Lithuanian language planning

The chapter examines the history of ideas and practices behind Lithuanian language planning from the first authoritative attempts to establish a language standard at the end of 19 c. until the most recent initiatives to regulate language development. The main focus is on the construction of linguist authority and threat discourse upon which the process of language nationalization was based since the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1990. The examination shows, among others, that despite the current strong status of the of ficial Lithuanian language, political motivation might take precedence and be exploited to justify continuous regulation of the use of the language by its speakers. It also shows that the power-based relation between language planners and the community might be rooted in the authoritarian legacy of the Soviet regime. This chapter deals with language standardization in Lithuania, one of the three neighboring Baltic states along with Latvia and Estonia. The countries are situated alongside the eastern coast of the Baltic sea and share the recent history of liberation from the Soviet empire. Common linguistic origin, however, is only shared by Lithuanian and Latvian, the two remaining living languages of the Baltic branch of the Indo-European language family. Lithuanian is spoken by more than 3.5 m Lithuanians in the titular state, its geographical border areas and emigrant communities, of which the largest are in the US and Great Britain. While at present Lithuanian enjoys status as the official language, during the course of its history other languages have been used for the administration of the state. After the foundation of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the 13 th c. it started expanding into Slavic territories and became a multi-ethnic and multilingual state. At that time Latin and the Old Slavonic (Ruthenian) languages were chosen for the state chancellery, and later on, when the Polish-Lithuanian Republic was formed in the late 16 th c., Polish was added. Being the language of the noblemen, Polish gradually established itself as an official language of Lithuania until the Republic was partitioned among the Russian Empire, Kingdom of Prussia and Austria in 1795. Lithuania then passed into Russian rule which brought severe political, cultural and economic repression, as well as plans to introduce Russian for state administration. More than one hundred years had to pass until changing political landscapes permitted the establishment of the Lithuanian Republic in 1918 with its national language Lithuanian. These historical facts are important for understanding the approach to the national language at the times when the final stages of dialect selection and codification of standard Lithuanian were completed. The chapter introduces the socio-cultural circumstances and the identity of the community in the era of nation building, as well as gives a brief description of language planning (LP) ideas and practices during the years of Soviet occupation. The main focus is on the formation of a legal framework and an institutional system of state language surveillance just before and after the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1990