Abstract:

This paper explores attitudes associated with the Hungarian–Slovakian bilingual linguistic landscape and their educational aspects, based on the subjective views of Hungarian respondents in Slovakia. Research into visual language use has several subareas, yet of central importance are studies on signage in public places and their linguistic arrangement, as well as the exploration and interpretation of their particularities, from the perspectives of legal and socio-cultural factors on the one hand and the linguistic attitudes of the community on the other. Attitudes associated with the linguistic landscape are rather ambivalent: the existence of lack of signage can influence everyday language use; the visual use of a minority language can enhance the prestige of that language, and thus that of communities of its speakers; while visually displaying a minority language can also help preserve it. However, the connection between a language and its visual display is not such a direct one. In Slovakia, for example, the law would allow the placement of Hungarian-language signage, yet many members of the minority do not exercise this right. It is mainly the local authorities of municipalities with a Hungarian majority that seek, within the boundaries of the law, to provide Hungarian signage. However, business-related Hungarian–Slovakian bilingual signage is markedly lacking in certain municipalities. This phenomenon can be explained by describing the linguistic ideologies and the internal relationships of the communities in question. This paper analyses the responses of 1066 respondents from 38 municipalities in Southern Slovakia, and points out certain elements, factors, and educational aspects of the linguistic landscape, based on the knowledge, subjective views, and ideas of the speakers. This study seeks to find out whether respondents feel the need to have their mother tongue also visually present in their own places of residence. The study considers the tendencies of visual language use in a given country from the perspective of a linguistic minority. Results show how aware respondents are of their associated linguistic rights, how they perceive the current state of affairs in multilingual visual language use, and whether they consider it important to include and reflect on these issues in education.

Keywords:

Visual language use, linguistic landscape, bilingualism, multiculturalism, minority attitudes, Hungarians in Slovakia, education.