"It is possible but not allowed" or the present position of the official Hungarian language in a Transcarpathian town, Nagyszőlős/Vinogradovo
Németh, Beáta
University of Szeged, Hungary, Department of Finno-Ugrian Philology
Keywords: Transcarpathian Hungarian, linguistic landscape, official language, minority
Transcarpathia is situated in the western part of Ukraine, which became an independent country in 1991. In 2001, according to the census list, the population of Transcarpathia was around 12 540 614, with 151 516 Hungarian residents in all that means almost 12,1% of the Transcarpathian population (Molnár-Molnár D.: 2005). It is divided into 13 administrative regions. One of the regions is Nagyszőlős, where the rate of Hungarians in 2001 was 26,2 % of the population (Transcarpathia Province Statistical Office, 2003).
The Transcarpathian community is a bilingual speaking community. The everyday’s inherent to the minority existential situation for the transcarpathian people, is the office routine. In the summer of 2012, the Supreme Council of Ukraine adopted the law that is under the title ,, About the basic foundation of the state language policy”.(1) The law specifies that in the area of those administrative units (district, region or settlement) where the rate of one regional or minority language reaches the 10%, the given language beside the official language of the state, can be used in certain official functions, or rather in the public area. The Constitution of Ukraine also declares that the language of the office and workplace administration is the Ukrainian language, but the gentilitial language can be used in line with the ukrainian in the gentilitial majority areas (Article 11).
The current effective Ukrainian laws permit of the administration on the minority language in the offices in written and spoken form, if the representatives of the national minority are in majority. In the course of my research I analysed how can the Hungarian language appear in Nagyszőlős/Vinogradovo.
The main goal of the investigation was the measurement of the official minority realisation forms and opportunities in Nagyszőlős/Vinogradovo, so the investigation creates a possibility to get a clear picture about the exploitage of language policy.
One of the most important language goals of the Transcarpathian hungarian minority community, is the security of using their native language expansively. The linguistic and judicial situation of the neighbour states minorities is not stable, it is changing constantly and there is the same situation with the status of hungarian language in Transcarpathia. That’s why the shadowing and analysing of linguistic and judicial changes are necessary and if it is required, the preparation of professional response.
During the investigation I used various methods. On the one hand, with the help of digital photos, I estimated and documented the linguistic landscape of Nagyszőlős. With the help of the collected data, I examined how to apply the regulations of language policy in practice, which regulate the presence of languages in public sphere. By means of filled questionnaires with the representatives of local government and state power members, I also measured, that is there any possibility on the territory of the given administrative unit, for using regional or minority language in communication with the local government.
Finally, I prepared directional conversations with the leaders and representatives of minority language carrying community organizations and institutes, in which I evaluated how they see the linguistic rights of their own community, and in their opinion, how and where it should and may advance. The research was made in the non-dominant headquarters of the multi-centered language.
(1) Закон України ,, Про засади державної мовної політики ‘’( http://zakon4.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/5029-17 ) Transmits in hungarian : Beregszászi Anikó-Csernicskó István – Ferenc Viktória : Our language rights and opportunities. Instruction and handout to the practice of language policy for transcarpathian hunagrians. Budapest: Bethlen Gábor Alapkezelő Zrt., 2014; Fedinec Csilla –Csernicskó István: The scent of language policy in Ukraine : Unfinished 2012’s chapter.Minority research 2012/3: 568-588.