politeness in hungarian some educational implications

Appropriation et transmission des langues et des cultures du monde: Actes du Séminaire Doctoral International 2012 coordonnés par I. Schneider, G. Torresin, A. Simpson et G. Ziegler

Politeness in Hungarian – some educational implications

Politesse en hongrois – quelques

aspects didactiques

Rita Gárdosi, INALCO, docteur, membre de

PLIDAM, Paris1

1 PLIDAM/ INALCO, 2, rue de Lille, 75343, Paris cedex 07, [email protected]

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Résumé

Mon projet est au croisement de plusieurs disciplines : linguistique appliquée et

linguistique contrastive français-hongrois, hongrois en tant que langue étrangère et

didactique des langues et cultures.

Les normes qui régissent l’emploi des termes d’adresse ainsi que la distinction entre

le tutoiement et le vouvoiement varient d’une langue et d’une culture à l’autre. Elles

dépendent de facteurs tels que le statut relatif des interlocuteurs, la proximité de la

relation et le registre du discours.

Les compétences sociolinguistiques et pragmatiques sont aussi importantes que les

compétences linguistiques. Cependant, les grammaires et les méthodes ont

tendance à minimiser l’importance du rôle joué par les salutations et les appellatifs

dans la communication. Pourtant, leur méconnaissance peut engendrer certains

problèmes dans les échanges interculturels.

Dans ma communication, j’étudie la place des termes d’adresse dans la

pragmatique, dans l’apprentissage des langues et dans la théorie de la traduction. Je

propose également une méthodologie et des exercices sur ces expressions à forte

connotation culturelle.

Mon travail fait largement appel aux résultats d’un corpus de littérature

contemporaine comportant des oeuvres littéraires hongroises et leurs traductions

françaises. Mes observations portent plus spécifiquement sur les dialogues.

L’analyse de ce corpus permet de systématiser les erreurs de traduction, ceci au

bénéfice de l’enseignement du hongrois et des travaux lexicographiques.

Mots-clés: hongrois, culture, pragmatique, politesse, lexicographie

Abstract

This research project is at the crossroads of three disciplines, i.e. applied and

contrastive linguistics (French-Hungarian), Hungarian as a foreign language, and

language didactics.


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The rules governing the use of the terms of address, and the rules about when to use

the informal or formal way of addressing a single interlocutor (e.g. tu/vous in French

or te/ön in Hungarian) vary from one language or one culture to another. They

depend on factors such as the relative status of the interlocutors, how close the

relationship between them, and the register of language.

Although sociolinguistic skills and pragmatic communication skills are as important as

language skills, grammars and language learning methods tend to downplay the role

of salutations and appellatives in communication.

In my communication, I study the place of the terms of address in pragmatics,

language learning and translation theory. I also put forward a methodology as well as

exercises concerning these expressions with a strong cultural connotation.

My work is largely based on the analysis of a corpus of contemporary literature

comprised of Hungarian literary works – mainly novels – and their translation into

French. My observations relate more particularly to the dialogues. By analysing the

corpus, I was able to provide a systematic census of translation errors; this can be of

use for Hungarian teaching and lexicographic work purposes.

Keywords: Hungarian language, culture, pragmatics, politeness, lexicography

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1. Hungarian language

Hungarian is a Finno-Ugric language, like the Finnish and Estonian languages.

However, due to the settlement for a century in the Carpathian basin, around Slavic

and Germanic speaking peoples, the Hungarian language has been heavily

influenced by Indo-European languages.

The Hungarian language is a European language not only because we can prove

that it has been spoken in Europe for over a thousand years, but also it has been

integrated into the European culture. Hungarian is an agglutinative language, which

means suffixes are added to the basic form of words, to express grammatical

meanings. It is a language that is spoken by 15 million people around the world, 10

million in Hungary itself and about 3 million Hungarians living in neighboring

countries of Hungary.

2. The expression of politeness The expression of politeness does not limit itself to simple forms of address like the

use of informal you (tu) or formal you (vous).

Research has confirmed that only 35 percent of communication is realized by means

of language, the remaining 65 percent is made through gestures and movements.

Different cultures use around 100 to 200 gestures (Bańczerowski 1996: 190).

2.1 Gestures

It is difficult to define the concept of gesturing. First, it’s a voluntary or involuntary

bodily movement (mainly the arms, hands, and the head), revealing a psychological

state, or expressed aim, to accomplish a purpose.

Secondly, formal gestures and rituals are useful codes of social communication.

They are constructed and deeply tied to the values of a culture.

Gestures, otherwise called “phatic rituals” (Balázs 1993: 16), often go together with

oral rituals, and the result is a complete ritual. In the last century, acts showing


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respect, such as bowing or tipping one’s hat, were essential elements of European

manners.

However, most of the rituals have disappeared, like the Hungarian expression Kezét

csókolom “I kiss your hand”, whose origins were accompanied by the act itself. This

tender gesture has disappeared today, but the expression remains.

2.2 Greetings

Greeting is simultaneously an element of formal necessity for social contact and one

of the most common verbal forms of open communication.

Today we can classify several forms of greeting. For example, according to the

context or the conditions of a meeting, relations of equality or superiority; the degree

of intimacy of the speakers can be equally important.

From a temporal standpoint, contrasting acts are of essential concern when initiating

greetings. In French bonjour can be used all day long (as well as bonsoir at nightfall

in winter). However, the day in Hungarian term is divided into four parts, and the

appropriate greeting must be chosen accordingly: Jó reggelt (kívánok) ‘Good

morning’, (only in the early morning up to 8 or 9 o’clock in the morning), Jó napot

(kívánok) ‘Good day’ (during the day), Jó estét (kívánok) ‘Good evening’ (from 6-7

o’clock in the evening), Jó éjszakát (kívánok) ‘Good night’.

2.3 Personal Pronouns in Hungarian

Let’s move on now to a subdivision of Hungarian personal pronouns. A formal "you"

(vous) also exists in Hungarian and is used when addressing someone, providing a

richness of forms and manners of address with one another or with multiple persons.

For example, in Hungarian there are multiple variants of the formal form: maga and

ön ‘vous’ (maga is used to address persons who know one another well, but wish to

keep a distance, whereas ön is used when persons do not know one another, or do

not know each other well, as well as in official settings). The other variants arise

when addressing a woman (magácska, kiskegyed etc.).

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Person → Sg. Pl.

Degree of politeness → T V T V

French tu vous vous vous

Hungarian te ön

maga

magácska,

kiskegyed etc.

ti önök

maguk

magácskáék,

kiskegyedék etc. Table 1 “Personal Pronouns in French and in Hungarian”

2.4 Nominal Forms of Address

Let’s continue and see how we address a lady or gentleman, and how different terms

of address exist in four registers of the language.

This table shows proof of two languages within Hall’s proxemics system (1966), who

describes four distances: public (anonymous persons on street), social (for

colleagues), personal (for friends) and intimate (for lovers).

Distance

→

Language

↓

Public Social Personal Intimate

French Madame / Mademoiselle

Monsieur

Mme /

Mlle Grand

Monsieur Grand

Marie

Pierre

Marie

Pierre

Hungarian Asszonyom ’Madame’ /

Hölgyem ‘Madame’ /

Kisasszony*

‘Mademoiselle’

Uram ‘Monsieur’

?

Kovács úr

‘Monsieur Kovács’

Mária,

Marika

Péter, Peti

Marika,

Mária

Peti, Péter

Table 2 “Nominal Forms of Address in French and in Hungarian”


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Finally, in Hungarian, there are specific terms and figures which permit us to have

even more solutions if the personal pronoun forms are not convenient for the

situation or if we want to avoid the terms of address who.

3. Research background The study of address forms was born of historical linguistics. From the late 19th

century there are many studies about the elements of politeness, forms of address

and vocative pronouns, their history and usage rules such as those of Kennedy about

English literature (1915) and Fay about a drama of Molière (1920).

A study in 1960 opened a new page in the field of sociolinguistics: the authors

examine the use of pronouns and the difference between tu and vous in German,

French and Italian (Brown-Gilman 1960). By studying realistic novels, Friedrich

(1972) continued that kind of research in Russian, Bates and Benigni (1975) in Italian

and Paulston (1976) in Swedish. We can say that at the end of nineties, almost all

European languages have been working on the subject of the forms of address.

In Hungary the authors began to observe the different dialects and expressions of tu

and vous relatively early (Lukács 1896). In the fifties, Hungarian authors dealt

particularly contemporary changes (Ladó 1958) while in the seventies,

sociolinguistics and anthropological linguistics were at the center of attention. It was

at this time that major studies have focused on the diversity of social practices and

specific expressions used by Hungarians living abroad. A synthesis of interest was

created by Domonkosi (2002).

Currently, the attention of linguists carries more on language communities, media

language and the problem of translation. It is in the context of pragmatic and

intercultural language that arose empirical research on speech acts (request, refusal,

forgiveness and response compliment) (Szili 2004).

4. Research project 4.1 Corpus

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My work primarily consists of novels and of my own specific observations of

dialogues, where I have noted different elements of politeness affecting the implied

recipient. After establishing parameters on the following criteria, I examined ten

Hungarian works and their French translations.

Understanding and translating the Hungarian terms of address contained in the

corpus of works requires a certain level of understanding of the socio-cultural

context. In my corpus, most of the actions take place between 1950 and 1980. Two

novels illustrate the language between the years of the twenties and forties. Half of

these works are centered in the Hungarian capital, but we can also observe the

spoken language of the provinces, as well as the Hungarian minorities in Romania

and Slovakia.

Each novel consists of several layers of terms of address. I analyzed the data using

Hall’s thematic approach and terminology (1966). His study of proxemics systems

describes four distances: first the intimate distance (within the family and between

lovers), then the personal distance between friends, colleagues, then the social

distance in the street and on the different social roles of everyday life (in the store

and at the hospital), and finally public distance.

4.2 Results and some examples The analysis of this corpus additionally allows us to examine multiple problems of

translating these forms of address. On the basis of analyzed examples, I can

conclude that the collected data accurately reflects the essential play of forms of

address and the difficulties of translation in another language.

From the very beginning of my research, given that the formal you (vous) may be

translated as either one of the two personal pronouns in Hungarian (maga or ön), as

well as the complications pertaining to the phrases and verbs of politeness and

feudalistic relations in Hungary. These points have been the most difficult parts to

interpret, teach, and translate.

But throughout my research, it is clear that many address terms have evolved

according to the situation, and the pragmatic circumstances strongly influenced by

the choice of the speaker.


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Certain address terms call for varying translations as a function of the intimate,

personal, or public distances. Here are the French translations of the following

address form: fiam ‘my son’ kisfiam, fiacskám ‘my little son’.

Table 3 “French translations of fiam ‘my son’, kisfiam, fiacskám ‘my little son’”

These examples confirms that the meaning of Hungarian forms of address used for

family members (anya 'mother', apa 'father' or fiam 'my son') was extended to other

types of relationships as confidential relations expressing the unity and familiarity.

Forms as fiam, fiacskám 'my son, my little boy' are also possible in Hungarian

targeting girls, which can tint the communication of a remote or insulting tone. The

French translations in all cases prevent translation “my son” and prefer “my little girl”

in my corpus. The address term fiacskám "dear friend" also establishes a distance

between the speakers, giving an insulting dimension to the conversation.

5. Teaching politeness in Hungarian It has been confirmed that speaking a language does not only consist of putting

together phrases, but also “to communicate, it is not enough to know the language,

the linguistic system; one must also know how to use the language as a function of a

given social context” (Bachmann 1991: 53).

From day one, the question of understanding politeness necessitates the teaching of

it, thus we work on introductions and greetings.

mon fils

mon petit

mon chéri

mon petit père

mon vieux

cher ami

,

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The objective of teaching naturally is not to give the students all of the details of

politeness, but to “sensitize them to the existence of pragmatic functions of language,

for those who make it conscious.” (Grandcolas 2000: 52) Conducting lessons must

provide the opportunity of a series of group activities and discussions, and a

comparative systems of address terms as well as the differences between the use of

formal you (vous) and informal you (tu) in the various languages.

I believe that learning through illustrated images of various communication situations

and the different persons involved, is a good idea. Through this method, students

gain exposure and knowledge of different patterns.

6. Future projects In the years to come, I count on deepening my research. Here are some ways I

intend to widen my field of studies:

- complete this research with interviews and sociolinguistic questionnaires with

francophone students and evaluate their degree of competence and have a

conscious awareness of using these Hungarian terms of address;

- lead an investigation surrounding the teaching of Hungarian as a foreign language

and observing other methods and didactic activities with regards to the terms of

address and Hungarian formal expressions.

References: 1. Bachmann, C., Lindenfeld, J., Simonin, J. (1991). Langage et communications

sociales. Hatier-Didier.

2. Balázs, G. (1993). Kapcsolatra utaló (fatikus) elemek a magyar nyelvben.

Nyelvtudományi Értekezések 137, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó.

3. Bańczerowski, J. (1996). A nem-verbális kommunikáció egyes kérdései. Magyar

Nyelvőr, 187-194.

4. Bates, E., Benigni, L. (1975). Rules of Address in Italy: A Sociological Survey.

Language in Society, 271-288.


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5. Bordier, E., Szende, T. (1988). Termes d’adresse et de salutation dans un

dictionnaire hongrois-français. Contrastes 17, 93-104.

6. Brown, R., Gilman, A. (1960). The pronouns of power and solidarity. American

Anthropologist 6, 24–39.

7. Coffen, B. (2002). Histoire culturelle des pronoms d’adresse. Vers une typologie

des systèmes allocutoires dans les langues romanes. Paris : Honoré Champion.

8. Domonkosi, Á. (2002). Megszólítások és beszédpartnerre utaló elemek

nyelvhasználatunkban. Debrecen: A Debreceni Egyetem Magyar Nyelvtudományi

Intézetének Kiadványai.

9. Fay, P.B. (1920). The use of tu and vous in Molière. University of California:

Publications in Modern Philology, 227-286.

10. Fodor, F. L’emploi des formes d’adresse en hongrois: Tendances évolutives et

variations sociolinguistiques from

http://cvc.cervantes.es/lengua/coloquio_paris/ponencias/pdf/cvc_fodor.pdf

11. Friedrich, P. (1972). Social context and semantic feature: The Russian

pronominal usage . In Gumperz, J. J., Hymes, D. (Eds.), Directions is

Sociolinguistics (pp. 270-300). New York: Rinehart and Winston.

12. Grandcolas, B. (2000). Comment peut-on enseigner la politesse en langue

étrangère ? Les langues modernes, 52-60.

13. Hall, E.T. (1966). The Hidden Dimension. New York: Anchor Books.

14. Hofstede, G. (2001). Culture's Consequences, Comparing Values, behaviors,

Institutions, and Organizations Across Nations. Thousand Oaks CA: Sage

Publications.

15. Kennedy, A. G. (1915). The pronoun of address in English literature of the

thirteenth century, Stanford.

16. Ladó, J. (1958). Köszönés és megszólítás napjainkban. Magyar Nyelvőr, 422-430.

17. Lukács, L. (1896). Kegyed és Ön. Magyar Nyelvőr 306-307.

18. Paulston, C. (1976). Pronouns of address in Swedish: Social class semantics and

changing system. Language in Society, 359-386.

19. Szili, K. (2004). Tetté vált szavak. A beszédaktusok elmélete és gyakorlata,

Budapest: Tinta Könyvkiadó.

politeness in hungarian some educational implications

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