3rd Meeting of the Baltic Division of UNGEGN
(Vilnius, 16-17 Nov. 2000)
THE STATE COMMISSION OF THE LITHUANIAN LANGUAGE
AT THE SEIMAS OF THE REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA
The official usage of toponyms in the Republic of Lithuania is defined by the Law on the State Language, Article 14: "Official, standardised forms of toponyms are written in the official language in the Republic of Lithuania." Failure to use authentic and official Lithuanian place names is an offence punishable according to the Code of the Violation of the Administrative Law of the Republic of Lithuania (17 February 2000 edition).
Article 917. Failure to Use Authentic and Official Lithuanian Place Names
Failure to use authentic and official Lithuanian place names in legal acts and other official publications, in cartography, road and street signs, plaques, stamps, in means of communication, the papers of Lithuanian-made goods and schoolbooks incurs a fine between 300 and 400 litas for the heads of organisations, companies and offices. The same action committed by a person who had been charged with an administrative offence for the violation of the first part of this article incurs a fine between 600 and 800 litas.
The Law on Administrative Units and their Boundaries of the Republic of Lithuania provides that streets, buildings, constructions and other items of municipal property are named by resolutions of the councils of the local governments with the approval of the State Commission of the Lithuanian Language (Article 9). According to a 1996 government resolution, in order to change the name or re-name an administrative unit or residential area, a decision by the Lithuanian Language Institute is needed.
The State Commission of the Lithuanian Language approved a list of Lithuanian place names on 28 August 1997 [The list is not very long. First of all it is meant for the mass media. It was made to fill in a gap of earlier published larger reference books on place names, e.g. Lietuvos TSR administracinio teritorinio suskirstymo žinynas (Vilnius, 1974, d. 1; Vilnius, 1976, d. 2, about 30,000 names of residential areas); Lietuvos TSR upių ir ežerų vardynas (Vilnius, 1963, about 7,000 hydronyms); Lietuvos miškų vardynas (Kaunas, 1994, d. 1, about 8,000 names of woods) and other (3,0005,000 place names).]. Included in the list are the names of all major residential areas and administrative units (cities, towns, former market towns and villages), places connected with famous cultural figures as well as the names of larger rivers, lakes, woods and marshes, a total of 2,538 names. The place names are stressed, with a stress paradigm (for the accentuation of other than the nominative case), the administrative status and localisation are indicated.
Foreign place names are written in Lithuanian according to the principles of writing foreign names and place names of 19 June 1997 resolution No 60 "On the Spelling and Punctuation of the Lithuanian Language" Clause 5 (first edition in 1984, second in 1991):
On the Usage of Foreign Names and Place Names in Lithuanian
5.1. Names and place names in fiction, popular and children s literature of languages based on the Latin alphabet are adapted, i.e. written as they are pronounced, taking into account the readers age and education.
5.2. In academic literature, advertising, informative publications and specialised texts foreign proper names are written in the original; more common place names are often adapted.
Both adapted and the original forms of names can be given (one of them in brackets).
5.3. Foreign names and place names of languages based on other than the Latin alphabet are transcribed, taking into account the pronunciation of the words and the prevailing writing traditions in the Lithuanian language, or transliterated.
Note. Russian names and place names are transcribed in accordance with an instruction approved by the State Commission of the Lithuanian Language (Instruction on the Transcription of Proper Nouns from Russian into Lithuanian and from Lithuanian into Russian. Vilnius, Mokslas, 1990).
5.4. Writing names and place names of all countries in accordance with the abovementioned general principles traditional forms (exonyms) are kept, e.g. Karolis Didysis [Charles the Great], Petras Pirmasis [Peter the Great], Anglija [England], Lenkija [Poland], Prancūzija [France], Suomija [Finland], Švedija [Sweden], Daugpilis [Daugavpils], Krokuva [Cracow], Paryžius [Paris], Varšuva [Warsaw], Viena [Vienna], Genuja [Genoa], Mantuja [Mantua].
Clauses from 6 to 9 of the aforesaid resolution deal with the spelling of original proper nouns, of the endings of adapted names and place names, of the long vowels in adapted proper nouns, and the transcription of proper nouns in Old Greek.
The Commission has drawn up separate lists of the names of states and capital cities (Resolution No 48 of 26 January 1995 and No 54 of 2 May 1996; planned for revision in 2000 and 2001). The first list includes traditional (or shortened) forms (exonyms) and the official names of states, e.g. Estija, Estijos Respublika [Estonia, the Republic of Estonia], Latvija, Latvijos Respublika [Latvia, the Republic of Latvia], Rusija, Rusijos Federacija [the Russian Federation].
The list of the capitals of the states gives the transcribed and adapted forms of the names, the original forms in the languages based on the Latin alphabet, and the official names of states, e.g. Stokholmas Stockholm Švedijos karalystė [the Kingdom of Sweden]; Talinas Tallinn Estijos Respublika [the Republic of Estonia]. The names of the capitals which differ from the original forms, and would differ from the adapted ones (in other words, exonyms or traditional forms) are underlined, e.g. Varšuva (Warszawa), Paryžius (Paris), Kopenhaga (København).
By one of its resolutions the Commission has approved the lists of traditional Lithuanian place names (exonyms) of the ethnic areas of the Balts, i.e. the Kaliningrad region (Karaliaučius, 1997, about 450 names); Polish (1998, about 300 names), Belarussian (1999, about 1,150), and Latvian (2000, about 70 names). All exonyms have accents and stress paradigms, the administrative status, localisation and the official form (Latvian, Polish and German forms in the original; Russian and Belarussian in Latin letters).
At the end of 1998 the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania adopted a regulation about the Law on the Status on the State Commission of the Lithuanian Language. Charging the Commission with making lists of Lithuanian traditional place names of the Lithuanian, Prussian and other regions of the ethnic Balts. The Commission was to decide how these place names were to be used in the Republic of Lithuania. In order to maintain the usage of the traditional forms of place names and the place names themselves and taking into account the Seimas opinion expressed in this regulating, the Commission adopted resolutions "On the Use of Foreign Place Names in Schoolbooks" and "On the Usage of Traditional Place Names (Exonyms) in the Information on the Means of Transport" on 30 September 1999.
The State Commission of the Lithuanian Language
at the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania
Resolution
30 September 1999, No 3 (72)
Vilnius
On the Usage of Foreign Place Names in School BooksThe State Commission of the Lithuanian Language has decided:
To lay down the principles of writing these foreign places names in school books:
1. Traditional Lithuanian and adapted forms of foreign place names are used in school books. Next to them (in texts in brackets) or supplements original forms can be supplied.
2. Traditional Lithuanian place names (exonyms) of the ethnic areas of the Balts are used in school book; present official place names are supplied next to them or in supplements.
DANGUOLĖ MIKULĖNIENĖ
CHAIRMAN OF THE COMMISSION
The State Commission of the Lithuanian Language
at the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania
Resolution
30 September 1999, No 4 (73)
Vilnius
On the Usage of Traditional Place Names (Exonyms)
in the Information of the Means of TransportThe State Commission of the Lithuanian Language has decided:
Traditional places names (exonyms) are used in written and oral information in the state language in the information on the railways, automobiles, air and water means of transport (schedules, in announcements, road signs, road maps, information publications, etc.):
1. Traditional Lithuanian foreign place names, e.g. Berlynas, Daugpilis, Gardinas, Krokuva, Lyda, Varšuva, Paryžius. The authentic forms of these names can be supplied next to them.
2. Traditional Lithuanian place names, e.g. Karaliaučius, Tilžė, Ragainė; present official name can be also supplied.
DANGUOLĖ MIKULĖNIENĖ
CHAIRMAN OF THE COMMISSION
This resolution was widely discussed in the mass media and by the public. Some even wrote that Kaliningrad, Sovetsk, and Nemanas would be substituted by Karaliaučius, Tilžė and Ragainė in the information on the means of transport.
But this resolution only strengthens the usage of exonyms. The present official place names are protected by their status as official place names, which means that they did not disappear from the information. Lithuanian place names in road signs and other transport information (due to the lack of funds sign post are being slowly replaced) will help traditional Lithuanian place names (exonyms) stay in spoken language.
The State Commission of the Lithuanian Language is planning to discuss traditional Lithuanian forms of place names of other countries too.
Observing the Law on the Principles of the State Protection of ethnic Culture of the Republic of Lithuania [21 September 1999 The Law on the Basics of the State Protection of Ethnic Culture No VIII-1328. Article 4. The aims of the state protection of ethnic culture:... 8) promote the ethnic peculiarities of the language, to ensure the survival of the place names in the dialects and ethnic place names.], a Programme for the Protection of the Dialects and Ethnic Place Names for 20012010 has been drawn up. The systematisation and standardisation, data computerisation and protection have been elaborated in the programme.
After the approval of the programme by the government a systematic electronic register of officially used Lithuanian place names, the names of the bodies of water, the names of residential areas that have disappeared, other geographical names and foreign place names in Lithuanian will be started. It is planned to register place names and to bring back into official use Lithuanian place names that have been dropped (e.g. as the names of offices, roads and streets).
In the future the Commission will draft amendments to and supplements of legal acts. It aims at regulating the usage of the standardised forms of place names in legal acts and documents issued by governmental institutions and local authorities. It is also planned to include these amendments in the Law on the Procedure of Writing Laws and Other Legal Documents of the Republic of Lithuania, as well as in the real estate registers and other registers in which place names occur.
The place names of Lithuania and Lithuanian place names of the ethnic areas of the Balts are an important part of Lithuanian cultural heritage which Lithuania is going to present entering the multicultural community of the European Union.
Vilnius, 2000