Standardization of Geographical Names in Officially Recognized
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ONOMÀSTICA 6 (2020): 139-161 | RECEPCIÓ 27.10.2019 | ACCEPTACIÓ 15.2.2020 Standardization of geographical names in officially recognized bilingual areas of Slovenia Matjaž Geršič Anton Melik Geographical Institute, Research Center of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts (Ljubljana) [email protected] Drago Kladnik Anton Melik Geographical Institute, Research Center of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts (Ljubljana) [email protected] Marija Brnot The Surveying and Mapping Authority of the Republic of Slovenia, Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning [email protected] Abstract: This article describes the use of geographical names in the ethnically mixed Slovenian–Italian bilingual area in Slovenian Istria in southwest Slovenia and the Slovenian–Hungarian bilingual area in Prekmurje in northeast Slovenia. The article focuses specifically on efforts to standardize geographical names in the two officially recognized minority languages as encouraged by the new decree on writing geographical names in bilingual areas. According to this decree, in addition to the already standardized names of settlements, municipalities, and some major geographical features, only standardized Italian or Hungarian geographical names may be written next to the Slovenian names. Keywords: toponymy, geographical names, bilingualism, Italian ethnic minority, Hungarian ethnic minority, standardization, Slovenia Estandardització de noms geogràfics en zones bilingües oficialment reconegudes d’Eslovènia Aquest article descriu l’ús de noms geogràfics a la zona bilingüe eslovenoitaliana barrejada ètnicament a l’Istria eslovena, al sud-oest d’Eslovènia i, també l’àrea bilingüe eslovenohongaresa a Prekmurje, al nord-est d’Eslovènia. L’article se centra específicament en els esforços per estandarditzar els noms geogràfics en les dues 145 Matjaž Geršič, Drago Kladnik & Marija Brnot llengües minoritàries oficialment reconegudes, tal com fomenta el nou decret sobre la redacció de noms geogràfics en àrees bilingües. Segons aquest decret, a més dels noms ja estandarditzats dels nuclis de població, municipis i d’algunes entitats geogràfiques importants, només es poden escriure noms geogràfics italians o hongaresos estandarditzats acompanyats dels noms eslovens. Paraules clau: toponímia, noms geogràfics, bilingüisme, minoria ètnica italiana, minoria ètnica hongaresa, estandardització, Eslovènia. 1 introduction The equal use of geographical names in bilingual areas has long been the subject of organized international discussions. Hence, it is no coincidence that Resolution II/36: Problems of Minority Languages was adopted as part of the Second United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names held in London as early as 1972 (Resolution Adopted in 2019). The resolution recognizes the desirability of a uniform treatment of geographical names in a minority language in various countries where a specific minority language is spoken, and it recommends that, where possible and in consultation with native speakers of the minority language, the countries in question should: • Adopt a common orthography for all geographical names of the minority language; • Use that orthography for the standardization of the place names in the minority language in their territory; and • Publish the standardized names in their official maps and national gazetteers. Slovenia is a country in which minority issues are handled in an exemplary manner. The official language in the country is Slovenian but, in municipalities where members of the Italian or Hungarian ethnic communities live, Italian and Hungarian are also official languages. In Slovenia, both the Italian and Hungarian ethnic minorities are recognized under the constitution and in the legislation. In addition to the constitution, the 1994 Self-Governing Ethnic Communities Act also lays down provisions for their organization and the protection of basic minority rights (Geršič, Kladnik & Repolusk 2017). In accordance with the law, the names of the settlements in which the members of these two minorities natively live are standardized and 146 Standardization of geographical names in bilingual areas of Slovenia written in bilingual form on road signs; other names, both Slovenian and non-Slovenian, have largely yet to be standardized. Because of this, problems have emerged in connection with the new decree on writing geographical names in bilingual areas. On the one hand, the requirement to standardize these names in the languages of both officially recognized minorities creates a sense of inequality with Slovenian as the majority language and, on the other, it has accelerated standardization efforts. 2 AREAS POPULATED BY MEMBERS OF THE ITALIAN AND HUNGARIAN ETHNIC MINORITIES Ethnic Slovenians account for the majority of the population in Slovenia (the share recorded in the last reference census of 2002 was 83.1%). The members of the two ethnic groups described in the introduction amount to some 10,000 people, which is around 0.5 percent of the total population. Immigrants from elsewhere in the former Yugoslavia and their descendants contribute significantly more to Slovenia’s ethnic heterogeneity (Geršič, Kladnik & Repolusk 2017). The two officially recognized ethnic minorities live in the extreme southwestern and northeastern parts of Slovenia—that is, the areas bordering Italy and Hungary (Komac 2015). In spatial terms, members of the Italian minority live natively in four municipalities (Ankaran/ Ancarano, Izola/Isola, Koper/Capodistria and Piran/Pirano) and members of the Hungarian minority live natively in five Dobrovnik/Dobronak( , Hodoš/Hodos, Lendava/Lendva, Moravske Toplice/Alsómarác and Šalovci/ Sal) (Figure 1). Ethnicity and native language were only recorded in the 1953, 1961, 1971, 1981, 1991, and 2002 censuses (Tables 1 and 2). The tendency not to identify one’s ethnicity is present among members of both official ethnic minorities, which is one of the main reasons for the varying, yet overall declining, numbers between the individual censuses (Šircelj 2003). 147 Matjaž Geršič, Drago Kladnik & Marija Brnot Fig. 1. Areas of officially recognized ethnic minorities in Slovenia (Map: Matjaž Geršič) 148 Standardization of geographical names in bilingual areas of Slovenia Table 1. Members of the Italian community by ethnicity and native language as reported in the 1953, 1961, 1971, 1981, 1991, and 2002 censuses, when these two elements of ethnicity were recorded Year Ethnicity Native language 1953* 854 – 1961 3,072 – 1971 2,987 – 1981 2,138 – 1991 2,959 3,882 2002 2,258 3,762 *In 1953 Zone B of the Free Territory of Trieste was not yet under the jurisdiction of Yugoslavia and Slovenia. Table 2. Members of the Hungarian community by ethnicity and native language as reported in the 1953, 1961, 1971, 1981, 1991, and 2002 censuses, when these two elements of ethnicity were recorded Year Ethnicity Native language 1953 11,019 – 1961 10,498 – 1971 8,943 – 1981 8,777 – 1991 8,000 8,720 2002 6,243 7,713 An examination of the distribution of the minorities at the level of settlements establishes that the bilingual area is considerably smaller. Members of the native ethnic minorities populate only a narrow belt on the coast of the Adriatic and along the Hungarian border. There are twenty-five bilingual settlements that use Slovenian and Italian as official languages (Figure 2), and thirty bilingual settlements in Slovenia that use Slovenian and Hungarian as official languages (Figure 3) (Geršič, Kladnik & Repolusk 2017). 149 Matjaž Geršič, Drago Kladnik & Marija Brnot Fig. 2. Bilingual Slovenian–Italian sign at the entrance to a bilingual settlement in Slovenian Istria in southwestern Slovenia (Photo: Aljaž Hrvatin) Fig. 3. Bilingual Slovenian–Hungarian sign at the exit from a bilingual settlement in Prekmurje in northeastern Slovenia (Photo: Miha Pavšek) 150 Standardization of geographical names in bilingual areas of Slovenia Italians are a notable minority in their bilingual area, accounting for only 4 to 5% of the total population. Approximately 80% of all Italians in Slovenia live in the bilingual area. Hungarians predominate in the majority of their bilingual rural settlements, but they no longer form the majority in the bilingual town of Lendava, which is the center of the bilingual area. Around 83% of the members of the Hungarian ethnic minority live in native bilingual settlements (Geršič, Kladnik & Repolusk 2017). An official list of geographical names in Slovenia and its neighboring countries shown on maps of Slovenia is kept as part of the Register zemljepisnih imen (Register of Geographical Names) or REZI. In December 2014, REZI 25 (part of the register covering 1:25,000 maps) included around 300 names of geographical features in Slovenian Istria (the Slovenian–Italian bilingual area) and around 250 names in Prekmurje (the Slovenian–Hungarian bilingual area). Of these, there were forty bilingual geographical names in Slovenian Istria and fifty-two in Prekmurje. Fig. 4. A typical page with a list of geographical names (Titl 2000, 93) 151 Matjaž Geršič, Drago Kladnik & Marija Brnot In that same period, REZI 5, which covers 1:5,000 maps, included around 650 names of geographical features in Slovenian Istria and around 670 in Prekmurje. Of these, there were two hundred bilingual names in Prekmurje and only four in Slovenian Istria. The small number of bilingual names in the area populated by the Italian ethnic minority is probably no coincidence. Even though exhaustive studies