The Kazinczy Workshop of the Petőfi Cultural Agency held a book presentation combined with a live Hungarian lesson.

The latest volume of the Report on the Hungarian Language series has been published. The publication, launched in 2005 and appearing every five years, is an important element of Hungarian language strategic activities. The fourth part of the series was published by the Kazinczy Workshop of the Petőfi Cultural Agency. At Friday's book presentation, the invited guests were also able to learn about the Workshop's new program, the Live Hungarian Hour.

On Friday, December 10, the Petőfi Literary Museum presented the book entitled Report on the Hungarian Language 2016-2020, which aims to analyze and summarize changes in the Hungarian language every five years.

THE STUDY VOLUME, CONTAINING WELL-PARTED STUDIES, ESSAYS, GLOSSARY AND VARIOUS DOCUMENTS, OVERVIEWS THE CURRENT STATE OF OUR LANGUAGE FROM ITS SOUNDWORLD TO THE IMPACT OF DIGITALIZATION.

The nearly three-hundred-page Report tries to take a snapshot of events related to the Hungarian language through a number of topics.

Runic writing, the current state of pronunciation, language use on Facebook, slang words created during the coronavirus epidemic, and political hate speech are covered, but the most important new words and expressions of the period between 2016 and 2020 are included.

THE SPECIALTY OF THE PUBLICATION IS THAT IT LOOKS OUT BEYOND THE BORDERS OF HUNGARY, SO THE READER GETS AN AROUND PICTURE OF THE SITUATION OF OUR LANGUAGE IN THE CARPATHIAN BASIN.

The Hungarian language is a developed language, but our language usage problems are common. That is why there is a need for a conscious engagement with the language, continuous language renewal and language cultivation. This is based on the condition assessment. This has been done every five years by the Hungarian Language Strategy Research Group since 2000. The volume summarizes the most important linguistic and cultural events of the past five years, and the research team proposes the most important practical actions related to the Hungarian language. said dr. Professor Géza Balázs, editor of the Report.

The authors are linguists from Budapest, Eger, Nyíregyháza, Ungvár, Ada, Novi Sad, Kassa and Kézdivásárhely.

Kazinczy Műhely's new show, Élő Magyaróra, made its debut at the book launch. According to the plans, the monthly online video series deals with the current issues and problems of literature and the mother tongue.

Demeter Szilárd, Director General of PIM, said this at the opening of the event, quoting János Arany:

"If we are blown away by the storm of time:/

God will never have any more Hungarians."

“And that's the point. The fact that we have been building the Carpathian Basin as a people without a cognate language for a thousand years would be enough reason for a more militant language policy. But as Hungarians of God, it would be a sin against the Creator to give up, change language, house, country. There is no other Hungarian nation, no other Hungarian language, no other Hungarian homeland."

Source and image: origo.hu