Hungarian Language
Hungarian, known as Magyar, is the official language of Hungary and is spoken by nearly ten million people. It belongs to the Uralic language family, specifically the Finno-Ugric subgroup, which includes Finnish and Estonian. Hungarian has a unique vowel harmony system and is characterized by its distinct grammar and phonology, despite having absorbed vocabulary from neighboring languages like Turkish, Latin, and German due to Hungary's geographical location.
The language has a rich history, with its roots tracing back to the Proto-Uralic language, and it developed significantly before many other European languages emerged. Over the centuries, Hungarian has faced challenges, including foreign domination and political suppression, particularly during periods of Habsburg and Soviet rule. Despite these challenges, Hungarian has remained a vital language, with about 92% of Hungary's population being speakers.
Today, Hungarian also has a presence in regions of Slovakia, Romania, and Serbia, as well as diasporic communities in the United States and Israel. The language is regulated by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, ensuring its continued evolution and preservation.
Hungarian Language
The Hungarian language is the official language of the Republic of Hungary, where it is referred to as Magyar. The language is spoken by nearly ten million people in Hungary and also by people in regions of Slovakia, Romania, Yugoslavia, and the United States. It is one of the official languages of the European Union (EU).
Hungarian belongs to the Uralic family of languages, which emerged from Proto-Uralic, an ancestral language. Hungary is surrounded by countries that speak non-Uralic languages, and Hungarian has borrowed many words from these languages, mainly Turkish, Latin, German, and Slavic. Hungarian grammar and phonology remain strictly Uralic, however.
Like other Uralic languages, the Hungarian language has three types of vowels: back vowels (a, á, o, ó, u, ú), front rounded vowels (ö, ő, ü, ű), front unrounded vowels (e, é, i, í). Vowel harmony is a characteristic of Uralic languages, including Hungarian. With this vowel structure, front vowels can be followed only by suffixes with front vowels, and back vowels can only be followed by suffixes containing back vowels. Other characteristics include simple consonant clusters and an accent on the first syllable of a word.
Standard Hungarian is based on a dialect spoken in Budapest, the country's capital. Use of this dialect is enforced in the country, but regional dialects are still spoken. These dialects include the Central Transdanubian, Northeastern Hungarian, Southern Great Plains, and Southern Transdanubian dialects.
History and Classification
The Hungarian language is a Uralic language. The name "Uralic" comes from the Ural Mountains where the language was once spoken. Uralic languages have two subgroups: Finno-Ugric and the Samoyedic, both of which stemmed from an ancient Proto-Uralic language. The Hungarian language and the Finnish language belong to the Finno-Ugric subgroup.
The Hungarian language has a long history and developed before many European languages even existed. While the origin of the Hungarian language is not certain, it is believed that the early Hungarians, called the Magyar, lived in the Ural Mountains between seven thousand and ten thousand years ago. The Magyars may have spoken the Proto-Uralic language. In time, they migrated to western Siberia, where they were frequently attacked by tribal armies such as the Huns. They may have partnered with the Turks for protection, which would explain the Turkish influences on the Hungarian language. The Magyars were driven off their land around 889 CE by the Patchenegs, a Turkic nomad group from Central Asia. The Magyars then settled in what is now Hungary.
Around 1000 CE, the Hungarian prince Stephen I was crowned king and the Kingdom of Hungary was established. By this time, Hungarian had evolved into a distinct language. However, the new king demanded that his people accept Christianity, which used the Latin language. Hungarian script was abandoned in favor of the Latin alphabet. The Turkish army defeated the Hungarian army in 1526, and the country was under Turkish control. Around 1541, Hungary split into three parts: the Hungarian Kingdom, the Habsburg dominion, and the Turkish dominion. However, even though Latin was still the official language of Hungary, the Hungarian language spread throughout the three parts of the country and became the language of literature and administration.
During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the first Hungarian grammar books were published along with the first Hungarian dictionary. The first general encyclopedia in Hungarian was published in 1653. As the written language became more uniform, a Hungarian literary movement emerged, fueled largely by the introduction of printing. Popular poets included Baron Balint and Miklos Zrinyi.
The language underwent changes during the eighteenth century. Writers such as Ferenc Kazinczy wanted to renew the language so that it was more like it was in the past. They reintroduced words that had become extinct and included words to coin expressions that were commonplace in the country. Their efforts added more than ten thousand words to the language.
However, use of the language suffered a setback when Hungary became part of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire prior to World War I. Austrian rulers and the upper classes spoke and favored the German language.
After World War II, Hungary came under Communist control and the language was further suppressed. The Russian language was taught in Hungarian schools. Hungarian writers could only write about Communist themes or risk persecution. A failed Hungarian Revolution in 1956 made the situation worse. Hungary remained under Soviet control until 1989 when it became an independent, democratic country.
Geographic Distribution and Modern Usage
The Hungarian language is spoken by about ten million people in Hungary and is one of the most-spoken languages in Europe. Ninety-two percent of the people in Hungary speak Hungarian. About four million Hungarian speakers live in other countries, countries that were once part of the Kingdom of Hungary. More than one million of these speakers live in Romania, but others can be found in Slovakia, Serbia, Ukraine, Slovenia, Croatia, and Austria. A smaller number of Hungarian speakers can be found in the United States and Israel. The Hungarian language is overseen and regulated by the Research Institute for Linguistics of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
Bibliography
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