Fülek/Fil’akovo névszemiotikai tájképe
The Name-semiotic Landscape of Fülek/Fiľakovo

Summary/Abstract: The semiotic landscape is an essential part of the linguistic landscape, and it encompasses names and extralinguistic signages seen on signs in public spaces and other surfaces. Examining the name-semiotic landscape greatly contributes to the research in the field of linguistic landscape. The visual presentation of names in a bilingual community talks about the distribution of power, the political use of names, the status of language, and about the prestige of minority (Hungarian) language. Personal names are, within the national heritage, indicators of local, regional and national identity. Name-semiotic landscape in Fil’akovo typically has signs in Slovak and Hungarian languages. The Slovak names are dominant, but there are examples of bilingual names, while in certain bilingual areas Hungarian names are dominant. The namesemiotic landscape of place names (mostly names of settlements and streets) are typically bilingual: usually the Slovak form (official language) precedes, followed by the Hungarian (minority) equivalent. The name-semiotic landscape of institutions is pronouncedly varied: the signages of state institutions (e.g. institutions, schools) are dominated by bilingual names, while in the case of some types of institution names (e.g. restaurant names) monolingual (mostly English) names are more common. Recently in Fil’akovo, thanks primarily to civil organizations (e.g. Kétnyelvű Gömör és Nógrád – Dvojjazyčný Gemer a Novohrad) as well as to the city administration, we increasingly come across Hungarian proper names, so their use in the mother tongue is expanding.

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