The renegotiation and redefinition of the (official and informal) status of minority languages constituted one of the key-issues regarding interethnic relations from Romania in the last decades. The study of Horváth István sheds light on the antagonisms between the professional (administrative) and the political perspectives on this problem, and analyses the divers attitudes towards bilingualism declared by the Hungarian from Transylvania. It ought to constitute object of professional reflection the assumption that only minorities should hold the burden of cultural integration, an assumption taken for granted in many professional circles. In the same time, more attention should be driven to the ways members of ethnic minorities relate to bilingualism. On the basis of empirical data, the author argues that approximately one-quarter of the Hungarians from Romania use Romanian as their second language in those communication-situations where social class or local identities are expressed as well.

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