Kisebbségi magyar iskolák nyelvi tájképe a háborús Ukrajnában
The Linguistic Landscape of Minority Hungarian Schools in Wartime Ukraine

Summary/Abstract: The aim of the study is to examine the linguistic landscape of minority Hungarian-medium schools operating in the town of Berehove, Transcarpathia, within the language policy and social context of wartime Ukraine. In the course of the research, a total of 1,233 linguistic landscape items were collected from six institutions, which were classified into thirteen categories for quantitative and qualitative analysis. The research was based on the distinction between bottom-up and top-down linguistic landscape elements, as well as on a comparison between state-run and private institutions. The results show that Hungarian is more strongly represented in the bottom-up linguistic landscape of the minority schools under investigation, whereas Ukrainian–Hungarian bilingualism predominates in the top-down sphere. A further difference can be observed between state and non-state educational institutions: in state schools, the proportion of monolingual Ukrainian signs was almost twice as high as in private institutions, while the proportion of bilingual signs was significantly larger in private institutions. At the same time, the representation of monolingual Hungarian signs was similar in both types of institutions. The findings suggest that the minority Hungarian language preserves its dominant role primarily in the more informal, community-shaped visual space, whereas bilingualism becomes the defining feature of the more formal sphere.

• Details
• Contents