Egy vajdasági magyar énekesnő kiejtésének megítélése szülőföldjén
Assessment of the pronunciation of a Hungarian singer from Vojvodina in her homeland

Summary/Abstract: Our research is based on the findings and practices of perceptual dialectology (see Preston 1989) and folk linguistics, with the central question of how ordinary speakers relate to linguistic diversity and language change, and to what extent they are aware of the heterogeneity and changes in their mother tongue. The primary focus of our study is whether any changes have occurred in the pronunciation of the singer from Vojvodina after she became a media figure and a famous performer in Hungary, covering an approximately ten-year period. The methodological novelty of our research lies in addressing this question not through phonetic measurements but by relying on the linguistic judgments of ordinary speakers from Kishegyes. For example, we base our conclusions on their opinions regarding whether Magdolna Rúzsa pronounces vowels in a Kishegyes dialect or in a standard manner in certain recordings. Additionally, we examine to what extent the changes in the singer’s speech are consciously recognized by local dialect speakers and how they react to and evaluate these changes. We also explore how and to what extent our respondents associate the pronunciation characteristic of the settlement with local identity in their thinking: how much they perceive changes in the singer’s pronunciation as a violation of solidarity.

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