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.
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
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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
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
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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”
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
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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.
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
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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.
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
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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.
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