ONOMÀSTICA 6 (2020): 139-161 | RECEPCIÓ 27.10.2019 | ACCEPTACIÓ 15.2.2020

Standardization of geographical names in officially recognized bilingual areas of Matjaž Geršič Anton Melik Geographical Institute, Research Center of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts () [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 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 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 (/ Ancarano, /Isola, /Capodistria and /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 of geographical names are available for this area and its surroundings (e.g., Titl 1998, 2000), in them the original Italian names are largely Slovenianized and therefore not useful for standardization in native Italian. The Slovenianization of names can be illustrated by a sample page from Toponimi Koprskega primorja in njegovega zaledja (Toponyms of the Coastal Area around Koper and the Surrounding Countryside, Titl 2000), in which names that clearly originate from Italian are marked in yellow (Figure 4).

3 THE STANDARDIZATION OF GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES WITHIN SLOVENIA

To date, the Slovenian Government Committee for the Standardization of Geographical Names has standardized the names of countries and major dependent territories, which are treated as Slovenian exonyms. In addition, the names of all settlements in Slovenia (around six thousand) have been standardized; those in ethnically mixed areas have also been standardized in the languages of the two officially recognized ethnic minorities. Approximately one thousand geographical names from the 1:1,000,000 map of Slovenia were standardized in 2001 (Perko 2001) (Figure 4), and all of the geographical names within Slovenia as displayed on the 1:250,000 National Index Map of Slovenia (Furlan et al. 2008) were standardized in 2008 (Figures 5 and 6). In addition to the already standardized names of the settlements depicted, both maps also use the standardized names of all other features presented, such as regions, rivers, major streams, lakes and reservoirs, bays, mountain ranges, hills, major peaks, and karst caves and shafts.

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Fig. 5. Northeastern Slovenia, detail from the 1:1,000,000 map of Slovenia (Perko 2001)

Fig. 6. Bilingual area in southwestern Slovenia, detail from the 1:250,000 National Index Map of Slovenia (Furlan et al. 2008)

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Fig. 7. Bilingual area in northeastern Slovenia, detail from the 1:250,000 National Index Map of Slovenia (Furlan et al. 2008)

The 1:1,000,000 map features seven bilingual names of settlements in the area populated by the Italian ethnic minority and four in the area populated by the Hungarian ethnic minority. The 1:250,000National Index Map of Slovenia is significantly more detailed. It features almost all (twenty-two out of twenty-five) bilingual names of settlements with Slovenian and Italian as official languages (written with a slash between them), whereas other geographical names in the ethnically mixed area that have all been standardized are written only in Slovenian. With regard to the consistent use of bilingual names in the ethnically mixed area, the official Slovenian minority protection policy has even gone so far as to forcefully introduce bilingual forms for some of the more recent toponyms of Slovenian origin. This has had a strange effect; yet, it undoubtedly defines the location within this area. Almost exactly the same situation applies to the ethnically mixed area along the Slovenian–Hungarian border (Geršič, Kladnik & Repolusk 2017), where all twenty-nine bilingual names of settlements with Slovenian and Hungarian as official languages are presented.

154 Standardization of geographical names in bilingual areas of Slovenia 4 THE CHRONOLOGY OF EFFORTS TO STANDARDIZE GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES IN THE TWO BILINGUAL AREAS

The earliest regulations on writing geographical names in bilingual areas in Slovenia can be traced back to the days of the former Yugoslavia, when the Socialist Republic of Slovenia was allowed to independently create and adopt its legislative framework, although this had to comply with the constitution of the Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia.

4.1 Legislative framework for writing geographical names in bilingual areas

At the end of April 1980, the Decree on Writing Geographical Names in Ethnically Mixed Areas of the Socialist Republic of Slovenia on Plans and Maps (Odredba o pisavi zemljepisnih imen v načrtih in kartah na narodnostno mešanih območjih v SR Sloveniji; Official Gazette of the Socialist Republic of Slovenia, no. 11/80) was adopted. Article 3 of the decree provided that in ethnically mixed areas geographical names on plans and maps had to be written bilingually (i.e., in both languages), with the Slovenian name preceding the Italian or Hungarian name. Article 4 required that in ethnically mixed areas the names of settlements, hamlets, streets, regions, waters, peaks, and mountain ranges, and microtoponyms had to be written in both languages. The typography and size of letters had to be the same in both languages. Also relevant for understanding this issue is the provision contained under Indent 10 of Article 15 of the National Land Survey Reference System Act (Zakon o državnem geodetskem referenčnem sistemu; Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, no. 25/14), which provides that the manner of writing geographical names in ethnically mixed areas in Slovenia on maps of the country is prescribed by the government. On July 25th, 2014, a new Decree on Writing Geographical Names in Ethnically Mixed Areas of the Republic of Slovenia on Maps of the Country (Uredba o načinu pisanja zemljepisnih imen na državnih kartah na narodnostno mešanih območjih v Republiki Sloveniji; Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, no. 57/14) was adopted. It caused great controversy

155 Matjaž Geršič, Drago Kladnik & Marija Brnot because of the different treatment of Slovenian geographical names in ethnically mixed areas compared to those in the two minority languages. To better understand the issue in question, the decree is presented nearly in full below:

Article 1 (Content): This decree specifies the manner of writing geographical names in ethnically mixed areas in the Republic of Slovenia on maps of the country. Article 2 (Geographical names in ethnically mixed areas on maps of the country): 1. In line with the regulations governing the national topographic system, geographical names in ethnically mixed areas of the Republic of Slovenia must be written in Slovenian and Italian or Hungarian on maps of the country covering the territory of Slovenia. 2. Geographical names are names recorded in the register of geographical names. Article 3 (Rules for writing individual types of geographical names): 1. On maps of Slovenia, the names of municipalities, settlements, and streets in ethnically mixed areas of the Republic of Slovenia must be written in Slovenian and Italian or Hungarian. 2. On maps of Slovenia, other geographical names (e.g., names of hamlets, major structures, waters, relief features, areas, and transport features) in ethnically mixed areas of the Republic of Slovenia must be written in Slovenian and may only be written in Italian or Hungarian if the working body of the Slovenian government responsible for standardizing geographical names has standardized the geographical name to be entered onto the map in Italian or Hungarian. Article 4 (Writing geographical names): 1. On maps of Slovenia, a geographical name in an ethnically mixed area of the Republic of Slovenia must be written the way it is entered in the register of geographical names (REZI). 2. If a geographical name is specified in Slovenian and Italian or Hungarian, the Slovenian form must come before or above the

156 Standardization of geographical names in bilingual areas of Slovenia Italian or Hungarian form. The names in both languages must have the same size. 3. The font used for the Slovenian and Italian or Hungarian name must be the same. The two names must be separated by an unspaced slash. Article 5 (Cessation of application): The day this decree enters into force, the Decree on Writing Geographical Names in Ethnically Mixed Areas in the Socialist Republic of Slovenia on Plans and Maps (Odredba o pisavi zemljepisnih imen v načrtih in kartah na narodnostno mešanih območjih v SR Sloveniji; Official Gazette of the Socialist Republic of Slovenia, no. 11/80) and the National Land Survey Reference System Act (Zakon o državnem geodetskem referenčnem sistemu; Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, no. 25/14) cease to apply.

The essential difference is that, compared to the 1980 decree, the decree of July 2014 requires that on maps of the country the names of settlements, major structures, waters, relief features, areas, and transport features in bilingual areas be written only in Slovenian, whereas they may be written in Italian or Hungarian only if they have been standardized in Italian or Hungarian by the Committee for the Standardization of Geographical Names as a working body of the Slovenian government. The names of municipalities and the already standardized names of settlements and streets may continue to be entered in bilingual form on maps of the country.

4.2 Responses to the new decree

The response from the two ethnic communities was almost immediate. Only four days after the Decree on Writing Geographical Names in Ethnically Mixed Areas of the Republic of Slovenia on Maps of the Country (Uredba o načinu pisanja zemljepisnih imen na državnih kartah na narodnostno mešanih območjih v Republiki Sloveniji; Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, no. 57/14) was published, the Italian and Hungarian Ethnic Communities Deputy Group responded in writing, stressing that the second paragraph of Article 3 violated the provisions of the Slovenian

157 Matjaž Geršič, Drago Kladnik & Marija Brnot Constitution, independence documents, international treaties, and legal acts on the protection of the Italian and Hungarian ethnic communities and the public use of Italian and Hungarian as the languages of these two communities, prejudicing interpretations of the bilingual treatment of geographical concepts. It argued there was no statutory or other normative basis for making a distinction between geographical names and that up until that date no comprehensive standardization of geographical names had been made. The reason for this was, at best, poor practice, and which on no account should be allowed to prejudice the statutory or regulatory provisions. The standardization of all geographical names, it claimed, should be uniform and comprehensive because there was no statutory basis to support a different solution. On October 7th, 2014, an emergency meeting of the Committee for the Ethnic Communities was convened in the National Assembly, where disagreement with the decree was once again expressed. Among other things, the deputies of both communities referred to UNGEGN Resolution II/36: Problems of Minority Languages (Resolution Adopted in 2019). This was followed, on December 11th, 2014, by a meeting at the Communities Office to discuss changes and amendments to the decree. At this meeting, it was agreed that due to the financial and time limitations with which the Committee for the Standardization of Geographical Names had to contend, the standardization procedure would be extended from one to two years. In cooperation with the two self-governing ethnic communities, it was agreed that in 2015 the committee would standardize the geographical names in the languages of both communities in the two bilingual territories at the level of a 1:25,000 map and in 2016 also at the level of a 1:5,000 map. On December 22nd, 2014, the Surveying and Mapping Authority of the Republic of Slovenia sent a list of geographical names in ethnically mixed areas to both ethnic communities. A printout from the register of geographical names at the scale of 1:25,000 was sent in shape and jpg formats, with an enclosed orthophoto with geographical names.

158 Standardization of geographical names in bilingual areas of Slovenia 4.3 The course of standardization procedures in both ethnically mixed areas to date

We first look at developments in the bilingual area populated by ethnic Italians. In June 2015, the Coastal Self-Governing Italian Ethnic Community sent a list of Italian names in the municipalities of Ankaran and Koper, and in September a further list covering the remaining municipalities of Izola and Piran. Because these lists were incomplete, it was asked to complete them. The community submitted the modified lists at the end of November 2015. In December 2015, the Surveying and Mapping Authority of the Republic of Slovenia reviewed the lists of Italian names submitted and prepared a combined spreadsheet of all Italian geographical names in the ethnically mixed area in question. The missing Italian names were marked and added from the 1:1,000, 1:2,000, and 1:2,880 archival cadastral maps. The majority of the 1:1,000 and 1:2,000 cadastral maps date from 1952–1955 and a few from 1940. Most of the 1:2,880 cadastral maps date from 1927– 1933, 1909–1910, and 1953, and some also from 1901 and 1938. In January 2016, the Surveying and Mapping Authority returned the list to the community for a further review and update. In mid-May 2016, the Coastal Self-Governing Italian Ethnic Community submitted an updated list, which was sent to the Committee for the Standardization of Geographical Names a few days later. On January 12th, 2017, a meeting was held between the representatives of the Coastal Self-Governing Italian Ethnic Community, the Surveying and Mapping Authority, and the Committee for the Standardization of Geographical Names. After this, only a few problems – see Section Point 4.4 below – remained unresolved. Efforts to standardize Hungarian names in the bilingual area populated by ethnic Hungarians were significantly less successful. As early as October 2014, the Mura Valley Self-Governing Hungarian Ethnic Community requested a list of geographical names in the ethnically mixed area in question. The Surveying and Mapping Authority of the Republic of Slovenia asked the community what form it wished the data to be sent in (vector or raster formats), but its request went unanswered for a long time.

159 Matjaž Geršič, Drago Kladnik & Marija Brnot In the second half of November 2015, at the request of the community, the Surveying and Mapping Authority prepared and sent out scanned archival cadastral maps (a total of 327). At the end of February 2016, the community submitted lists of Hungarian names in several spreadsheets, but the names were not consistent. On March 7th, an updated and corrected list of Hungarian geographical names from REZI 25 was sent to the Committee for the Standardization of Geographical Names, after which a detailed review of the lists was carried out over the remainder of 2016. The Hungarian ethnic community submitted several documents, in which, however, the geographical names and their exact locations largely fail to match: • An updated and corrected list of geographical names from REZI 25; • A list of geographical names by settlement; • Modified geographical names in an orthophoto; • Added geographical names in an orthophoto. Due to these inaccuracies, on January 13th, 2017, a meeting was held between the representatives of the Mura Valley Self-Governing Hungarian Ethnic Community, the Surveying and Mapping Authority, and the Committee for the Standardization of Geographical Names (Figure 8). At the meeting it was agreed that the Mura Valley Self-Governing Hungarian Ethnic Community should again check all the documents and comments provided by the Surveying and Mapping Authority, and prepare a new, uniform list with all the corrections and modifications suggested. At the same time, the representatives of the Hungarian community were advised to employ the services of a specialist and to establish contact in this regard with the Hungarian committee for the standardization of geographical names, given that the members of the Slovenian standardization committee knew its representatives well. The Mura Valley Self-Governing Hungarian Ethnic Community has not yet submitted a new list and has also failed to establish the contact suggested.

160 Standardization of geographical names in bilingual areas of Slovenia

Fig. 8. Working meeting of the representatives of the Hungarian ethnic community, the Surveying and Mapping Authority, and the Committee for the Standardization of Geographical Names (Photo: Primož Gašperič)

4.4 Remaining problematic names After the meeting with the representatives of theCoastal Self-Governing Italian Ethnic Community, only a few geographical names remained problematic: 1. On the list provided by the Coastal Self-Governing Italian Ethnic Community the settlement of is given asSaleto , but it is probably more appropriate to use the name Valleggia instead because Šalet (Saleto) is the name of just one of the hamlets making up Jagodje. 2. The hamlet of Marzane in the (in the settlement of ) is known asMarzan é in Italian, but there is a hamlet in the (in ) that is also called Marzane in Slovenian, but which is known as Marzanedo in Italian. These two names should be the same or, if the Italian names remain different, the Slovenian names need to be suitably modified.

161 Matjaž Geršič, Drago Kladnik & Marija Brnot 3. Two versions of the Italian name of Segadici Hill on the border between the municipalities of Koper and Izola are provided on the list: Segadizzi (in the Municipality of Koper) and Segadissi (in the Municipality of Izola). One version should be selected and this should probably be Segadissi. 4. The Committee for the Standardization of Geographical Names proposed that the missing Italian names for three minor capes near Izola be added: Rtič Korbat ‘Cape Korbat’, Rtič Balador ‘Cape Balador’, and Rtič Viližan ‘Cape Viližan’. Only the last of these already has an existing Italian name: Capo Vilisan. As discussed above, the degree of inconsistency between the Hungarian geographical names on the lists submitted is such that it makes it impossible to highlight concrete examples. Therefore, we present only the main types of inconsistency: • Different names in different documents; • Names referring to different features (e.g., the nameHomokoš was changed to Peščina; however, according to REZI, these are two different geographical features:Homokoš is a hill and Peščina is an area); of course, an error in the REZI register is also possible; • The lists provide several different Hungarian names for the same feature. Even though no systematic comparison between the lists provided by the Hungarian ethnic community and the old cadastral maps has been carried out, many differences have nonetheless been established, especially regarding endings. Thus, for example, the lists provide the bilingual form Recek/Rétszeg, whereas the cadastral map uses the form Rétszegi. In any case, the lists contain so many deficiencies that standardization efforts have now come to a standstill because the representatives of the Hungarian ethnic community are not particularly eager to resolve them.

4.5 Selected examples of problematic names

The problems with the bilingual form of the tunnel atMarkovec /Monte San Marco have already been discussed in the journal Onomàstica (Geršič, Kladnik & Repolusk 2017, 111), but there are other examples of new

162 Standardization of geographical names in bilingual areas of Slovenia landmarks in which elements of bilingualism in ethnically mixed areas are being neglected due to the use of internationally recognizable names. The first example is provided by the Capo Grande Tower on the outskirts of Koper (Figure 9). The structure is designed to create a new landmark for the port city and is intended to link the coastline with its hilly countryside. It was designed by the Italian architect Massimiliano Fuksas and his Slovenian colleague Sandi Pirš. Because newspapers are using only the Italian name, a retired Slovenian linguist sent a letter to the Committee for the Standardization of Geographical Names in which he protested against using just one name – that is, the Italian name. The members of the committee decided to appeal to the investor, which is the Municipality of Koper, to add a Slovenian name for this planned structure.

Fig. 9. Design for the Capo Grande Tower near Koper (Designed by Massimiliano Fuksas and Sandi Pirš)

The second example is provided by the Vinarium Tower, a striking observation tower on one of the peaks of the Lendava Hills above Lendava, also referred to as the “Pannonian Basin Lighthouse” or the “Prekmurje Eiffel Tower,” built in 2015 (Figure 10). It is interesting that only the Slovenian name (Stolp Vinarium) appears on Slovenian Wikipedia, without the Hungarian form, whereas both names are used

163 Matjaž Geršič, Drago Kladnik & Marija Brnot on Hungarian Wikipedia (i.e., the Slovenian name and the Hungarian form Vinarium toronj). Because this structure stands in the middle of an ethnically mixed area, the bilingual use of its name would be expected.

Fig. 10. The Vinarium Tower above Lendava (Photo: Shutterstock)

4.6 Some experiences from the standardization of geographical names in the two bilingual areas

The representatives of both ethnic minorities spent much more time preparing their respective lists of names than we had anticipated. Cooperation, however, with the Italian ethnic community has been

164 Standardization of geographical names in bilingual areas of Slovenia incomparably better than that with the Hungarian community. Throughout the preparation of the list of names, the Italian community worked with the representatives of the Surveying and Mapping Authority, whereas the Hungarian community did not, even though it received much more input material for the preparation of the list. Indeed, we as good as compiled the list together with the Italian community, which meant any errors could be resolved as they appeared. Thus, only a few names remained unresolved on the list that was eventually submitted to the Committee for the Standardization of Geographical Names. No cooperation took place with the Hungarian community while the list was being prepared. The list eventually submitted is made up of several documents that have not been harmonized with one another and, therefore, it is full of mistakes and issues that remain unclear. Moreover, a number of non-uniform solutions were proposed. A detailed review showed that various types of “problem” appeared with more than half the Hungarian geographical names proposed. The ethnic communities did not work together with name specialists or onomastics authorities in either Italy or Hungary. The Hungarian community has often been advised to establish contact with the Hungarian committee for the standardization of geographical names and it has, moreover, been sent the relevant contact information. To date, however, it has shown no will to enter into such cooperation.

5 CONCLUSION

Slovenia is a country in which minority issues are handled in an exemplary manner. This is especially true for the native, more or less contiguously populated areas of the Italian and Hungarian ethnic minorities. The members of both communities have a representative in the ninety-member Slovenian parliament, they have their own media, and, most importantly, they receive education in their native language. Furthermore, the members of the majority Slovenian population that live in the ethnically mixed areas also learn how to write in the language of the minority and use it in primary school.

165 Matjaž Geršič, Drago Kladnik & Marija Brnot Such an approach ensures that functional bilingualism is maintained, something that is also manifested externally through the consistent use of bilingual names of settlements on the signs along the main roads. Slovenian settlement names (but only up to the level of entire settlements, not individual hamlets) and other important geographical names have already been standardized, whereas the Italian and Hungarian names have not. As we write, this demanding and highly sensitive process of standardizing geographical names in the languages of the two officially recognized ethnic minorities is being carried out. Special attention is being given to names that have not yet been standardized. However, because the relevant records are fairly scant, these names will undoubtedly have to be studied in greater detail. This need is even more evident in the case of Hungarian names, because Hungarian, as a Finno-Ugric language, is much less familiar to Slovenians. Finally, we have observed differences in the organization of the two ethnic communities, which have been reflected in their different levels of response.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The authors acknowledge financial support from the Slovenian Research Agency’s research program Geography of Slovenia (P6-0101).

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