LANGUAGE

The editorial board set up in 1930 by J.Balčikonis to compile The Dictionary of the Lithuanian Language and the Antanas Smetona Institute for Lithuanian Studies, founded in 1939 in Kaunas, were the beginning of the future Institute of the Lithuanian Language, which was founded in 1941 on the basis of the Institute of Lithuanian Studies and the Lithuanian Society of Science within the framework of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences. Its first director was Pr. Skardžius. In 1952, the Institute of the Lithuanian Language was merged with the Institute of Lithuanian Literature, and this new body was named the Institute of the Lithuanian Language and Literature. After it was reorganized on April 16, 1990, the Institute of the Lithuanian Language was re-established as a separate institution. J. Zabarskaitė has been the director of the Institute since December 2003.

At present, the Institute has four departments (Language History and Dialectology, Onomastics, Grammar, and Language Culture), two centers (Terminology and Lexicography), and a publishing house.

The Institute of the Lithuanian Language carries out theoretical research into Lithuanian lexicology, lexicography, grammatical structure, language history, links between dialects and languages, current language usage, language culture, and terminology and does practical work relating to the standardization of the Lithuanian language and terminology. At the Institute, major undertakings involving both theory and applied research are organized, monographs and articles are written, collections of articles are compiled, and serial publications are published: Lietuvių kalbotyros klausimai: Acta Linguistica Lithuanica (Questions in Lithuanian Linguistics), Kalbos kultūra (Language Culture), and Terminologija (Terminology). Together with Vytautas the Great University, the Institute offers a doctoral program, provides consultations, carries out expert evaluations relating to the Lithuanian language, etc. The Institute of the Lithuanian Language maintains and manages language resource holdings.