International Mother Language Day celebrated at the Rákóczi College

On 21 February, International Mother Language Day is celebrated worldwide. The Ferenc Rákóczi II. Transcarpathian Hungarian College’s Philology Department celebrated the day with the presentation of new publications.

László Csordás, Associate Professor of the Philology Department’s Hungarian branch, welcomed the guests. He emphasized that thanks to István Csernicskó, Rector of the Rákóczi College and Tünde Morvai, Head of Secretariat Department of Hungarians Living Abroad at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, the books presented at the event were published, which contain useful information not only for teachers and students of Hungarian language studies, but for everyone.

After the welcome speech, the new publications of the Department were presented.

First of all, Margit Kész, Associate Professor of the Philology Department’s Hungarian branch, presented the book “Twenty-two. The 22-year history of Hungarian mother tongue education in Transcarpathia” by Anikó Beregszászi and Katalin Lakatos Dudics. The book focuses on two decades of Hungarian mother tongue education in Transcarpathia. It clarifies the development of mother tongue education in the light of curricula and textbooks. It concludes that in Transcarpathian Hungarian schools, as a result of an additive approach, a positive change can be observed in the perception of dialects and dialect speakers.

Afterwards, Péter Tóth of the ELTE Savaria University Centre presented the publication Dialectological Basics for Philology Students by Katalin Dudics Lakatos and Vilmos Gazdag. The work discusses dialectal formations and describes the different dialectal regions, with a special emphasis on the Transcarpathian dialects. It classifies the dialects and gives an insight into the history of Slavic loanwords. The book’s merit is that, although it is intended for philology students, it is not only for them, but also for those interested in the topic to learn more about linguistic diversity.

Finally, Katalin Lakatos Dudics, Associate Professor of the Philology Department’s Hungarian branch, presented the first two issues of the scientific journal Acta Academiae Beregsasiensis, Philologica. In addition to education, the Rákóczi College is also a base for scientific research. Its teachers and researchers regularly publish their scientific results in Ukrainian, Hungarian and international journals. This is why the College’s management felt it important to create a journal that could provide a platform for presenting new findings in philological research.

The editor-in-chief of the journal is Anikó Beregszászi, Head Professor of the Philology Department, and the deputy editor-in-chief is Erzsébet Bárány, Associate Professor of the Ukrainian Department. The responsible editors are Vilmos Gazdag, Associate Professor of the Hungarian Department and Andrea Pősze, Associate Professor of the Ukrainian Department. The editorial board consists of members of renowned higher education institutions and research institutes from seven countries: Ukraine, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Croatia, Slovenia and Austria. The first issue contains 9 essays in Hungarian, Ukrainian and English from the 21st Hungarian Sociolinguistics Conference in Beregszász in 2021. The second issue of the journal contains 13 essays and 2 reviews. In addition to the essays presented at the aforementioned conference, there are also works by Ukrainian linguists.

“The publications presented reflect the research of the Philology Department, and its impact on the formation of our approach, and that linguists, ethnographers and writers think together in their mother tongue, about their mother tongue.”

– László Csordás concluded the event.

Anita Kurmay

  The International Tourist Guide Day was celebrated at the Rákóczi College Literary afternoon at the Philology Campus of the Rákóczi College