Jonas Jablonskis

Jonas Jablonskis (30 December 1860, Kubilėliai, Šakiai district – 23 February 1930, Kaunas) was a distinguished Lithuanian linguist and one of the founders of the standard Lithuanian language. He used the pseudonym Rygiškių Jonas, taken from the small town named Rygiškiai where he spent his childhood.

After graduation from Marijampolė Gymnasium, Jablonskis studied classical languages at the University of Moscow from 1881 to 1885. Amongst his professors were Phillip Fedorovich Fortunatov and Fedor Yevgenievich Korsh, both of whom were familiar with Lithuanian and encouraged their students to research his native language. Upon completing his studies in 1885 he was confronted with the russification policy. As a Lithuanian Catholic, was unable to find employment in Lithuania as a teacher. He was therefore constrained for a time to give private lessons, and to serve as a clerk in the court of Marijampolė. In 1889, however, he succeeded in obtaining an appointment as a teacher of Greek and Latin at Jelgava Gymnasium, Latvia where he remained until 1896. His home became a frequent gathering place for educated Lithuanians. During summer vacations Jablonskis collected data among native speakers in Lithuania for his linguistic studies. His activities on behalf of Lithuanian causes prompted his relocation to Tallinn, Estonia, by Tsarist authorities.

The Russian Academy of Sciences charged Jablonskis with editing the dictionary compiled by the recently deceased Antanas Juška. This caused his dismissal from his teaching position in Tallinn in 1901, and banishment from Lithuania the following year. In spite of this he continued with his work in Pskov. It was during this period that he began his Lietuviškos kalbos gramatika (Lithuanian Grammar, 1901) under the name of Petras Kriaušaitis, his first pseudonym. Since the Russian authorities prohibited the printing of Lithuanian books in the Latin alphabet, his grammar was later published in Tilsit, East Prussia.

...
Wikipedia