Hungarian Studies Newsletter, 1984 (12. évfolyam, 39-42. szám)

1984 / 41. szám

The article begins with a description of conceptual problems, outlining the legal institutions of the state, sources normative law, procedural law, sources of jurisprudence, reference aids and finding tools. The appendix contains a diagram of the Hungarian State’s organization and a list of distributors of Hungarian books and periodicals. According to the author, “the complex, hierarchical, and totally controlling nature of the socialist state as reflected in the publications of the legal materials, the use of alien legal concepts and terminology, and the language barrier keep Hungarian legal publications from being used outside the country. . .Codification, in the sense the concept is understood in the Anglo-Saxon legal world, is almost nonexistent in Hungary. The occasional subject arrangements and commentaries on laws and regulations provide only a broad overview of a variety of acts, edicts, resolutions, and regulations, and they are far from being all-inclusive. . .This necessitates a constant search for previous enactments. . Without up-to-date indices and clear-cut pathfinders through the maze of laws and regulations, the discovery of existing laws is an almost impossible task.. .There are two impressive elements in Hungarian legal bibliography. (1) There is very thorough bibliographic control of all legal publications .. . Although the bibliographic work is done entirely by a few dedicated individuals, no legal writing escapes attention, be it a major publication or a mimeographed work. (2) The amount of work spent on translating and digesting foreign legal articles into Hungarian and Hungarian works into foreign languages is truly remarkable.” The author is prof, of law and law librarian, U. of Missouri, Columbia. □

Corvina kiadó'published a 55-page pamphlet on Historical Monuments and their Protection in Hungary. A useful overview, though somewhat superficial armchair guide with a map showing locations of monuments. The text is illustrated by archaeological and architectural black/white pictures, and was written by Dezső Derecsenyi, translated by Zsuzsa Be'res. $1.50

Kontra, Miklós,“OntheStateofTeaching English in Hungary in the 1970s.” Acta Universitatis Szegediensis de Attila József Nominate. Papers in English and American Studies, Vol. 1 (1980) 221-236.

This is a summary report and evaluation of the state of English language teaching in Hungary. Fora long period of time only the Pázmány U. (now Eötvös L.U.) had an English department established toward the end of the past century. The Kossuth L.U. (formerly Tisza I.U.) in Debrecen followed suit in 1938, and the József A.U. at Szeged established an English Chair in 1965. English courses are also available at the College of Foreign Trade and at the Marx K.U., both in Budapest. A number of events stimulated the expansion and improvement of English teaching and learning, such as more intensive contact with Western scholars, the establishment of the Contrastive Linguistics Project (by John Lotz), and the controversy about teaching British English vs. American English. Though English is the most popular foreign language (Russian is compulsory), less than 1% of primary grade children have elected to study it in the 1970s. In 1978-79 a total of 6,629 primary pupils and 32,975 secondary students learned English. In 1965the International Association forthe Evaluation of Educational Achievement, Stockholm, inaugurated a cross-national study which included the evaluation of English studies in Hungary. The results on the international

NO. 41. AUTUMN 19Ö4, HUNGARIAN STUDIES NEWSLETTER

level were published in 1975. They are not flattering as far as Hungary was concerned. Though the Hungarian portion of the report has not yet been published, the author presents some details and tries to identify the reasons for the poor performance. He makes recommendations toward a change from traditional language teaching curricula to the teaching of modern spoken language, which could improve face-toface communication. The status of language teachers leaves a lot to be desired. The author recommends recognition of the teaching of English as a professional discipline in its own right. The author is asst. prof, of English at the Kossuth L.U., Debrecen. □

Kosztolnyik, Z.J. “The Church and the Hungarian Court under Coloman The Learned.” East European Quarterly 18:2 (June 1984) 129-141.

This essay surveys the relationship of King Coloman the Learned (Könyves Kálma'n, 1095-1116) with the Church from the point of view that the monarch relied, out of necessity, upon ecclesiastic legislative support in order to neutralize the ambition of his youngest brother and opponent, Prince Álmos. “Until the days of Coloman, ecclesiastical legislation in Hungary had not been separated from the temporal. The legislative acts of the 11th century correspond to the Frankish capitularies. Peaceful development of an ecclesiastical climate in the realm during the first decade of Coloman’s reign called for separate church legislation.” According to the Chronicon pictum, a 14th century Hungarian chronicle in Latin, Coloman took military action against the disorderly crusading hordes, though he remained friendly toward the leaders. The contemporary sources do not speak of Hungaropapal relations, but say that the king filled vacancies in church offices on his own authority. Some historians believe that the threat of civil war influenced Coloman’s policy and his rather harsh actions against Álmos. The author is assoc, prof, of history at Texas A&M U. □

Rasonyi, László'. “The History of the Blaks or Bulaks: An Ancient Turkic Ethnic Group in Transylvania." Magyar mult —Hungarian Past. A series of the Hungarian Historical Society, Sidney, Australia. 11:2 (1982) 71-94.

Transylvania’s early history appears in a new perspective as a consequence of the author’s discovery that the ethnic affiliation of an early Hungarian chronicler, known only as “Anonymus,” was not with Vlachs (Romanian) but rather with a Turkic ethnic group, the Blaks or Bulaks, who settled in central Transylvania and later assimilated to the Magyar majority. The Blaks, as a Turkic ethnic group, appeared in Transylvania before the Magyars and the Vlachs. The group’s tribal name was Bulak. Evidently, this group seceded from the Karluks’ tribal confederation in central Asia some time in the 6th century and became independent. “After two centuries of symbiosis with the Bulgar-Turks (Onogurs)" they settled in Transylvania. The writer uses specific evidences from the fields of linguistics, ethnology, and early historical chronicles to draw his conclusions. The author is prof, emeritus of Hungarology and Turkology at Ankara U., Turkey. (Barbara Kiss) □

Szuhay, Peter, Tama's Hofer, and ErncfKunt, “Peasant life in Hungary in the 19th-20th Centuries. " New Hungarian Quarterly 24:92 (Winter 1983) 1-16, illus.

This reprint of three articles touches upon three areas of change in peasant culture. The first article by Szuhay is

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