Society and name use. Hungarian onomastic research projects in Slovakia

A summary of a habilitation dissertation

Abstract

Society and name use. Hungarian onomastic research projects in Slovakia. A summary of a habilitation dissertation

The aim of the habilitation dissertation is to provide insight into the Hungarian-related onomastic research projects in Slovakia; into the relationship between society and name use; and into the contact phenomena arising from the connection between the Hungarian and the Slovak languages in the world of proper names. The dissertation consists of ten chapters that are thematically interrelated; however, they discuss the subjects of society and the use of proper names, the name use of Hungarians in Slovakia, the impacts of the Hungarian-Slovak bilingual environment on proper names from various aspects. The chapters also deal with several issues from the history of onomastic scholarship as well as onomastic terminology. The chapters deal with the topics as follows: (1) The place of onomastics in the system of linguistics and co-sciences and a review on the research domains of socio-onomastics focusing on the relations between society and name use; (2) The history of onomastic research projects in Slovakia; (3) A comparison of Hungarian and Slovak (Slavic) onomastic terminology; (4) The characteristics of the minority name policy in Slovakia after the change of the political regime; (5) Proper name standardization and name planning in the native language in Slovakia; (6) The identity-making function of proper names, the relationship between name and identity; (7) The change of fashion in giving first names in Slovakia; (8) Contact phenomena in the use of personal names of the Hungarians living in Slovakia; (9) The semiotic landscape of names in the Hungarian-inhabited settlements of Slovakia; (10) The Hungarian–Slovak pairs of mountain names in the High Tatras in the light of bilingualism and translation.