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1196 | Multilingual regions in Central Europe | János Jeney (1); Tamás Gaudi-Nagy (2)

The borders of Central Europe have changed significantly over the last century. During this time many areas have been part of several countries. These changes can be observed all the way from the Baltic to the Adriatic in Central Europe. While the borders have changed overnight, the spoken language and identity have generally changed much more slowly, if at all. Many linguistic minorities have remained on their ancestral land but became citizens of countries whose official languages did not include their own. Many linguistic minorities have custodian countries to preserve and safeguard their language while others are left to persevere on their own. Mapping these minorities is a challenge since multiple languages often intertwine in a single settlement. While in most settlements one finds only two linguistic groups, some settlements have five or more, including languages that are not official in any country. The orthography of place names in multi-lingual settlements poses a challenge, as all minorities have their own unique geographical name which do not only differ in pronunciation and spelling, but are at times also written in different scripts. While different countries have different approaches, it is very interesting to see how these languages are mapped, how lingual rights are guaranteed in the different regions, how these place names are used, and how the UNGEGN principals are applied in different countries.
In this session presenters are expected to submit papers showing how, in parts of Central Europe, the ethnic diversity is mapped, and how it is reflected on site through the use of geographical names. A proposed session is for presentations in English

János Jeney (1); Tamás Gaudi-Nagy (2)
(1) Institute of Hungarian Research, (2) National Legal Defence Service

 
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