From Magyarfalu to Csánglia

Ideologies behind the use of Hungarian names indicating places in Moldavia

Abstract

From Magyarfalu to Csánglia. Ideologies behind the use of Hungarian names indicating places in Moldavia  

The use of Hungarian names to indicate places in Moldavia is quite varied. An interesting characteristic of this phenomenon is that place names or name variants different from the ones used by Moldovan speakers, or even completely unknown to local people, have been developed and spread west from Moldavia. This paper gives some examples of such place names to illustrate that the differences in the use of place names locally and outside Moldavia can be interpreted as mainly ideological. Language ideologies resulting in these differences can be described as approaches that contribute to the discursive formation of a “Hungarian( speaking) Moldavia”; and in which the determining factor in the connection between language forms and space perception is the “ethnicity” of the space. The ethnically perceived space at the same time – apart from other linguistic and non-linguistic practices – becomes familiar to the speakers of the Hungarian language area through the use of “Hungarian” place names.