The sociolinguistic stratification of Hungarian in Subcarpathia

Abstract

The minority Hungarians of Subcarpathia (Ukraine) have been regarded as a linguistically homogeneous community whose Hungarian language use is affected by their contact with Russian and Ukrainian in a uniform manner. This study demonstrates that such a view cannot be upheld in the light of quantitative empirical findings, which show Subcarpathian Hungarians to be a sociolinguistically stratified group of speakers whose Hungarian language use varies in a systematic manner according to sex, age, level of education, and place of residence. The paper also outlines some of the main differences in the language use of Hungarians in Subcarpathia and Hungary which are manifested in statistically significant ways