Jonas JABLONSKIS (pseudonym
Rygiskiu Jonas; 1860-1930), distinguished Lithuanian practical
linguist, founder of Standard Lithuanian, born in Kubiliai, county of
Sakiai, on Dec. 30, 1860. Later his family moved to Rygiskiai; hence
the pseudonym. Jablonkis 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, he 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
less'ons and to serve as clerk in the court of Marijampole. In 1889,
however, 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 (q.v.), a task on which he continued in Pskov after he was
dismissed from his teachincr nnsitinn in Tallinn in 1901 and, in
addition, 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 (see Press Ban),
the grammar was published in Tilie (Germ. Tilsit), East Prussia. 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
Paneveiys. Difficult material conditions forced a move in 1908 to
BrestLitovsk, 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 he
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.
Jablonskis' greatest achievement 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' 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.
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 Jablonskis' 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
(see Dictionaries) 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 sintaks6
(Lithuanian Syntax), 1911; RaSomosios kalbos dalykai (Matters
of Literary Language), 1912;
Lietuviu kalbos gramatika
(Lithuanian Grammar), last editi'on 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, 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 help-
ed by his frequent articles in periodicals, where he repeatedly pointed
out unacceptable and non-Lithuanian grammatical and syntactical forms.
Some of Jablonskis' 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
(see Dictionaries)
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' 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.
Text from the ENCYCLOPEDIA
LITUANICA I-VI. Boston, 1970-1978
