Language in Motion?

This work sets out to examine the status of the Hungarian language in Romania, and to analyze the origins, validity and meaning of the widespread view that it is in decline. It looks at daily use of the language and its role in public institutions, explores attitudes towards it amongst its users, and analyzes objectives and activities of a number of Hungarian minority organizations. Informed by work on minority culture in liberal democracies (Kymlicka, Csergő, Keller), I focus more particularly on issues of language dominance and predominance, language parity (Csergő, Mühlhäusler), language policy and planning (Bochmann, Bratt Paulston, Kloss, Toffelson), bilingualism and diglossia (Bourdieu, Grosjean, Bartha, Lambert, Ferguson, Fishman). The paper was researched in three sites. One is Tîrgu Mureş/Marosvásárhely, a city in an area where Hungarians make up 39.30% and which is known also as “the Hungarian semi-block”. The other two sites are diasporic communities where Hungarians make less than 20% of the population. One is village of Răcăştie/Rákosd in South Transylvania. The other is a number of villages inhabited by members of the Csango community in Bacău county.