President's Corner
Tue, Mar 14, 2023 at 1:29 PM
Dear AHEA Members, Colleagues, and Friends,
We are excited about the upcoming Annual Meeting and invite you to review our list of Frequently Asked Questions.
When and where will the 2023 Annual Meeting take place?
• AHEA will hold its 47th Annual Conference in person at Quinnipiac University, Hamden, Connecticut, USA. We welcome participation by academics, independent scholars, educators, and graduate students who are devoted to the teaching, research, and dissemination of Hungarian culture, history, folklore, literature, linguistics, pedagogy, fine arts, and music.
What is the 2023 Annual Meeting theme?
• The theme is “Dependencies and Alliances.” How does one register?
- Conference registration information is available at this link; we offer payment methods by check or online using PayPal.
- Early bird registration ends on April 13th at midnight EST so if you are planning to attend, be sure to register before then.
Why become a member of AHEA?
- Membership will enable you to participate in upcoming elections at the end of this month. The slate of officers and the members of AHEA’s Board of Directors hasbeen posted. The ballot will be sent out on March 30th.
- Members register for AHEA 2023 Annual Meeting at a discounted rate.Should I attend the meeting even though I do not have an abstract to present?
- The program is multi-disciplinary, international, and bilingual. It is rich in opportunities to learn from and engage with scholars of Hungarian studies and to explore the wonderful resources and opportunities in Hamden, CT.
- We've got an incredible keynote speaker, distinguished professors in many disciplines, and a host of educational materials in two parallel tracks. Download the Preliminary Program Guide to view all of the sessions at-a-glance.
Here’s wishing you good health, much happiness, and success. Please reach out if you have comments or suggestions on how we might better support your scholarly pursuits.
With the highest regards, Klara Papp, President, AHEA klarakpapp@gmail.com
Member Spotlight
AHEA is a scholarly organization connecting a diverse set of educators, researchers, professionals, independent scholars and academics who come from many walks of life. Each month we highlight the academic and professional career of a different AHEA member. This month’s featured member is Krisztina Fehér, University of Debrecen / Cleveland State University Please tell us a little bit about your career arc, especially how you came to specialize in sociolinguistics and language education. My interest in languages comes from my childhood. Raised in a small town in Northeastern Hungary, my vernacular has been the local dialect, which is known for its salient “í” vowels. Admitted to elementary school, I soon noticed that the language variety used in the school was different from the dialect spoken in my immediate environment. I was a good student, and I easily acquired the variety used at the school as well. However, I had a question which kept me wondering: Why do textbooks use a language variety other than that we usually use at home?
After graduating from high school, I chose to study Hungarian Linguistics at the University of Debrecen. The main take-away message in Dr. Tamás Kis’s Sociolinguistics course was that linguistic diversity is natural. Presenting many case studies throughout the semester, Dr. Kis kept reminding his students that variation and change are inherent characteristics of languages. They are features that make languages real, i.e. human, living and functioning. He also demonstrated that language variation and change are not arbitrary, but structured. I was eager to know more about the patterns behind linguistic diversity. I enrolled in as many courses in Linguistics as was available. Later, I also applied for postgraduate studies in Linguistics. I earned my PhD degree in Linguistics at the University of Debrecen in 2012.
I published journal articles in historical linguistics, psycholinguistics, and child language. I am also the author of three books on linguistic methodology (2016), the phonology of child language (2017) and cognitive grammar (2018). Though I have conducted research on various aspects of language, my motivation has always been the same: to gain deeper insight into linguistic variation and change. When teaching, I have always taken linguistic variation and change into consideration. I taught linguistics at the Department of Hungarian Linguistics at the University in Debrecen between 2003 and 2021. As a visiting scholar at the Department of World Languages, Literatures, and Cultures at Cleveland State University, I have been instructing Hungarian language classes and Linguistics courses since 2021.
How did you find out about AHEA, and what led you to join?
This goes back to Indiana, 2014. I had the opportunity to take part in an exchange program between the University of Debrecen and Indiana University Bloomington (IUB). In Spring 2014, I was a visiting research scholar at the Department of Linguistics, IUB. As a sociolinguist, it was an exceptional opportunity to study sociolinguistics in the US. which is the “birthplace” of the field. I regularly contacted Dr. Miklós Kontra, who had connections to AHEA, in Hungary for advice. He was the associate instructor of Hungarian at IUB in 1978-1981 and a Fulbright scholar in 1992-1993. In addition, Dr. Kontra has been the first Hungarian scholar of American sociolinguistics and the first researcher who conducted sociolinguistic field studies on the language of Hungarian Americans. Besides sharing his experiences at IUB, he drew my attention to the linguistic potential of investigating the language of the Hungarian diaspora in the US. He was also the one who recommended AHEA and encouraged me to join.
What impact has your involvement with AHEA made on your career and/or your work?
I am a researcher and a teacher. Joining AHEA helped my work in both areas.
In 2020, I designed a study to investigate the heritage language transmission in child- parent communication in Hungarian American families. The annual AHEA conference in 2021 was an excellent forum to present the preliminary results of the study and get feedback on the project from AHEA members who have expertise in the language, culture, and history of the Hungarian American diaspora. I am looking forward to this year’s conference in Connecticut to present the current state of the project and discuss it with others.
In the summer of 2021, I received an MFA scholarship to Cleveland State University (CSU). Since then, I have been teaching Hungarian language and linguistics, and organizing conferences and cultural events in Hungarian Studies at CSU. Through the network of the AHEA members, I gained personal connections with people who could help me with ideas to further develop the Hungarian Program at CSU. I just want to mention a few names among many: Endre Szentkirályi, Klára Papp, and Martha Pereszlényi-Pintér.
Tell us, please, about your current project.
Currently, I have two on-going research projects at the University of Debrecen and at CSU. They are separate studies, yet strongly connected to each other and designed for a comparison.
The project I started earlier aims to investigate the interference between two varieties in a bidialectal environment, i.e. in a community speaking the standard and regional varieties of Hungarian in Northeastern Hungary. I collected data between 2018 and 2020 among young children, their parents, and their teachers in an educational setting. The first journal article about the results was published in 2020; further articles are in progress.
The more recent project focuses on the interference between two languages in a bilingual environment, specifically in Hungarian American communities in the US. In 2021, I launched a survey in which I asked parents of Hungarian American children about their linguistic behavior and communication patterns. I received submissions from 578 respondents from 40 states of the US. I was happy to give the very first presentation on the topic at the 2021 AHEA conference. I am thrilled to talk about the findings based on a specific part of the corpus (“Hungarian American Parents’ Perspectives on Their Children’s Hungarian Language Use”) in April at the upcoming AHEA conference. As a continuation of this project, I am ready with a research plan to investigate the heritage language maintenance in a specific Hungarian-American community in the US. from a cross-generational perspective by conducting fieldwork, observation, and interviews. I hope I can start collecting the data soon and will be able to present my first results at the AHEA conference in 2024.
Member Publications
The listing of publications is for our members' information and does not signify endorsement by AHEA. Ginny Lewis announces the publication of her book, The Novels of Zsigmond Móricz in the Context of European Realism: A Thematic Approach. From the publisher's website: "[This] is the first English-language monograph on one of Hungary’s—and Central Europe’s—most important modern authors. Using a thematic approach that privileges literary characters as stand-ins for real human beings, Virginia L. Lewis investigates Móricz’s thematization of individual agency in seven realist novels that form the foundation of the author’s reputation as a major twentieth-century novelist. Lewis does an outstanding job of showcasing the research results of the many Hungarian scholars who have studied Móricz’s narrative output over the past century, while also bringing decidedly new perspectives to the table in introducing the author to an English-speaking audience. Utilizing the theoretical impulses of scholars such as Horst and Ingrid Daemmrich, Margaret Archer, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Ibrahim Taha, among others, Lewis forges a new and productive path in Móricz scholarship, while also making his oeuvre accessible to a global audience. Any reader with an interest in Hungarian and Central European narrative will find this study enormously useful for the revelations it brings regarding Móricz’s poignant and brilliant critique of the corrosive influence of commodification and greed on human agency in modern society."
Invitation from the Hungarian Studies Association of Canada
Hungary, Hungarians and the Quest for Justice
Organized by the Hungarian Studies Association of Canada. To be held on May 27-June 3, 2023 at York University in Toronto, Ontario. A hybrid conference, it may be of interest to some AHEA members.
Invitation from the
Faculty of Modern Philology and Social Sciences at the University of Pannonia
The main topic of this conference is the concept of identity, sustainable individual and societal identities, and the changed forms, and interpretations, and artistic presentations of national, European, cosmopolitan, and fluid identities. The conference will take place in Veszprém, Hungary. Abstract deadline: April 16, 2023 (midnight).
Have a New or Upcoming Publication?
We would love to help share news of the impressive and diverse work that AHEA members are doing! If you have a recent book, article, or other scholarly/artistic work you would like your fellow members to know about, send a brief description/promotional blurb and a link to further information to aheanews@gmail.com. Requests will appear in the order in which they were received and may be edited for space.
Membership Renewal Drive
As we approach the end of the year and look forward to both the next conference and our association's next elections, it is more vital than ever to renew your membership for 2023.
• Only members in good standing can vote in leadership elections;
• Your dues enable you to access “Members Only” section of the website;
• Your annual contribution to AHEA not only helps fund our conferences, but allows
us to support your colleagues through our range of awards and scholarships
Click here to renew through a convenient PayPal link!
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