International Scientific Conference

Current Issues in Language Practice

SOLVITA LABANAUSKIENĖ

Institute of the Lithuanian Language

2008 was declared the Year of Letonica in Latvia, commemorating the 90th anniversary of the proclamation of the Republic of Latvia and the centenary of modern spelling. The aim of the Letonica program is to develop new scientifically grounded theories of the Latvian language, Latvian history, and culture. One of the events in the Letonica program was the international scientific conference and round-table discussion Current Issues in Language Practice (Current Issues in Language Practice), held on October 24, 2008, in Riga, at the Latvian Academy of Sciences.

In their opening remarks, academician Valentīna Skujiņa and habilitated doctor of sciences Ojārs Bušs raised the project's central question: What is most dangerous to the Latvian language?

The first session featured papers presenting the experience of contact languages. In his paper, Language Culture and the Pressure of a Dominant Contact Language: Ten Manifestations of English Influence (Language Culture and the Pressure of a Dominant Contact Language: Ten Manifestations of English Influence), Juris Balduņčikas, Doctor of Philology at Ventspils University College, discussed the overloading of Russian with anglicisms and the harm this phenomenon causes to the structure of Latvian.

A Look at English Language Practice (A Look at English Language Practice) was the title of a review of innovations in English usage by Maija Brēde, professor in the Department of Comparative Linguistics and Translation, Faculty of Modern Languages. She highlighted linguistic expressions in rap and hip-hop, as well as the emergence of the terms tintnīcas (Lith. rašalinės), so-called long words that require a lot of ink to write.

In her paper From the Experience of Finnish Language Practice (From the Experience of Finnish Language Practice), Laimutė Balodė, visiting lecturer at the University of Helsinki and associate professor at the University of Latvia, discussed Finnish language practice. According to the scholar, Finland has a strong spoken-language tradition: people in the country speak

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slang, popular ways of shortening language. The official language of this country is not only Finnish but also Swedish, so Finns like to call themselves Swedish-speaking Finns. This demonstrates tolerance and respect for another language. Admittedly, such bilingualism also causes considerable inconvenience.

Pavel Kolubkov, a representative from Russia, presented information about Russian-language habits in his paper Par valodas kultūras stāvokli Krievijā (On the state of language culture in Russia).

Solvita Labanauskienė, a doctoral student representing the Institute of the Lithuanian Language, discussed the topic Aktualais valodas praksē Lietuvā (On language-practice issues relevant to Lithuanians). She emphasized not only existing language problems (the influence of anglicisms, the spelling of mobile-phone text messages and emails, etc.), but also preventive measures undertaken by the State Commission of the Lithuanian Language, the Institute of the Lithuanian Language, and other institutions. The topic was continued by Dr. Regina Kvašytė, an associate professor at Šiauliai University, who spoke about the university’s experience (Šaulių universitātes pieredze).

The first part of the conference concluded with a paper by Vita Kalnina-Kalnarāja, Aktuāli risināmi problēmjautājumi: lielie sākumburti ES tiesību aktu tekstos (Current issues to be addressed: capital letters in EU legal texts).

Current issues in Latvian language practice (Aktuālais latviešu valodas praksē) were discussed in the second conference session. Latvian terminologist Dr. Iveta Pūtēle delivered a paper entitled Valodas prakses vērtējuma aptaujas rezultāti (Results of a survey evaluating language practice). Latvian linguists, journalists, teachers, students, and other groups of language users who took part in the survey answered important questions of the day, for example: Based on current language practice, assess the level of language culture, — 54.5 percent of respondents rated it satisfactory, and more than 40 percent rated it unsatisfactory; In your opinion, what is the most important language-culture issue to be addressed, or What should linguists do, — monitor processes taking place in the language, but avoid being didactic; promote more widely what linguists do; speed up the creation of Latvian terms in rapidly developing fields; and so on.¹

¹ In autumn 2008, a survey on the current state of the language and the most important language-culture issues to be addressed was conducted at the Institute of the Lithuanian Language. Linguists and students of Lithuanian studies took part. In their view, the most important language issues to address were creating Lithuanian terms and retaining international words; tackling the problem of anglicisms; raising the prestige of the language; eliminating major language errors; normalizing relations between language specialists and language users; and having linguists attend to young people’s language development, emphasizing respect for the Lithuanian language, among other things.

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Dzintra Šulce, an associate professor at the Liepāja Academy of Pedagogy, spoke on the topic Valodas prakses pētījumi Liepājas Universitātē (Studies of language practice at Liepāja University). Based on student surveys, particular attention should be paid to the art of public speaking, and students should therefore be given more opportunities to speak in public.

Ilze Ilziņa, an honorary doctor of the Latvian Academy of Sciences, spoke about the main methods of term formation. Her paper, ISO standartu ietekme uz latviešu valodas praksi: informātikas terminoloģijas izstrādes pieredze (The impact of ISO standards on Latvian language practice: experience in developing informatics terminology), described four methods of term formation: using existing forms and creating new ones; forming terms using shortened forms; forming terms through logical extension; and creating terms through borrowing. According to the speaker, newly coined terms should be entered into a database immediately, and provision should be made to revise them if users suggest a better alternative.

Doctoral student Anita Ščucka (Riga) delivered a paper entitled No Terminoloģijas un valodas kultūras grupas sežu pieredzes: ieskats vēsturē (From the experience of the Terminology and Language Culture Group’s meetings: a look at its history), which outlined the main tasks: compiling a terminology card index; monitoring periodicals devoted to language; providing oral and written consultations; organizing language-practice days and language weeks; and arranging language-practice meetings to resolve contentious issues.

Konsultācijas biežāk uzdotie jautājumi (The most frequently asked questions during consultations) was the topic of Dite Liepa, a consultant at the State Language Agency. She drew attention to two current language problems: Latvian orthography and the future spelling of proper nouns. According to the speaker, there are also some curious cases, such as requests to remove the filler word teiksim (let’s say) from one politician’s speech or another, and so on.

In response to architect and public figure Maija Sinka’s rhetorical question Quo vadis, latviešu valoda? (Where are you going, Latvian language?), it was said that the language’s situation was critical and that the current period could be described as one of confusion.

Professor Maija Baltiņa continued the discussion of the mixing of language styles with Valodas prakse kultūru krustcelēs (Language practice at the crossroads of cultures).

Agris Timuška, director of the State Language Centre (paper: Valsts valodas centrs latviešu valodas praksei (The State Language Centre and Latvian language practice)), regretted that no funding was allocated to language-planning work, and noted that the most pressing problem of the period was the use of capital letters in various names.

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At the end of the international conference Current Issues in Language Practice, organized by the agency of the Lithuanian University, “Institute of the Latvian Language of the University of Latvia,” the participants presented a resolution highlighting the following fundamental issues in language practice: intensifying the work of the Latvian Language Expert Commission; disseminating information about current language issues; promoting language culture in schools, universities, and other institutions; strengthening the public relations of language institutions, as well as their ties with Latvians living in other countries; and so on.

The problems of Latvian language practice are also familiar to Lithuanian. We have much to learn from one another.

Received 2008-12-12

Institute of the Lithuanian Language, 5 P. Vileišio St., LT-10308 Vilnius. Email: [email protected]

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