Education paper by Fehér, Krisztina
Hungarian-American Parents’ Perspectives on their Children’s Hungarian Language Use – Results of an Online Survey (Accepted)
Type of Abstract (select): Paper presentationAbstract (max. 250 words):
Previous research on Hungarian-Americans’ language has focused on adults, while less attention has been paid to parent-child communication. To address the gap, in 2021, parents of Hungarian-American children were invited to complete a survey. 578 respondents, mainly mothers, completed the survey from 40 states. The bilingual survey consisted of various multiple-choice and open questions on the linguistic background, language use and attitudes of the parents and their children, as well as on the parent-child interactions.
The talk will present the findings based on the analysis of a 11 590-word sub-corpus. This includes qualitative data of responses to three open questions inquiring about the parents’ perspective on their children’s Hungarian language use: linguistic challenges, instances of language contact, code-switching/mixing and translanguaging. Results of the analysis will be related to and interpreted in light of the quantitative data gained from few associated multiple-choice questions.
Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Krisztina Fehér is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Hungarian Linguistics, University of Debrecen, Hungary. Her research interests are child language, bilingualism and bidialectism. She earned her Ph.D. in 2012 in Hungarian Linguistics. She is the author of three books on linguistic methodology (2016), the phonology of child language (2017), and cognitive grammar (2018). Currently she is an MFA Visiting Lecturer at the Department of World Languages, Literatures, and Cultures at Cleveland State University, Cleveland OH, USA. She instructs Hungarian language courses in the Hungarian Program and linguistics courses in the Linguistics Program.