Névszemiotikai tájkép – társadalom – identitás
Name Semiotic Landscape – Society – Identity

Summary/Abstract: The paper examines the connections between bilingualism and the name semiotic landscape focusing especially on the name semiotic landscape of Slovakian settlements populated by Hungarian minorities, as well as on naming laws affecting the visual use of proper names in Slovakia. Name-semiotic landscape is one of the new dynamically developing fields of socionomastics. The name semiotic landscape consists of proper names (especially personal names, place names and the names of institutions) which appear on name plates, notices in public places and other surfaces (e.g. posters, wall surfaces, gravestones, tableaux), as well as extralinguistic signs referring to names. The author explores the extent to which in Slovakian settlements with Hungarian minorities, minority language rights are respected in the visual use of proper names; whether or not native name use is increasing; and also examines the presence of signs and notices including Hungarian proper names. Social factors greatly influence the dynamic change in the name semiotic landscape. The paper describes the semiotic landscape characteristics of Slovakian settlements populated by Hungarian minorities with respect to each name type: personal names, place names and the names of institutions. In bilingual society proper names appearing in a minority language increase the prestige of the minority language, they express collective identity and can be considered as symbols of identity.

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