Petőcz Kálmán (szerk.): National Populism and Slovak - Hungarian Relations in Slovakia 2006-2009 (Somorja, 2009)
Zsuzsanna Mészáros-Lampl: Magyars and Slovaks in Southern Slovakia - Exercising Language Rights
Zuzana Mészárosová-Lamplová National identity refers to historic, language and cultural identity, i.e. identity that is not innate but is gradually formed and constantly shaped throughout every individual’s live. Consequently, we speak of factors affecting emergence and formation of national identity. It is a complex of factors, ranging from family background and parents’ national identity to socio-cultural, economic and political macro- as well as microenvironment in which the individual lives to globalization and many other factors. Naturally, the importance of particular factors varies from one individual to another. In certain life stages, some of them gain greater importance than others. In other life stages, previously crucial factors may be pushed to the background while previously less important factors may become pivotal. Nevertheless, there are also factors that are of constantly great importance in terms of forming and shaping individuals’ national identity. One of them is native language as well as conditions and/or opportunities to use it. Domínant Communícatíon LAiNiquAqE Family Communication in Respondents’ Childhood The survey did not primarily inquire about respondents’ native language but rather about the language they used to communicate with their parents at home throughout their childhood. We assumed that the dominant language of family communication was Slovak for Slovaks and Hungarian for ethnic Hungarians. While this assumption has been corroborated with most respondents, the survey established that there were also Slovaks who communicated exclusively or prevailingly in Hungarian as well as ethnic Hungarians who communicated exclusively or prevailingly in Slovak. Three in four Slovaks (74%) spoke exclusively Slovak to their parents during childhood. The remaining share of Slovak respondents encountered with Hungarian as the complementary language of family communication, although its occurrence varied. One in six respondents of Slovak nationality (17%) also used Hungarian but their family communication was dominated by Slovak; one in eleven respondents (9%) spoke prevailingly or exclusively Hungarian. These data justify a conclusion that while Slovak was the dominant language of family communication for most Slovaks, one in eleven Slovaks grew up in a family environment where Hungarian was the dominant language (please see Graph 1). 168
