Language Contact Issues in Central Europe

Abstract

The paper will review some of the fundamental issues related to language con- tact in Central Europe both from a structural point of view and from the socio-political and historical point of view. Various language contacts, the language rights issues, both national and international, and the linguistic-human-rights-in-education of minorities will be discussed in some detail. It will be shown that most if not all nation-states in the re- gion pursue minority policies that are just about tolerated by the international community. Violations of Linguistic Human Rights in Hungary and other states will be discussed. The impact of the English-Only movement in the USA on Slovak language policy will be dem- onstrated. Finally, the European Union’s language policy will be examined in relation to what impact it may have on the language strife in the region.