Power and Multilingualism: The Case of the Hungarian linguistic Minority in Romania

In this paper, I will discuss the position of the Hungarian minority and language in the Romanian region called Transylvania. Transylvania is a traditional multi-ethnic region where several languages are spoken. The Hungarian language is a minority language compared to the official language of the country, Romanian. The Transylvanian case is important for the study of the relation between power, hegemony and multilingualism. Important features that give insight into this relation include the Romanian Constitution and legal system, the threshold rule for the Hungarian language based on collective and territorial properties, and multilingual institutions. The conclusion is that equality of languages in a multilingual context with majority-minority languages is far from realized. The majority language takes power over the minority language with the help of the state's institutions.