Sveikiname Aloyzą Vidugirį

ACTA LINGUISTICA LITHUANICA XLIX (2003), 171-172 PERSONALIA Congratulations to Aloyzas Vidugiris At Christmas, the well-known Lithuanian dialectologist Aloyzas Vidugiris celebrated his seventy-fifth anniversary. This is an extraordinary date in the life of every person, 0 for our senior colleague — a double celebration, because for 50 years Vidugiris has been working at the Institute of Lithuanian Language, in the Department of Language History and Dialectology. He is a member of the Lithuanian Catholic Academy of Sciences (LKMA), laureate of the Republic of Lithuania Science Prize and the state Jono Basanavičiaus Prize. Aloyzas Vidugiris — the most famous researcher of the islands of Zietela and Lazūnai — the most distant Lithuanian-- speaking islands. Although more than a hundred scholars from different countries have studied the spoken language of the Lithuanians of Gudija over the course of a century, not every one of them could speak as a witness to the disappearance and death of these languages for several decades. Vidugiris studied extensively the traditional dialects of the southeastern Lithuanian language area in the districts of Šalčininkai, Vilnius, Širvintos, Varanasi, Astrava, Jūrotiškiai, Įvijos, Zietela, Ščiučinas, Gardinas and other districts. It is a living encyclopedia of the history, language and life of the local people. Aloyzas Vidugiris was born in 1928 in the village of Gakūnai (now Tautvilai) in the parish of Karsakiškis, Panevėžys district. In 1954, after graduating from Vilnius Pedagogical Institute, he began working at the Lithuanian Language Institute. In 1962 he defended his doctoral dissertation on the Lithuanian dialect of Zietela. Data Aloyzas Vidugiris for four years 172 | PERSONALIA collected in the region of Zietela. The opponent of the dissertation, Juozas Balčikonis, noted that this is the first comprehensive description of an interesting dialect that is about to disappear. He emphasized: “The work was done with great care and dedication, and it is certainly worthy of being published for scientific purposes […] It would not be a mistake to include the entire dialect vocabulary.” Aloyzas Vidugiris, distinguished by his special dedication to peripheral schnecks and his persistence, also implemented this proposal four decades after defending his dissertation. As a co-author of the Lithuanian Language Dialect Chrestomacy (1970) and the Lithuanian Language Atlas (vols. 1-3, 1977-1991), the linguist recorded many spoken texts, participated in many expeditions, organized dialect records. During one of his expeditions in Varanasi district, in the village of Ramučiai, he was even beaten by local hooligans. In 1988, Aloyzas Vidugiris actively participated in the creation of the Vilnius Society and was a member of its council and consultant. He is a member of several scientific and popular science journals, and a member of several editorial boards. Although not always in good health, our colleague is extremely hard-working: Aloyzas Vidugiris is the author or co-author of nine books, wrote 135 scientific articles, about 90 popular articles. An impressive list of these works was published in 2003 in the Metrasty of the Lithuanian Catholic Academy of Sciences (vol. 23, pp. 599-608). In 2001, the 22-year-old scored 19 goals in 22 appearances for the club (19 goals in 22 appearances). Many articles have been published in Language Culture, as well as in Baltistika, Lithuanian SSR MA works, Mother Tongue, Our Language, Science and Life, collections of scientific and local history works and elsewhere. Both his articles and his greatest works are devoted to peripheral Lithuanian dialects. These are: Dictionary of Lazūnų dialect (with Jon Petrauskas, 1985), Texts of Lazūnų dialect (with Jon Petrauskas, 1987), Dictionary of Zietelos šnektas (1998). A monograph will be published soon —Zietelos Lithuanian spoken language: phonetics and morphology, as well as a dictionary of Dieveniškiai spoken language (with Danguole Mikulėniene, Kazis Morkūnas, Laima Grumadiene). Aloyzas Vidugiris’s scientific work is divided into at least seven areas: dialectology (phonetics, morphology, syntax), historical dialectology, lexicology, onomastics, bilingualism and multilingualism (sociolinguistics), history of Lithuanian language research, language culture. In presenting the dictionary of Zietela’s schnekt, the editor of this dictionary and the author’s long-time friend Antanas Balašaitis wrote: “Choosing a more difficult path of a scholar than defending the description of his native dialect, Vidugiris, working quietly and consistently, has erected a monument to Zietela”. Not just Zietel. First of all, for your country, your language. And to myself. Be healthy and productive for many years to come! Kazimieras Garšva