How Could Reconstruction of 'Linguistic Contexts' of Political Debates Advance Our Understanding of the Democratic Transition in Hungary, 1989-90?

Abstract

This analysis of the political discourse during the democratic transition in Hungary 1989/90 turned to the question of the effects of the 'linguistic contexts' on the dynamics of political debates. The analysis is grounded on written sources of the diaries of the National Roundtable Talks and those of the Opposition Roundtable as well as some other written materials. After outlining the theoretical horizon of the concept of a political language, and the linguistic context in the Hungarian political culture of the late 1980s containing four political languages (national historical, realpolitical, ethnoradical, and technocratic) as well as three different modes of speaking about national history (independency, historical-legal, doctrine of St. Crown), the next step is a closer analysis of the dynamics of the debate on the presidential institution. Finally, we turn to a historical analysis.