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Anna Sedláčková holds a specialised Bachelor’s degree in Eastern European Studies from Charles University in Prague and is among the last cohort of students to graduate with a Master’s degree in Baltic Studies. "The Baltic Studies programme at this university has been discontinued. Students can still learn Lithuanian and Latvian as a second language, but now there is no separate dedicated programme," remarked Anna.

"Every language is worth learning, but Lithuanian stands out as a unique linguistic gem. Lithuania has always been a remarkable example of how to preserve and cherish language and culture. We Czechs seem to have forgotten these things. So, if we want to learn something about ourselves, we should start following such great examples," she said.

"First, I fell in love with the country, and then with its language"

After graduating from high school, Anna spent a month in Latvia and Lithuania: "First, I fell in love with the country, and then with its language. Having returned to Czechia, I started reading Lithuanian and Latvian literature translated into Czech. I soon realised I wanted to delve into these books in their original languages, which led me to study Latvian at university and, later, Lithuanian."

During her Bachelor studies, Anna was also learning Chinese, but the COVID-19 pandemic altered her life plans. As she could not pursue her opportunities in China, Anna redirected her focus to Baltic studies.

"I love the fact that studying the Baltic languages allows us to observe how they have remained almost unchanged over time. The history of both Latvia and Lithuania is complicated, but they have managed to preserve the greatest treasures – their languages," noted Anna.

Anna translates literature from Latvian and Lithuanian into the Czech language: "Together with my colleague Inese Pintane, I translated Dalia Grinkevičiūtė’s book "Lietuviai prie Laptevų jūros" ("Lithuanians by the Laptev Sea"). I hope it will be published next year. It is important that not only Lithuanians but also the rest of the world knows what happened in Lithuania and what Lithuanians were forced to endure."

Other works translated by Anna and published this year in the Czech Republic are "Mano tėtis rašo knygą" ("My Dad is Writing a Book") by Tomas Dirgėla and "Akmenėlis" ("The Pebble") by Marius Marcinkevičius. The children’s book "Laimė yra lapė" ("The Fox on the Swing") by Evelina Daciūtė will be a new release next year. Anna is passionate about bringing Lithuanian literature to Czech readers. This year also saw the publication of an anthology of contemporary Latvian literature, edited and translated by Anna. Similar anthologies of Estonian and Lithuanian literature that Anna is already working on are expected to be published in the next two years.

However, according to the linguist, we still lack translations from Lithuanian into Czech. "In Czechia, there was a very strong tradition of translating Lithuanian works. Between World War I and 1989, over 60 Lithuanian books were translated. However, the interest waned after 1989. We translators would like to change this. For instance, Věra Kociánová, translator and director of the publishing house "Venkovské dílo", translates books from Lithuanian into Czech and publishes them, e.g. ‘Tūla’ by Jurgis Kunčinas, children’s books by Kęstutis Kasparavičius, and some poems by Tomas Venclova. Most publishing houses are usually hesitant to translate books from Lithuanian, favouring major languages such as French or German. But we have managed to prove that Lithuanian and Latvian literature is equally valuable, so hopefully, there will be more and more translations published," she said.

Anna Sedláčková is delighted to see translations from the Baltic languages gaining growing recognition in the Czech Republic. "I translated Nora Ikstena’s book "Mātes piens" ("Soviet Milk"). In my country, this was the first translation from the Latvian language in 15 years. It received multiple nominations, proving that Baltic literature can attract both readers and publishers." Anna plans to continue translating Lithuanian and Latvian books.

Exploring the vitality of the Baltic languages

Currently pursuing her Master’s degree at the University of Helsinki, Anna is researching the vitality of the Baltic languages. "I’m comparing the Karaim language in Lithuania, the Livonian language in Latvia, and the Võro language in Estonia. I want to know how official policies toward minority languages differ in the Baltic States and examine how people feel about these languages: what challenges do Karaim, Livonian, and Võro speakers face? What changes do they believe are necessary for the country’s language policy, such as the status of the language or attitudes towards it? Do they need more language courses, additional resources, or books in these languages? What do they feel is missing to help them improve their proficiency in these languages? Are Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia doing enough to protect these languages, or could they do more? I learnt a lot from the interviews and I believe that the relevance of my research stretches beyond the Baltic context," asserted Anna, who intends to continue to develop this topic during her doctoral studies.

Anna Sedláčková has also taught Lithuanian and Czech in Helsinki: "These courses were aimed at Finns and other Finnish speakers. In Helsinki, there are plenty of opportunities to study languages and other subjects during your free time. In my opinion, my students performed very well. Although I was a bit worried about their ability to pronounce consonants like č, š, and ž, as well as grasp Lithuanian grammar, they exceeded my expectations."

She is happy with her students, as they are all eager to continue their Lithuanian studies. Currently, Anna works as a researcher at the Livonian Institute, where she applies her knowledge of the Livonian language and collaborates with a team of experts on documenting and promoting this Finno-Ugric language.

The Department of Baltic Studies at the VU Faculty of Philology continues its series of articles featuring alumni from foreign centres of Baltic studies. After graduation, they not only continue to deepen their knowledge of Lithuanian but also integrate the Lithuanian language, literature, and culture into their professional activities.

This article is part of the project "Information and Coordination Portal of Baltic Studies Centres" (No. 1.78 Mr SU-1006) implemented by the Department of Baltic Studies at the VU Institute for the Languages and Cultures of the Baltic and supported by the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport of the Republic of Lithuania.

Prepared by Dr Veslava Sidaravičienė, Research Assistant at the Department of Baltic Studies of the Institute for the Languages and Cultures of the Baltic of Vilnius University

Akira Takaki has spent nine years studying the Lithuanian language at the University of Helsinki. ‘I embarked on my Lithuanian language studies back in 2015, and three years ago, I graduated with a Master’s degree in General Linguistics; my thesis focused on Finnish, Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian onomatopoeia. This summer, I earned my second Master’s degree in Slavic and Baltic Studies, so now I am a double Master,’ he smiled

When asked how he discovered the Lithuanian language, Akira explains that his passion was ignited by Eurovision, adding that he has been listening to Lithuanian music daily for a decade now.

‘I wanted to understand the lyrics’

Akira’s interest in Eurovision was sparked by Finland’s victory in 2006 with ‘Lordi’: ‘I started following national selections in different countries and participating in discussion forums. There was an international forum that used to host various song competitions. Every month, in the ‘New Releases Game’, each participant had to submit a song from one country released within the past month, while others could vote for their favourite, and the song that scored the most points would win. I chose Lithuania and uploaded a song by a musician who had once competed in Eurovision selections. That marked the start of my regular involvement in such contests.’

Akira Takaki in Vilnius. Photo from personal archive

Akira discovered a little-known Lithuanian artist named ‘GeraiGerai’: ‘This music fuelled my interest in the Lithuanian language, as I wanted to understand what the songs were about,’ he noted. He feels strongly that Lithuania should exclusively send Lithuanian songs to Eurovision, and even better – Samogitian or Prussian ones: ‘All countries should perform songs in their mother tongue. I believe that it’s ridiculous to sing in a language that is not your native one.’

When asked about his favourite Lithuanian Eurovision song, Akira mentioned Aistė Smilgevičiūtė’s ‘Strazdas’ (1999) as his long-time favourite. However, he believes that Silvester Belt’s ‘Luktelk’ from this year was the best entry in Lithuania’s Eurovision history.

Having been listening to Lithuanian bands and artists for already a decade, Akira likes different songs and is particularly drawn to folk or electronic and psychedelic folk music.

‘Perhaps my favourite Lithuanian artists are the avant-garde band ‘Driezhas’, blending elements of ethno, electro, ambient, darkwave, and synthpop music. The style of ‘Drumbacilos’ is also remarkable – dreamy and melancholic melodies combined with frenetic rhythms. I would like to mention the singer ‘Monikaze’, too – I love her inventive style of experimental pop music. I also listen to lesser-known bands and artists, such as ‘Romowe Rikoito’, a neofolk music group singing in Prussian. Other bands, such as ‘Golden Parazyth’, perform alternative pop music, while ‘Vėjopatis’ combines contemporary electronic music with Lithuanian folklore elements,’ explained Akira.

He went on to list other Lithuanian artists that he is familiar with who make music in a variety of genres: ‘Saulius Petreikis is a well-known folk musician and multi-instrumentalist, and ‘Solo ansamblis’ is an experimental post-punk band worth mentioning. The electronic ethno-dub project known as ‘Girių dvasios’ plays Lithuanian polyphonic songs, while you can hear the electronic and ambient music influences in the songs of ‘Kamanių šilelis’. ‘Vilniaus energija’ is a psychedelic rap band, while ‘Fume’ represents a combination of electronic ambient and classical music.’ Akira also listed other groups that piqued his interest: ‘Palmės žiedas’ plays alternative electronic music. There’s even a Latin American pop-funk band, ‘Planeta Polar’, which sings in Spanish. Rūta MUR performs retro synthwave with deep vocals. Vitalijus Špokaitis plays electronic music with satirical-intellectual elements.’

Among Akira’s top picks is ‘Fanera’, a band that creates open and humorous dance music. Another favourite is Gabrielė Vilkickytė, who performs atmospheric indie music with touching and multi-layered lyrics. In his opinion, ‘Garbanotas’ is Lithuania’s best psychedelic rock band. Alina Orlova is one of the best-known alternative folk musicians in the country. When asked about the most important aspect of a song, Akira believes that the melody is key.

Lithuanian language studies

When he was still at gymnasium, Akira was not sure which university to choose: ‘A friend of mine suggested General Linguistics at the University of Helsinki, as I already spoke several languages at that time. I studied Latin in high school and, later, at my gymnasium. Our high school class was the only one in Finland where you could advance your knowledge of Latin. Naturally, I was raised in a bilingual family: my mum speaks Finnish, and my dad speaks Japanese. I am also fluent in English and Swedish, as learning the latter is mandatory in Finnish schools. I studied Russian at gymnasium and later at university; I also have some basic skills in Hungarian, Georgian, Estonian, and Bulgarian. Moreover, I took a course in Sumerian at university and can speak Okinawan. While living in Hokkaido, I studied Ainu – an isolated language that used to be spoken in Japan, but I don’t think there are any native speakers left anymore.’

Akira learnt Lithuanian at the University of Helsinki. After spending a year in Japan, he continued his Lithuanian studies remotely at Vilnius University (VU) and once attended a summer course in Kaunas.

‘Kaunas is such a beautiful, clean, and compact city – I could live there,’ remarked Akira. ‘I’ve also attended camps near Panevėžys and in Samogitia. In 2016, after a year of studying Lithuanian, I tried to speak with locals in Vilnius, but it didn’t go too well. I was slightly disappointed because I felt confident in my skills, but I couldn’t understand what others were saying.’

Today, Akira confidently speaks Lithuanian and has no difficulties keeping up a fluent conversation.

The Department of Baltic Studies at the VU Faculty of Philology continues its series of articles featuring alumni from foreign centres of Baltic studies. After graduation, they not only continue to deepen their knowledge of Lithuanian but also integrate the Lithuanian language, literature, and culture into their professional activities.

Baltic Studies at the University of Helsinki were introduced upon the restoration of Lithuanian and Latvian independence. Currently, the University of Helsinki offers a Bachelor’s degree programme in the Lithuanian and Latvian languages and a Master’s degree programme in Baltic Philology. The Baltic Studies Centre teaches the Lithuanian and Latvian languages, literature, and cultural studies, as well as offers introductory Baltic studies and various special courses. For more information on the Baltic studies available at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Helsinki, please visit the Baltnexus website.

This article is part of the project ‘Information and Coordination Portal of Baltic Studies Centres’ (No. 1.78 Mr SU-1006) implemented by the Department of Baltic Studies at the VU Institute for the Languages and Cultures of the Baltic and supported by the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport of the Republic of Lithuania.

Prepared by Assoc. Prof. Dr Veslava Sidaravičienė, Research Assistant at the Department of Baltic Studies at the VU Institute for the Languages and Cultures of the Baltic.

Anna Krawczyk, a graduate of the Department of Baltic Studies at the University of Warsaw, spent part of her studies in Lithuania learning the Lithuanian language. According to her, ‘People in Lithuania tend to take care of each other, and Vilnius is a wonderful city to live in’. For Anna, translating poetry has become a bridge connecting the two nations.

Lithuanian language studies in Warsaw and Lithuania

Encouraged by her boyfriend to learn Lithuanian, Anna started studying the new language in 2017 at the University of Warsaw. Although the relationship ended, her interest in the Lithuanian language has not waned.

"Love for a man turned into love for a language," she smiled.

She is proud of her decision and emphasises the inherent beauty of the Lithuanian language. Later, Anna advanced her skills through summer schools in Klaipėda under various study programmes. She remarks that the focus of such summer courses was not solely on language learning, as you simply cannot gain enough knowledge in just a month; instead, the focus was on building a sense of community. In Klaipėda, she met people from all over the world who shared an interest in the Lithuanian language and culture.

Akira Takaki in Vilnius. Photo from personal archive

For one semester, Anna had the opportunity to study at the Faculty of Philology of Vilnius University (VU), where she enhanced her skills and knowledge.

"I particularly appreciate the fact that Lithuanian grammar, culture, and communication were taught separately – in my opinion, it is an excellent approach. The major challenge was mastering participles, half-participles, and adverbial participles. Some of these forms coincide with those in Polish grammar, but others seem very archaic and complex. Participles felt like a different universe to me! I also developed an interest in Lithuanian slang. I distinctly remember the word moralkė (moral hangover), which also exists in Polish. It perfectly describes those inner moral dilemmas after a night of binge drinking when you feel embarrassed about your actions the morning after. That is when we say that we "have moralkė"," fondly noted Anna.

During her studies, Anna found it challenging to make Lithuanian friends because of the international environment she was part of and her limited language proficiency. However, everything changed after the event "The Seimelis of Literature of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth" organised by the Lithuanian Writers Union. The Seimelis brings together Lithuanian authors and Polish translators to work together for a week. The participating poets involved Anna in their translation activities and gradually became her close friends.

Anna has heard the stereotype that Lithuanians are unfriendly and reserved but completely disagrees with it: "I was welcomed very warmly in Vilnius, perhaps because I spoke Lithuanian. I always felt part of the community and never like a foreigner. In this country, people seem to genuinely care about each other. For instance, bus and trolleybus drivers often wait a bit for late passengers, and if someone loses their wallet, at least ten people immediately step in to help. All this truly warms my heart – local people are attentive and care for each other."

"It’s true that the first impression might be the opposite, but even if Lithuanians seem unfriendly, they are still incredibly kind! For example, once in Klaipėda, I said viso gero (goodbye) to a cashier, and she replied, somewhat bitterly, with viso geriausio (all the best). I wondered if she was angry because I didn’t wish her the same," Anna laughed.

Poetry as a bridge between two nations

Anna spent two years as a project coordinator at the Polish Institute in Vilnius, where her responsibilities included teaching Polish language courses, organising educational activities for children attending Polish schools in Lithuania, hosting events like the Poetry Spring Festival, managing social media, and translating texts from Lithuanian to Polish. Anna started translating during her study years, and this activity became integral to her professional path.

At the Department of Baltic Studies of the University of Warsaw, a particular focus is devoted to translation skills – all the lecturers are professional translators. Over the course of four semesters, students work on different types of texts.

"Students translate film scripts in the first semester, poetry in the second, short stories in the third, and official documents during the final semester," listed Anna.

After completing her studies, she started translating content for social networks and event descriptions; she was even asked by a publishing house to translate the introduction to a bilingual anthology about Zbigniew Herbert. However, as Anna admits, the key challenge in translation lies in bridging cultural differences.

"For example, I struggled with the Lithuanian word profsąjunga. While I perfectly grasped its meaning in Lithuanian, the Polish equivalent, związek zawodowy, felt too lengthy and formal. I even asked my parents for help but realised there wasn’t a shorter alternative. It even made me question my poor Polish language skills!" joked Anna.

Currently, Anna is working on the translation of a theatre website and a book, though she is keeping the latter project under wraps for now.

From 20 to 21 May 2023, the University of Warsaw hosted the Poetry Spring Festival, which brought together renowned Lithuanian poets Antanas A. Jonynas, Gytis Norvilas, and Indrė Valantinaitė. For the students and alumni of the Department of Baltic Studies, this event is not only a literary festival but also serves as a valuable platform for beginning their acquaintance with the Lithuanian language through translating texts for the Poetry Spring almanacs. It is a great opportunity to try one’s hand as a translator.

"Poetry is like a bridge that connects us. We are neighbours, yet so few works have been translated," remarked Anna.

The Department of Baltic Studies at the VU Faculty of Philology is launching a series of five articles featuring alumni from foreign centres of Baltic studies. After graduation, they not only continue to deepen their knowledge of Lithuanian but also integrate the Lithuanian language, literature, and culture into their professional activities.

The University of Warsaw introduced Lithuanian Language Studies in 1990 when the Department of Baltic Philology was established at the Faculty of Polish Studies under the leadership of Prof. Dr (HP) Wojciech Smoczyński. Later, the department was restructured into the Subdepartment of Baltic Studies, which has been headed by Dr Joanna Tabor since 2014. Currently, the University of Warsaw offers Bachelor, Master, and doctoral study programmes that include courses on the Lithuanian and Latvian languages, grammar, and literature, alongside an introduction to the history and contemporary realities of the Baltic States. Students also have the opportunity to learn the art of translation.

The Baltic studies community in Warsaw actively organises various events, such as meetings with Lithuanian poets during the Poetry Spring Festival and translation workshops. Moreover, in collaboration with colleagues from VU and Tartu University, they host the international conference ‘Bridges in the Baltics’. For more information about the Baltic Studies programme at the University of Warsaw, please visit the Baltexnus website.

Prepared by Assoc. Prof. Dr Veslava Sidaravičienė, Research Assistant at the Department of Baltic Studies at the VU Institute for the Languages and Cultures of the Baltic.

We invite you to participate in the International Scientific Linguistics Conference RELEVANT ISSUES IN BALTIC LANGUAGE RESEARCH, dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the birth of Professor and linguist Marta Rudzīte (1924–1996) from the University of Latvia. The conference will take place in Riga, on November 14–16, 2024.

PROGRAMME

We invite you to a two-week Lithuanian language winter course!

The course will take place at Vilnius University from 6 January 2025 to 17 January 2025.

Registration is open until 23 December 2024.

More information and registration here: https://www.flf.vu.lt/en/lsk/courses/winter-course.

In recent years, the field of linguistics has seen an increasing demand for corpus-based analysis of natural language data amidst a general revival of interest in the empirical foundations of linguistic theory. Contemporary digital corpora offer yet unprecedented opportunities for all kinds of linguistic research, where traditional linguistic analysis in its various theoretical and methodological paradigms originating in part in different philological and linguistic traditions of the past co-exists with and is reinforced by advanced statistical and corpus-linguistic methods made possible by modern data processing and annotation techniques. Since corpora can be used in both synchronic and diachronic analyses of language material, they provide an ideal basis not only for effectively utilizing traditional and already established methods, but also for developing new theoretical and empirical approaches to studying the grammatical system of natural languages and language varieties.
 
The Department of Latvian and Baltic Studies of the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Latvia is pleased to announce the 10th international conference on Grammar and Corpora (G&C), which will be held on-site at the University of Latvia (House of Science, Jelgavas Street 3, Riga) from Thursday, 26 June 2025, to Saturday, 28 June 2025.
 
The conference continues the series of “Grammar and Corpora” conferences, which began in Prague, at Charles University, in 2005. Subsequently, G&C conferences have been held at various locations and universities: in Liblice (2007), Prague (2012), Warszaw (2014), Mannheim (2009, 2016), Paris (2018), Kraków (2020) and Ghent (2022). The 2025 “Grammar and Corpora” conference in Riga, at the University of Latvia, seeks to provide a forum for exchange of novel and creative ideas between researchers interested in studying various aspects of grammar and its interfaces, in the broadest sense, using different types of corpora and corpus-linguistic approaches, methods and techniques.
 
We welcome submissions that contribute to our theoretical and practical understanding and knowledge of the structure, patterns and regularities of the grammatical system of natural languages using corpora and corpus-linguistic methods in the description and theoretical analysis of individual languages, language varieties and language contacts. Although our special focus is on the Baltic languages (Latvian and Lithuanian), submissions are equally welcome for Germanic languages, including English, Romance, Finno-Ugric, Slavic and other languages.
 
Relevant topics and areas of interest include, but are not limited to:
1) the use of corpora in the analysis of grammatical patterns (incl. inflectional and derivational morphology, syntax and phonetics) in individual languages and language varieties, as well as from contrastive, typological and cognitive perspectives
2) exploring the relationship between discourse and grammar using different types of corpora
3) grammar–semantics interface in corpus analysis
4) derivational morphology, creativity and corpora
5) application and development of tools, methods and techniques for grammar-related analysis of corpus data
6) the relative characteristics (and combinations) of different types of corpora in the study of various aspects of grammar
7) statistical and quantitative methods in studying synchronic and diachronic phenomena in grammar
8) the use of corpus-linguistic methods in historical linguistics
9) language change, its representation and analysis in different types of corpora
 
Submission of abstracts
We invite submissions for 20-minute presentations (plus 10 minutes for questions and discussion). The conference is held on-site, and the conference language is English.
The deadline for submissions is 30 December 2024. Abstracts should be submitted through https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=gc2025 (you may have to register first). Each participant may submit up to two abstracts – one as the only or the first author and another as a co-author.
Notification of acceptance will be given by 27 March 2025.
 
Abstracts should be anonymous and clearly state the research questions, methodology, data types and sources and (expected) results. Abstracts should be 500 words or less, excluding references and figures, typed in Times New Roman 12 pt and submitted as Word or PDF files through https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=gc2025.
 
Each submission will be reviewed anonymously by at least two reviewers from the scientific committee.
 
IMPORTANT DATES
30 December 2024 – deadline for abstract submission
27 March 2025 – notification of acceptance/rejection
10 April 2025 – registration opens
15 May 2025 – deadline for revised abstracts, if accepted
01 May 2025 – end of early-bird registration
26 June – 28 June 2025 – conference
 
More info see https://gcc.lu.lv/en/
 
The conference is organized under the auspices of the Latvian Research Council’s project “Database of Latvian Morphemes and Derivational Models (DLMDM)” (No. lzp-2022/1-0013).

Latvian Language Institute, Faculty of Humanities, University of Latvia, invites you to the international scientific conference "From the first book to digital texts: the development of language in 500 years" to commemorate the 152nd anniversary of the academician Jānis Endzelīns. The conference is dedicated to the 500th anniversary of the first book published in Latvian, and will cover the development of language over the last five centuries, including early texts, written language, grammar, onomastics, dialectology, terminology, lexicology, lexicography, sociolinguistics, and digitisation of texts.

Date: February 20–21, 2025.

Venue: University of Latvia.

Conference languages: Latvian, Lithuanian, English, and German.

Duration of the presentation: 20 minutes presentation + 5 minutes discussion.

Important dates:

December 31, 2024: Deadline for submission of an abstract (2500–3000 characters including spaces) online http://lavi.lu.lv/en/ conferences-2025/

January 15, 2025: The notification of acceptance/rejection.

Conference fee: 80 EUR (due on February 15, 2025). The fee covers a certificate of attendance, participant's folder, book of conference abstracts, coffee breaks, author's copy of the journal ‘Linguistica Lettica’. 

Submitted articles on the basis of presentations will be blind reviewed. After the acceptance, the article will be published in the journal ‘Linguistica Lettica’. 

More information about our conferences on our website: www.lavi.lu.lv.

The International Congress of Balticists is a conference that brings together researchers of the Baltic languages every five years in Vilnius or Riga. First organized in 1964, it will be held for the 14th time in 2025 at Vilnius University.

The conference page: https://www.baltistukongresas.flf.vu.lt/en/

We are pleased to invite WORKSHOP PROPOSALS on current topics in Baltic linguistics for the 14th International Congress of Balticists.

Find Call for Workshops here: https://www.baltistukongresas.flf.vu.lt/.../call-for...

Welcome to the 7th International Conference of Applied Linguistics LANGUAGES AND PEOPLE, 25–27 September 2025, at Vilnius University, Lithuania.

Conference Themes

• Sociolinguistics
• Language policy
• Discourse analysis
• Translation
• Language teaching and learning
• Language acquisition
• Language testing
• Corpus linguistics
• Psycholinguistics
• Sign language
• Pragmatics

Deadlines submission of abstracts: 17 February 2025 submission of workshop proposals: 3 February 2025
Contact person (Ms) Lina Vaškevičienė lina.vaskeviciene@flf.vu.lt
More information: https://litaka.lt/en/

The Department of Latvian and Baltic Studies at the University of Latvia invites submissions of abstracts for the 60th International Academic Conference in Honour of Prof. Arturs Ozols “The language system, morphemics and derivational morphology”, to be held on March 20–21, 2025.

The focus of the 2025 conference is on the grammatical and lexical system of language, its architecture, description and interpretation from a synchronic and diachronic perspective, with a particular emphasis on morphemics and word formation.

Participants are invited to present their research focusing on, but not limited to, the following main thematic areas:

1) methodological approaches to morphemic analysis, problem cases;

2) allomorphism, its different facets and manifestations;

3) morpheme polyfunctionality;

4) borderline cases in delimiting morphemes, words and constructions;

5) the formal and semantic diversity of derivational morphology, incl. various non-straightforward cases;

6) links and relationships between word formation and inflection;

7) derivational morphology and derivational motivation, cases of asymmetry;

8) derivational models and types, derivational semantics;

9) creativity in word formation;

10) word formation in terminology.

We expect submissions from different standpoints (e.g., general, areal, typological, cognitive, functional, contrastive, quantitative, etc.) and theoretical frameworks with material from Latvian and other languages.

Conference languages – Latvian, Lithuanian and English.

Conference format – in person.

Presentations – 20 minutes (15-minute talk, 5 minutes for questions).

Conference fee – 60 EUR. The fee covers coffee breaks.

Abstracts – 250–500 words (excluding references) plus the list of references.

Applications (containing information regarding the name, surname and academic affiliation of the participant(s) – a university, a research institute, etc.) and abstracts should be sent to lvling.conf@lu.lv by January 27, 2025, with the reference “the 60th International Academic Conference in Honour of Prof. Arturs Ozols”. Each individual may submit up to two abstracts: one as sole or first author, one as second author.

Notifications of acceptance will be given no later than February 10, 2025.

For additional information, visit https://aok.2025.lu.lv/en/