PERSONALIJA

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CONGRATULATIONS TO VYTAUTAS AMBRAZAS

The hardest thing is choosing words of congratulation, appreciation, and thanks—especially difficult (and seemingly even impossible) to find them for a Master of language and eloquence.

An official introduction following the usual biographical questionnaire format would go like this: Vytautas Ambrazas was born in Kaunas on March 25, 1930. In 1947–1948 he studied at Vytautas Magnus University, and in 1948–1952 at the Vilnius Pedagogical Institute. From 1953 he was a research associate at the Institute of the Lithuanian Language; in 1958 he earned a doctorate in philology, and in 1979 a habilitated doctorate. From 1989 to 2001 he headed the Grammar Department of the Institute of the Lithuanian Language. From 1996 he has been a professor (VDU). He has lectured not only at Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas, but also at the universities of Chicago, California (1988), Pisa (1990), Genoa (1994), Florence, Parma and Potenza (1990, 1994), and Stockholm (1995). His principal research focus—his interest in the historical syntax of the Lithuanian language—is crowned by numerous scholarly articles and three monographs: The Historical Syntax of Lithuanian Participles (1979; for this work, the author was awarded the Lithuanian State Prize), Сравнительный синтаксис причастий балтийских языков / Vergleichende Syntax der baltischen Partizipien (1990), and a new research book soon to appear, The Historical Syntax of the Lithuanian Language. Vytautas Ambrazas is one of the co-authors of Grammar of the Lithuanian Language (vol. 2, 1971; vol. 3, 1976); as editor (and co-author), he brought collective efforts together to produce a single-volume Lithuanian grammar: Грамматика литовского языка was published in 1985, Grammar of Contemporary Lithuanian in 1994 (1996, 1997, 2005), and Lithuanian Grammar in 1997 (his work in grammar was recognized with the Lithuanian Science Prize). Vytautas Ambrazas is a member of various scholarly editorial boards and commissions, and one of the principal authors of the Encyclopedia of the Lithuanian Language (1999), as well as of its revised edition now in preparation.

Serious scholarly work brings respect and recognition, but the traces of public appreciation—various awards, including state honors—are not easy to keep track of, because the Professor does not like to boast. He much prefers—and knows how—to work. His research is simply resistant to the passage of time.

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PERSONALIA

A tolerant Leader, a distinguished Professor, a Master, a Teacher, a Father—these are some of the more open, and others more cryptic, ways of describing Vytautas Ambrazas. His erudition is captivating and astonishing, as are his mind, receptive to both detail and generalization, his fluent speech, and his ability to write a clean copy. This ability is evident in everyday life, too, and may be understood as a way of life: Vytautas Ambrazas’s scholarly writing contains neither ideological residue nor literary digressions. His research is characterized by a consistent, simple, clear, logical structure, and a distinctive writing style that may seem, at first glance only, to lack any distinguishing marks. It is not in scholarly work but only in his leisure pursuits that his artistic nature is allowed to emerge, revealed by his subtle knowledge of various art forms. Vytautas Ambrazas’s strong temperament comes through in his characteristic active stance, which can manifest itself on various levels: scholarly, civic, and cultural. He is a scholar still creating and a constant evaluator, incapable of being lukewarm. He does not flaunt his authority, yet he is impossible to avoid. He has been, and continues to be, everywhere.

And so, to our dear Professor, our most heartfelt wishes, looking toward the present and the future: may there be many more birthdays and springs! May there be plenty of life! We wish you beautiful, creative years filled with health and strength!

Jūratė Pajėdienė