Felületes magyarosodás? : A hitszónoklat nyelve a régi magyar statisztikában = Superficial Assimilation? : The Language of Sermons in Old Hungarian Statistics

Bolgár, Dániel (2023) Felületes magyarosodás? : A hitszónoklat nyelve a régi magyar statisztikában = Superficial Assimilation? : The Language of Sermons in Old Hungarian Statistics. AETAS: TÖRTÉNETTUDOMÁNYI FOLYÓIRAT, 38 (2). pp. 98-120. ISSN 0237-7934

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Abstract

Hungarian censuses started surveying linguistic competences in 1880. Data showed that the rate of Hungarian-speakers had been increasing among the population. This process was by far the fastest in the Jewish community. The official and proper interpretation of the linguistic data before World War I was that the country is becoming more Hungarian, with special emphasis on the success story of the acculturation of the Jewish population. However, there were some who believed that the assimilation of the Jews was a failure: they perceived it to be facitious and superficial. After World War I, this interpretation became part of the mainstream. However, this narrative of failed assimilation was not supported by any substantial empirical data, except the accounts regarding the language of sermons, published by the Central Statistical Office between 1897 and 1912. These statistics revealed that the language of Christian churches is changing at a glacial pace, while that of the synagogues is becoming Hungarian really fast. However, the director of the Central Statistical Office, József Jekelfalussy, followed by many of his contemporaries, interpreted the data to mean the exact opposite. Jekelfalussy compared the data on sermons with the census statistics about native languages, to verify that the censuses could be believed, and the country was indeed becoming more Hungarian. Therefore he noticed that rate of Hungarian sermons in synagogues was much smaller than the percentage of Jews who declared their native language to be Hungarian. Jekelfalussy concluded that Jews lied en masse about their mother tongues, and their linguistic assimilation had been superficial. The study argues that Jekefalussy’s interpretation was based on a severe methodical error, and therefore false, but this was not identified by his contemporaries.

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