Oldal 81 [81]
CHAPTER 5
—o —
BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON HUNGARIAN-AMER¬
ICAN IMMIGRANT COMMUNITIES
INTRODUCTION
Optimality Theory for the analysis of bilingual grammar premises upon the
assumption that there is a universally applicable bilingual grammar, consisting
of five principles, acting as constraints of linguistic inputs, of which ranking
varies in different bi- or multilingual communities. Bhatt and Bolonyai have
set up four socio-cultural-historical aspects relying on which the ranking of
constraints can be hypothesized. These are “(1) differences in socio-cultural
norms; (2) history of bilingual contact; (3) structural position of bilingual group
within the larger social historical context; (4) and collective agency in how
communities organize their bilingual resources and (re)negotiate meanings
of code choice and CS in particular socio-political economies”!”'. In order to
set up a hypothetical order of rankings in the Hungarian-American bilingual
community in North Carolina, it is necessary to examine this particular
community along these aspects proposed by Bhatt and Bolonyai.
As the first aspect of community characteristics defined as “differences
in socio-cultural norms”'** seems to be too vague in terms of its scope of
study, it will be excluded from my investigation. The focus of my investigation,
instead, will be on the three other socio-cultural-historical aspects. First, the
history of bilingual contact will be analyzed, that is, a historical overview
of Hungarian-American immigration will be given. It will be followed by an
examination of the structural position of the bilingual group within the larger
social historical context, that is, how Hungarian-American communities can
be positioned in the U.S. social context in terms of their socio-economic
status. Thirdly, Hungarian language use patterns will be examined in the
1 Bhatt — Bolonyai, Ibid., 524
1 Bhatt — Bolonyai, Ibid., 524
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