Linguistic Terms in Lithuanian Language Textbooks for Secondary Schools

RITA KATELYTĖ

Institute of the Lithuanian Language

One of the theoretical tasks of terminology science is to determine the role of terms and terminologies in scientific cognition, scientific thinking and the development of knowledge, as well as in the training and communication of specialists (Гринев 1993: 12). This task encompasses not only specialized fields of science—cultivating scientific cognition begins in secondary school.

The General Curricula and Education Standards emphasize the scientific nature of the knowledge acquired; that is, knowledge must be “reliable, accurate, systematic, integrated, revealing the multifaceted phenomena of reality and their connections and interactions” (Bendrosios programos ir išsilavinimo standartai, 2003, p. 10).

Lithuanian language textbooks for secondary schools use terms from various fields (linguistics, literary studies, stylistics, methodology, and other fields); this is what makes the study interesting, as it allows us to examine the origins of education, starting with primary education in general education schools.

This article analyzes linguistic terms in Lithuanian language textbooks for grades III–XII. The main aim of the article is to show the frequency of use of different linguistic terms in Lithuanian language textbooks, the formation of systems of linguistic terminology fields, and their changes during the educational process. The material was collected from 18 different Lithuanian language textbooks selected at random. The selected textbooks reflect the content of instruction characteristic of the stages set out in The General Curricula and Education Standards.

LINGUISTIC TERMS IN THE PRIMARY SCHOOL STAGE

Primary education is the beginning of the general education system. The main goal of the education system is to develop linguistic competence as a continuation of that acquired during the preschool years. General value-based and didactic principles are also formed. The main aspects of linguistic competence are ling-

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development of the ability to communicate, read, and write, the development of reader characteristics, and an elementary understanding of all levels of language.

The General Curricula and Education Standards propose that Lithuanian-language textbooks for grades III–IV teach pupils to read, think, and create. By the time they move on to the next grade band, pupils should have learned phonetics and sentence theory, be able to distinguish the meaningful parts of words, and be familiar with the parts of speech—verbs, nouns, and adjectives.

The General Curricula and Education Standards emphasize that the curriculum consists of language and literary education, which are inseparable parts of the educational process. However, the linguistic terms used in Lithuanian-language textbooks are examined separately from terms in literary studies, methodology, and other fields.

A total of 435 distinct terms from linguistics, literary studies, and methodology were found in Lithuanian-language textbooks for grades III–IV. Linguistic terms make up 48 percent of all terms in this grade band. This indicates that linguistic competence is developed sufficiently, and that understanding of practical phonetics, grammar (morphology and syntax), vocabulary, and the means of text composition, as well as the ability to apply this knowledge in practice, is deepened.

The linguistic terminology in Lithuanian-language textbooks for grades III–IV (212 terms in total) consists of terms in phonetics and accentology (20), morphology and word formation (118), syntax (30), lexicology (19), and general and other fields (history of language, dialectology, etc.) (25), for example: voice intonation, sign of consonant palatalization, consonant assimilation, syllable; person, infinitive, grammatical gender of an adjective, diminutive noun, suffixal noun; interrogative sentence, main part of a sentence, sentence intonation, subject; antonym, synonym, foreign word, word meaning; alphabet, Aukštaitian dialect, linguistics, primer.

LINGUISTIC TERMS IN THE LOWER-GRADE (V–VIII) BANDS

The main aim of primary education is communicative competence, understood as “the ability to express, understand, and interpret thoughts, feelings, and facts orally and in writing in various social contexts” (General Curricula and Education Standards 2003: 127). To achieve a comprehensive coherence of the language system, all forms of language activity are equally important—speaking, listening, reading, and writing.

Lithuanian-language textbooks for grades V–VI are intended for language learning.

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All language education consists of all forms of language activity, on the basis of which the General Programmes and Educational Standards for upper grades are drawn up. Here, language teaching is based on text, but considerable attention is also devoted to grammar. Students learn nouns, adjectives, and verbs, and are introduced to the basics of word formation. They also learn to take part in discussions, write essays, take notes, and edit texts.

A considerable number of language-science terms are carried over from the primary-school concentration into Grade V. This can be said given that almost half of the linguistics terms in the Grade V textbook have already been used in the primary-school concentration. Of the 327 linguistics terms in this textbook, 161 were used in the primary-school concentration.

The textbooks for Grades V–VI use 741 terms, of which 461 are linguistics terms. In the linguistics terminology of Grades V–VI, the largest area is morphology and word formation (208), e.g.: adjective nominative, future tense, plural, connecting vowel, ordinal numeral, vocative. The areas of syntax (70), phonetics and accentology (69), lexicology (59), and general and other terms (55) are almost equal in size, e.g.: adverbial of manner, parallel linking of sentences, defining clause, compound coordinate sentence; diacritic stress mark, sound sequence, stress of a long syllable, intonation, alternation of root vowels; antonym, phraseological unit, homonym, loanword, international word; Hawaiian language, the science of speech sounds, history of language, morphology, basic unit of a text.

In the Grades VII–VIII concentration, the basis of the General Programmes and Educational Standards remains almost unchanged; the four principal forms of language activity—speaking, listening, reading, and writing—remain central, since the essence of concentric teaching is to continually review, expand, and deepen knowledge already acquired. The Lithuanian-language textbooks for Grades VII–VIII deepen students’ existing knowledge of the verb and verb forms. They develop public-speaking and conversational skills. The syntax section is expanded. The section on stylistics presents essential theoretical material. Phonetics continues to be taught. The concepts of phrase and sentence are reviewed, and understanding of the simple sentence is developed through a detailed explanation of all sentence parts, their forms of expression and use, and the characteristics and punctuation of homogeneous sentence parts, parenthetical elements, and comparative expressions.

The Lithuanian-language textbooks for Grades VII–VIII contain 745 terms, of which 500 are linguistics terms. It was observed that 43.2 percent of the linguistics terms in the Grades VII–VIII concen-

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tration had been used in the lower, Grades V–VI concentration, while 56.8 percent of the terms were new.

In the linguistics terminology of Grades VII–VIII, the largest areas are morphology and word formation (253) and syntax (109), e.g.: personal pronoun, impersonal verb, neuter gender, accusative, collective numeral; adverbial of manner, grammatical centre, chain method of linking sentences, simple predicate, agreeing attribute. The areas of phonetics and accentology (61), lexicology (26), and other terms (51) are considerably smaller, e.g.: adjective intonation, intonation, left-slanting stress mark, fourth accentual paradigm, free stress, front vowel; antonym, barbarism, polysyllabic word, phraseological unit, synonymic form; feature of the Aukštaitian dialects, the science of speech sounds, method of linking paragraphs, subdialect, Southern Aukštaitian dialect.

LINGUISTICS TERMS IN THE UPPER-GRADE (IX–X) CONCENTRATION

The Lithuanian-language textbooks for the Grades IX–X concentration are intended to introduce students to the fundamentals of the sound, grammatical, and lexical structure of language and to the basics of linguistics. The aim is to develop strong skills in correct pronunciation and stress, spelling and punctuation, and the use of words, their forms, and constructions. The material in Lithuanian-language textbooks for the Grades IX–X concentration is oriented towards students’ communicative competence, the development of linguistic awareness, and the practical use of spoken and written language.

The Lithuanian-language textbooks for Grades IX–X contain 1,335 terms, of which 800 are linguistics terms. Of the terms in this concentration, 33.75 percent were used in the lower, Grades VII–VIII, concentration, while 66.25 percent were new.

In the linguistics terminology of these grades, the largest area is general and other terms (260), e.g.: Church Slavonic, dialect, basics of linguistics, written word, rhetorical function; the areas of morphology and word formation (174), syntax (140), phonetics and accentology (125), and lexicology (101) are smaller, e.g.: superlative adjective, common noun, participle, plural, apposition, active participle; asyndetic sentence, participial attribute, adverbial of quantity, mixed complex sentence, compound subordinate sentence; right-slanting stress mark, voiceless consonant, mobile stress, final-syllable stress, soft consonant, intonation; antonym, hydronym of Baltic origin, barbarism, onomatopoeic word, hydronym, homonym.

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LINGUISTIC TERMS IN THE UPPER (XI–XII) GRADE BAND

The Lithuanian-language curriculum for the XI–XII grade band covers all four types of language activity: speaking, listening, writing, and reading. The greatest attention is devoted to reading and writing, and less to speaking and listening.

A total of 1,151 terms were found in Lithuanian-language textbooks for grades XI–XII, of which 427 are linguistic terms. Of the terms in this grade band, 62.5 percent were used in the lower, IX–X grade band, while 37.5 percent are new.

The most extensive areas in the linguistic terminology for these grades are general and other terms (169), and morphology and word formation (125), e.g.: administracinis raštas, daugiakalbystė, fonetika, leksikologija; aukščiausiojo laipsnio būdvardis, būtojo laiko trečiasis asmuo, dvibalsio forma, išvestinė veiksmažodžio forma, kiekinis skaitvardis, kilmininkas. The areas of syntax (83), lexicology (67), and phonetics and accentology (28) are considerably smaller, e.g.: derinamasis pažyminys, įterpinys, konstatuojamasis sakinys, sintaksinė konstrukcija, sudėtinio sujungiamojo sakinio dėmuo; buitinė leksika, homonimas, leksinė svetimybė, leksinis sinonimas, naujadaras, sinonimų eilės dominantė; artikuliuotų garsų produkavimas, diferencinė intonacija, fonetinė figūra, loginis kirtis, melodinė frazės struktūra.

PRESENTATION OF DEFINITIONS OF LINGUISTIC TERMS

The presentation of definitions of linguistic terms in secondary-school Lithuanian-language textbooks depends on the students’ level of education. In textbooks for the primary-grade band, only a few terms are defined. The stressed syllables of defined terms are highlighted, and the definitions themselves are given without scholarly explanations, e.g.: a conversation between two or more characters in a work, in which one asks and another answers, is a dialogue; a word that says what the subject of a sentence does, did, used to do, or will do is a predicate; nouns change their endings when answering the questions who? whose? to whom? whom? by what? where? (in what place?). This is what noun inflection is.

Textbooks for grades V–VI contain more definitions of linguistic terms. The definitions are concise; the explanations are non-scholarly but detailed. The terms being explained are highlighted, and most are also marked for stress, e.g.: the ending part of a word, which changes depending on other words, is called an ending; proper nouns denote the names of particular (specific) people or things; a polysemous word is a word with several meanings, etc. In the textbooks for grades VII–VIII

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there are even more definitions of terms. In the grade VIII textbook, definitions are formulated in scholarly terms, and the explanations are detailed and lengthy, e.g.: orthoepy is a branch of phonetics whose task is to establish pronunciation norms and anticipate possible violations of them; a preposition is an independent, uninflected part of speech that usually occurs with a noun case and indicates the relationship of an inflected word to other words; verbs that have only a third-person form and designate no person are called impersonal.

Textbooks for the upper grades provide even more definitions of linguistic terms. Most of the defined terms are marked for stress, and their definitions are scholarly and detailed; they often coincide with the definitions in K. Gaivenis and S. Keinys’s Kalbotyros terminų žodynas (1,800 linguistic terms; V., 1990), e.g.: a particle is an invariable part of speech that adds shades of meaning to a sentence or its parts; dialectology is the study of dialects; stress is the stronger pronunciation of one syllable in a word.

Textbooks for the highest grades provide even more terms with definitions. For example, in V. Salienė and A. Smetona’s textbook Lietuvių kalba: XI–XII klasei, almost all linguistic terms are presented with definitions drawn from various encyclopedias, reference works, and dictionaries. At the end of the textbook, a glossary defining key terms is included; all the terms in it are highlighted and marked for stress, e.g.: a paragraph is a unit of text expressing one complete thought; a part of text beginning on a new line; stylistics is the study of style and its means; a text is a verbal work, or a fragment of one, that is printed, written, or spoken; a sequence of words forming a particular whole, spoken or expressed graphically (in writing), or recorded on a record, magnetic tape, or the like.

CONCLUSIONS

An examination of 2,445 linguistic terms from eighteen Lithuanian language textbooks for secondary schools revealed that the number of terms varies considerably across the different grade bands. The primary-school band uses 212 linguistic terms, grades V–VI use 461, and grades VII–VIII use 500. The largest number of linguistic terms is used in the grades IX–X band—800. In the highest band, grades XI–XII, 472 linguistic terms are used.

Of all the fields of linguistic terminology, morphology and word formation is the largest. Terms in this field occur most often in all grade bands except the highest.

Terms that are carried over from a lower to a higher grade band account for 37 percent of all the linguistic terms examined. The greatest transfer of linguistic terms is from the textbooks for grades VII–VIII to those for grades IX–X.

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The presentation of definitions of linguistic terms depends on students’ level of education. In primary-school textbooks, definitions of terms are occasional; in lower-grade-band textbooks, terms are defined scientifically. In upper-grade textbooks, linguistic terms are often defined as they are in The Dictionary of Linguistic Terms, whereas in the highest-grade textbooks, terms are defined encyclopedically.

ŠALTINIAI

Čepaitienė G., Palubinskienė E. Lietuvių kalba: VII klasei. Kaunas, 2000.

Čepaitienė G., Palubinskienė E. Lietuvių kalba: VIII klasei. Kaunas, 2001.

Dobrovolskis B., Kavaliauskas V., Koženiauskienė R., Zinkevičius Z. Lietuvių kalba: X klasei. Kaunas, 2001.

Koženiauskienė R., Dobrovolskis B., Zinkevičius Z. Lietuvių kalba: IX klasei. Kaunas, 1999.

Marcelionienė E., Plentaitė V. Šaltinis: III klasei. I dalis. Kaunas, 2004.

Marcelionienė E., Plentaitė V. Šaltinis: III klasei. III dalis. Kaunas, 2004.

Marcelionienė E., Plentaitė V. Šaltinis: IV klasei. II dalis. Kaunas, 2005.

Marcelionienė E., Plentaitė V. Šaltinis: IV klasei. IV dalis. Kaunas, 1997.

Plentaitė V., Marcelionienė E. Šaltinis: III klasei. II dalis. Kaunas, 2004.

Plentaitė V., Marcelionienė E. Šaltinis: III klasei. IV dalis. Kaunas, 2004.

Plentaitė V., Marcelionienė E. Šaltinis: IV klasei. I dalis. Kaunas, 2005.

Plentaitė V., Marcelionienė E. Šaltinis: IV klasei. III dalis. Kaunas, 2005.

Salienė V., Smetona A. Lietuvių kalba: XI–XII klasei. Vilnius, 2004.

Sirtautai J., V., V.V. Lietuvių kalba: V klasei. I dalis. Vilnius, 2005.

Sirtautai J., V., V.V. Lietuvių kalba: V klasei. II dalis. Vilnius, 2005.

Sirtautai J., V., V.V. Lietuvių kalba: VI klasei. Vilnius, 1998.

Šukys J. Lietuvių kalba: XI klasei. Kaunas, 2001.

Župerka K. Lietuvių kalba: XII klasei. Kaunas, 2001.

LITERATŪRA

Ambrazas V., Girdenis A., Morkūnas K., Sabaliauskas A., Urbutis V., Valeckienė A., Vanagas A. Lietuvių kalbos enciklopedija. Vilnius, 2008.

Bendrosios programos ir išsilavinimo standartai. Vilnius, 2003.

Dabartinės lietuvių kalbos gramatika. Red. V. Ambrazas, Vilnius, 1997.

Dabartinės lietuvių kalbos žodynas. Vyr. red. St. Keinys, Vilnius, 2000.

Gaivenis K., Keinys St. Kalbotyros terminų žodynas. Kaunas, 1990.

Lietuvių kalbos gramatika 1. Vyr. red. K. Ulvydas, Vilnius, 1965.

Tarptautinių žodžių žodynas. Ats. red. V. Kvietkauskas, Vilnius, 1985.

Tarptautinių žodžių žodynas. Red. A. Kinderys. Vilnius, 2001.

Vaitkevičiūtė V. Tarptautinių žodžių žodynas. Vilnius, 2001.

Гринев С. Введение в терминоведение. Москва, 1993.

Gauta 2008-11-28

Rita Katelytė Lietuvių kalbos institutas P. Vileišio g. 5, LT-10308 E. paštas: [email protected]

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