“The ethnic question is, as a matter of fact, a language question.” Cover Image

„A nemzetiségi kérdés, voltaképpen nyelvkérdés.”
“The ethnic question is, as a matter of fact, a language question.”

The Cultural Strategies of the Temesvar / Timișoara Association for the Promotion of the Hungarian Language in a Multi-Ethnic Town

Author(s): Loránd Balla
Subject(s): Cultural history, Ethnohistory, Social history, 19th Century
Published by: KORALL Társadalomtörténeti Egyesület
Keywords: history;ethnohistory;multicultural and multilingual society;

Summary/Abstract: The study uses the example of the Temesvar Association for the Promotion of the Hungarian Language (Temesvari Magyar Nyelvet Terjesztő Egyesulet, TMNTE) to explore how the local and national assimilation efforts were present in the operation of a civil organisation. Further, the author also examines the ethnic composition of the membership as well as the role of the various ethnic minorities of the city in the operation of the association. Namely, who supported the association? Why did they choose to explicitly express their loyalty toward the idea of the Hungarian state in this way?One of the most unique features of the TMNTE, founded in 1882, is its founders’ German heritage. In addition, immediately after its foundation one of the main aims of this educational association was to counter the Austrian Schulverein which was established to promote the use of the German language in the schools of Temesvar (now Timișoara, Romania).The linguistic-cultural Magyarisation of Temesvar was implemented with varying intensity between the 1880s and the First World War. The aim of the local authorities in then Southern Hungary was not only the assimilation of the region’s smaller ethnic minorities, but also achieving Hungarian dominance all over the others within the whole ethnic composition. Besides the traditional means of cultural assimilation, the TMNTE also organised Hungarian language courses, established creches, and attempted to influence the theatre scene – with modest success.

  • Issue Year: 2017
  • Issue No: 68
  • Page Range: 72-98
  • Page Count: 28
  • Language: Hungarian