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Programme: accepted abstracts

Abstract ID: 489

Part of Session 181: Folk linguistics and society (Other abstracts in this session)

A folk linguistics case study in Hungary

Authors: Balogh, Erzsebet
Submitted by: Balogh, Erzsebet (University of Szeged, Hungary)

In this paper, my aim is to present an analysis of Hungarian university students’ beliefs about English and Hungarian language varieties as well as their language attitudes towards these varieties within the framework of folk linguistics.

Three focus group discussions were conducted with Hungarian university students concerning evaluations of American English accent variety speakers. The original aim of the study was to reveal students’ justifications for and interpretations of the fact that in previous language attitude research listeners of the same background, i.e. Hungarian university students, evaluated speakers of non-standard varieties more negatively than speakers of standard varieties. Students in the current investigation claim that such factors as education or the media play an important role in the respondents’ evaluations.

In addition to obtaining data responding to the original research questions, the analysis displays the participants’ beliefs regarding English accent varieties as well as several Hungarian regional varieties. Particularly Hungarian language varieties are classified and assessed in terms of regional differences claiming that Budapest, the capital of Hungary is a distinctive dialect region where “proper” (i.e. standard) Hungarian is spoken as opposed to the rest, ‘rural’ part of the country where non-standard Hungarian is spoken, even though these ‘rural’ parts of Hungary include all the other Hungarian cities. What is more, there is a further regional division, namely, between Hungary and the territories where Hungarian is spoken outside Hungary. All in all, participants clearly express their beliefs and attitudes about the ‘Budapest’ versus ‘the rest of the country’ versus ‘outside Hungary’ language diversity.

Finally, the analysis reinforces the United States folk theory of language presented by Niedzielski and Preston (2009:371–372). According to this folk theory, American non-linguists argue that different, and at the same time, erroneous language varieties construct “the real language”. Hungarian non-linguists confirm this theory suggesting, at least concerning the Hungarian language, that only one ‘correct’ Hungarian language variety exists, whereas the other varieties are “strange” and “one has to get used to them”.

References:

Niedzielski, Nancy and Dennis R. Preston. 2009. Folk linguistics. In: Nikolas Coupland and Adam Jaworski (eds.) The new sociolinguistics reader. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan. 356–373.