This special issue is dedicated to the memory of our colleague László Kálmán (1957–2021). He was a teacher, a colleague and a public face of linguistics who inspired generations of fellow and future linguists with his exceptionally sharp intellect, his wide-ranging factual knowledge and his relentless critical attitude. His work encompassed many fields; in different periods of his professional life he worked on autosegmental phonology, morphology, computational linguistics, syntax, formal semantics, language rights and policy, Hungarian as well as the languages spoken by the Roma population in the Carpathian Basin (Lovari, Boyash). He worked with special dedication on issues of language and linguistics as present in the educational curriculum. The online (radio and internet) presentations through which he popularized the study of language in an accessible way drew fans from all generations and walks of life. All of us who knew him are grateful that we had the opportunity to learn from him; it is no accident that many recognized linguists in the younger generation were his students in one way or another.
The present volume of Acta Linguistica Academica represents a selection of work written by his colleagues and former students. It does not only include papers on topics he had worked on himself; but all the papers show our best efforts to attain the qualities he was well known for: intellectual rigor, attention to empirical detail and a genuine interest in all matters linguistic. We earnestly hope he would not find it unworthy of himself.
András Cser, Editor-in-Chief
