Hungarian Sociolinguistics in the Carpathian Basin, 1985–2022

Abstract

Until about 1985, apart from traditional dialectological research, the study of Hungarian in Hungary focused mostly on the Codified Standard Hungarian variety, whose speakers are powerful in social but not in numerical terms. Sociolinguistic research since 1985 has now resulted in a program which embraces not only the 10 million (largely monolingual) Hungarians in Hungary proper, but also the 3 million bi- or multilingual minority Hungarians in the seven neighboring countries (kin-states). This program was initiated by researchers of the Department of Sociolinguistics in the Linguistics Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. This paper offers linguists who do not read Hungarian an overview of this research carried out between 1985 and 2022.

Translanguaging in Family Communication

“…For example, researchers have documented the cultural, political, and educational efforts of Hungarian diaspora communities in the US (Kovács 2018;Ludányi 2014;Niessen 2013;Palotai et al 2019;Pintz 2011a). In addition, scholars examined the Hungarian language as a heritage language (Bartha 1995;Fenyvesi 1995Fenyvesi , 2005Hoot 2019;Kovács 2009), and also explored language use patterns and parents' practices and perceptions related to Hungarian language maintenance (Authors 2012(Authors , 2020Bolonyai 1998;Fenyvesi 1995;Kontra and Nehler 1981;Kovács 2009Kovács , 2011Pintz 2011b;Polgar 2001). Although literature on Hungarian language maintenance in the US exists, we were not able to find studies that examine Hungarian American families' language policies and practices with a focus on translanguaging.…”