The 28th International Congress of Onomastic Sciences in Helsinki was held at the University of Helsinki from 19 to 23 August 2024, with the main theme:  Sustainability of names, naming and onomastics. The conference was attended by 223 linguists and other experts from 39 countries, with a total of 198 presentations in 11 sessions.

 

Of the Slovak universities, only the Faculty of Central European Studies of the Constantine the Philosopher University was represented at this important scientific event. In addition to two lecturers, Mgr. Viktória Gergelyová, PhD. (Department of Tourism) and PhDr. Gizella Szabómihály, PhD. (Institute of Hungarian Linguistics and Literary Studies), two PhD students of the Institute of Hungarian Linguistics and Literary Studies, Mgr. Csilla Csobády and Mgr. Zsuzsa Hajabács gave a presentation on the congress. Cs. Csobády (The use of toponyms by inhabitants of bilingual settlements along the border area) presented some results of field research carried out in two villages in eastern Slovakia (Silická Jablonica and Hrušov), which focused on the use of toponyms by the local population.

 

Zs. Hajabács (The problems of recognizing Hungarian aristocrats in English translations of Slovak tourist texts) analysed the Slovak and English versions of the websites of castles and chateaux in Slovakia, focusing on the use of names and surnames of former owners - Hungarian aristocrats - in the Slovak original and in the English translations.

 

Gizella Szabómihály (Hodos, Nemeshodos oder Hodus? Pragmatische Aspekte der Verwendung von Varianten ungarischen Siedlungsnamen in der Slowakei) in her paper presented the attitudes of the inhabitants towards the variant Hungarian names of some villages in southwestern Slovakia. In her online lecture (Analyzing Culture and Identity in Foreign Language Learning: Insights from the MagyarOK Textbook Series) analysed V. Gergelyová language textbook for students of Hungarian as a foreign language with focus on the representation of Hungarian and foreign culture-related features, including languages, nationalities, cities, and countries throughout the textbooks.

 

Text: PhDr. Gizella Szabómihály, PhD., FSŠ – Institute of Hungarian Linguistics and Literary Science
Photo: Mgr. Csilla Csobády, Mgr. Zsuzsa Hajabács, ICOS2024

 

Published: September 17, 2024