Aloyzui Vidugiriui – 80

326 Languages and Culture | 81 ALGIRDAS SABALIAUSKAS Lithuanian Language Institute aloYZuI VIDuGIrIuI – 80 aloyzas Vidugiris always seemed very young to his friends, with whom he had to do the same work for half a century, often share the same joys, grieve over real and sometimes perceived misfortunes, for example, over lost basketball matches. Perhaps there was a real basis for this. I remember how we three friends – Kazys Morkūnas (1929–2008), who recently left us forever, Aloizas Vidugiris and the author of this article – during one dialectological expedition on a beautiful Sunday afternoon, after buying only one ticket, we took turns having fun on some dance floor in Zarasai. aloyzas danced with him in the third year of the Vilnius Pedagogical Institute and when he told his partner that he was also from this institute and the same faculty, she explained to him that the students of the higher courses often do not remember their younger colleagues... and aloyzas Vidugiris then had not only graduated from the Pedagogical Institute, but was working successfully for the second year at the Institute of Lithuanian Language and Literature. aloyzas Vidugiris was born on December 25, 1928, so during Christmas. His native village in Panevėžys district was then called Gakėnai, and in 1936 it was renamed taũtviliai. He was born in the land of aloysius grandfather. What's wrong with you? aloyzas Vidugiris – 80 327 je, which he had received for his son, a volunteer who died in the independence struggles, and which he later gave to another son – aloyzas father. Before entering the tiltagalijų primary school, the future linguist had to spend a difficult summer with the little shepherd and his uncle’s large herd of cows. From his childhood memories, Alois remembered especially vividly the wooden bicycle made by his younger brother, a mute master of golden hands, whose wheels turned almost like a real one, and people who saw it shouted in amazement. Aloyzas began his secondary education in Panevėžys and finished in Subačius in 1950. He not only studied well, but also played violin in the school orchestra. He apparently inherited his inclination to this art from his father, who not only worked the land exemplarily, but was also a famous country musician. before his death, he had, among other things, requested children to play the flute orchestra at his funeral. aloyzas Vidugiris’ path to linguistics was not straight. Even in his maturity certificate, in addition to all subjects “very good”, Lithuanian and Russian were “good”. After seeing that his parents would not be able to contribute to his higher education, he decided to enroll in the Military Medical Academy. but it soon becomes clear that there is no hope for a Baltic to get into such a prestigious academic institution. the future linguist with a bunch of friends is sent to some kind of military school for communicators in arzamas (far east of Moscow). but here, after a couple of weeks in the barracks of an old monastery, the desire to pursue military studies completely evaporates. During the written examination Vidugiris decides to reform the Russian spelling, introducing so many Lithuanian letters that the examination committee decides that this candidate cannot be entrusted with the responsible military service. so comes to Vilnius. In the Pedagogical Institute there was one more place left for first-year students of Lithuanian language, pedagogy and psychology, and it was occupied by Aloizas Vidugiris. There he became a linguist. He liked the lectures of Richard Miron, Jonas Kabelka. The work on the native dialect was praised by the then still young lecturer Zigmas Zinkevičius. As a future dialectologist, Vidugiris benefited greatly from the caring supervision of associate professor Elzbieta Mikalauskaitė. He was also involved in dialectological expeditions. Even just before the state exams, when his friends were not withdrawing from books and notes, Vidugiris wrote down examples of the language of Kybartai and Virbalis neighborhoods. From 1954 to 1989, Aloizas Vidugiris worked at the Institute of Lithuanian Language and Literature (in 1956-1959 he studied in the postgraduate program of this institute), from 1990 to 2001 – at the Institute of Lithuanian Language. During those years he became one of the most famous Lithuanian dialectologists and the most caring savior of our dying dialects. 328 Languages Culture | 81 In the history of Lithuanian linguistics, the doctoral dissertation “Lithuanian dialect of Zietela” by Aloizas Vidugiris, defended in 1962, will probably always be mentioned. On the subject of the dissertation, the linguist published numerous articles. The dissertation resulted in an important monograph Zietelos lietuvių šnekta (2004), together with Danguole Mikulėnienė prepared Zietelos šnektos tekstai (Part I, 2005), a large Zietelos šnektos dictionary (1998). Because of its interesting phonetic, grammatical, lexical features, and geographical location – far from the main area of the Lithuanian language, surrounded by Slavic languages on all sides – the Lithuanian dialect of Zietela attracted the attention of linguists as early as the end of the 19th century. Edward Walter was probably the first to come here from St. Petersburg. Then he found over a thousand people speaking Lithuanian in this area, but on the village’s wall he also saw a sign with the inscription Po litovski govorit’ strogo vospreščajetsia1. The local Lithuanian language was studied here by Kazimieras Būga, a student of the University of St. Petersburg, Janas Rozwadowskis, a professor of the University of Krakow, Jurgis Gerulis, a professor of the University of Leipzig, Christian Stangas, a professor of the University of Oslo, Pėteris Arumaa, a group of Lithuanian linguists of the younger generation, Russian linguists. but to summarize the research of all these linguists and to say the very last word about this dialect, which has now completely disappeared, came to Aloizas Vidugiris. His works are a kind of obituary of this Lithuanian dialect. Obituaries are always sad. sad and this monograph. Vidugiris described in detail not only the Lithuanian dialect of Zietela, but also the people who spoke this dialect, perhaps the greatest “our poor brothers”. After defending his dissertation, in one of its copies the linguist had listed all Lithuanian-speaking people he had met in the vicinity of Zietela, stating their names, surnames, years of birth (the oldest representative of the dialect was born in 1866) and of death. Not all the years of death were marked at that time. but gradually new and new dates of death were written. The last such date was recorded in 1988. so we know a very precise time of death of this Lithuanian dialect. The introductory part of Vidugiris’ monograph could probably be read several times as a sad story even by a person who is not interested in linguistics. In 1921, the Polish authorities removed the last Lithuanian priest from Zietela and abolished Lithuanian services. Lithuanian removed from the senior's duties. In 1928, the Lithuanian school was closed. War, changing occupations, fires, collectivization destroyed dialects. true, the last symbol of Lithuanianness Zietela baž1 to speak Lithuanian is strictly forbidden. a. a sabal. 80 329 survived for a long time: shortly before his death, the Polish priest presented to Alois Vidugiris the Lithuanian prayer book still preserved there... already in our time. The Lithuanians of Zietela region were very fond of their researcher: „kap tavè išvýsek tu, rãgis brólis rãdnas; I talked to them, and they were happy; àj kap náimieė lẽs nė brolį išvydau jús.“2 and the investigator carried them bread, and sweets, and medicine... in the investigated area, aloyzas vidugiris, we would say, had to leave even his own blood traces. On August 23, 1987, when a group of dissidents gathered at the Adam Mickevičius monument in Vilnius to commemorate the tragic anniversary of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, our linguist was beaten by local hooligans near the great poet’s birthplace – his dialectological expedition ended in the traumatology department of the Vilnius St. James Hospital, and later was extended to the Varnavo district court in Belarus. In dialectological expeditions Vidugiris was simply sick. I would like to mention one in particular. An old lady from Zietela, who still spoke Lithuanian well, told him that she knew that in the depths of Russia, somewhere near the Volga, in Samara province, there is a Lithuanian church, its priest is a Lithuanian, and there are 122 Lithuanian farms one next to the other. Vidugiris found out that those Lithuanians were descendants of the rebels of 1863. How about there? The linguist knew perfectly well that his dissertation supervisor, academician Boris Larin, is himself a great enthusiast of expeditions. It is his merit that Vidugiris was allowed to write a dissertation on the Zietela dialect, because there were some who explained that such a dissertation is interference in the affairs of another republic. there was a wonderful occasion – the hundredth anniversary of the uprising. aloyzas Vidugiris and our mythology researcher Norbertas Vėlius (1938–1996) flew to Saratov. At the airport they were supposed to meet with the academician Boris Larin, arriving from leningrad. Unfortunately, there was a telegram waiting for them that the academician was seriously ill. Both scientists returned from the expedition happy: of course, they did not find a Lithuanian church and a Lithuanian priest, but there were still 42 Lithuanian families living there. When forty years later the famous businessman from the United States of America, Lithuanian public figure Juozas Kazickas (who returned to Lithuania with his parents from this region in 1921) came to this land, the settlement of Čiorna Padina, with family members and numerous gifts to see his native land, he found there not only Lithuanians, but also a bunch of Kazickas – unfortunately, no one spoke Lithuanian there anymore. so aloyzas Vidugiris had to write another obituary of a Lithuanian snitch... and this is not the last one. 2 From texts written in dialect. 330 Languages and Culture | 81 Together with the journalist Jon Petrauskas (1915–2006), born in this region, Vidugiris published a dictionary of another Lithuanian dialect beloved by linguists, which is already about to disappear on the territory of Belarus – the Lazūnų dialect (1985), one published texts of the Lazūnų dialect (1987), supplements to the aforementioned dictionary (1991). and a monograph on Lazūnų Lithuanian spoken language should appear soon. With Danguole Mikulėnienė and Kazis Morkūnas Vidugiris prepared a dictionary of the very archaic, interesting Lithuanian dialect Dieveniškių šnektas (I d., 2005). For several decades Aloizas Vidugiris had to work on the most important work of Lithuanian dialectology – the Lithuanian Language Atlas (I–III, 1977–1991). For this publication he studied 40 settlements (no one outperformed Vidugiris here), he is one of its editors. He was awarded the Lithuanian Republic Science Prize in 1994 for his work on the Lithuanian Language Atlas. Vidugiris is also one of the chrestomaty Lithuanian dialects (1970) Authors. Among Lithuanian linguists Aloizas Vidugiris, perhaps with Kazimieras Eigminas (1929–1996), should be considered the most active Lithuanian local historian. His work in this field was also well appreciated – together with other enthusiasts of local history, he was awarded the state prize of Jonas Basanavičius in 1994. Vidugiris wrote articles on bilingualism, historical dialectology, the history of Lithuanian language research, language culture. established a “research program on Lithuanian dialects and their interaction. leksika’ (1995). but the great love of the linguist was nevertheless Zietela spoken. Having already published books about this dialect and long ago recorded the date of death of the last speaker, in 2005 he and his wife set out on another journey. visited farms, where they mostly had to work. He left his books somewhere else, although he knew that no one would read them here. but one or the other will probably look at the photos of their parents or grandparents, their poor cottages, which have entered the science books. In 2002 aloyzas Vidugiris was awarded the Order of the Grand Duke Gediminas of Lithuania for his contributions to the study of Lithuanian language. The story about our famous dialectologist began with a meeting at the expedition in Zarasai. By the way, for Alois Vidugiris this meeting was fatal: here he saw for the first time his future wife, a doctor of chemistry, a Siberian exile Vita. in aloyzas Vidugiris’ life and scientific activity it was always a very strong support3. The author of this story tends to take some credit for the fact that that meeting took place. 3 Unfortunately, Vita Vidugiriene was not destined to see her husband’s anniversary: after a serious illness she died when there were only three months left until the anniversary.