Southeast Europe

minorities, it failed because its interests went beyond their objectives. It also has to be
noted that the other minorities are smaller and with a weaker identity than the
Hungarians.
The strategy of the Germans was different in the communist period. They decided to
leave the country. Their number decreased dramatically in the early nineties. Only the
elder Germans remained in Romania. The only minority that is sufficiently numerous
and has a clear intention to maintain and develop a parallel society is the Hungarians.
2.3.4 Relations between the regions inhabited by the minority and the central
authorities
As Hungarians inhabit all regions of the country to a greater or lesser extent, it is
impossible to speak about relations between the areas they inhabit and the state. Most
noteworthy is the fact that there are local ethnic Hungarian leaders elected by the
population (mayors and deputy mayors). Nevertheless, power in Romania is still very
centralised, and the prefects that are the representatives of the government may easily
obstruct measures taken locally. After the 2000 election the DAHR obtained places only
for deputy-prefects.
Recent legislative changes (see section 5.2) in the areas of education and local public
administration guarantee the rights of Hungarians (and other minorities) to receive
education in their mother tongue and to use that language when dealing with individuals
working in local public administration. However, the application of these laws is not
smooth and is hindered by several local and central factors.
3. LANGUAGE
3.1 Describing the language
3.1.1 Linguistic family
Hungarian is a Uralic language. It is thought to have originated as part of the eastern, or
Ugric, branch of Finno-Ugric, which also includes Finnish, Estonian, and some isolated
languages spoken by minorities living in northern Europe and Siberia. Between
approximately two-and-a-half and three-and-a-half millennia ago it broke away from
this group to take on the form it has today. (Abondolo, 1998:428). With the exception of
grammatical structure, however, the languages in this group are not similar and speakers
of one cannot necessarily understand or speak the others.
3.1.2 Dialects and unity; linguistic awareness
Approximately 1.7 million people in Romania and an estimated 14 million people
worldwide, use Hungarian or Magyar and dialects thereof. (Abondolo, 1998:428). Any
information concerning the “Hungarian minority in Romania” includes the Szeklers in
Transylvania and the Changos in Moldavia, in addition to the Magyars who are
scattered throughout the country, although they are concentrated in Transylvania. Both
of the former peoples speak a dialect of Hungarian and their culture, while distinct, is
closely akin to that of the ethnic Hungarians in the region. Members of all three
Hungarian-speaking groups in Transylvania can be easily understood by one another.
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