Liszka József (szerk.): Az Etnológiai Központ Évkönyve 2000-2001 - Acta Ethnologica Danubiana 2-3. (Dunaszerdahely-Komárom, 2001)

1. Tanulmányok - Borsos Balázs: A magyar nyelvterület számítógép segítségével meghatározott kulturális régiói

If we want to investigate small regions as well, clusters at step 68 are the most suitable ones. The decrease in the value of variance is no longer dramatic in this phase of the analysis, but at this step it is still twice as much as at others (1,059-1,032). In this preliminary report I do not intend to analyse all these small clusters, but I am pointing out some interesting phenomena. The cluster characterised by many 0 values breaks up into a dispersed one and to another one that consists of the settlements in the Bánát in Rumania, whose cultural features shown in the Atlas are more similar. It is worth mentioning that clusters with the greatest number of settlements are not any more the traditional ones, but those in West Hungary (+: 13 members, Y: 14 members). And the regions that have had no change since step 21 suggest that they have also a homogeneous character. May this be due to the unifying effect of the economic progress of the region? But we have to emphasize that the traditional regions also remained more or less compact. The Eastern Highlands form two clusters of 10-10 members (47, -), the western part of Transylvania form one with 11 (41) and another with 12 (51) members. And these clusters follow the geographical historical borders, that is to say, the western one consists of the settlements along the Szamos, and the eastern cluster consists of the villages along the Maros. Although Eastern Transylvania already forms at this step of cultural distribution three clusters, they are nearly identical with the geographical-historical regions of this area. Csík, Gyergyó and Gyimes form one group (40), Háromszék, Kászon, and the settlements along the river Olt another ($), while Udvarhelyszék and the eastern part of Marosszék form the third one (4). At this phase not only at the periphery but in the middle part small groups of 2-5 settlements are formed as well, for example at the lower Ipoly valley (K), in the Tápió valley (50), or in Somogy (43,44, 53, 62). The villages of Sárköz around Kalocsa (46) and in Tolna (O) are parted. Most of the small regions are compact with boundaries of an even line. The only exception to this is the border between North and South Bácska. This phenomenon may be explained by the origin of the inhabitants of this region. After the Turkish occupation Bácska was settled very late in the 18th century, and the immigrants came from very different parts of Hungary (Kosa 1998:139). So a hundred years of coexistence was not enough to make their culture homogeneous.

Consequences and summary

The cluster analysis of the data of the Atlas of Hungarian Folk Culture by computer has proved to be a useful kind of investigation into the regional distribution of culture. In many cases the picture drawn by the computer correlated well with the cultural regions defined in other ways, but it created some new results as well. This fact on the one hand proves the applicability of this kind of investigations in more details than I thought two years ago, and on the other hand it suggests some new aspects and possibilities that can inspire further research.

The applicability was also proved by the forming of separate clusters of the villages where too many data were missing, and by not forming any clusters of a dispersed nature. The borders among the clusters were never (with the exception mentioned above) inconsistent, confused or not explicable by historical or geographical causes.

Of the new aspects I shall now mention a few.

The previous research investigated West Hungary and the Great Plains in greater regions, while it observed Transylvania in smaller ones. Regarding the cultural features shown in the atlas the computer found that the previous regions are more fragmented and Transylvania is more homogeneous.

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