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Jonas Jablonskis (1830–1903) was a famous Lithuanian linguist who standardised the Lithuanian language (1901). His works are very significant for the Lithuanian language in all fields (spelling, phonetics, morphology, syntax and lexicon). He created a number of language rules, including the rules of spelling on the basis of a living language and created new words, which are still in use.
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The scientific conference named in honour of Jonas Jablonskis was first held in 1993 through the joint initiative of the Department of Language Culture at the Institute of the Lithuanian Language and the Department of Lithuanian Language at Vilnius University. Since then, the conference has become an established annual event held each autumn. Until 2003, it was hosted by Vilnius University, with the exception of the fourth conference, which took place in Marijampolė. Since 2003, the conference has been organised alternately by the Institute of the Lithuanian Language and Vilnius University. The conference acquired an international status in 2005, 2009, and 2010. It was not held in 2011; however, following the establishment of the Department of Standard Language at the Institute of the Lithuanian Language, the conference was revived in 2012 and has since continued to be organised jointly by the two institutions on an alternating basis.
On 23–24 September 2016, the Faculty of Philology of Vilnius University hosted the 23rd International Jonas Jablonskis Scientific Conference, Meaning in Language and Culture. Distinguished from its predecessors, this conference was the first to focus on semantics, a field that had previously received comparatively little attention despite its significance within Jonas Jablonskis’ scholarly legacy. On 29 September 2017, the Institute of the Lithuanian Language organised the 24th International Scientific Conference, Digital Language Resources: Development Directions and Application Opportunities, which addressed emerging issues at the intersection of language studies and digital technologies.
On 27–28 September 2018, the Faculty of Philology at Vilnius University hosted the 25th Anniversary International Jonas Jablonskis Scientific Conference, Variation in Languages and Their Varieties. The conference focused on variation in early written texts, dialects, and the standard language, while also exploring the cultural dimensions of linguistic variation.
In subsequent years, the Jonas Jablonskis Conference continued to be held annually, alternating between Vilnius University and the Institute of the Lithuanian Language, while maintaining its international profile and steadily expanding its thematic scope. The conferences addressed a broad range of topics, including linguistic diversity, language power and prestige, language policy, the relationship between the standard language, dialects, and other language varieties, digital language resources, spoken and written language, the interaction between language and society, as well as both established and emerging directions in linguistic research.
In 2025, the Institute of the Lithuanian Language hosted the 30th Anniversary International Jonas Jablonskis Scientific Conference, Language and Linguistics: Continuity of Tradition and New Directions. The conference celebrated more than three decades of scholarly tradition while fostering discussion on the relationship between established linguistic traditions and contemporary research perspectives. Approximately sixty scholars from Lithuania and abroad participated in the conference. The plenary lectures highlighted both the enduring relevance of Jonas Jablonskis’ scholarly legacy and contemporary developments in linguistic theory and language technologies.
Over more than three decades, the Jonas Jablonskis Conference has become one of Lithuania’s longest-standing and most prestigious forums for linguistic scholarship. It brings together researchers from Lithuania and abroad to discuss research on Lithuanian and other languages, theoretical approaches to linguistics, language policy, language technologies, and the linguistic challenges of contemporary society. The conference continues to be jointly organised by the Center for Standard Language Research at the Institute of the Lithuanian Language and the Department of Lithuanian Language, Institute of Applied Linguistics, Faculty of Philology, Vilnius University.