Profesorius Antanas Salys – žmogus ir mokslininkas

LITHUANIAN LINGUISTICS QUESTIONS, XXXIV (1994) LITHUANIAN LANGUAGE DICTIONAries AND THEIR STUDIES Algirdas SABALIAUSKAS PROFESSOR ANTANAS SALYS — A MAN AND A SCIENTIFIC MAN Where are my dictionary cards? And in the illness cared dictionary boxes. Stud. A. Salys makes an effort (= makes an effort. —A.S.) through A. Vireliūnas and A. Varnas to get the boxes of the "Lietuvos žodynas" (Lithuanian Dictionary) [...] These boxes are not suitable for Bogus, but for the wealth of Lithuania. Writing is hard. I'm really worried about the letter. Good afternoon! Congratulations. A. Saliui. These lines, written by the hand of the great Lithuanian language researcher, who was already broken by a serious illness and barely managed to hold a pen, would seem to me to be a very appropriate motto for a biography of Antanas Salis. Kazimieras Būga played an important role in the life of the future scientist A. Salis. Before coming to Kaunas to study, this young man, who grew up "in a hundred-year-- old Žemaičių farm, Reketės pablendžiavy, among tall dense trees", had heard little about Professor K. Būga. For many of us, the choice of specialty was determined by teachers. This is what happened to Mr. Sali. When he returned to Telšiai in the sixth class after finishing the fifth grade in Skuode, a new Lithuanian language teacher, Matas Untulis, appeared there. He was an extremely interesting, almost legendary personality. He graduated from Saratov University with a degree in law, became a self-taught Lithuanianist, an enemy of all authorities, an unconventional teacher, and was able to ignite the love of the mother tongue in his students. He is mentioned with gratitude in the autobiography of many of our cultural workers. By the way, the author of these lines has also seen M. Untuli once. In April 1952, an inter-republican conference of lexicographers was held in Vilnius, where a new editorial instruction for the academic Lithuanian language dictionary was discussed. For me, a fourth-year student, it was interesting to look at the faces of the linguists of that time, to hear their words. I remember M. Untulis most vividly from that conference: In the corner of the meeting hall of the Academy of Sciences, a small humpback man sat on a spiral metal staircase. Although it was warm enough in the hall, he was dressed in a worn-out, country-- style sermage, with somethi30 ng like a beggar’s bag next to him, looking at the dictionary cards and only occasionally lifting his head to look at one of the speakers. When I asked, I don't remember who, "who is that guy", I was told that it was Matas Untulis, the word picker for the dictionary under discussion. He died six months later in the surroundings of Rome. : Matas Untulis explained to sixth grade student A. Salis that not everything written in books or newspapers is good and correct, that you need to listen to how people speak, to feel what is good and what is bad in their speech. This was the first seminar on linguistics held by Jan Jablonski, whom he would later meet at the university. Untulis taught Salj for only one year. However, this year was enough for Antanas Salys, who graduated from the gymnasium with a gold medal in 1923 (he graduated, among other things, together with the future famous lexicographer Zuzana Jonikaitė), to be drawn to the newly established first Lithuanian university to study Lithuanian language. At Kaunas University he also found two of our great linguists — Jonas Jablonskis and Kazimieras Būga. Salys immediately distinguished himself from the other students. This is how writer Juozas Paukštelis remembers the first lecture of J. Jablonskis. Are they waiting in a small dark hall, "in the old, mouldy and damp walls of the former monastery at the beginning of Vilnius street, next to the student church? [...] The door of the hall breaks open, and a young, pale woman with short hair pushes the wheels on which the professor I have already seen sits [...] I look — his gray head shakes; it's very old, much older than when I saw it in Palanga a few years ago. I feel like I'm in some sort of despair. And the hall is quiet — no one is speaking. The professor in his wheelchair again runs his hand over his face, as if he were very tired, as if he wanted to wash away that tiredness. "Well, let's start," his voice was restful [...] He turned over the notebook he held in front of him, and read: —"In order to do a good job, you must have good workers- ." Who can correct this sentence? The room is quiet. "Silence- ," she said. So that sentence is good? A bright blonde man raises his hand. - Please. "It is not proper to speak of "that,"" said the young man, a little humbled. - "What do you say?" —In order to do a good job... —Correct: in order to do a good job... are you from Žemaitija —from Salantai or from Plungė? - From the Salan... - From the Salan... There is a more pure language remaining”.. 1 Language culture. 1991. Neighborhood 60. This publication is dedicated to the 100th anniversary of M. Untuli. It contains the memories of people who knew M. Untulis. ?Bird J. I remember them often. V., 1979. P. 73-75. 31 That young man was, of course, Mr Salys. However, J. Paukštelis himself did not dare to mention him at that time, or the book publishers had removed his name from the text® for precautiiš on. It is almost impossible to believe, but J. Jablonskis offers his student to edit the second volume of the Žemaitės writings published by Andrius Bulotas (the first one had been edited by J. Jablonskis himself). During the lectures of K. Būga, A. Salys sits on the first bench. ”He asked where we were from, from what dialect, because it was important for his dialectology course. He kept asking me what your dialect was like. And so I got to know Bogus more closely [...] And then one time, after a lecture, he said to me: You know, would you not like to come to me to work as a secretary in the dictionary? —I need it now. I, of course, was delighted—a first-year student who had been offered a salary of, it seems, one hundred and a half litas […] I used to walk every day in certain hours free from lectures to the dictionary’s editorial office, which was also in the courtyard of the Seimas, in the old former guard’s house. There were all the dictionary records of dézés”*. That is why K. Būga, remembering the "dictionary boxes" before his death, always remembered the student Sali. At the urging of K. Būga, A. Salys, during his first student holidays, researches the native Žemaičių dialektai, trying to establish the boundary between the Dounininkai and the Dunininkai. However, when he returned to Kaunas after his holiday, a notice was hanging on the notice board of the Faculty of Humanities that Professor K. Būga would not give lectures this semester because of illness… K. Būga’s death was a terrible tragedy for Lithuanian language science, especially for Kaunas University, which was just taking its first steps. J. Jablonski had already left a lot. The theoretical disciplines of linguistics were taught and after the death of K. Buga the Department of Comparative Linguistics was headed by the Swiss Alfred Senn, who at that time probably did not yet have sufficient knowledge of Lithuanian. Seeing the difficult situation of the Lithuanian language, J. Jablonskis began to make arrangements for a couple of more gifted students of the faculty to study linguistics abroad. A. Salys and another already famous student, "Panevėžio Jablonskis" Pranas Skardžius were chosen. In a letter to his former pupil, and then Minister of Education Kazimieras Jokantas, J. Jablonskis wrote: "Du studentu humanitaru, Ant. Islands and Pr. Skardžius, who has been studying linguistics and Lithuanian studies for two years, and who, as it is apparent, our faculty gives them little spiritual food (there is no linguist or linguist for comparative studies in the faculty), has long (after the death of K. Bogda) wanted to go from here to some university in Germany, to such a higher school where this science is already established and is being taught as it should be. Juodas has been concerned with his subject for a long time and constantly, anyway, he is breaking my head, always looking for advice, how to accomplish this thing and it would be best for them, in my understanding, to continue studying in Germany [...] Both Juodas (Žemaitis and eastern highlander) are certainly strong and knowledgeable about language and otherwise science 3 Kniūkšta P. Prisimename Antaną Salį //Kalbos kultūra, 1992. Neighborhood 63. P.4. 4 Conversation with Prof. Antanas Salis //Native Language, 1992. Neighborhood 6. P. 25. 32 I have two very good guys, from whom we can expect something for the future of our school, but both of them, unfortunately, are equally poor sodiacs — both of them need, I will be quite frank, good scholarships, so that they do not have to starve abroad, after studying, without any benefit from it for themselves and for our school. These two students I particularly trust; I don't consider them to be husk, I trust in their seriousness and durability. Please, if you can, do not cut them off from this year’s autumn semester scholarships to study abroad”®. A similar letter was written by J. Jablonskis to the Dean of the Faculty of Humanities, Professor Mykolas Birziskas- ®. Initially, Leipzig, Karaliaučius or Riga were considered. Leipzig is chosen. The choice was apparently determined by the fact that a good friend of K. Buga, Professor Jurgis Gerulis (signed Georg Gerullis in German), who had been invited to teach at Kaunas not so long ago, was teaching there since 1922. J. Gerulis, a pupil of Karaliaučius and Berlin universities, a pupil of A. Bezzenberger, V. Schulz, seems to have had a particularly strong influence on his pupils. In 1909 he graduated from Tilžė Classical Gymnasium, and in 1912 he received his doctorate for a dissertation on the placenames of Zambia written in Latin. As an officer of the Crown Prince's Guard, he participated in World War I, was wounded several times, and was awarded the highest German military award, the Iron Cross. At the University of Leipzig, he taught military training in addition to linguistics. Both Lithuanians who studied in Leipzig and later in Berlin remember him as a very excellent teacher. In Leipzig he taught the basic disciplines of Baltic studies to only two students, Pr. Skardžiui and A. Saliui. Other students mocked them, calling them “Lithuanian professors in residence”. Not only were the students satisfied with their professor, but the professor was also delighted with his students (they certainly did not become flakes!), Praising them everywhere, especially emphasizing Mr. The workmanship of Candies, and the talent of A. Salis. Of course, neither one nor the other lacked these characteristics. Perhaps this detail would also testify to how J. Gerulis’s pedagogical talent was appreciated by his pupils. Already after the Second World War, while in the United States of America and seeing the sad state of Lithuanian linguistics, Pr. Skardžius wrote in one article that "the true teachers and friends of J. Žiugžda completely unnecessarily killed such a prominent scientist, who, while alive, could have prepared serious tarmétyriy for Soviet Lithuania- ". About J. Gerulis, as a good teacher and interesting personality, the author of these lines has very nice comments from his former students at the University of Berlin Elzbieta Mikalauskaitė and Jonas Kabelka, dialectology courses in Kaunas listeners Bronė Vosylytė, Jonas Kruopas, Juozas Senkus. 5 Letters of John Jablonski. South. A. Pirochkin. V., 1985. P. 165-166. Jablonskis J. Articles and letters. South. A. Pirochkin. V., 1991. P. 225-227. "SkardžiusP r. Soviet Linguistics in Lithuania //Aidai, 1958. No. 10. P. 444 —445. 33 The relationship with J. Gerulis was apparently extremely warm. He was very concerned about the future of Sali. There have been some conflicts in Kaunas® about this. In 1969, during a visit to Lithuania, A. Salys has told that after the war, while serving in the United States of America, he supported and She gave her daughter a pair of shoes, and remembered other things. When after studying in Leipzig A. Salys and Pr. Skardžius returned to Kaunas and the revival of Lithuanian linguistics began. The students were particularly impressed by Sal's lectures. Recalling his studies at Kaunas University, A. Salys said that "all the pedagogy of Vabalo-Gudaitis and so on" did not interest him very much. However, he himself had an innate talent as a teacher and paid special attention to pedagogical work. "I think, and I am deeply convinced, that the primary duty of a university lecturer is to be a good lecturer," said Salys in an interview three weeks before his death, when a documentary was being made about him. This was not only appreciated by future linguists. Here Halina Korsakienė before the state examinations thinks: "A. Salys —and nothing terrible. I have good notes of his lectures, and his subject is as clear and understandable as the lectures of the professor himself." And during the exam "Smiles always sporty A. Salys". "Still so young, lively, cheerful?, Salys walks and goes to the Saturdays of language lovers organized at Sofija Čiurlionienė's house?? Pulgis Andriušis, who had kindly mocked all his honourable professors, remembering the Humanitarian Society's "crunchy annual balls in the Palace of the Future", when even Vincas Mykolaitis-Putinas "slightly stopped his innate shyness" 5, does not forget our linguists: "The quick-talking, agile P. Skardžius, after having eaten, did not change, only spoke even faster and tricked even more agilely [...] A. Salys spent most of his time in the dance hall"!!. Salys was an honorary member of the famous student literary and artistic society "Šatria", the patron of this society at Vilnius University. In general, this is a typical person of activity, far from satisfied with linguistics and pedagogical work. His contemporaries remember him as a famous beekeeper, as an excellent gardener and winemaker, as a member of the expert jury of the exhibitions organized by the Chamber of Agriculture. When writing about their friendship with A. Salis, his friends (Vincas Maciūnas, Stasys Barzdukas) do not forget about the midum — “I gladly bowed a cup of his amber midum”, “he treated me to his own midum (one glass, no more, because it is so rarely tasty!)”. 8 pg. Ms. 10 February 1930 letter to V. Krėvė-Mickevič. See. Language and Literature, 1981. T. 17. P. 195-196. 9 pg. Language, 1992. Neighborhood 6. P. 23-29; Sas. 7. P. 14—21 (reprinted from "Aidai", 1974. No. 1. P. 14—20; No. 2. P. 75—82. Prepared by K. Ostrauskas). 0 Korsakien eH. The house we lived in. V., 1991. P. 64, 66; Korsakien ée H. Meetings. V., 1977. P. 188. 11 Andriušis P. Selected Writings. Boston, 1968. P. 93. 34 Finally, A. Salys wrote the first Lithuanian textbook on automobiles (Automobilio ekonomika, Kaunas, 1932). He was also one of our first riders. Salys was an active member of the Lithuanian Catholic Academy of Sciences. Together with J. Brazaitis (then Ambrazevičius), J. Grinius, J. Grušas, Z. Ivinskis, J. Keliuotis, A. Maceina, K. Pakštas, I. Skrupskelis, A. Vaičiulaitis and other young Catholic intellectuals, he signed the famous declaration "Toward the Creation of an Organic State" published in "Nauja Romuva" in 1936, seeking a way to restore democratic order in Lithuania. His character and innate talents helped him to easily adapt to the new living and working conditions in the United States. A very important role in his life was played by the former professor of Kaunas University, the Swiss Alfred Senn. In general, foreigners who have worked at Kaunas University have helped Lithuanians who have been affected by disaster in many cases. The Frenchman Raymond Schmittlein, the director of public education in the French occupation zone in Germany after the Second World War, did so much good for the Lithuanians! In the biography of our famous painter Vytautas Kazimieras Jonynas he is described as the third person (after Adam Galdikas and Paulius Galaunė) he met who "left a fatal mark" on his earthly journeys2. g p ga P In addition to many good works of R. Schmittlein for Lithuanians, it should be mentioned that he, having learned that A. Salys and Pr. He found them and invited them to teach Baltic studies at the University of Tübingen. Students who had left Lithuania could continue their studies here for some time. Some, such as the organizer of Lithuanian schools in America, Domas Velička, also received their university diplomas here. | At the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, A. Salis, like Vincas Krėvė-Mickevičius and Vincas Maciūnas, was given a job by the already mentioned A. Sennas. After working in Lithuania for almost ten years and leaving Kaunas University in 1930 far from of his own accord, he took great care of Lithuanian affairs, participated in the activities of their organizations, and continued his Lithuanian studies. It was probably not so easy to immediately admit such a group of Lithuanians to this university, especially there could have been problems with V. Krėvė-Mickevičius. Professor Mykolas Biržiška wrote to A. Sennas in a letter from Germany on January 7, 1948, full of despair: "How this idiot managed to get Krėvė into a university—it is difficult for me to understand, knowing that neither the English nor the Americans nor anyone else wants to admit the old people even to universities. And now we have a commission of English professors, who have arrived today, and who are choosing specialists up to 50 years old from our faculty — 60-year-- olds (I am already 65) like us three brothers are not of any interest to them, let alone my and my brothers. Vaclav’s Lithuanian specialty (if only it were language, and here — literature!) [...] For some reason neither the English nor the Americans paid attention to the fact that he (Viktoras Biržiška. — 12gakalauskasT. Journey. V., 1991. P. 95-104, 110, 119, 126. 35 A.S.) is not only a mathematician (they don’t need them) and not only an engineer, but also a former director of two war ammunition factories in Petrapili? 13. of course, A. Salys was very needed by A. Sennas to complete the "Dictionary of the Lithuanian written language" which he had begun in Lithuania together with Max Niedermann and Franc Brender. Salys arrived in the United States with no knowledge of English, and after six months he taught a basic Russian course in English. At the University of Pennsylvania, Salys taught Slavic and Baltic studies. During his time, the university became the most important center of Lithuanian and Baltic studies in the United States. The University of Pennsylvania Library has the richest collection of Lithuanian literature outside Lithuania (this is probably mainly the merit of A. Sennas). During A. Salis’s tenure, Vladas Jaskevičius, Kostas Ostrauskas, Bronius Vaškelis, Antanas Klimas, Viljamas R. Schmalstiegas received their doctoral degrees for their dissertations in Lithuanian studies. And here, A. Salys was a very popular professor among his students. "I think that no student had any fear when he had to enter Prof. A. Salis's working office: all students were welcomed with sincerity and joy, and scientific problems were solved without difficulty- ", —recalls V. R. Schmalstiegas!*. In general, according to V. R. Schmalstieg, he was a former "man with a smile on his face". Salys was happier than many of his colleagues who had left his homeland: he was lucky enough to return to it again, at least briefly. Many in Lithuania were surprised to hear that A. Salys was coming in the summer of 1969. In his homeland, he was awaited almost as an "agent of imperialism". Not everyone in the United States was satisfied with the trip either. But how gladly A. Sali was welcomed in Lithuania by his former students and the younger generation of linguists who had never seen him! Even the cautious Kostas Korsakas, when communicating with A. Salys, was sometimes quite open, because A. Salys said on one occasion that "I think about your director differently now than before". I was particularly pleased that I was able to introduce Vladimir Toporov to A. Sali. Sis was very surprised by the beautiful Russian language of A. Sali. Several years later, Rimgaila Salytė successfully brought the volumes of her father's "Writing" to V. Toporov in Moscow. She, a scholar of the work of Boris Pasternak, left a very pleasant impression on V. Toporov, as her father once did. The Latvian linguist Elfryda Šmite, who met A. Sali in Vilnius, could not be impressed by his correct Latvian language. Not all meetings in Lithuania were pleasant for Professor A. Salis this time. Perhaps the most painful encounter was with the collapsed homestead, 13 Kultūros barai, 1992. No. 7-8. P. 100—102; A. Sennas even organized a committee to prepare a proposal to nominate V. Krėvė-Mickevičius for the Nobel Prize. V. Krėvė-Mickevičius also taught Russian to A. Senno’s son, the future Lithuanian history researcher Alfredas Erikas Sennas. 1*Schmalstie gas W. R. A. Salys —professor in America //Aidai, 1972. No. 8. P. 363. 36 with the almost extinct garden planted by his hands. During his visit, Mr Salys was convinced that our linguists were working 'with great enthusiasm and passion', but was justifiably concerned that 'that passion and enthusiasm would not be extinguished by the north-eastern wind'. Antanas Salys was determined to come to Lithuania again. But, unfortunately, this dream was not destined to come true. Instead of flowers and wreaths at his funeral, he asked for donations to the Lithuanian Scholarship Fund. This foundation, named after Antanas Salis, was transferred to the Lithuanian Studies Department of the University of Illinois in Chicago in 1984. When I first met Professor A. Salis, there was not much to add to his portrait, created from the stories of my teachers Jon Kabelka and Jon Kvederaitis. Alongside the solid Lithuanian linguistics books of Pranas Skardzis, the works of his scientific friend Antanas Salis did not seem so impressive to us. Today, having browsed through four huge volumes of his writings, we are convinced how much this excellent researcher and promoter of his native language also contributed to Lithuanian language science. Also, we all have to be very grateful to the professor’s wife, Sofija Saliene, without whose care and funds those four volumes probably would not have been published so far.” 15 By the S. way, Salienė ne only took care of publishing her husband- ’s writings, but ir jų "smuggling" į Lithuania. Here it is. 1986. II. 1998-1999 16 in the message V. R. Schmalstiegui ji writes: "Prof. P. Jonikas wrote me that you might be coming į Lithuania. It would be nice if you could take two books, maybe we can get jo them. o If you lose, it's nothing. Linguists are looking forward A. Salisbury Letters [...] Linkiu Have a good trip." 37