Oldal 115 [115]
CHAPTER 6
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METHOD
DATA COLLECTION
The data presented in this paper were collected via semi-structured
sociolinguistic interviews conducted by the author and Ágnes Bolonyai in
the Hungarian community of North Carolina in the course of 2007 and 2008.
In the course of the ‘semi-structured’ interviews, which were informal
dinner conversations at the home of Agnes Bolonyai, there were narrative
elicitation types of questions about the experience of being American¬
Hungarian in North Carolina. Such sociolinguistic interviews were conducted
with 39 Hungarian-Americans. The interviewed subjects are either members
of the North Carolina Hungarian Club or are closely affiliated to it. In the
interviews, subjects took part individually, or together with their close family
members, with their spouses or children. That is why altogether 28 interviews
were conducted.
The minimum time length of the interviews was 45 minutes, but the longest
interview lasted 4 hours. Prior to the interviews, all subjects were informed
that the interviews would be recorded, and they all gave their consent to it.
Altogether, the whole sample consists of 54 hours of recorded sociolinguistic
interviews. The conversations were transcribed to provide a text of 2,174 pages
(12-point Times New Roman, double-spaced).
Because of limitation of scope and length, my analysis mainly focuses
on the interview data. However, the empirical observations I made during
conducting the interviews as well as participating in the Hungarian Club’s and
other Hungarian events helped me gain a better understanding of the Club’s
group dynamics and its members’ collective speech patterns.
In addition to the oral interviews, participants were asked to fill out a two¬
page questionnaire which contained survey types of questions inquiring about
their sociolinguistic background such as age, qualification, profession, time
spent since the date of immigration as well as about their Hungarian/English
e 113"