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Description:
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In Communist times, it was impossible to do sociolinguistic work on
Hungarian in contact with other languages. In the short period of time
since the collapse of the Soviet bloc, Hungarian sociolinguists have
certainly done their very best to catch up. This volume brings together the
fruits of their work, some of which was hitherto only available in
Hungarian. The reader will find a wealth of information on many bilingual
communities involving Hungarian as a minority language. The communities
covered in the book are located in countries neighboring Hungary (Austria,
Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Romania and Ukraine) as well as overseas (in
Australia and the United States). Several of the chapters discuss material
derived from the Sociolinguistics of Hungarian Outside Hungary project.
Throughout the book, the emphasis is on how the language use of Hungarian
minority speakers has been influenced by the majority or contact language,
both on a sociolinguistic macro-level as well as on the micro-level. In the
search for explanations, particular attention is given to typological
aspects of language change under the conditions of language contact.
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