Jonas Jablonskis – Lithuanian

Jonas Jablonskis - Founder of modern Lithuanian

Jonas JABLONSKIS (pseudonym Rygiskiu Jonas; 1860-1930) was a distinguished Lithuanian practical linguist and the founder of Standard Lithuanian, born in Kubiliai, county of Sakiai, on December 30, 1860.

History of Jablonskis

Later his family moved to Rygiskiai; hence the pseudonym. Jablonskis studied classical languages at the University of Moscow from 1881-1885. The most distinguished among his professors were F. Fortunatov and F. Korsh, both of whom knew Lithuanian and urged their student to devote himself to research in his native language. Unfortunately, being a Lithuanian Catholic, who was unable to find employment as a teacher in Lithuania when he finished his studies in 1885. He was therefore constrained for a time to give private lessons and to serve as clerk in the court of Marijampole. In 1889, he succeeded in obtaining an appointment as teacher of Greek and Latin in Jelgava, Latvia, where he remained until 1896. His home became a frequent gatheringplace for educated Lithuanians.

During summer vacations Jablonskis collected data for his linguistic studies among native speakers in Lithuania. His activities on behalf of Lithuanian causes prompted his removal to Tallinn, Estonia. The Russian Academy of Sciences, which regarded Lithuanian studies in a better light than did the Russian administration, charged Jablonskis with editing the dictionary compiled by the recently deceased Antanas Juska, a task on which he continued in Pskov after he was dismissed from Tallinn in 1901 and was banished from Lithuania in 1902. At that time he wrote his “Lietuviskos kalbos gramatika” (Lithuanian Grammar, 1901) under the name of P. Kriaugaitis, his first pseudonym. Since the Russians had prohibited the printing of Lithuanian books in Latin characters, the grammar was published in Tilie ( Tilsit), East Prussia.

Jablonskis in Ausra

When Jablonskis regained permission to enter Lithuania, he went to Siauliai in 1903 and to Vilnius the next year. After the press ban was lifted in 1904, he served on the editorial boards of the newspapers “Vilniaus iinios” and “Lietuvos Ukininkas” and edited the publications of “Ausra” (The Dawn), a publishing house which he himself founded. From 1906-1908 he taught at the Pedagogic Seminary of Paneveizys. Difficult material conditions forced a move in 1908 to Brest-Litovsk, where he taught until 1912, when he was transferred to Gardinas (Grodno). At the beginning of World War I the entire school was evacuated to Velizh, Russia. From 1915-18 Jablonskis taught at the Lithuanian refugees’ gymnasium in Voronezh, from where he returned to Vilnius almost totally disabled and confined to a wheel-chair. When Poland seized Vilnius in 1919, the Lithuanian government had him brought to Kaunas. When the Lithuanian University of Kaunas opened in 1922, he was elected honorary professor and taught Lithuanian until 1926. Concurrently he produced texts for schools, translated and edited others’ translations from foreign languages, participated in commissions set up to normalize terminology and orthography, and wrote reviews of philological literature. He died in Kaunas on Feb. 23, 1930.

The work of Jablonskis

The greatest achievement of Jablonskis was his contribution to the formation of the standard Lithuanian language. This language was already on its way in the 19th century, but Jablonskis, in the introduction to his “Lietuviskos kalbos gramatika”, was the first to formulate and expound the essential principles that were so indispensable to its later development. His proposal for Standard Lithuanian was based on the western High-Lithuanian dialect, whereas the linguists A. Schleicher (q.v.) and F. Kursaitis (Kurschat; q.v.) had used the dialect of Prussian Lithuanians. Having thus chosen one dialect, Jablonskis held close to the living speech of the people, with its vocabulary and forms untainted by foreign influences. In contrast the literary language of the period suffered from heavy admixtures of foreign, especially Slavic, elements. Thus Jablonskis his efforts changed the direction of the evolution of written Lithuanian toward a form that was purely and authentically Lithuanian. Tireless work over a period of nearly 50 years gradually brought the following results: variations and inconsistencies in orthography were reduced to an absolute minimum; a multitude of unnecessary foreign loan words were replaced by appropriate Lithuanian expressions; the formation of neologisms became subject to principles that were consistent with the rules of Lithuanian; and in general greater order and consistency were introduced into the grammar, particularly the syntax, of written Lithuanian. Moreover, the direction in which Jablonskis set the evolution of modem Standard Lithuanian is one in which the language continues to evolve successfully, constantly enhanced by fresh facts and insights.

Jablonskis Academic Dictionary

Being in the first instance a practical linguist, Jonas Jablonskis asserted himself above all through works designed to serve practical ends, such as “Lietuviu kalbos sintakse” (Lithuanian Syntax), 1911; “Rasomosios kalbos dalykai” (Matters of Literary Language), 1912; “Lietuviu kalbos gramatika” (Lithuanian Grammar), last edition 1922; “Lietuviu kalbos vadovslis” (Manual of Lithuanian), 1925; “Linksniai ir prielinksniai” (Cases and Prepositions), 1929. In addition, alone or with the help of his students, he translated scientific popularizations and educational works by Russian (M. Bogdanov, I. Krylov) and British (S. Smiles, G. Sand) authors. His most significant work, however, remains “Lietuviu kalbos gramatika”, which for a long time was the only comprehensive manual available to schools and generally to people wishing to improve their knowledge of the language. The purification of the language from relatively recent foreign accretions was also tremendously helped by his frequent articles in periodicals, where he repeatedly pointed out unacceptable and non-Lithuanian grammatical and syntactical forms. Some of Jablonski his works, even though meant to serve practical needs, are still important from the point of view of scientific theory. The linguistic material which he collected is being published in the large dictionary of the Lithuanian language  multitude of unnecessary foreign loan words were replaced by appropriate Lithuanian expressions; the formation of neologisms became subject to principles that were consistent with the rules of Lithuanian; and in general greater order and consistency were introduced into the grammar, particularly the syntax, of written Lithuanian. Moreover, the direction in which Jablonskis set the evolution of modem Standard Lithuanian is one in which the language continues to evolve successfully, constantly enhanced by fresh facts and insights. Being in the first instance a practical linguist, Jonas Jablonskis asserted himself above all through works designed to serve practical ends, such as “Lietuviu kalbos sintaksa” (Lithuanian Syntax), 1911; “Somosios kalbos dalykai” (Matters of Literary Language), 1912; “Lietuviu kalbos gramatika”(Lithuanian Grammar), last edition 1922; “Lietuviu kalbos vadovelis” (Manual of Lithuanian), 1925; “Linksniai ir prielinksniai” (Cases and Prepositions), 1929. In addition, alone or with the help of his students, he translated scientific popularizations and educational works by Russian (M. Bogdanov, I. Krylov) and British (S. Smiles, G. Sand) authors. His most significant work remains “Lietuviu kalbos gramatika”, which for a long time was the only comprehensive manual available to schools and generally to people wishing to improve their knowledge of the language. The purification ‘of the language from relatively recent foreign accretions was also tremendously helped by his frequent articles in periodicals, where he repeatedly pointed out unacceptable and non-Lithuanian grammatical and syntactical forms.

Some of Jablonskis his works, even though meant to serve practical needs, are still important from the point of view of scientific theory. The linguistic material which he collected is being published in the large dictionary of the Lithuanian language and is being used in research and in the correcting of texts. Because he was well-trained in linguistics, had a sharp sense for matters related to language, and knew Lithuanian extremely well, Jablonskis was better able than others to notice and to bring into due prominence features that were highly characteristic of the Lithuanian language. For example, the formation of Lithuanian words is described with greater perspicacity, even if only briefly, in his grammar, than in the German philologist A. Leskien’s monumental “Bildung der Nomina im Litauischen”, 1894. A complete edition of Jablonskis his works was prepared by J. Balcikonis and published as “Jablonskio rastai”, 5 volumes, Kaunas, 1932-36. Later J. Palionis edited a selection of his works titled “Rinktiniai rastai”, 2 volumes, Vilnius, 1957-1959.