In Memoriam Professor Dr. Pieter C. Muysken: NaMemoria di Profesor Dr. Pieter C. Muysken

Summary

While working with Pieter on the last revision of themanuscript for this book, he fell ill and passedaway shortly after, on April 6, 2021. For thisreason, I have included the following, not at allforeseen, In Memoriam in the book. The followingtext was published on the website Voertaal.nu.

Pieter Muysken, A Bridge Builder: Give me your Language…

When I was asked to write a text about Pieter Muyskenas a scientist and bridge builder for the websiteVoertaal.nu(Language of Instruction.now), my thoughts first ofall went back to the opening quote of Geef me je Taal. Dat ik je BeterVersta / Duna mi bo idioma pa mi por kompronde bomihò (Give me your Language. So that Ican understand you better), the language-relatedbook that I dedicated to Pieter Muysken and FrankMartinus Arion in 2019:

He who helps preserve

the language and culture ofminorities

also helps to revive worldpeace

“World Peace”, the title of this quote, is not includedin this book so that the readers can fill it in forthemselves.

The importance of peace is also emphasized in certainlanguages such as Arabic, Hebrew and Hindi ineveryday life and it is customary in those languagesto greet each other with the word for peace, salaamمالس shalom םוֹ✓שָׁ and vratee वर् ती respectively,a sentence in which peace is wished to theother.

Likewise, studying, recording and publishing eachother's language is a way to show respect to eachother, to wish each other peace and thus, to makesome contribution to world peace. It cannot bedisputed that Pieter did this until a few weeksbefore his departure.

One of the figurative definitions of “bridge builder”is someone with a big heart who loves to see othersblossom, who allows others to succeed in the stepsthey want to take, and who encourages, helps andgives advice, so that one can move forward again.Along with countless other friends, acquaintancesand family members, I think that this definitionfits Pieter most completely.

A second, more literal definition given is: “someonewho builds bridges for his profession” does notinitially suit Pieter. Pieter is a linguist and nota bridge builder in the literal sense of buildingbridges.