Toward a New Central Europe

6. Conclusion

Socio-linguistic research proceeds much as census-taking, and is, accordingly, a Janus-faced activity. In the present context this means that one of its faces is definitely political with certain sociological goals in mind, but on the other hand, from the point of view of the science of linguistics proper, such studies would be extremely valuable also. They would reveal what happens to the phonology, morphology, syntax, and lexicon of languages in contact 11) when the contact is one of political pressure and social inequality, in contrast to Switzerland or the United States. The results of such investigations could reveal whether or not there is a significant difference in the respective developments of the politically favored and the politically disfavored language; whether languages in contact affect each other similarly or differently depending on favorable or unfavorable political circumstances. The rate of change of vocabulary could be calculated

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for languages in contact under peaceful democratic circumstances, and in "linguistically troubled areas", then, the precise nature and effect of the political factor could be correlated with the findings which are generally valid about languages in contact without aggravating political circumstances. Such investigations might reveal, for instance, that languages tend to be more conservative when they are in contact with other languages under adverse political circumstances, because the group under pressure desires to maintain its identity much more acutely than an unthreatened minority.

The feasibility of such research is by no means beyond our technical capabilities: The tape recorder, the computer! the voting-machine could all be usefully put to work. The time is certainly ripe. Will we able to rise to the occasion?

1) Of considerable significance in this area is the work of Professor William Labov of Columbia University, who worked with a large number of Harlem Negroes and Puerto Ricans. In the Midwest, Professor R. I. McDavid at the University of Chicago is an international authority on American dialectology. The present writer is aware of two M.A. theses being written at the University of Illinois at Chicago Circle both dealing with South Side Negro dialects, one in particular, with the vocabulary of the Blackstone Rangers.

2) Both Malaya and Singapore are former British colonies and thus, even after independence, English was retained as a joint official language for a predetermined period.

3) See the Encyclopedia Britannica Book of the Year, 1968, under Malaysia, for the events of 1967. The tragic Malay-Chinese conflict of Spring l969 could, if things turn out for the worse, amount to an end of democracy in Malaysia yet it is not impossible that the country will once again be able to find its social balance characteristic of the years from when the present description of linguistic diversity in Malaysia was taken. Whatever the present situation or the future, therefore, "The Malaysian Model" remains a reality; if nothing else as a historic record of a fine experiment.

4) The Northern and the Southern Slavic languages were not clearly separated before the Hungarian conquest. The present Slovakia was populated by the Slavs of Prince Svatopluk whom the warriors of Chief Arpad subjugated and with whom the Magyars intermarried. For Slavic loan words in Hungarian see Kniezsa's Szlav jovevenyszavak a magyarban (Slavic Loan words in Hungarian), Budapest, MTA, 1952.

5) See the excellent article by F. O. Miksche in this book.

6) The population of Hungary in 1967 (Encyclopedia Britannica, 1968 Yearbook, p. 401) amounted to 10,196,926, 97% of whom were Hungarian, 2.2% German, and only 0.8% other nationalities.

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7) The statistical table of Rumaniaís national composition between the years 1910-1966 was compiled by the Mid-European Research Inst.

8) Transylvania v as returned to Hungarian rule for only a little more than three years during World War II by the second Vienna Award. This was indeed tragic. Thus the Hungarians received what was rightfully theirs from the wrong benefactor: Despite Governor Horthy's attempts to liquidate the war, just when Rumania managed to declare war on Germany in the fall of 1944, after a tragic coup d'etat by the Hungarian Fascist Arrow Cross Party, Hungary became the last faithful ally of Nazi Germany. Thus, when it came to the border decisions Stalin as well as some of his Western allies favored Rumania and forced Hungary to accept the ethnically unjustifiable Trianon Treaty borders giving all Transylvania to Rumania.

9) The present writer is primarily a descriptive linguist and thus wishes to disavow any vested interest for or against the Sumerian-Hungarian hypothesis Interested readers are directed to the interesting but highly controversial writings of Ida Bobula, especially The origin of the Hungarian Nation, American Hungarian Literary Guild, Gainsville, Florida; Viktor Padanyiís Dentumagyaria, Editorial Transylvania, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1956; but also to Geza Barcziís A magyar nyelv eletrajza (The History of Hungarian Language) Budapest, 1963, which treats the history of Hungarian language from the standard Finno-Ugric point of view.

9a) SOURCES: For 1930-1956: Anuarul Statistic (Statistical Yearbook of Rumania) Bucuresti. 1965, pp. 74 75, for the present-day territory of the country. 1948 figures for the same territory: Populatia Rep. Populare la 25 Jan. 1948. Probleme Economice. No. 2. Martie 1948. Bucuresti. 1910 and 1921 figures are for the larger territory of Rumania between the two world wars: D. B. Vasiliu: Situatia demografica a Romaniei Cluj. 1925, p. 69: N. Istrate: La statistique des nationalites. Bul. Geogr. 1930: W. Winkler: Statistisches Handbuch der europaischen Nationalitaten. Wien. 19<], p. 228: E. Jakabffy's Erdely statisztikaja. Lugos. 1923, p. 31 (for 1910); 1966 figures are preliminary figures as published in Rumanian and Transylvanian newspapers of Sept. 1966. Before 1918, Rumania was much smaller and had a population of only 9,234,920. In the Table, the 1910 census figures of the newly acquired territories were added to those of the old territory.

10) Even though the Trianon Treaty after World War I was ethnically unjustifiable in giving Transylvania to Rumania, a generation of Rumanians grew up between the two world wars who felt that it was unjust that it be given to Hungary while an essentially unjust and criminal war was being waged in Europe. The bitterness of these Rumanians may have been greatly aggravated by the perfectly understandable zeal of the Hungarians who were only too eager to move into Transylvania with their armies, even though this worked against their interest in the long run.

11) A famous book by the title Languages in Contact was written by the late Uriel Weinreich, professor of linguistics at Columbia University in 1953 and has been regarded as a classic on the subject ever since.

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Toward a New Central Europe