Resumen de Contact varieties of Hungarian in Slovakia: a contribution to their description

István Lanstyák, Gizella Szabómihály

• This article focuses on the variety of Hungarian spoken in Slovakia. It presents some of the results of a research project initiated in 1990 and carried out in six grammar schools in Slovakia (three with Hungarian äs the language of instruction, Bh; three with Slovak äs the language of instruction, Bs) and three grammar schools in Hungary, Mh. We describe the differences in language use between (a) Hungarian-Slovak bilingual students vs. Hungarian monolingual students, and between (b) bilinguals taught in Hungarian vs. bilinguals taught in Slovak. These three groups of Hungarian Speakers are compared on the basis of the frequency of occurrence of specific features of their speech. Ourfindings include thefact t hat there are systematic differences between the Hungarian spoken in Slovakia and that spoken in Hungary. Differences in dialect among Hungarians in Slovakia are superseded by a Standard variety influenced by the Slovak language (Standard Hungarian in Slovakia). Since this form differs from Standard Hungarian äs codified in Hungary, we present (linguistic) confirmation of the (sociolinguistic) fact that Hungarian is a pluricentric language.