was interested in aspects of dictionary structure that have so far received less attention. The paper reviewed not only traditional macro- and microstructures but also mentioned megastructure (English megastructure), hyperstructure (English hyperstructure), access structure (English access structures), addressing structure (English addressing structures), information distribution structure (English data distribution structure), and others. Solvita Labanauskienė (Institute of the Lithuanian Language) spoke about Lithuanian and Latvian synonymous and variant plant names in Mykolas Miežinis’s Lietuviszkai-latviszkai-lenkiszkai-rusiszko dictionary. She revealed that the Lithuanian plant names found are widespread in both the Aukštaitian and Samogitian dialects, suggesting that M. Miežinis probably collected plant names from everyday speech while working in various parts of Lithuania and Latvia. Asta Mitkevičienė (Institute of the Lithuanian Language) explored the names of literary genres and types of works in Lithuanian literary scholarship from 1918 to 1940. The researcher discussed the one-word names for literary genres and types of works used in Lithuanian-language books on literary theory, the history of Lithuanian literature, and the history of world and foreign literature published during the interwar period (the era of independent Lithuania). The conference’s closing presentation, by Regina Kvašytė (Šiauliai University), was devoted to the Lithuanian version of Latvian writer Anna Sakse’s (Anna Sakse) book Pasakos apie gėles. She drew attention to linguistic correspondences and features involved in translating Latvian literary fairy tales into Lithuanian. I. Jansone, director of the LU Institute of the Latvian Language, spoke of J. Endzelynas as a scholar who cared for the language of science and its system. She also wished every conference participant success in pursuing this goal. The collection of abstracts of the conference presentations has been published online. Received 2015-08-14 Solvita Labanauskienė Institute of the Lithuanian Language P. Vileišio g. 5, LT-10308 Vilnius Email: [email protected] Terminologija | 2015 | 22 227