Prof. M. Petersonas

PROF. M. PETERSONAS On November 22, 1962, the renowned linguist and professor at Moscow University M. Petersonas (born in 1885) died. His specialties were the Slavic languages and general linguistics, but he also made contributions to Lithuanian studies. He was a diligent scholar and a talented educator. To date, 67 of his scholarly works have been published, a considerable number of which remain significant. He was interested in a wide variety of linguistic matters. He wrote reviews of important scholarly works as they appeared, articles on topical subjects, textbooks for students, and broader scholarly studies. By way of example, among many, one or two of his reviews may be mentioned (titles translated into Lithuanian): N. Durnovo, An Outline of the History of the Russian Language (1925); E. Polivanovas, Lectures on Introduction to Linguistics and General Phonetics; A. Šachmatovas, An Outline of Contemporary Written Russian; A. Šachmatovas, The Syntax of the Russian Language; Ferdinand de Saussure, Cours de linguistique générale. M. Petersonas devoted much attention to the study of syntax. His articles include: Old and New Syntax; On the Question of the Formation of Syntax; Lermontov’s Syntax; Academician Fortunatovas (1938); Fortunatovas and the Moscow Linguistic School (1941); Problems of Indo-European Linguistics (1929). He was also interested in Russian dialectology and published the Dorofejevo village dialect in 1938. Iš stambesnių M. Petersono veikalų reikia paminėti: Kalbotyros įvadas (1938); Šių dienų rusų rašomosios kalbos paskaitos (1941); Rusų kalbos vadovas (1947); Etimologinio žodyno rašymas; Trumpa prancūzų kalbos gramatika (1938); Šių dienų prancūzų kalba (1941). His works in Lithuanian studies are as follows: 1. The Oldest Monument of the Lithuanian Language (highlighting the more important linguistic features of Mažvydas’s catechism), Вест. МГУ № 3. 2. Russian Language Studies for Lithuanians (“Русский язык в школе”, 1941, № 1). In that article, the author compares Lithuanian with Russian, pointing out, 335 what difficulties a Lithuanian may encounter when learning Russian. The article has the following sections: phonetics, spelling, lexicon, morphology, and syntax. In the phonetics section, the author points out that the sound system of Russian differs considerably from that of Lithuanian. First, stress deserves attention: Russian stress is expiratory (based on exhalation), strong; stressed syllables differ markedly from unstressed ones in the strength of exhalation. Lithuanian stress is musical-expiratory. The distribution of exhalation strength is fairly even. In terms of exhalation strength, there is no great difference between stressed and unstressed syllables. The author then explains how the vowels and consonants of Russian and Lithuanian differ. In a similar way, he compares facts about Russian and Lithuanian in the other sections. The article is rather long and may prove useful to teachers of Russian in Lithuanian schools. 3. An Outline of the Lithuanian Language, išleido TSRS Mokslų Akademijos Kalbotyros institutas 1955, 160 psl. Tai trumpa gramatika studentams, norintiems gauti supratimą apie lietuvių kalbą, jiems reikalinga kalbotyros mokslui. Be svarbiųjų gramatikos dalykų (fonetikos, leksikos, morfologijos, sintaksės), apybraiža duoda nemaža vietos tekstams iš tautosakos, lietuvių senesnių ir naujesnių rašytojų. Tekstai turi savo pilną žodyną. Tekstai ir žodynas sukirčiuoti; lygiai sukirčiuoti beveik visi gramatikos žodžiai ar sakiniai. Apybraižos įžangoje duotos svarbiausios informacijos iš lietuvių kalbos istorijos. M. Petersonas palaikė glaudžius ryšius su mūsų respublikos kalbininkais, džiaugėsi jų naujais darbais nuolat sekė naujai pasirodančią lituanistinę filologinę literatūrą ir vadovavo mokslinėms disertacijoms iš lietuvių kalbos. M. Petersonas enjoyed reading Lithuanian writings. To learn the language better, he spent four summers in Lithuania: in 1947 he summered in Palanga, and in 1951, 1952, and 1953 he vacationed in Druskininkai. While living in Druskininkai, he invited folk singers to his home and sometimes went himself to the surrounding villages to listen to our folklore. M. Petersonas was a very kind-hearted person, always open and pleasant to talk with everyone. Even when he went into the woods and came upon shepherd boys with their flock, he knew how to strike up a conversation with them and make them laugh. The cherished memory of M. Petersonas, an enthusiastic researcher of the Lithuanian language and our sincere friend, will long remain with us, while his contribution to Lithuanian linguistics will strengthen the fraternal ties among the Russian, Lithuanian, and other Soviet peoples. J. Balčikonis