Languages of Hungary
Languages of Hungary | |
---|---|
Slovenian, Ukrainian | |
Foreign | English (50%)[1] German (50%) |
Signed | Hungarian Sign Language |
Keyboard layout |
The languages spoken in Hungary include Hungarian, recognized minority languages, and other languages.
Minority languages of Hungary
Minority languages are spoken in a number of autochthonous settlements in Hungary. The country is a signatory of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, which was ratified at 26 April 1995 under which 14 minority languages are recognized and protected.[2] Official linguistic rights of 13 recognized minorities are regulated by the Act on the Rights of National and Ethnic Minorities, which provides measures for development of cultural and educational autonomy.[3] Levels of linguistic assimilation among Hungarian ethnic minorities are high.[3] At the time of 2001 Census, out of the 314,059 citizens belonging to ethnic minorities, 135,787 stated minority language as their primary language.[3]
Under the terms of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, Hungary is providing special protection for the
Language families
- Uralic languages
- – Hungarian: The only official language of the country, unrelated to any of the neighbouring languages. It is the first language of some 98.9% of the total population.
- Indo-European languages
- – German: spoken by the German minority, especially in and around Mecsek Mountains, but also in other parts of the country. (Historically, the Swabian German dialect was spoken in Hungary.)
- – Slovak: spoken by the Slovak minority, especially in the North Hungarian Mountains and around Békéscsaba.
- – Bácska, but also in other territories of Southern Hungary.
- – Slovene: spoken by the Slovene minority, especially around the Slovenian border, Western Hungary.
- – Croatian: spoken by the Croatian minority, especially in Southern Hungary.
- – Romanian: spoken by the Romanian minority, especially in and around Gyula, Eastern Hungary.
- – Romani: spoken by some members of the Roma minority throughout the country.
- Turkic languages
- – Cuman: once spoken in Cumania region in Hungary. It is a Kipchak language closely related to other Kipchak languages like Crimean Tatar. The last speaker died in 1777.
- – Kipchak: once spoken in Eastern Europe which includes Hungary. It was the lingua franca of the Golden Horde-controlled areas. It is the ancestor of all Kipchak languages today, which also includes the extinct Cuman.
- Sign languages
- – Hungarian Sign Language: spoken by around 9,000 people. It belongs to the French Sign Language family.
Population by knowledge of languages
Language | Number of speakers (2011)[4][5] | Note |
---|---|---|
Hungarian | 9,896,333 (99.6%) | The only official language of Hungary, of which 9,827,875 people (98.9%) speak it as a first language, while 68,458 people (0.7%) speak it as a second language. |
English | 1,589,180 (16.0%) | Foreign language |
German | 1,111,997 (11.2%) | Foreign language and co-official minority language |
Russian | 158,497 (1.6%) | Foreign language |
Romanian | 128,852 (1.3%) | Foreign language and co-official minority language |
French | 117,121 (1.2%) | Foreign language |
Italian | 80,837 (0.8%) | Foreign language |
See also
References
- ^ "SPECIAL EUROBAROMETER 386 Europeans and their Languages" (PDF). ec.europa.eu. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-01-06.
- ^ a b "Hungary needs to strengthen use of and access to minority languages". Council of Europe. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
- ^ a b c Antal Paulik and Judit Solymosi. "Language policy in Hungary" (PDF). Noves SL. Revista de Sociolingüística. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
- ^ Hungarian census 2011 / Országos adatok / 1.1.4.2. A népesség nyelvismeret és nemek szerint (population by spoken language), 1.1.6.1 A népesség anyanyelv, nemzetiség és nemek szerint (population by mother tongue and ethnicity) (Hungarian)
- ^ Note: percentages do not add up to 100% as, according to the census, large proportion of Hungarians speak more than one language (native and a second language). Not all languages are shown.
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