Feliratok, táblák, nyelvi sokszínűség: nyelvi tájkép Burgenlandban

Absztrakt

Linguistic landscape research has grown to become an independent research field only during the last ten years; the increasing number of investigations in this field proves that there is an ever growing interest in the sociolinguistic examination of the written plates. This is probably also due to technological progress, i.e. linguists travel around documenting not only with a dictaphone, but with a high quality digital camera as well. As a result, linguistic landscapes can be analysed through a specific socio-linguistic context. These plates can reflect the power and status of a language. The language of these plates has an influence on the linguistic behaviour and language use (cf. Cenoz – Gorter 2006: 68). Examination of the linguistic landscape in a multilingual context i.e. in a majority-minority relation is of particular interest. During examination of the linguistic landscapes of Burgenland it can be concluded that the Hungarian language is symbolically present in the locality, but is under-represented compared to the number of Hungarian speakers. Furthermore, due to the disintegration of the Iron Curtain and Hungary’s accession to the EU an increase in the number of Hungarian linguistic landscapes can be observed, and these events have positively influenced the oral use of the Hungarian language. A growing visual display of the Hungarian language came about at places where the Hungarian language had been pushed back previously.