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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.
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