Tamás Halm

I am a Research Fellow at the Research Institute for Linguistics (Hungarian Academy of Sciences)*. I joined in March 2017 and I am currently a member of the "Implications of endangered Uralic languages for syntactic theory and the history of Hungarian" research group (Grant 129921 of the National Research Fund of Hungary). My research interests are in (synchronic and diachronic) syntax and semantics, especially dependent indefinites, imperatives, argument structure, voice and the fine structure of the minimal VP. I have worked on free-choice items, weak imperatives, semelfactives, middle voice and on truncated clauses (minimal VPs). Since 2019, I am review editor of Acta Linguistica Academica, an Arts&Humanities journal in Akadémiai Kiadó’s portfolio AKJournals. Also since 2019, I am an assistant professor (lecturer) at Pázmány Péter Catholic University. And I am a proud (if not very useful) member of the Hungarian Academy Staff Forum. Before fully embracing my true calling as a linguist, I worked in risk management (retail banking) from 2007 to 2017.

*As you may have heard, freedom of science is under assault in Hungary, and this also affects our Institute. The autocratic regime running our country has launched a sustained and multi-pronged attack against science, which until recently was one of the last spheres of life in Hungary with some autonomy. The Hungarian Academy of Sciences, a self-governing body, has been stripped of most of its functions, including the running of its research institute network and the administration of research funds, all of which is now under the direct government control. The latest step in this process was the unilateral abolishment of the civil servant status of researchers: all this serves the purpose of making researchers and research institutes dependent on the whims of an autocratic regime.