Ildikó N. Császi: Social Relations, Interaction of Using Language and Names
In the recent research of place names the systemised introduction of place names and/or name types of certain territories or regions is more and more emphasised. The collection of Upper Land place-names started at the Peda-gogical University in Nitra according to a thoroughly worked out programme. From that time more collecting works were started, of which majority does not systemise the names and they can be used as databases.
The main aim of the author’s research is to describe, analyse from more aspects, and systematise the place-names of 15 territories belonging directly to Zoborja – as specific vocabulary units – by language tools. The examined place-names are the members of the set of language units, and its system is the partial system of the speaking community’s vocabulary.
The author wants to explore the language tools influencing the naming of the region and the typical methods of changing place-names on the basis of the collected matériái of place-names. Since these territories are situated beyond the bordér, loosing names has a great importance, since due to the assimilation the newly-created names do not enrich the set of Hungárián place-names.
The basis for the survival of place-names is determined by the us of place-names. Therefore, the author pays attention to the percentage of population who deal with agriculture, and to the social background of the study/theory of names. Sociological research based on the date of the 1991 population cen-sus help to find the answers. At that time 14 per cent of the population worked in agriculture. It is a cold comfort for us to know that from this number the number of Hungárián speakers is only two times more than the Slovak speak-ers. The majority of Hungarian-speaking population live in villages, the levél of industrialisation of territories lived by Hungarians does not reach national levél, on these territories the natural conditions favour to agriculture.
The influence of the Slovak language on the set of place-names of Zoborja that is situated at the bordér of the Hungárián language region and that is under strong influence of the state language cannot be neglected. Knowingthe matériái of place-names we can state that the Slovak language data of this region are only secondary, but the increase of assimilation of this extent, in consequence of unambiguous striving for power it is possible that the Slav names become primary. Place-names found on recent maps are the literal translation of Hungárián names, and have the features of official naming.
The relationship of science of names and dialectology is strengthened by those researches that confirm the application of methods of word-geography studies in linguistics, and that expect evén place-geography results from pro-cessing place-name collections.
By recognising the set of place-names, the individual masters certain rules on creating names, and through communication a typical “name-conscious-ness” of the speaker is created. This name-competency ensures that in the language he recognises evén language formations not known by him as place-names, and using them as patterns he is able to create similar ones.