Line-of-sight velocity distributions of 53 early-type galaxies

55 long-slit spectra of 53 early-type galaxies were observed at La Silla/ES O and reduced using standard methods. The line-of-sight velocity distributi ons (LOSVDs) were measured using the fourier quotient method and. the fouri er fitting method as described by van der Marel et al. (1993). 32% of the e xamined galaxies contain kinematically decoupled stellar omponents, the siz e of these cores was 0.40 +/- 0.28 kpc, in each case the core was smaller t han 1 kpc. Analysis of the kinematics reveals in 49% of the sample galaxies the signature of a stellar disk component, in 15% this is uncertain. There is evidence that the phenomenon of kinematically decoupled components is p resent in the whole class of early-type galaxies. Several correlations betw een photometric and kinematic parameters like the (v/sigma)* vs. epsilon di agram, the anisotropy - luminosity correlation or kappa-space were as well examined using measurement results for spectroscopic data and photometric d ata out of literature. It is also shown that those sample galaxies with kin ematically decoupled components are more likely to be found in groups of hi gh density, strengthening the assumption that such components are remnants of merging events.