The Hungarian Sebeok

Abstract

Abstract It was never a secret that Thomas A. Sebeok was born in Hungary, and he always referred to his Hungarian background. He emigrated from Hungary (1936) to England and later (1937) to the United States, where he Americanized his family name, Sebők. As a scholar, he started Finno-Ugric studies (not only in Hungarian, but also in Cheremis). Sebeok continued as a general linguist, and then as a communication expert. From the 1960s, he became a semiotician, a key figure in building an international semiotic network. Sebeok often visited Hungary in connection with his research activities. He was a foreign member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and became Honorary Professor at Loránd Eötvöspapers University in Budapest. Such was the respect he garnered that an international congress was organized in Budapest in honor of his 70th birthday, and his papers and books were also translated into Hungarian. From his very wide range of interests, I mention here only the Hungarian context of studying animal signs. Prolific writer, excellent organizer, and eloquent speaker, Sebeok is unforgettable as a world-renowned person – with many ties to his home culture, which he referred to as his “Hungarian frame.”