State Lithuanian Language: Provisions of Laws during the Interwar

  • Jurgita Venckienė
Keywords: standard language, state language, laws, interwar

Abstract

The restoration of the Lithuanian state in 1918 accelerated the development of the Lithuanian standard language. The form-oriented aspects of the development of the standard language at the end of the 19th century and the very beginning of the 20th century, the selection of norm and the codification of form, were replaced by function-oriented aspects, the elaboration of function and acceptance by the community, in the inter-war period. The standard Lithuanian began to be used in government offices, in the education system under construction, and in public life, where it had previously been forbidden or restricted, and was given the status of a state language in 1922. The article discusses the requirements of interwar Lithuanian legal documents concerning the use, learning, teaching and elaboration of the functions of standard Lithuanian. These documents were seen as theoretical provisions that influenced the development of the standard language.

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