Pluricentric phenomena in Hungarian basic school textbooks in Slovakia and in Hungary

István KOZMÁCS

Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra /John von Neumann University, Kecskemét

(ikozmacs@ukf.sk)

Keywords: public education, textbook, curriculum

There are seven different countries where there is public education in primary and secondary level in Hungarian which is regarded a pluricentric language. In this paper I examine whether the pluricentricity of the Hungarian language appears in any form in the public education in Hungary or in Hungarian language public education in Slovakia, and if so, in what form it is referred to. Based on the results of earlier studies on mother tongue education I assume that public education ignores the fact that there are several non-dominant versions of Hungarian language. In this paper I also propose what kind of contents regarding the pluricentricity of the Hungarian language would be worthwile to implement in public education.

References:

Kerettanterv a gimnáziumok 9-12. évfolyama számára.  [Curriculum framework for grammar schools, 9–12. class]. http://doc.hjegy.mhk.hu/20125H20000051_3.PDF [17. 04. 2018.]

Kozmács István, Vančo Ildikó (ed.) A kisebbségi magyar nyelvtantanítás kihívásai a 21. század elején. [Challenges of Hungarian language teaching in minority situation at the beginning of the 21st century.] Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, 2014. 

Kozmács István, Vančo Ildikó: The Hungarian language in Slovak: The use of the dominant standard in education in Slovakian Hungarian schools and the effects on education and training. In: Rudolf Muhr (ed.) Pluricentric Languages and NonDominant Varieties Worldwide: Volume 1: Pluricentric anguages across Continents – Features and Usage. Frankfurt am Main; Wien: Peter Lang Verlag, 2016.  315–336.

Nagy Zoltán: Megjegyzések a kísérleti nyelvtankönyvhöz. [Notes for the experimental grammar textbook] http://www.tani-tani.info /a_kiserleti_ nyelvtankonyvekrol [17. 04. 2018.]

Schneider, Klaus P. & Anne Barron (eds.). 2008. Variational pragmatics: A focus on regional varieties in pluricentric languages. Amsterdam & Philaelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company