Hungarian slang dictionaries (1989–2009)

Abstract

In 2009 we celebrated the 20th anniversary of the proclamation of the Hungarian Republic born from the ashes of Communist Hungary. 1989, the year of the transition, brought major changes to both Hungarian slang research and publishing. Slang and slang research, considered unjustly responsible for the existence of social differences, were rejected by the prudish communist regime, which, of course, did not have much influence on the evolution of slang varieties themselves. One of the consequences of the fall of communism was the liberalization of the book market and the emergence of a large number of new publishers. The changes have also given momentum to Hungarian slang research, which remains however a marginal branch of Hungarian linguistics, while the number of new slang dictionaries keeps growing. It follows from this that commercial enterprises significantly outnumber scholarly works. In this paper I will try to take stock of 20 years’ Hungarian slang lexicography.