Hungarian Dialects
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Hungarian has ten dialects. These are fully mutually intelligible, and do not differ significantly from standard Hungarian except for the Csángó dialect. They are mostly distinguished by pronunciation; although there are differences in vocabulary, these are usually small and do not hinder intelligibility. Due to increased internal migration and urbanization during the 20th century, most of the characteristics of the different dialects can only be observed in smaller towns and villages, and even there mostly among the elderly; the population of the larger cities and especially the capital has been mixed for generations and the dialectal differences have been lost. A notable exception is the Western Transdanubian pronunciation, which is distinctly noticeable even in
Szombathely } Szombathely (; ; also see #Etymology, names) is the 10th largest city in Hungary. It is the administrative centre of Vas County in the west of the country, located near the border with Austria. Szombathely lies by the streams ''Perint'' and '' ...
, the largest city in the region. The following dialectical regions are currently distinguished by researchers: # Western Transdanubian # Central Transdanubian – Little Hungarian Plain # Southern Transdanubian # Southern Great Plain (+
Tisza The Tisza, Tysa or Tisa (see below) is one of the major rivers of Central and Eastern Europe. It was once called "the most Hungarian river" because it used to flow entirely within the Kingdom of Hungary. Today, it crosses several national bo ...
Körös The Körös () or Criș () ( German: ''Kreisch'') is a river in eastern Hungary and western Romania. Its length is from the confluence of its two source rivers Fehér-Körös ('' Crișul Alb'') and Fekete-Körös ('' Crișul Negru'') to its outf ...
) # Palóc # Northeastern # Transylvanian Plain ''(Mezőség)'' # Székely #
Moldavia Moldavia (, or ; in Romanian Cyrillic alphabet, Romanian Cyrillic: or ) is a historical region and former principality in Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester River. An initially in ...
n ''( Csángó)'' The last three are spoken outside the current territory of Hungary, in parts of Romania. The Csángó dialect is spoken primarily in
Bacău County Bacău County () is a county (județ) of Romania, in Western Moldavia, with its capital city at Bacău. It has one commune, Ghimeș-Făget, in Transylvania. Geography This county has a total area of . In the western part of the county there a ...
in eastern Romania. The Csángó Hungarian group has been largely isolated from other
Hungarian people Hungarians, also known as Magyars, are an ethnic group native to Hungary (), who share a common culture, language and history. They also have a notable presence in former parts of the Kingdom of Hungary. The Hungarian language belongs to the U ...
, and they therefore preserved a dialect closely resembling an earlier form of Hungarian. A former classification distinguished the following dialects:
Great Hungarian Plain The Great Hungarian Plain (also known as Alföld or Great Alföld, or ) is a plain occupying the majority of the modern territory of Hungary. It is the largest part of the wider Pannonian Plain (however, the Great Hungarian Plain was not par ...
, West Danube, Danube-
Tisza The Tisza, Tysa or Tisa (see below) is one of the major rivers of Central and Eastern Europe. It was once called "the most Hungarian river" because it used to flow entirely within the Kingdom of Hungary. Today, it crosses several national bo ...
(territories between the two rivers), King's Pass Hungarian (Pass in
Apuseni Mountains The Apuseni Mountains (, "Western Mountains"; , "Transylvanian Mountains") are a mountain range in Transylvania, Romania, which belongs to the Western Romanian Carpathians. The highest peak is the Bihor Peak at . The Apuseni Mountains have ab ...
), Northeast Hungarian, Northwest Hungarian, Székely, West Hungarian and Csángó. This classification was also used by
Ethnologue ''Ethnologue: Languages of the World'' is an annual reference publication in print and online that provides statistics and other information on the living languages of the world. It is the world's most comprehensive catalogue of languages. It w ...
, with the exception of the Csángó dialect, which was mentioned but not listed separately. In addition there are seven dialects of Hungarian Sign Language.


Dialects


Western Transdanubian dialect

Formerly called West Hungarian. Due to the proximity of Austria its vocabulary is somewhat affected by German; for "yes", German ''ja'' is commonly substituted for standard Hungarian . Its pronunciation is characterized by the shortening of long vowels ( instead of standard , instead of ) and the lengthening of consonants ( instead of standard , instead of ). This dialect also uses the ë (closed "e") vowel profusely. The consonant "l" is often lost after a long vowel or at the end of words. Consonants are often palatalized ( instead of standard ), however, "ly" (originally a palatalized "l" in the dialect from which standard Hungarian evolved) becomes "l" instead of the more common "j".


Central Transdanubian / Little Hungarian Plain dialect and Southern Transdanubian dialect

Formerly called Transdanubian dialect. Central Transdanubian has several subdialects including the Csallóköz, the Mátyusföld and the Szigetköz dialects. These dialects share some similarities with Western Transdanubian, both in pronunciation and in vocabulary, but the latter was also affected by the South Slavic languages, due to their geographical proximity. ''Ja'' for is common; they distinguish between open and closed ''e'' sound, though here it is the open ''e'' that differs from standard Hungarian, sounding more like a short ''a''.


Southern Great Plain dialect or Southern dialect

Spoken mostly between the rivers
Danube The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...
and
Tisza The Tisza, Tysa or Tisa (see below) is one of the major rivers of Central and Eastern Europe. It was once called "the most Hungarian river" because it used to flow entirely within the Kingdom of Hungary. Today, it crosses several national bo ...
; also in the
Banat Banat ( , ; ; ; ) is a geographical and Historical regions of Central Europe, historical region located in the Pannonian Basin that straddles Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe. It is divided among three countries: the eastern part lie ...
. This was also the dialect of Budapest and its surroundings. Its vocabulary does not show significant differences from standard Hungarian; its dialect words come from Transdanubian, Palóc and Tisza regions. This has historical causes: the area suffered the most significant losses during Hungary's Ottoman occupation in the 16th-17th centuries, and was repopulated from different regions of the country. In pronunciation it often uses a vowel which is a cross between "e" and "ö".


Palóc or Northwestern dialect

Spoken in the northwestern part of the Cisdanubian region; mostly in the counties of Nógrád, Heves and the former county of Borsod (now the western half of Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén), a part of Pest and Bács-Kiskun; also spoken in Southern
Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...
. Its vocabulary may use words from Slovak. Standard ''a'' is substituted by a short ''á'', while standard ''á'' is substituted by a vowel closer to standard ''ó''. Its best known distinguishing characteristic is the use of
diphthong A diphthong ( ), also known as a gliding vowel or a vowel glide, is a combination of two adjacent vowel sounds within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: that is, the tongue (and/or other parts of ...
s (''au'' in place of standard ''o'', ''ie'' in place of ''é''). It is one of the few dialects that still pronounce ''ly'', the palatalized version of ''l'' which, in other dialects, has already merged into another consonant (in standard and in most dialects into ''j'', in some dialects into ''l''.)


Tisza-Körös dialect or Eastern dialect

Formerly called Tisza dialect. It is spoken east of the river Tisza, also by Hungarians living in Romania and Ukraine. It has vocabulary similarities with the nearby Transylvanian Plain dialect. Its pronunciation is marked by the use of ''í'' instead of the standard ''é'': ''níz'' instead of ''néz'', ''píz'' instead of ''pénz''. East of
Debrecen Debrecen ( ; ; ; ) is Hungary's cities of Hungary, second-largest city, after Budapest, the regional centre of the Northern Great Plain Regions of Hungary, region and the seat of Hajdú-Bihar County. A city with county rights, it was the large ...
the vowel ''e'' is commonly pronounced instead of standard ''ö'' (''ser'' instead of ''sör''), though not in all words. As common in dialects this side of the Danube, open and closed e is not distinguished. The consonants l, r and j at the end of a syllable often lengthen its vowel.


Northeastern dialect

Spoken in the eastern part of Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County (mostly in the former county Zemplén), also in Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg County and parts of Slovakia. It was the main dialect of the region where important literary figures such as
Ferenc Kazinczy Ferenc Kazinczy (), (in older English: Francis Kazinczy, October 27, 1759 – August 23, 1831) was a Hungarian author, poet, translator, neologist, an agent in the regeneration of the Hungarian language and literature at the turn of the 19th c ...
(leading figure of the reforming and revitalizing of Hungarian in the 18th century) and
Ferenc Kölcsey Ferenc Kölcsey (archaically English: Francis Kolcsey, 8 August 1790 in Sződemeter – 24 August 1838) was a Hungarian poet, literary critic, orator, and politician, noted for his support of the liberal current in Hungary regarding the pol ...
(also a language reformer, author of the National Anthem) lived and worked; also, of Vizsoly, where the first extant Hungarian Bible translation was published. Due to the dialect forming the basis of standard literary Hungarian, it has no significant differences from it, although it is not identical with it. The small differences are mainly in vocabulary, though in some parts, close to the connecting Tisza-Körös region, ''í'' is commonly pronounced instead of standard ''e'' and there are differences in verb conjugation – a distinctive characteristics that was not adopted by standard Hungarian is the different future tense of auxiliary verbs ''kell'' ("must", "have to") and ''lehet'' ("may", "might"), with ''kell lesz'' and ''lehet lesz'' used instead of the standard ''kell majd'' and ''lehet majd''. The dialect's characteristics, such as not differentiating between open and closed e, and pronouncing the consonant ''ly'', have had a lasting effect on the standardized spelling of Hungarian.


Transylvanian Plain dialect

Formerly called King's Pass, after a mountain pass in Transylvania. It is spoken in the non-Székely parts of Transylvania, a region of Romania formerly belonging to Hungary. Its characteristics are the pronunciation of ''a'' instead of standard ''o'' (''bagár'' instead of standard ''bogár''), and ''á'' instead of ''a''. In several parts of the region the vowels are shortened (''házbol'' instead of ''házból''). Interestingly, it retains the
preterite The preterite or preterit ( ; abbreviated or ) is a grammatical tense or verb form serving to denote events that took place or were completed in the past; in some languages, such as Spanish, French, and English, it is equivalent to the simple p ...
tense, the use of which has been steadily declining in other dialects since the Middle Hungarian period; in standard Hungarian its last appearance was in literary texts of the second half of the 19th century, and it has been obsolete since then.


Székely dialect

The dialect most commonly associated with Transylvania has a distinctive vocabulary. Together with the region's traditions and folk culture it has given rise to significant literary works. The Székely dialect makes use of several Romanian loan words, which are not always understood by speakers of standard Hungarian.


Moldavian dialect

Commonly called the ''Csángó'' dialect, this dialect differs the most from standard Hungarian, as a result of isolation from other Hungarian regions. The region where it is spoken is completely separated from the current territory of Hungary. The dialect has two subdialects: the archaic dialect and the Székely-Csángó dialect, the former being the only independently developed dialect of Hungarian, and could also be considered a
regional language * A regional language is a language spoken in a region of a sovereign state, whether it be a small area, a federated state or province or some wider area. Internationally, for the purposes of the European Charter for Regional or Minority La ...
, while the latter was heavily influenced by the neighbouring Székely dialect. The Romanian census lists Csángó speakers separately from Hungarians. The archaic Csángó dialect still retains several characteristics of Middle Hungarian, the medieval version of Hungarian, but has a number of Romanian loanwords. Due to its extensive use of
archaism In language, an archaism is a word, a sense of a word, or a style of speech or writing that belongs to a historical epoch beyond living memory, but that has survived in a few practical settings or affairs. lexicon, Lexical archaisms are single a ...
s and words specific to the dialect, it is difficult to understand even for Hungarians who also speak Romanian. It has about 10–15,000 speakers, with a further 10–13,000 speakers who use a mixture of Archaic and Székely-Csángó dialects. Székely-Csángó dialect shows similarities with Székely subdialects, but it lacks words created during the language reform and has a larger number of Romanian loanwords. The majority of Csángós, around 40,000 persons, speak this dialect.


Romungro dialect

The Romungro dialect is a version of Hungarian used by Roma people living in Hungary in various stages of assimilation. A large number of Hungarian Roma do not speak their original languages (
Lovari Lovari ("horse-dealer", from Hungarian "ló", ''horse'') is a subgroup of the Romani people, who speak their own dialect, influenced by Hungarian and West Slavic dialects. They live predominantly throughout Central Europe (Hungary, Poland, Slov ...
or Boyash) any more, but Romungro has a large number of loan words from them. Original Romani words are conjugated in accordance with the rules of Hungarian grammar; the Romani effect on Romungro can be observed mostly in the vocabulary. Some words have meanings that in standard Hungarian are expressed by a related word (for example a sly person using other persons for personal gain would be referred to as a ''snake'' in standard Hungarian and as a ''reptile'' in Romungro). The dialect also has its own proverbs. It has regional differences, which are hard to ascertain, as the dialect is poorly researched, but several typical characteristics are known, such as pronouncing ''á'' instead of standard ''a'', ''ű'' instead of ''ő'', ''u'' instead of ''o'', ''í'' instead of ''é''. Several words or suffixes are shortened, for example the inessive suffix ''-ban'' and the illative suffix ''-ba'' are merged (in standard Hungarian this is usually a sign of someone being uneducated, which does not help the dialect's status in public opinion). The dialect has a distinctive intonation which easily lends itself to imitation by comedians mocking Roma or lower-class Hungarian people. Despite its low status, several of its Romani loanwords have found their way into standard Hungarian, although mostly as slang words. This means that the dialect is completely intelligible for speakers of standard Hungarian.


See also

* History of the Hungarian language * Funeral Sermon and Prayer *'' Lamentations of Mary''


References

{{reflist Hungarian language Dialects by language