Lietuvių kalba kaip kalbos politikos objektas Prūsijos Karalystėje: XVIII a. pradžios diskursas

Abstract

THE LITHUANIAN LANGUAGE AS AN OBJECT OF THE POLICY ON LANGUAGE IN THE KINGDOM OF PRUSSIA: THE DISCOURSE OF THE EARLY 18th CENTURY The article deals with the philological polemics that took place in the Kingdom of Prussia in the 1710s as the first discourse recorded in writing that addressed matters of using the Lithuanian language in social life, covering, among other things, aspects of the policy on language and language planning. Since the process concerning the public language had the involvement of governmental officials who acted in the name of the Prussian Church and the King, and had the authority to adopt different decisions, the Lithuanian language became an object of policy on language in a specific sense. The first language policy makers who in the 18th century recognised and advocated the problems of the quality of the public Lithuanian language and took to making decisions to have the public involved in the resolution of the language matters were as follows: (1) Friedrich Deutsch (1657–1709), comptroller of Prussian churches and schools, chief preacher of the palace, and theology professor at Königsberg University; (2) Johann Berent (1658–1712), councillor of the court of the palace of Königsberg and former law professor at Königsberg University; (3) George Friedrich von Kreitzen (1639–1710), chancellor of the Kingdom of Prussia as a member of the government.