LINGUIST List 14.1727

Wed Jun 18 2003

All: Obituary: Rudolf de Rijk, 1937-2003

Editor for this issue: Karen Milligan <karenlinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. Wayles Browne, Obituary: Rudolf de Rijk

Rudolf P.G. de Rijk, March 24, 1937 -- June 15, 2003

We announce with grief the death of Rudolf de Rijk of Amsterdam, The
Netherlands. He brought the Basque language to the attention of
generative syntacticians through his Ph.D. thesis "Studies in Basque
syntax: relative clauses" (M.I.T., 1972). He continued to work in the
field of Basque, welcoming its standardization and rejoicing at the
increasing number of native speakers of Basque who took up its
linguistic analysis. He taught briefly at the University of Chicago
and then, until his retirement in 2002, at Leiden University. His De
Lingua Vasconum: Selected Writings were published in 1998 as
supplement XLIII to the Anuario del Seminario de Filologa Vasca
"Julio de Urquijo" (University of the Basque Country, Bilbao). He was
an honorary member of the Basque Academy.
In his last year he worked intensively on revising his Basque grammar
lessons for linguists, completing 27 chapters. Their publication in
book form is expected in the near future. On November 29, 2002, the
University of the Basque Country awarded him an honorary doctorate,
citing him as "el vasclogo ms importante de la comunidad lingstica
internacional" and presenting him with a Festschrift containing
articles by 42 authors whose work was informed by his own. He is
survived by his wife Virginia de Rijk-Chan and sister Suzanne.
Services will be private.

- 
Wayles Browne, Assoc. Prof. of Linguistics
Department of Linguistics
Morrill Hall 220, Cornell University
Ithaca, New York 14853, U.S.A.