Electronic publications from the employees of the Institute of the Lithuanian Language
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Daiva Šveikauskienė. The computerisation of the Lithuanian grammar
Study. Revised edition. Vilnius: Institute of the Lithuanian Language, 2022. ISBN 978-609-411-327-7, doi.org/10.35321/e-pub.44.lietuviu-gramatikos-kompiuterizavimas.
The study covers both the research carried out by Lithuanian scientists and the work of foreign researchers related to the computerisation of grammar. The main areas where grammar can be identified as having a connection with computers are: corpus annotations, the development of morphological and syntactic analysers, the digital grammar itself, and the grammar information system. They are all presented with our achievements in the context of other languages in mind.
The study is aimed primarily at linguists intending to use information technology in their work, as well as the general public interested in the latest techniques for language processing. The primary focus of this study is on the results and analysis of computer-based work.
The information about computerisation of grammar, both worldwide and in Lithuania, is intended to be presented in an approachable and a comprehensible way.
Rita Miliūnaitė. Variable and new phenomena of contemporary Lithuanian at the start of the 21st century: systemization and trends of change
Monograph. Vilnius: Institute of the Lithuanian Language, 2022. ISBN 978-609-411-322-2, doi.org/10.35321/e-pub.42.lietuviu-kalbos-pokyciai.
The monograph addresses the issue of variation and innovation in the current public Lithuanian language. The most important lexical and grammatical phenomena (norm violations and norm variations) recorded in the sources of recommendations for the use of the common Lithuanian language since the end of the 20th century are systemised. The compiled inventory was supplemented with the data on the usage of the public Lithuanian language at the beginning of the 21st century. The nature of the changes in the phenomena of the investigated language and the most general directions of the changes were identified during this period.
A paradigm of the standardisation of the Lithuanian standard language has been established, which allows us to look at the changes in this national language in the context of the dynamics of the European standard languages and to highlight the directions of change on an even larger scale. It is assumed that, like other European standard languages, Lithuanian is going through a period of post-standardisation at the beginning of the 21st century due to a variety of external factors (globalisation, changing ideological paradigms, online-use and mediatisation, increased language contact and growing migration). The hypothesis of an emerging sub-standard of the Lithuanian language and its’ relationship with the standard language opens the way for further research on the interaction and language contact between the standard language and other varieties of the national language.
Download (please unzip the files in order for links in the pdf to work properly).
Dalia Kiseliūnaitė. The Kursenieku language on the Curonian Spit: Part 1. Phonetics and phonology
Monograph. Vilnius: Institute of the Lithuanian Language, 2022. doi.org/10.35321/e-pub.41.kursininku-kalba-I-dalis.
The monograph describes the phonetics and phonology of the Baltic geolect – the Kursenieku language of the Curonian Spit. The first part introduces the history of the emergence of this geolect, its’ sociolinguistic characteristics, the most important research and documentation, and analyses the reasons for its extinction. The second part of the study is based on audio recordings and written sources, and explores the phonetics and phonology of the geolect at the synchronic, diachronic, sociolinguistic and ethnolinguistic levels. The appendices contain several fragments of transcribed audio texts. The electronic version of the book contains links that connect the examples in the text with the corresponding audio files in the appendices.
Agnė Čepaitienė, Danguolė Mikulėnienė. Tarmynas – the model of Lithuanian local language variants database: collecting, searching and applying geolinguistic data
Study. Vilnius: Institute of the Lithuanian Language, 2022. ISBN 978-609-411-316-1, doi.org/10.35321/e-pub.40.tarmynas-geolingvistikos-portalas.
The study introduces the Geographic Information Systems-based Lithuanian Local Language Variant Database, or Tarmynas: it briefly introduces the basis of Tarmynas – the Dialect Archive from the Research Centre of Geolinguistics at the Institute of the Lithuanian Language, and, taking into account the theoretical foundations of Tarmynas, it also discusses its structure and the possibilities of collecting, analysing, and disseminating the data provided by Tarmynas.
The study is illustrated with a large amount of heterogeneous material from Tarmynas: audio recordings, texts written in the international phonetic alphabet, original and unedited material from the Atlas of the Lithuanian Language, linguists’ handwritten manuscripts, photographs of advertisements, signboards, cemeteries, socio-economic and socio-cultural data, samples of questionnaires on sociolinguistic and perceptive dialectology, etc. These are linguistic, linguistic landscape and attitude-related data useful for both traditional and multimodal dialectology.
Tarmynas is available on the Geolinguistics Portal (https://maps.lki.lt/).
Dalia Pakalniškienė. Motivated infixed and sta-stem verbs attested in the 16th–17th c. Lithuanian
Study. Vilnius: Institute of the Lithuanian Language, 2021. ISBN 978-609-411-303-1, doi.org/10.35321/e-pub.17.kalbos-istorija-veiksmazodis
The study addresses the matters of formation of infix verbs and verbs with the stem sta in Lithuanian writings of the 16th–18th century as captured in the texts by Martynas Mažvydas, Jonas Bretkūnas and the Wolfenbüttel Postil, the work of Mikalojus Daukša, Knyga Nobažnystės, and the tracts by Konstantinas Sirvydas representing three variants of writing of the period. The analysis concerns motivated verbs only, meaning those that are based on another lexical unit (or other lexical units).
This study aims to document the situation with infix verbs and verbs with the stem sta in the early days of Lithuanian writing to reveal their synchronous picture from the 16th–18th century. The results of the synchronous analysis – the formational types identified – are then compared with their relevant corresponding numbers in other similar languages, offering opportunities to establish the chronology of the nomination of Lithuanian infix verbs and verbs with the stem sta. The universal attributes of predicative situations expressed with the verbs under investigation are highlighted from the typological point of view.
Palmira Zemlevičiūtė. Names of human genitalia: in popular medical writings of the late 19th – early 20th century
Study. Vilnius: Institute of the Lithuanian Language, 2021. ISBN 978-609-411-299-7, doi.org/10.35321/e-pub.20.lytiniu-organu-pavadinimai
The scientific study attempts to determine, which common and gender-specific (male and female) genitalia were designated by doctors in popular medical tracts from over a century ago, identifying the meanings of the names of the genitalia and looking into the trends of their formation. The human genitalia were some of the taboo topics in the medical publications of the late 19th – early 20th century, a subject that would be suppressed and avoided – even by doctors in their own right. Nonetheless, objective reasons (sexually transmitted diseases spreading across towns and villages during and after the war) were forcing doctors to find the courage to address this topic in public. The tracts from that period that are covered in the study were the first popular medical texts to alter the century old stance on human genitalia as something to be ashamed of and to be concealed. These tracts provided Lithuanian doctors with an outlet to educate common people on the anatomical matters of sex and to forewarn them on sexually transmitted diseases and to give pointers on protection against them. In the beginning, the genitalia and the related physiological processes or STDs would be named indirectly (with euphemisms), stigmatised, yet eventually doctors started to break this taboo down, looking for words to give them some designation and even inventing their own names, for want of better terms. The study reveals the early days of creating names for the genitalia, as well as the characteristics of development and usage thereof.
Vilija Sakalauskienė. Image of žmogus in the lexicograpgical sources of Lithuanian dialects: ethnolinguistic and semantic aspects
Study. Vilnius: Institute of the Lithuanian Language, 2021. ISBN 978-609-411-308-6, doi.org/10.35321/e-pub.19.zmogus-tarmineje-leksikografijoje
Based on examples from dialectal dictionaries, the study aims to analyse the image of Žmogus (man) rooted in Lithuanian dialects that have their data recorded in lexicographic sources. Lithuanian ethnolinguistics has never used data from dialectal dictionaries on such an expansive scale ever before, yet recently that data have been drawing an increasing amount of attention from ethnolinguists, while the importance of dialectal dictionaries as cultural texts is being emphasised more and more often. The broad range of data available in the different dialectal dictionaries indicate what kind of a semantic and ethnolinguistic image of Žmogus (man) is embedded in the Lithuanian dialects of the second half of the 20th century and the 2000s, and which of the qualities of that image are to be considered the most important and significant. The material available in dialectal dictionaries can be said to reveal the linguistic world view of the common man, because the dictionaries allow us to observe the genesis of the concept, trace the usage of the word in different periods of the development of the society, and see the shift in its meaning and its connection to various historical developments mirrored in the consciousness of people.
Pavel Skorupa. Vilnius county toponyms as signs of national and cultural identity
Study. Vilnius: Institute of the Lithuanian Language, 2021. ISBN 978-609-411-306-2, doi.org/10.35321/e-pub.18.vilnius-county-toponyms
The study focuses on the problem of cultural and national (ethnic) identity, reflected in the semantics of the selected present-day Vilnius County toponyms, and analyzes the meanings encoded in them. The research based on both the traditional and modern (Cognitive) Onomastics theories and methods reveals the complexity of the semantic substrate in the toponymy of the region, which is affected by language interactions (contacts) due to the cultural periphery and long-term multilingualism of the population. It is obvious that toponyms not only perform a referential function, but also convey the cognitive, emotional, cultural, and social dimensions of the places they denominate, i.e., they convey a wealth of information about nature, history, culture, and people of a given area.
Violeta Meiliūnaitė, Agnė Čepaitienė, Diana Dambrauskienė, Žydrūnas Šidlauskas, Nijolė Tuomienė, Danutė Valentukevičienė, Simona Vyniautaitė. The profiles of (Lithuanian) dialectology: regional variants in the 21st century, their interaction and prospects
Collective study. Vilnius: Institute of the Lithuanian Language, 2021. ISBN 978-609-411-300-0, doi.org/10.35321/e-pub.22.lietuviu-dialektologijos-profiliai
This collective study aims to anchor the theoretical and methodological stipulations of multimodal dialectology – a relatively fresh subject in Lithuania. The study in question features a hands-on application of the three-tier model, a typical attribute of multimodal dialectology research, combining linguistic data and linguistic analysis of the surroundings and the linguistic self-worth of the research subjects.
Daiva Murmulaitytė. Research perspectives of new word formation and morphemics: (the case of the Database of Lithuanian Neologisms)
Monograph. Vilnius: Institute of the Lithuanian Language, 2021. ISBN 978-609-411-289-8, doi.org/10.35321/e-pub.16.naujadaros-tyrimu-perspektyvos
The scientific monograph addresses the subject of formation of Lithuanian new coinages and the possibilities for the analysis thereof in reliance on the Database of Neologisms of the Lithuanian Language. The aim of the study was to find out the most promising and effective direction for research into Lithuanian neologisms. Years of observation of data dynamics have seen a number of studies conducted to address:
- the indigeneity of neologism morphemics;
- the correlation between indigenous Lithuanian compounds and the methods of word formation as described in the mid-20th century;
- the problems relating to the analysis and classification of the new compounds;
- contamination, its correlation with the traditional (morphological) word formation and place in the system of word formation of the Lithuanian lexis;
- the formational correlations of neologisms in the nests of word formation;
- formational trends of neologisms of individual formational categories and types, and so on.
The Database of Neologisms of the Lithuanian Language was scrutinised both as a compendium of the new Lithuanian lexis and as a modern tool of research of word formation, morphemics, formational and lexical semantics: the research covered the structure of its data, the extent to which it can serve studies of Lithuanian word formation and morphemics, the influence the principles of its data sampling have on studies of neologisms and on the representative nature of this source, suggesting ways to streamline its development. As a result, the monograph can also be regarded as an exercise in lexicographic critique. The Database of Neologisms of the Lithuanian Language that it addresses has not been the subject of any major scrutiny as a source of lexicography (neography) yet, with one or two exceptions pertaining to the matters of its structure, data sampling and presentation, and search possibilities that have been brought forward in scientific publications and scientific conference reports by the author of this monograph and her colleagues.
Antanas Balašaitis: bibliography. Compiled by Antanas Balašaitis and Aurelija Gritėnienė
Vilnius: Institute of the Lithuanian Language, 2021. ISBN 978-609-411-284-3 (online), ISBN 978-609-411-285-0 (paperback), http://doi.org/10.35321/e-pub.9.balasaitis-bibliografijos-rodykle
It is the second revised edition of Balašaitis’s bibliography. This edition presents an exhaustive bibliography of the linguist: the dissertation, books, dictionaries, articles, reviews, annotations published. Antanas Balašaitis was also the editor and member of editorial boards as well as draftsman of many publications.
Lithuanian dialectology profiles: problems and findings. Compiled by V. Meiliūnaitė
Collection of scientific articles. Vilnius: Institute of the Lithuanian Language, 2020. ISBN 978-609-411-279-9, https://doi.org/10.35321/e-pub.8.problems-and-findings
This collection of articles aims to review a wide range of language areas and the methods of study applied as well as to present both the traditional and the more recent trends and directions of dialectological research in Lithuania.
Poderienė Nida, Tamulionienė Aurelija. Overcoming isolation: linguistic integration of repatriated children
Study. Vilnius: Institute of the Lithuanian Language, 2020. ISBN 978-609-411-277-5, https://doi.org/10.35321/e-pub.7.grizusiuju-kalbine-integracija
Based on quantitative and qualitative data, the scientific study addresses the sociocultural environment of returning children, identifying the key factors that define the linguistic circumstances surrounding the integration of repatriating children and covering the causes behind the choice of one language over other languages. Assessment of the importance of the linguistic mind-set and the motivation to learn Lithuanian is done by analysing repatriating children’s attitude towards the social value of the Lithuanian language as well as their own linguistic identity, discussing the challenges related to learning the Lithuanian language and how they can be overcome.
Download (download the zip file; once downloaded, the files that contain pictures and maps need to be decompressed for the links embedded in the pdf file to work).
Dalia Kiseliūnaitė. Toponyms from Klaipėda region: historical and etymological register.
Vilnius: Institute of the Lithuanian Language, 2020. ISBN 978-609-411-262-1, https://doi.org/10.35321/e-pub.6.klaipedos-krasto-toponimai
The book introduces the registry of historical and contemporary toponyms (hydronyms and oiconyms) of the Klaipėda region (Ger. Memelland), the former Klaipėda county (Ger. Landkreis Memel) as well as a linguistic description thereof, complete with etymology, evolution of names, usage characteristics, correlations with other names registered in the region (and personal names in particular). Obsolete names are identified separately and issues of standardisation and potential reconstruction of names are discussed. The preface is a separate part of this tract, featuring a scientific description of the place names of the Klaipėda region, the specifics of the material and the methods of sampling and presentation, and introducing the most common historical and linguistic characteristics of their development. The appendices showcase maps and pictures with hyperlinks and an index.
Rolandas Mikulskas. Possible source constructions of the copular construction with the verb darytis / pasidaryti
Study. Vilnius: Institute of the Lithuanian Language, 2020. ISBN 978-609-411-260-7, https://doi.org/10.35321/e-pub.5.galimos-konstrukciju-istakos
In modern Lithuanian, constructions of the copula darytis/pasidaryti undoubtedly have their own place amidst other constructions of aspect copulas, such as copula constructions (CC) with the verbs tapti and virsti. However, in the early days of our writing constructions of the copula darytis/pasidaryti were just taking their first steps. The main goal of this study is to reveal the origins of CC with this verb. To that end, data from the translation of Jonas Bretkūnas Bible (BB) – eleven books of the Old Testament available in the Database of Old Scripts of the Institute of the Lithuanian Language, to be more specific – were used. A relevant approach was taken to other major sources of scripts of Lithuania Minor and Major as well.
There is reason to believe that the constructions of origin of CC with darytis/pasidaryti that have a medial meaning were represented amply in the subject material by the resultant culminating causation constructions (RCCC) with the verb (pa)daryti. Their common meaning can be described as ‘something or someone turns something or someone into something or someone or in some way or another’; alternatively, semantic decomposition can be employed to produce an even more general definition: ‘something or someone affects something or someone in a way to turn it or them into something or someone or some way or another’. We could describe such constructions even more broadly as constructions of a change event, its outcome registered by the (substantival or verbal) complementative of the verb (pa)daryti. RCCC with (pa)daryti became a platform on which medial-meaning constructions with the verbal forms of darytis/pasidaryti were built by way of anti-causative derivation (using the formant of reflexive particle) to convey a spontaneous change event. In terms of their meaning, the derivatives in question, which were used in the BB translation only sporadically, were still very close to true reflexive constructions where the subject affect itself/oneself. While we can already attach a medial meaning to such anti-causative constructions, their subjective referents were but agents, intentional individuals, and the constructions as such could not have designated change events where the actors were inanimate, inert, manipulated objects (that could be held responsible for the change that was taking place only implicitly). For anti-causative constructions with darytis/pasidaryti to become full-fledged CC, their verb had to lose its semantics to such an extent that it would no longer presuppose a mere subjective individual acting as an agent.
In this regard, one important contribution to the development of CC with darytis/pasidaryti was made by existential constructions involving this verb, which soon emerged in parallel. As Metai (The Year), the poem by Kristijonas Donelaitis shows, existential constructions with darytis/pasidaryti were commonplace in the 18th century language of Prussian Lithuanians. The fact that these constructions co-existed with the relevant CC was important in the way that the alternation of the subject’s expression, a typical attribute of both types of constructions, could be used as a conduit for including inanimate subjective referents in copula constructions, cf. Ar kad, kepdams ką gardžiai, pas kaminą sėdi, / Tai tav iš drūtų minkšti pasidaro kąsniai (~ drūti kąsniai pasidaro minkšti – R. M.) K. Donel (see 214–215).
The evolution of the CC with darytis/pasidaryti might have possibly been retarded by the competition from other aspect-related CC with the verbs tapti, stotis/pastoti, and pavirsti. One can predict that when the BB translator/editors needed some equivalents of anti-causative RCCC with (pa)daryti, constructions of said copulas were always close at hand. To validate this prediction, the study places a significant focus on revealing the productivity of the constructions of the copulas tapti, stotis/pastoti, and pavirsti and their syntactic partners – existential and periphrastic constructions – that were found in the sample of the CC covered by the analysis.
Zita Nauckūnaitė. Reasoning: didactical aspects
Methodological guide. Vilnius: Institute of the Lithuanian Language, 2020. ISBN 978-609-411-259-1, https://doi.org/10.35321/e-pub.4.argumentavimas-didaktiniai-aspektai
The discussion of how to best prepare people for life is not something new, and by a long margin. The quest for effective education goes all the way back to the ancient world. Especially when it comes to rationalising based on reasoning – a key skill of communicational competence and the so-called critical thinking.
Everyone should know how to reason in an adequate and ethical manner, because, in the words of Miguel Martínez, professor with the Barcelona University, the ‘lack of reasoning competence is one of the biggest problems our society has; it often becomes an indirect cause of duress’. Not being able to reason is not just a simple limitation: it is an absence of words and syntactic constructions (logos), a mind-set based on values (ēthos), and emotional and aesthetic expression (pathos) – a sort of reasoning muteness, a silence of the mind…
Therefore, as we teach reasoning to others, we may want to remember that the logical, the value-based, and the creative dimensions correlate with the eternal categories of TRUTH, GOOD, and BEAUTY; that one must avoid manipulating a person’s consciousness when engaging in reasoning.
This methodological guide combining the experience of planning, writing, analysing, and evaluating reasoning texts, is intended for former students – teachers of the Lithuanian language and literature.
Download Book I (Annex 3. Samples of audio recordings featured: Latvian woman, Latvian man, Lithuanian woman, Lithuanian man)
Jurgita Jaroslavienė, Juris Grigorjevs, Jolita Urbanavičienė, Inese Indričāne. Sounds of the Baltic languages in the early 21st century: an experimental study of vowels and coarticulation
Monograph with audio illustrations. Vilnius: Institute of the Lithuanian Language, 2019. ISBN 978-609-411-251-5.
The collective monograph titled Sounds of the Baltic languages in the early 21st century: an experimental study of vowels and coarticulation with audio illustrations is the first instalment in Sounds of the Baltic languages in the early 21st century, a series of books published by the Institute of the Lithuanian Language featuring a comparison of the qualitative and quantitative attributes of the vowels of the standard Lithuanian and standard Latvian language and a description of research into the interaction between the vowels and the consonants, following a consistent set of principles and highlighting the differences and similarities between the subject languages that are relevant from the point of view of typological studies of languages. Book II of the series is called Sounds of the Baltic languages in the early 21st century: an experimental study of consonants; both books constitute a capital study of the spectral characteristics of the system of sounds of the modern standard Baltic languages conducted by a team of Lithuanian and Latvian researchers in 2013–2015. Later, the study was enhanced and made deeper by the editors of the monographs. It is the first consistent comparative synchronous study of Lithuanian and Latvian vowels and consonants that used the same methods and tools for conducting research and recording sounds, the same audio analysis software, and so on. The outcome of the instrumental research suggests that Lithuanian and Latvian sounds consist of universal characters as designed by the International Phonetic Association and reveals the specifics of the national and international classification of sounds of the two languages. The books anchor the acoustic terminology of the Lithuanian language, the new methodology of instrumental sound research applied in Lithuanian linguistics, which will introduce the traditional school of Lithuanian phonetics and phonology in the global context of comparable research. The collective monographs from the series of Sounds of the Baltic languages in the early 21st century offer a foundation for continued instrumental research of the system of sounds of the modern Baltic languages from other relevant angles and perspectives. The authors chose the electronic method of publication as highly instrumental for the purposes of successfully integrating Lithuanian and Baltic research and the dissemination thereof both in Lithuania and in Latvia, and abroad. This offers the unique possibility of presenting ample audio material as well.
Download Book II (Annex 3. Samples of audio recordings featured: Latvian woman, Latvian man, Lithuanian woman, Lithuanian man)
Jolita Urbanavičienė, Inese Indričāne, Jurgita Jaroslavienė, Juris Grigorjevs. Sounds of the Baltic languages in the early 21st century: an experimental study of consonants
Monograph with audio illustrations. Vilnius: Institute of the Lithuanian Language, 2019. ISBN 978-609-411-252-2.
The collective monograph titled Sounds of the Baltic languages in the early 21st century: an experimental study of consonants with audio illustrations is a continuation of Sounds of the Baltic languages in the early 21st century, a series of books published by the Institute of the Lithuanian Language and a follow-up on Sounds of the Baltic languages in the early 21st century: an experimental study of vowels and coarticulation, the first book of the series. It is the second joint project of Lithuanian and Latvian researchers geared towards comparative instrumental research of the consonant system of the modern Lithuanian and Latvian language done objectively under a consistent methodology. Until now, instrumental research of sounds carried out in Lithuania and in Latvia have varied in their methods, the technical parameters of sound recording, which made it impossible to compare them objectively. Besides, the two countries are dealing with different phonetical and phonological issues yet there is a shortage of capital generalising studies dedicated to the system of sounds of the Baltic languages.
The drafting of the collective monograph Sounds of the Baltic languages in the early 21st century: an experimental study of consonants drew both on the experience of the Latvian colleagues and on the methodological principles developed by the Lithuanian school of phonetics and phonology. This collective monograph presents:
- the acoustic and articulatory characteristics of Lithuanian and Latvian (plosive, fricative, affricate, and sonant) consonants covered by the instrumental analysis, highlighting their key distinguishing acoustic properties;
- a detailed description of the research methodology: some studies of Lithuanian consonants (such as those pertaining to relativity, intensity, plosion phase duration, locus equations) were performed for the first time ever;
- the influence of various criteria (such as palatalization, voicing, type and place of articulation, gender) on the acoustic attributes of consonants;
- universal characters assigned to Lithuanian and Latvian consonants based on the international phonetical alphabet, a common classification of consonantal phonemes of the Baltic languages;
- ample video material illustrating the outcomes of the research: spectrograms, diagrams, tables, figures showing the positioning of consonants on a coordinates plane, and so on.
It is likely that the research outcomes and data published in this monograph will be highly instrumental to researchers in Lithuania, Latvia, and other countries.
Ramunė Vaskelaitė. Symbolic names: conception, group composition, usage
Study. Vilnius: Institute of the Lithuanian Language, 2019. ISBN 978-609-411-250-8.
The study deals with the aspects of the conception and spelling of symbolic names. With the conception perceived as a potential element of spelling predilections, the publication reveals both the problematic aspects of spelling predilections and their correlations, as well as the variety of symbolic names that have a function in the modern language. Usage analysis is grounded on texts that appear on news portals.