Learning the language of social environment: the case of Hungarian in Vojvodina (Serbia)

Abstract

This article explores Yugoslav education policy in Vojvodina (Serbia), one of the most multilingual regions of the country, which was implemented in the period between the 1960s and 1980s through the school subject the ‘Language of social environment’ (LSE). Based on archival and field research, this case study is devoted to the school subject Hungarian as LSE intended for students whose L1 was Serbo-Croatian. The article addresses the discourses of policy makers who advocated for the introduction of LSE and how former students and teachers remember the school subject, which was abolished in the 1990s. The analysis shows that LSE was based on the values of societal multilingualism for all members of society and in line with a ‘language-as-resource’ orientation to language planning and policy, both as an etic concept at top-down policy level and as an emic concept at local level where nostalgic memories and bottom-up initiatives for its reintroduction emerged.