Research at the Institute of Hungarian Linguistics and Literary Science in Nitra

Abstract

The present-day Institute of Hungarian Linguistics and Literary Science at the Faculty of Central European Studies at Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra was formed in 1960 under the name Department of Hungarian Language and Literature. It was established as the only independent department of the Hungarian Section of the Pedagogical Institute. The existence and work of the department have been closely interrelated with the political and legal situation of Slovakia’s Hungarians and its impact on Slovakia Hungarian teacher training. Since its formation, the Institute of Hungarian Linguistics and Literary Science has seen Hungarian teacher training as one of its most important missions. In recent years, however, the range of programs offered by the Institute grew considerably, in an effort to meet societal demands, and some of its more prominent goals include the training of professionals of cultural life and public administration in their mother tongue (cf. http://www.umjl.fss.ukf.sk/?lang5hu). Right from the outset, scholarly activities of the lecturers of the Institute have specialized in two fields: linguistics and literary studies. Research has focused on various aspects of bilingualism, as well as the language, culture, and literature of Slovakian Hungarians. Literary scholarship at the department/institute has always included research on (Czecho) Slovakian Hungarian literature, augmented in the past two decades with topics of general literary scholarship. Literary scholars at the Institute specialize, among other topics, on popular literature (Kriszti an Benyovszky (see e.g. 2016, 2019)), contemporary Hungarian literature (Anik o N. T oth, 2013, 2020), including child and youth literature (Gabriella Petres Csizmadia, 2015), but research is also carried out on theoretical and historical aspects of minority Hungarian literature (Zs ofia B arczi, 2008, 2014), on the genres of autobiography (Gabriella Petres Csizmadia, 2014), the interconnectedness of gender and literature, and methodological aspects