In memoriam: Aina Blinkena (5.09.1929 – 22.11.2017)

Professor Aina Blinkena passed away on 22 November 2017. Upon her graduation from the Latvian State University in 1953, she began working for the Institute of Language and Literature of the Latvian SSR Academy of Sciences (today: the Institute of the Latvian Language of the University of Latvia), which became her only permanent workplace. Starting her work as a junior research associate and later - a deputy director and a full member of the Latvian Academy of Sciences, Aina Blinkena shaped the linguistic thought in Latvia for almost fifty years. Aina Blinkena pursued broad interests in the history of language and linguistics, as well as morphology and syntax. She also devoted attention to the aspects of language culture and terminology. Her most important monographs are Latviesu interpunkcija (Latvian Punctuation) and Latviesu rakstibas attistiba (The Development of Written Latvian, co-authored by Anna Bergmane). The output of her lifelong work was collected in two volumes of her studies entitled Caur vardu birzi (Through the Forest of Words, 2014, 2017). In recognition of her scholarly work and social activity, Aina Blinkena was awarded the highest Latvian distinction - the Order of the Three Stars.