LITUANUS LITHUANIAN QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES   Volume 43, No. 2 - Summer 1997 Editor of this issue: Antanas Klimas ISSN 0024-5089 Copyright © 1997 LITUANUS Foundation, Inc.

THE KURYLOWICZ MEMORIAL VOLUME

Jerzy Kurylowicz (1895-1978) was perhaps the most famous Polish scholar in twentieth century linguistics: A brilliant Indo-Europeanist he was (and is) also widely respected for having played a leading role in theoretical linguistics. His name is intimately linked up with the development of the so-called 'laryngeal theory'. His views on 'analogy' still occupy students of general linguistics. Nowadays it might be difficult to find any major publication in the field of linguistic research in which Jerzy Kurylowicz is not referred to on several occasions.

It was therefore a good idea to collect papers marking the year 1995, when Jerzy Kurylowicz would have been a hundred years old. The publication to be reviewed here consists actually of two parts: A 600 page tome labeled 'Part I' and the over 300 pages strong volume 4 of the journal Linguistica Baltica (both actually published by the Towarzystwo Autorow i Wydawcow Prac Naukowych "Universitas", Krakow, in 1996); together with around fifty pages in Roman numerals prefixed to each of the two volumes, the Kurylowicz memorial Volume in reality consists of about a thousand pages.

'Part I' is indeed what one might call the usual type of collective work in the best sense of the term: Scholars of varying viewpoints and persuasions were invited to contribute articles from their fields of specialty, and consequently a series of certainly high caliber, but nevertheless inherently divergent approaches has been presented in the essays contained in the volume. By the side of the traditional sub-grouping of Indo-European studies ('Hittite', Tocharian', 'Indo-Iranian', 'Armenian', 'Latin', Celtic', and 'Germanic'), we also find special sections on 'Semitic' and 'Turkic'. The range of the papers mirrors Kurylowicz' amazing activities in the whole field of linguistics in an admirable way.

For readers of Lituanus it is particularly important to note that Jerzy Kurylowicz had a lifelong interest in Lithuanian and Baltic in general and was definitely a leading scholar in this field. Therefore it is totally appropriate that volume four of Linguistica Baltica has now been inscribed in his memory, the volume's sections were given the following headings: 'Baltic in general' (including among other pieces 'Notes on the Baltic religious vocabulary' by Edgar C. Polomé, which is particularly interesting for the non-specialist reader), 'Lithuanian', 'Latvian', 'Old Prussian', 'Baltic and Fennic', 'Slavonic and Indo-European'. In different ways the papers clearly continue Kurylowicz' seminal work. This volume also contains a welcome list of 'Jerzy Kurylowicz's publications in the field of Baltic and Slavonic Linguistics' (XLI-XLIX).

When reviewing volumes 1-3 of "Linguistica Baltica" in Lituanus 42, No. 1 (1996), I concluded by congratulating Professor Wojciech Smoczynski of the University of Cracow on his massive contributions to Baltic studies. With the volume commemorating Jerzy Kurylowicz he has presented us a gift for which we are all grateful: the Kurylowicz Memorial Volume may truly be called a milestone in linguistic research.

Orders should be addressed to: Professor Wojciech Smoczynski, ul.
Dluga 50, m. 5, PL-31-146 Cracow, Poland.
(Fax: 0048-1222-67-93; e-mail: wsmocz@vela.filg.uj.edu.pl).
Prices: Linguistica Baltica 4 (1995): US $50 for institutional use and
US$25 for private use. Kurylowicz Memorial volume: US$80
(bound) and US$ 60 (paper back).

Alfred Bammesberger
Katholische Universitiit Eichstatt