Emeritus leaves legacy

The language science community of IU suffered the loss of a world class scholar, writer, researcher and teacher over winter break. Distinguished professor Emeritus Thomas Sebeok passed away due to undisclosed causes Dec. 21 in his Bloomington home. He was 81 years old.\nProfessor Sebeok, a Budapest native, came to the United States in 1936 and joined the IU faculty in 1943. While at IU he chaired the University's Research Center for Language and Semiotic Studies. \nHis work began with the study of the structure of his native tongue, Hungarian. His interest then shifted to anthropological linguistics, delving into the connection between language and culture. Sebeok\'s research took him to Central and Eastern Europe. He also studied the Laguna Indians of New Mexico and Wisconsin's Winnebago Indians.\nIn the 1960s, Sebeok changed his field of research to human non-verbal communication and animal communication. His groundbreaking book "Speaking of Apes" cast doubt on studies claiming that apes can learn a language. He argued that because apes lack the necessary body parts for language and were picking up subconscious cues from trainers, the apes had learned a signal system less complex than language.\nProfessor Sebeok retired from teaching in 1991, but he continued to write and conduct research. His work was primarily in the field of semiotics, the study of the nature of signs in language. It applied to such diverse fields as anthropology, linguistics and animal communication.\nThough retired for a decade, Sebeok's influence was still felt in the Linguistics Studies department by the faculty that knew him well. Steven Franks, chair of the Linguistics Department, mourned the loss of his colleague and said Sebeok had several close friends in the department. \nPaul Newman, professor of linguistics, said that Professor Sebeok was not a typical professor.\n"In this era of academic specialization, Sebeok stood apart by virtue of his incredible intellectual breadth," Newman said. "He had wide-ranging interests, he had encyclopedic knowledge and he had close, personal contacts with innumerable scholars and creative writers around the globe."\nNewman also remembers Sebeok's "agile mind, engrossing personality, and interesting perspective."\n\"In lunches that I had with Sebeok over the years, there were times that I might disagree with what he said," Newman said. "But there was never a time when I was bored or when I didn't learn something." \nAlbert Valdman, Rudy Professor of French and Italian and linguistics, remembered the extensive scope of Sebeok's inquiries in the linguistic sciences. \nValdman said Sebeok extended the field of inquiry of semiotics far beyond its original boundaries to encompass all types of communication between humans and all living organisms alike.\n"Tom Sebeok is aptly defined as a bee-type scholar, because bees dart solitary from flower to flower, sipping nectar, gathering pollen, serendipitously fertilizing whatever they touch," Valdman said. "I am proud to view myself as a mentoree of the genial scholar and vibrant and warm human being that was Thomas Sebeok. He will be sadly missed, but remembered for a long time, by the language science community at IU"