Sveikiname Aloyzą Vidugirį

ACTA LINGUISTICA LITHUANICA XLIX (2003), 171–172 PERSONALIA CONGRATULATIONS TO ALOYZAS VIDUGIRIS At Christmas, the renowned Lithuanian dialectologist Aloyzas Vidugiris celebrated his seventy-fifth birthday. This is a remarkable date in anyone’s life, and for our senior colleague it is a double celebration, since Vidugiris has worked for 50 years at the Institute of the Lithuanian Language, in the Department of the History of Language and Dialectology. He is a member of the Lithuanian Catholic Academy of Science (LKMA), a recipient of the Science Prize of the Republic of Lithuania and the state Jonas Basanavičius Prize. Aloyzas Vidugiris is the foremost researcher of Zietela and Lazūnai—the most distant islands of the Lithuanian language. Although over the past century more than a hundred scholars from various countries have studied the Lithuanian dialects of Belarus, not all could say that for several decades they witnessed these dialects’ decline and death. Vidugiris has conducted extensive research into the traditional dialects on the southeastern edge of the Lithuanian language area, in the districts of Šalčininkai, Vilnius, Širvintos, Varanavas, Astravas, Jūrotiškės, Įvija, Zietela, Ščiučinas, Gardinas, and others. He is a living encyclopedia of this region’s history, language, and local people’s lives. Aloyzas Vidugiris was born in 1928 in Gakūnai village, Karsakiškis parish, Panevėžys district (now Tautvilai). In 1954, after graduating from the Vilnius Pedagogical Institute, he began working at the Institute of the Lithuanian Language. In 1962, he defended his doctoral dissertation in the humanities, The Zietela Lithuanian Dialect. Aloyzas Vidugiris collected data for four years 172 | PERSONALIA in the Zietela region. The dissertation’s opponent, Juozas Balčikonis, noted that it was the first extensive description of an interesting dialect that was nearing extinction. He emphasized: “The work has been carried out with great care and dedication, and truly deserves to be published for scholarly purposes [...] It would not be amiss to provide the dialect’s entire lexicon.” Distinguished by his exceptional dedication to peripheral dialects and his perseverance, Aloyzas Vidugiris also fulfilled this proposal four decades after defending his dissertation. As a co-author of the Anthology of Lithuanian Dialects (1970) and the Atlas of the Lithuanian Language (vols. 1–3, 1977–1991), the linguist recorded numerous dialect texts, took part in many expeditions, and organized dialect recordings. During one expedition in Ramučiai village, Varanavas district, he was even beaten by local hooligans. In 1988, Aloyzas Vidugiris actively participated in founding the “Vilnija” Society and served as a member of its council and as a consultant. He has reviewed many scholarly and popular-science books and served on editorial committees. Though not always in robust health, our colleague is extraordinarily industrious: Aloyzas Vidugiris is the author or co-author of nine books and has written 135 scholarly articles and about 90 popular articles. An impressive list of these works was published in the 2003 Yearbook of the Lithuanian Catholic Academy of Science (vol. 23, pp. 599–608). Vidugiris wrote 22 articles on Lithuanian linguistics alone, published across nineteen issues (vols. 2–46). Many articles appeared in Language Culture, as well as in Baltistica, Works of the Lithuanian SSR Academy of Sciences, Native Language, Our Language, Science and Life, scholarly and local-history collections, and elsewhere. Both his articles and his most substantial works are devoted to peripheral Lithuanian dialects. These include the Dictionary of the Lazūnai Dialect (with Jonas Petrauskas, 1985), Texts of the Lazūnai Dialect (with Jonas Petrauskas, 1987), and the Dictionary of the Zietela Dialect (1998). A monograph, The Zietela Lithuanian Dialect: Phonetics and Morphology, will soon appear, as will the Dictionary of the Dieveniškės Dialect (with Danguolė Mikulienė, Kazys Morkūnas, and Laima Grumadienė). At least seven areas of Aloyzas Vidugiris’s scholarly work stand out: dialectology (phonetics, morphology, syntax), historical dialectology, lexicology, onomastics, bilingualism and multilingualism (sociolinguistics), the history of Lithuanian-language research, and language culture. Introducing the Dictionary of the Zietela Dialect, its editor and the author’s longtime friend Antanas Balašaitis wrote: “Choosing the more difficult path of a scholar, rather than merely defending a description of his native dialect, Vidugiris, working quietly and steadily, erected a monument to Zietela.” And not only to Zietela. First and foremost, to his homeland and his language. And to himself. May you stay well and productive for many years to come! Kazimieras Garšva