Original scientific paper
Use of the Mother Tongue and Ethnic Identity among Croats in Hungary
Jadranka Grbić
; Institute for Folklore Studies, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
Locating and preserving elements of authenticity constitutes for every community a form of resistance to every form of pressure, disappearance, assimilation in the local and wider framework. When so-called minority languages – in plurinational and plurilingual societies – begin to lose their positions, one can speak of the beginning of the loss of ethnic identity. Preliminary research has shown that bilingualism has become a general phenomenon among practically all the levels of the Croatian national minority in Hungary, and that the process of language replacement is advancing. The purpose of this paper is to establish – on the basis of field work and other relevant sources and insight – the actual language usage of the mother tongue, in both private and public communication, among Croats in Hungary, as well as to attempt to locate the research results in a wider culturological and developmental context, while viewing the affirmation of ethnic identity as a long-term development question.
Keywords
mother tongue; ethnic identity; Croats; Hungary
Hrčak ID:
127678
URI
Publication date:
30.11.1990.
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