RONA, José Pedro. Lučenec, Slovakia 20.3.1923 — Rio de Janeiro 16.7.1974. Uruguayan IE Scholar. Born of Hungarian parents in present Slovakia, son of engineer Alejandro Róna and pianist Lea Vajda. Migrated to Uruguay in 1940. Studies at University of Montevideo. Ph.D. 1965 University of Porto Alegre, Brazil, in linguistics. Professor of General and IE Linguistics at Montevideo from 1963 (succeeding his teacher Coseriu), also taught at Universidad de La Plata in Argentina. In 1969/74 at University of Ottawa. Died of heart attack. Married 1947 Ruth María Grucci Hackenbruck, one daughter.
Rona was not important linguist. According to Kuiper’s short review (Lingua 8, 1959, 336) of the Fire book “the linguistics argument looks like being written in the years before Jacob Grimm”. But perhaps he did better in sociolinguistics and dialectology.
Publications: El culto indoeuropeo del Fuego. 26 p. Montevideo 1957.
– La obra de Federico Hrozný en el dominio indoeuropeo. 107 p. Montevideo 1957.
– Also wrote on Amerindian languages and on Spanish.
Sources: WJ.P. Rona, ¿Qué es un americanismo? Ed. by Ad. Elizaincín. Madrid 2017 with life data (69-71) and bibliography (73-81); Who’s Who Tamil Res. 1968; stray notes in Internet.
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