Regional Language Features – Attitudes and Their Effects on Mother Tongue Education in Hungary

Type of Abstract (select):

Abstract (max. 250 words):
The status of Hungarian dialects have changed due to mobilisation – urbanisation and internal migration – and globalisation over the past few decades. Previously conspicuous dialectical features have been forced back, and a new phenomenon: regional standard has been formed and it is forming nowadays, too. But we still should not talk about dying – just changing – dialects.
Since stigmatization of dialects can lead to severe psychological and sociological consequences, the paper discusses the theory and practice of teaching dialectology within the framework of Hungarian Grammar subject in elementary and secondary-grammar school. The paper argues that the common ideas of the Hungarian dialect-speaker (old, illiterate, lives in a village and/or transborder) are still just stereotypes nowadays, and regionalisms also typify younger, educated city-people. The research is based on the answers to questionnaires of teachers (on language attitudes and their practice) and pupils (on dialectal vocabulary) and lots of personal experiences, since the author teaches in a secondary-grammar school, too.
The main goal of the research is to develop the discussion on teaching dialectology – to teach actual, real and useful knowledge about dialects and not to stigmatize it by correcting in youngsters language use (laboring under a delusion).


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Andrea Parapatics is a lecturer at the University of Pannonia, Faculty of Modern Philology and Social Sciences, Institute of Hungarian and Applied Linguistics. She received her Ph.D.in 2013 at ELTE Doctoral School of Linguistics, Hungarian Linguistics.
She is a founding member and editor of Anyanyelv-pedagógia journal.