PROF. HABIL. DR. PIETRO UMBERTO DINI
Prof. Dr. habil. Pietro Umberto Dini(born on October 5, 1960 in Pietrasanta, Toscana, Italy) is a philologist and linguist specialising in Baltic studies. In 1980-1984 he studied at Pisa University and in 1983- 1984 at Vilnius University. From 1986 to 1987 he carried out an internship at Krakow University and in 1989 in Riga. Later on, he taught Linguistics at the University of Potenza (1988-1995). From 1996 to 1997 professor was awarded with the Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung scholarship at the University of Göttingen. In 1997 he taught Baltic Languages at Oslo University. Since 1998 he has been a professor at Pisa University, and head of the Department of Baltic Philology. He was a visiting professor at different universities: in 1998 he took an internship at the University of Illinois in Chicago, in 2000 he taught at the University of California (Los Angeles), in 2007 and 2010 at Vilnius University (at the Department of Lithuanian Studies), in 2006 and 2010 he taught at the University of Frankfurt. Professor gave lectures and presentations in different cities too: in Vilnius, Bialystok, Krakow, Kaunas, Naples, Ferrara, Warsaw, Oslo, Udine, Trento, Rome, Kiev, Riga, Berlin Chicago, Moscow, Budapest, State College, Bologna, Wolfenbüttel, Los Angeles, Turin, Pordenone, Valencia, Frybure, Frankfurt, Pavia, Bone, Lugano, Venice, Madrid, Luxemburg, Pistoia, Vicenza, Villa Vigoni, Paris and others.
His main research interests include historical linguistics of Lithuanian and other Baltic languages, Prussian language, historical linguistics, interactions among Baltic and other Indo-European languages as well as historiography of Baltic linguistics.
He wrote a monograph L’Inno di S. Ambrogio di Martynas Mažvydas (1994), published a monument of written Lithuanian language H. J. Lysius Mažasis katekizmas (1993) and published studies of the history of Baltic languages (1993). He compiled Baltijos žiedas (1991) and together with Prof. Dr. Nikolaj Mikhailov, an anthology of Baltic mythology (1995). Together with Philip Baldi he prepared a set of Studies in Baltic and Indo-European Linguistics In Honor of William R. Schmalstieg (2004). His main work Baltic Languages was published in 1997 in Italian, followed by translations into Lithuanian and Latvian (2000), as well as Russian (2001). Dini’s latest books Foundations of Baltic Languages came out in 2014 and Baltų kalbų lyginamoji istorija in 2019. Professor has published several works in the field of history of Baltic languages: Džiakomas Devotas. Baltistiniai raštai (with Bonifacas Stundžia, 2004), Džiulianas Bonfante. Baltistiniai raštai (with Stundžia, 2008), as well in the field of historiography of Baltic linguistics: Aliletoescvr. Linguistica baltica delle origini. Teorie e contesti linguistici nel Cinquecento (2010), Prelude to Baltic Linguistics: Earliest theories about Baltic languages (2014) and Aliletoescvr. Prie baltų kalbotyros ištakų: teorijos ir jų kalbinė aplinka XVI amžiuje (2023); and in the field of Prussian linguistics: Ins undevd∫che gebracht. Sprachgebrauch und Übersetzungsverfahren im altpreußischen Kleinen Kathechismus (2014). He published W. R. Schmalstieg’s Studies in Old Prussian. A Critical Review of the Relevant Literature in the Field from 1975 until 2005 (2015), Foundations of Old Prussian. Philology and linguistics (2023). Other articles were presented in the book Baltų filologijos studijos. Rinktiniai raštai 1991-2007 (2010). With Mikhailov, Dini became a founder and editor of the international journal of Baltistics Res Balticae (13 volumes were published until 2016); since 2014 he is responsible for the series Studia Baltica Pisana (7 volumes published until 2024). Dini is a member of the Academy of Sciences of Latvia (2004), the Academy of Sciences of Lithuania (2007) and the Academy of Sciences of Göttingen (2010) and doctor h.c. of Vilnius University (2005). In 2002 Dini was awarded the Order of Gediminas, the Lithuanian Presidential Award, in 2010 he was awarded the Medal of the Baltic Academies of Sciences, in 2012 he received the award of the Lithuanian Minister of Culture Carry your truth and believe. He was awarded with Iglesias prize in 1998 (XXXVII Premio Iglesias in Sardinia for the book Baltic languages), in 2002-2003 he was awarded with Wilhelm Friedrich Bessel prize (Wilhelm Friedrich Bessel Forschungspreis), and in 2011 he received the Jānis Endzelīns’ prize. In addition, Dini received the prize of Poezijos pavasaris for translations of Lithuanian poetry and the prize for professionally translated works and popularisation of the Lithuanian language in Italy, Gerald Parks Translation Prize, Club Anthares, Trieste (2012).
PROF. DR. XAVERIO BALLESTER
Xaverio Ballester (Ph.D. in Classical Philology from the University of Barcelona in 1987) is Professor of Latin Philology at the University of Valencia since 1998. He also held teaching positions at the Complutense University of Madrid (1988–1989) and at the University of Zaragoza (1990–1998).
Ballester is one of the primary proponents of the Paleolithic Continuity Paradigm. This proposal suggests that Indo-European dialect chain dates back to the Paleolithic era, much earlier than the traditionally accepted Neolithic or Bronze Age dating. He founded the journal Liburna and the Portuguese collection Teoria da Continuidade Paleolítica. Key areas of expertise include Indo-European Linguistics, pre-Roman languages of Spain, phonological Typology, Graphemics, Valencian language, and in general the decoding and reconstruction of ancient language origins. Two significant books in English are his 40 Antidotes to the Poisons of Traditional Linguistics (2021), and Indo–European Phonology with a Human Face (2025) with Peter Dunphy.
PROF. DR. DAVID BRITAIN
Prof. Dr. David Britain worked at Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand and the University of Essex in the UK before becoming Professor of Modern English Linguistics at the University of Bern in Switzerland in 2010. His research interests embrace language variation and change, varieties of English, dialect contact and attrition, new dialect formation, second dialect acquisition, dialect ideologies and the use of new technologies, such as smartphone applications, in collecting dialect data. He is also actively engaged in research at the dialectology-human geography interface, especially with respect to space/place, urban/rural and the role of mobilities. He was Associate Editor of Journal of Sociolinguistics from 2008 to 2017. He currently leads a large international project funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation conducting a new national survey of the dialects of England and Wales.
DR. RITA MILIŪNAITĖ
Dr. Rita Miliūnaitė (born in Rokiškis, Lithuania) is a Lithuanian linguist. In 1986 she graduated from Vilnius University with a degree in Lithuanian studies. Since 1991 she has been working at the Institute of the Lithuanian Language. In 1992 she defended her doctoral dissertation in the humanities entitled “Foundations for the Standardization of the Grammar of Contemporary Lithuanian”. In 2009 she completed the habilitation procedure at Vytautas Magnus University (Lithuania) with the topic “Theoretical and Applied Aspects of the Standardization of Standard Lithuanian.” She is a member of the editorial boards of the scholarly journals „Bendrinė kalba“, „Terminologija“, and „Acta Linguistica Lithuanica“.
Her main research areas include the history, theory, and practice of standardization of the Lithuanian language, language variation, changes and shifts in norms, language policy, public attitudes toward language, Internet linguistics, and neology.
Dr. Rita Miliūnaitė has published the books „Lietuvių kalbos gramatikos norminimo pagrindai“ (“Fundamentals of Lithuanian Language Grammar Standardization”) (2003), „Apie kalbą ir mus“ (“About Language and Us”) (2006), „Dabartinės lietuvių kalbos vartosenos variantai“ (“Variants of Contemporary Lithuanian Language Usage”) (2009), „Ką manote apie nepriesagines moterų pavardes?“ (“What Do You Think About Non-Suffixed Female Surnames?”), (2013), „Kalbos normos ir jų savireguliacija interneto bendruomenėje“ (“Language Norms and Their Self-Regulation in the Internet Community”) (2018), „Įvairuojantys ir nauji lietuvių kalbos reiškiniai XXI a. pradžioje: sistematika ir pokyčių kryptys“ (“Diverse and New Phenomena in the Lithuanian Language at the Beginning of the 21st Century: Systematics and Directions of Change” (2022), and „Naujadarai, kurie gali praversti. Trumpas XXI a. lietuvių kalbos naujadarų žodynėlis“ (“Neologisms That May Come in Handy. A Short Dictionary of Lithuanian Neologisms in the 21st Century”) (2023). She is also one of the compilers of the „Vietovardžių žodynas“ (“Dictionary of Place Names”, 2002) and its online version (2007), a compiler and co-author of part of „Kalbos patarimai“ (“Language Advice”, 2002–2003), and the compiler of the electronic version of „Kalbos patarimai“ (2022). She has authored numerous scholarly and popular science articles on the standard language, its standardization, usage, and teaching, as well as on the relationship between language users and language standardizers.
In recent years she has devoted part of her work to the study of Lithuanian neologisms. She is the compiler of the Lithuanian Neologisms Database (since 2011, http://naujazodziai.lki.lt) and the creator of several educational computer games for learning Lithuanian.
DR. AURELIJA TAMULIONIENĖ
Dr. Aurelija Tamulionienė is a researcher in school-based Lithuanian studies. Her research areas include applied linguistics, sociolinguistics, and ethnolinguistics. Her scholarly interests focus on children’s and young people’s language use, linguistic attitudes, the prestige of the Lithuanian language, and issues of linguistic identity and linguistic integration. She is a co-author of several scientific studies examining the linguistic integration of students returning from abroad and the linguistic behaviour and attitudes toward language of students in Lithuanian national minority schools. A. Tamulionienė has published research articles in Lithuanian and international academic journals that analyse children’s and young people’s language choice and use, linguistic attitudes, and the status of the Lithuanian language in the digital age. She actively participates in scientific conferences in Lithuania and abroad, where she presents research on the characteristics of children’s and young people’s linguistic behaviour, reflecting contemporary patterns of language use and enabling insights into possible future developments.
NIDA PODERIENĖ
Nida Poderienė is a researcher in school-based Lithuanian studies. Her research areas include applied linguistics, ethnolinguistics, and language policy. Her scholarly interests focus on the linguistic behaviour and language attitudes of children and young people, as well as the role of language in processes of cultural identity formation. In her academic publications, she examines the relationships between the vitality of the Lithuanian language, language prestige, and Lithuanian language education policy. Using text analysis methods, she has investigated the lexical diversity of language produced by children returning from English-speaking countries and the expression of intentions in students’ spoken and written language. She is a co-author of several research studies on the use of the Lithuanian language and on the language attitudes of children returning from abroad and of students attending national minority schools. At international scientific conferences, N. Poderienė presents research on the linguistic behaviour of children and young people and on the impact of the linguistic environment and Lithuanian language policy on multilingualism and the linguistic and cultural cohesion of society.