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Teaching the Romanian neighbors Hungarian: language ideologies and the Debrecen Summer School

  • Attila Gyula Kiss EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: July 14, 2015

Abstract

This article is a contribution to the hitherto scant literature on learning a historical minority language and on language ideologies in the context of a study abroad program in Hungary, Debrecen. I analyse the language ideologies of the decision makers in Hungary and in the Debrecen Summer School in relation to the teaching of Hungarian to the neighboring peoples. Drawing on interactional data of participants from Romania, the perspective of learning Hungarian as a historical minority language is examined. The present article combines a historical approach with language ideologies by focusing on an institution offering language education. Language ideologies are presented as they appear in the larger historical discourses, contemporary documents, and media interviews. I briefly outline the major turning points in the history of the institution which also reflects the changing language ideologies and cultural politics of Hungary. The qualitative discourse analysis of interviews and the conclusion of this ethnographic study demonstrate that language ideological positions in relation to the teaching and learning of Hungarian have been firmly located in historical and cultural contexts. Discourse analysis of various data demonstrates that, on the one hand, the course providers have espoused competing ideologies of who the learners should be as well as how to present the country and the culture, while, on the other hand, showing that the learners have had to negotiate prejudice and stereotype rooted in discourses about the often burdened history.

Funding statement: Funding: I gratefully acknowledge funding for this research through the University of Jyväskylä, CIMO, and Svenska Kulturfonden awarded to me in 2012–13.

Symbol Key

Transcription symbols

=

latched to the previous talk

(0.4)

measured pause

(.)

micro-pause less than 0.2 sec

@

change of voice

well-

cut off of the preceding sound

?

question intonation

,

continuing intonation

.

falling intonation

rising intonation

[]

overlapping talk

italics

an utterance in Hungarian

XX

masking of proper names

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Published Online: 2015-7-14
Published in Print: 2016-1-1

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