Hungarian

Hungarian is a Uralic language spoken in Hungary and parts of several neighbouring countries. It is the official language of Hungary and one of the 24 official languages of the European Union. Outside Hungary, it is also spoken by communities of Hungarians in the countries that today make up Slovakia, western Ukraine, central and western Romania, northern Serbia, northern Croatia, and northern Slovenia.

History

Hungarian has been spoken in what is now Hungary since at least the 10th century. The Hungarian language was brought to the Carpathian Basin by the Hungarians from the east in the 9th century. The language has evolved over time, and modern Hungarian is quite different from the Hungarian of the 10th century.

Classification

Hungarian is a member of the Uralic language family, which also includes languages like Finnish and Estonian. However, Hungarian is not closely related to these languages and has many features that set it apart from other members of the family.

Geographic distribution

Hungarian is spoken by about 13 million people worldwide, of which 9.8 million live in today's Hungary. About 2.2 million speakers live outside Hungary but in areas that were part of the Kingdom of Hungary before the Treaty of Trianon in 1920. Large immigrant communities of Hungarian speakers live in North America, particularly in the United States and Canada.

Dialects

There are several dialects of Hungarian, which are generally mutually intelligible. The dialects are typically classified into four groups: western, Danubian, Tisza-Körös, and northeastern.

Phonology

Hungarian has 14 vowel phonemes and 25 consonant phonemes. It also has a vowel harmony system, which means that the vowels in a word must harmonize with each other in terms of their front-back quality.

Grammar

Hungarian grammar is quite complex, with a rich system of inflection and derivation. Hungarian nouns have 18 cases, and verbs are conjugated for tense, mood, person, and number.

Writing system

Hungarian is written using a variant of the Latin script. It includes several additional letters, such as á, é, í, ó, ö, ő, ú, ü, ű, which represent long vowels and front rounded vowels.

See also

• Hungarian literature
• Hungarian culture
• Hungarian history
• Hungarian phonology
• Hungarian grammar
• Hungarian orthography

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