Torsello, Davide - Pappová, Melinda: Social Networks in Movement. Time, interaction and interethnic spaces in Central Eastern Europe - Nostra Tempora 8. (Somorja-Dunaszerdahely, 2003)
Interethnic spaces
A village on the ethnic periphery 119 decrease of the Galanta and Šaľa districts (Dlhá nad Váhom belongs to the Šaľa district) is around 4% on a national level.4 It seems clear that the population decrease is mainly caused by assimilation. A more accurate analysis of this phenomenon will be possible only after obtaining precise local data. The present study can contribute to an understanding of the local and general processes of population decrease. The aim of the study An ethnic and linguistic survey of Dlhá nad Váhom took place in December 2000, within the framework of the international research project, Language border at the turn of the millennium, organised by the Minority Studies Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (Kisebbségkutató Intézet MTA, Budapest) and the Forum Minority Research Institute (Slovakia).5 The aim of the research was to examine the “meaning of the ethnic and/or language border among the Hungarian and the neighbouring populations” on a microlevel. The leading question was: how do the ethnic microprocesses influence the ethnic borders marked out by the official statistical data? The research was planned on two levels: on the regional and on the local level. In our region the research was undertaken on the local level. We filled in questionnaires and analysed the data received in the following three villages: Veľká Mača (Galanta district), Kráľová nad Váhom6 and Dlhá nad Váhom (Šaľa district). The research was based on questionnaires; we did not address our questions to the inhabitants but to a committee. With the help of this committee we sought to examine language use of the families and their choice of language of instruction7. The data received were then compared with the statistical numbers in order to complement the picture that the statistical data indicated. The five-member committee was comprised of the local representatives from the village who were well acquainted with the community’s reality.
