9.1810, All: Pentti Aalto (1917-1998)

[LINGUIST Network]

LINGUIST List:  Vol-9-1810. Sat Dec 19 1998. ISSN: 1068-4875.

Subject: 9.1810, All: Pentti Aalto (1917-1998)

Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Wayne State U.<aristar at linguistlist.org>
            Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. <hdry at linguistlist.org>
            Andrew Carnie: U. of Arizona <carnie at linguistlist.org>

Reviews: Andrew Carnie: U. of Arizona <carnie at linguistlist.org>

Associate Editors:  Martin Jacobsen <marty at linguistlist.org>
                    Brett Churchill <brett at linguistlist.org>
                    Ljuba Veselinova <ljuba at linguistlist.org>

Assistant Editors:  Scott Fults <scott at linguistlist.org>
		    Jody Huellmantel <jody at linguistlist.org>
		    Karen Milligan <karen at linguistlist.org>

Software development: John H. Remmers <remmers at emunix.emich.edu>
                      Chris Brown <chris at linguistlist.org>

Home Page:  http://linguistlist.org/


Editor for this issue: Scott Fults <scott at linguistlist.org>

=================================Directory=================================

1)
Date:  Sat, 19 Dec 1998 10:53:36 +0200 (EET)
From:  Robert Whiting <whiting at cc.helsinki.fi>
Subject:  PENTTI AALTO (1917-1998)

-------------------------------- Message 1 -------------------------------

Date:  Sat, 19 Dec 1998 10:53:36 +0200 (EET)
From:  Robert Whiting <whiting at cc.helsinki.fi>
Subject:  PENTTI AALTO (1917-1998)

Attached is the obituary for the distinguished Finnish philologist and
comparative linguist Pentti Aalto written by Harry Haln for Studia
Orientalia and posted here with his permission.

Messages of sympathy and condolence may be sent to:

        Mrs. Pirkko Aalto
        Topeliuksenkatu 21 B 41
        FIN-00250 HELSINKI
        F i n l a n d

For further information contact Harry.Halen at Helsinki.Fi.


Robert Whiting
whiting at cc.helsinki.fi
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------

                         PROFESSOR PENTTI AALTO

                              IN MEMORIAM

                              (1917-1998)



Professor Pentti Aalto died in Helsinki on November 30, 1998, at the age
of 81. His heart, weakened by attacks of illness, finally failed. He was
born on July 22, 1917, in Pori.

  Pentti Aalto was a philologist of exceptionally wide range. In his
Phil.Lic. (Doctoral Candidate) degree in 1949 he had the highest mark in
four subjects: Roman Literature, Greek Literature, Sanskrit and
Comparative Indo-European Philology, and Altaic Philology. The same year
he defended his doctoral dissertation on the complex question of the
Latin gerund and gerundive. His lectio praecursoria dealt with the use
of statistics in linguistic research.

  According to his mates in the reserve officers  course of 1939, Pentti
Aalto was tranquility personified. In the war in 1941-44 he rose to the
rank of lieutenant and worked in the intelligence department as a code
breaker.

  In 1953, he applied for an assistant professorship in classical
philology. From a general point of view, he was found the most competent
of the three applicants, but, unfortunately, his production fell for the
most part outside the scope of classical philology. This was due to the
fact that he had been a pupil and collaborator of G. J. Ramstedt and
thus directed his interests more on the lines of his great master, i.e.,
to Mongolian and generally Central Asian studies. After Ramstedt's death
in 1950 he had had to edit for publication numerous unfinished works by
Ramstedt. Aalto's own text editions and researches in the field of
Altaic studies continued with distinction the glorious tradition of this
branch of the Finnish national science, established by M. A. Castrn
(1813-1852).

  In 1958, Pentti Aalto was appointed Professor Extraordinarius of
comparative linguistics at the University of Helsinki. When Martti
Rsnen, Professor of Turkic Philology, retired in 1963, Pentti Aalto
began to take care of Altaic Philology in addition to his own chair. He
lectured on numerous ancient Indo-European languages as well as on
Mongolian, Ancient Turkic, Chuvash and even Tibetan. His teaching
career, initiated in 1949 when he was a new docent, continued to 1980.
On request he continued to manage the examinations in Altaic Philology
until 1982.

  Aalto educated the present generation of renowned Finnish Indologists.
The year 1969 brought lively international attention, when the Finnish
team, to which Aalto also belonged, made public its first announcement
concerning the interpretation of the script of the ancient Indus
civilization. The team was led by Asko Parpola, Aalto's pupil and
successor.

  Pentti Aalto acted as the secretary of the Finnish Oriental Society
from 1947 to 1956, and of the Finno-Ugrian Society from 1956 to 1965. He
was elected a member of the Finnish Academy of Sciences in 1962. He made
study tours from 1945 onwards to various European countries, Mongolia,
the USA and India. In 1963, he, assisted by his pupil Tuomo Pekkanen,
arranged the 6th Permanent International Altaistic Conference (PIAC) for
the first time in Finland. As for Ramstedt, Mongolia and the Mongols
were especially close to his heart.

  For the large scale enterprise entitled The History of Learning and
Science in Finland 1828-1918 Aalto wrote three volumes, which treat the
history of Oriental studies (1971), classical languages (1980), and
modern languages (1987). His great learning is reflected in his balanced
and penetrating interpretation.

  Pentti Aalto was the grand old man of Finnish Oriental studies and a
honorary member of the Finnish Oriental Society. The Society published
three anniversary volumes in his honour, the last being that for his
80th birthday. His extensive scholarly production comprises more than
350 items (for a preliminary bibliography, see Studia Orientalia 47,
1977, 287-311 and 59, 1987, 260-265).

  In his summer place in Kimito Vstanfjrd Pentti Aalto fished and
examined with his two sons, interested in nature, plants from remote
countries growing up in ballast heaps, thrown on the beach during the
period of the great sailing-ships.

  His classical refined personality and inexhaustible stories about
academic notables of the past conjured up fascinating sound-pictures,
which now go on among his pupils as his heritage. His incomparable
humour, unpretentious and warm-hearted character together with an
incomprehensibly wide learning made him an unforgettable personality, a
real living treasure.

                                               HARRY HALN



---------------------------------------------------------------------------
LINGUIST List: Vol-9-1810