László Antal (25 June 1930 – January 1993) was a Hungarian linguist, structuralist,

Doctor of Science Doctor of Science ( la, links=no, Scientiae Doctor), usually abbreviated Sc.D., D.Sc., S.D., or D.S., is an academic research degree awarded in a number of countries throughout the world. In some countries, "Doctor of Science" is the degree used f ...

(1981), and Professor of

Linguistics Linguistics is the science, scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure ...

. He was considered the sole representative of structural linguistics in America in Hungary. He adapted American structuralism to the

Hungarian language Hungarian () is an Uralic language spoken in Hungary and parts of several neighbouring countries. It is the official language of Hungary and one of the 24 official languages of the European Union. Outside Hungary, it is also spoken by Hungarian ...

. He was a lone wolf in Hungarian linguistics.

Life

Antal was born in

Szob Szob (german: Zopp an der Donau) is a town in Pest county, Central Hungary, Hungary. It is just south and east of the Slovak border on the north bank of the Danube. Szob is on a major electrified rail connection from Bratislava and a major railw ...

, Hungary. In 1962 he was awarded a Ford Scholarship to the United States in the academic years of 1964–1965. He was a

visiting professor In academia, a visiting scholar, visiting researcher, visiting fellow, visiting lecturer, or visiting professor is a scholar from an institution who visits a host university to teach, lecture, or perform research on a topic for which the visitor ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

between 1981 and 1986. He left Hungary first for Germany then for the United States in 1985 when he was appointed to the head of the

General Linguistics Theoretical linguistics is a term in linguistics which, like the related term general linguistics, can be understood in different ways. Both can be taken as a reference to theory of language, or the branch of linguistics which inquires into the n ...

Department in ELTE in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

. He settled in Manassas,

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

. He was a professor in the Foreign Service Institute and an advisor at the

Jamestown Foundation The Jamestown Foundation is a Washington, D.C.-based conservative defense policy think tank. Founded in 1984 as a platform to support Soviet defectors, its stated mission today is to inform and educate policy makers about events and trends, which ...

. He died in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...

, in 1993. He spoke several languages, such as English, German, Russian, French, Albanian,

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

, and Indonesian, fluently.

References

Selected works

This bibliography contains only the works that were published in English.

Books

*Antal, László 1963: ''Questions of Meaning'', Mouton, The Hague. *Antal, László 1964: ''Content, Meaning, and Understanding'', Mouton. The Hague.

Papers

*Antal, László 1961: Sign, Meaning, Context, ''

Lingua Lingua (Latin, 'tongue') may refer to: * ''Lingua'' (journal), a peer-reviewed academic journal of general linguistics * ''Lingua'' (sculpture), by Jim Sanborn * ''Lingua'' (play), a 17th-century play attributed to Thomas Tomkis * Project Ling ...

'' 10, 211-9. *Antal, László 1963: A new type of dictionary, ''

'' 1, 75-84. * * * *Antal, László 1992: Another calamity of quotas. N.h. ew York é.n. {{DEFAULTSORT:Antal, Laszlo 1930 births 1993 deaths People from Szob People from Manassas, Virginia Hungarian emigrants to the United States Linguists from Hungary Structuralists Death in Washington, D.C. 20th-century linguists