[lg policy] the economist on the slovak language law

[Slavomír Čéplö]

Thanks for the link, Dennis.
A few remarks:

1. The clarion call you're much more likely to hear from all the
nationalists with regard to other languages is "Na Slovensku po
slovensky!" which translates to (roughly) "Slovak should be spoken in
Slovakia!".

2. Why does everyone always forget about Ruthenians and the Roma?

3. "Slovakia’s left-leaning populist government ... has publicly
endorsed the Benes Decrees, which expelled most Germans and many
Hungarians from the then Czechoslovakia after 1945, as a punishment
for their supposedly Nazi sympathies"
First, that has absolutely NOTHING to do with the issue at hand.
Second, the author of the article tries to paint this as a sign of
nationalist extremism on the part of the government and that's
nonsense. Even the center-right Dzurinda government (which included
the Hungarian party) endorsed the Beneš decrees. The Beneš decrees
(all 143 of them ) cover much more than the expulsion of alleged Nazi
and Horthy sympathizers. Having been ratified by the National Assembly
of the reconstituted Czechoslovak Republic in 1946, they are an
integral part of the legal framework in both the Czech Republic and
Slovakia and whatever one thinks of them, endorsing them means
endorsing the rule of law. It's those who call for abolishing them who
are the extremists.

Yours,

bulbul

On Fri, Jul 31, 2009 at 4:53 PM, Dennis Baron<debaron at illinois.edu> wrote:
> FYI: from this week's Economist:
>
> Language rows between Slovakia and Hungary
>
> Hovorte po slovensky!*
>
> Jul 30th 2009 | BRATISLAVA
> From The Economist print edition
>
> Slovakia criminalises the use of Hungarian
>
> Illustration by David Simonds
>
> LANGUAGE laws may protect minority rights or infringe them. Slovakia’s new
> law, which comes into force on September 1st, is under fire for its
> harshness. It imposes fines of up to €5,000 ($7,000) on those who break
> rules promoting the use of Slovak in public. Hungarian-speakers, who number
> around a fifth of the population, mainly in the south of the country, see
> that as a direct attack on their right to speak their mother-tongue. So do
> politicians in neighbouring Hungary. A long-running dispute between two of
> Europe’s most prickly neighbours is turning nasty.
>
> Slovakia’s left-leaning populist government has been needling Hungary since
> it took power in 2006. It sidelined plans for a joint Hungarian-Slovak
> history textbook last year and has publicly endorsed the Benes Decrees,
> which expelled most Germans and many Hungarians from the then Czechoslovakia
> after 1945, as a punishment for their supposedly Nazi sympathies. The new
> law tightens rules about speaking Slovak in dealings with public officials:
> not just police officers or teachers, but also, say, doctors. Exceptions
> apply to monoglots, or in districts where the minority makes up a fifth or
> more of the population. Hungarian-language schools must conduct their
> administration in Slovak. The new law also lays down detailed instructions
> for the way in which memorials and plaques may be inscribed
>
> A party representing the Hungarian minority is mounting a challenge in the
> constitutional court: it calls the law “19th-century language imperialism”.
> The Slovak response similarly accuses the Hungarians of hankering for the
> 19th century: they dominated the region in the Habsburg era. The Slovak
> prime minister, Robert Fico, said the real problem was those wanting to
> bully Slovaks in the south of the country into learning Hungarian.
>
> The Slovak foreign ministry has published (unilaterally) an expert opinion
> drawn up in confidence by Knut Vollebaek, high commissioner for national
> minorities at the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, a
> Vienna-based international organisation. Mr Vollebaek agrees that the bill
> does not in itself contravene international law or Slovakia’s earlier
> commitments to protect minority languages. But his opinion also highlights
> concerns over the hasty passage of the new legislation and the danger that
> it may be interpreted arbitrarily.
>
> The big question is the meaning of the requirement that Slovak be used “in
> public”. Would, say, a Hungarian-speakers’ poetry club have to arrange for
> their meetings to be translated into Slovak? Perhaps not, but it is an odd
> thing to have to worry about these days in the European Union.
>
> Grandstanding in the run-up to elections has fuelled the row. Mr Fico is
> gaining record popularity ratings. It helps divert opinion from issues such
> as corruption and economic decline. Mikulas Dzurinda, a former prime
> minister and opposition leader, says that the real danger to the Slovak
> language comes not from tongue-tied ethnic Hungarians, but from the debasing
> of Slovak by foul-mouthed chauvinists in the government, such as the leader
> of the Slovak National Party, Jan Slota. He recently provoked uproar by
> calling a policewoman (she says) a “cunt”. The charming gentleman’s
> complaint? She had refused to allow his driver unauthorised entry to a
> parliamentary garage.
>
> *Speak Slovak
>
> http://www.economist.com/world/europe/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14140437
>
> ____________________
> Dennis Baron
> Professor of English and Linguistics
> Department of English
> University of Illinois
> 608 S. Wright St.
> Urbana, IL 61801
> office: 217-244-0568
> fax: 217-333-4321
> http://www.illinois.edu/goto/debaron
> read the Web of Language:
> http://www.illinois.edu/goto/weboflanguage
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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