<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p> Széchenyi studied the linguistic issue, the problems he faced during his public and literary activities with the caution and precision that characterize him. His inquiry into the question of language is marked by nuanced and precise terminology. The distinction between the notions of mother tongue and national language, as well as multilingualism and plurilingualism, are consistent throughout his work. In his conception, the mother tongue is the variety of a given language that is acquired by the speaker in the most intimate environment and through which he/she is linked with the communicational processes of the language community’s social interactions. The national language in his interpretation is the cultivated variety of the mother tongue, which is the language of public life and that of bourgeois national literature as well. In language use, he propagated the principle of linguistic tolerance. He considered the use of the mother tongue a right of every nation (language community). He recognized Europe’s linguistic and national diversity as a value that must be safeguarded and nurtured.</p></abstract>

Széchenyi studied the linguistic issue, the problems he faced during his public and literary activities with the caution and precision that characterize him. His inquiry into the question of language is marked by nuanced and precise terminology. The distinction between the notions of mother tongue and national language, as well as multilingualism and plurilingualism, are consistent throughout his work. In his conception, the mother tongue is the variety of a given language that is acquired by the speaker in the most intimate environment and through which he/she is linked with the communicational processes of the language community’s social interactions. The national language in his interpretation is the cultivated variety of the mother tongue, which is the language of public life and that of bourgeois national literature as well. In language use, he propagated the principle of linguistic tolerance. He considered the use of the mother tongue a right of every nation (language community). He recognized Europe’s linguistic and national diversity as a value that must be safeguarded and nurtured.

Linguistic Issues in Széchenyi’s Oeuvre (Plurilingualism, Multilingualism, Mother Tongue)

Sapientia Hungarian University of Transylvania Faculty of Technical and Human Sciences, Târgu-Mureş Department of Applied Linguistics,

Acta Universitatis Sapientiae, Philologica

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Széchenyi studied the linguistic issue, the problems he faced during his public and literary activities with the caution and precision that characterize him....

Linguistic Issues in Széchenyi’s Oeuvre (Plurilingualism, Multilingualism, Mother Tongue)

Published Online: Feb 09, 2017

Page range: 43 - 52

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/ausp-2016-0030

Keywords
plurilingualism, multilingualism, mother tongue, national and linguistic diversity

© 2017

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Linguistic Issues in Széchenyi’s Oeuvre (Plurilingualism, Multilingualism, Mother Tongue)

Published Online: Feb 09, 2017

Page range: 43 - 52

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/ausp-2016-0030

Keywordsplurilingualism, multilingualism, mother tongue, national and linguistic diversity

© 2017

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Keywords
plurilingualism, multilingualism, mother tongue, national and linguistic diversity